Diaclone

Diaclone (ダイアクロン, daikuron) was one of two Takara toy lines (the other being Microchange) from which the earliest Generation 1 Transformers toys came.

The Diaclone toyline was first introduced in 1980, but it was not until March 1982 that toys with alt modes based on realistic, present-day vehicles began to appear as part of the "Car Robots" sub-line. The first one was the Diaclone predecessor of Sunstreaker, whom Hasbro now considers the first fully-fledged transforming car-to-robot toy ever designed. Its vehicle form was based on an older Takara toy, the "Cosmo Countach" from the Microman "Micro Command" sub-line released in 1978, which transformed into a half-robot, half-car hybrid.

Before the Transformers brand was introduced, Takara directly exported some Diaclone toys to North America under the brand names Diakron and Kronoform, but those lines met with very little success.

In 1983, Hasbro representatives discovered Diaclone and Microchange toys at the Tokyo Toy Show, and soon struck a deal to create the Transformers brand.

The 1984 and 1985 Autobot Cars, 1984 Decepticon Planes, 1985 Dinobots, 1985 Constructicons, Trainbots, Omnibots, Powerdashers, Jumpstarters, Blitzwing, 1984 Optimus Prime and 1986 Ultra Magnus toys all originated from Diaclone.

When Transformers proved an unqualified success, plans for a 1985 Diaclone line were scrapped, and Transformers was imported to Japan in its place. These aborted toys, which would have been part of a sub-line called Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination") were then incorporated into the Transformers toyline in 1986 as the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Combaticons, Protectobots and Metroplex.