Diaclone - Lancia Stratos - Added 23/05/2021
So I just thought I’d share a little something I’ve gradually pieced together over the last few months. This little project all started with a quest to get a G1 Transformers ‘Wheeljack’ toy. An iconic character from the original 1980s Transformers lineup (who transforms into the equally iconic Lancia Stratos Turbo), but this is one toy that I’d never owned when I was younger.
Although complete Wheeljack toys do pop up fairly regularly, they are often quite pricey, so I’d been on the lookout for an incomplete one in decent condition that I could clean up & refurbish. To my surprise this particular toy popped up as an auction but unusually it lacked the usual hasbro copyright marks and instead had a line of text saying ‘©Takara Co. Ltd. 1980, 1982, Japan.’ Interesting I thought, probably an early pre-rub Japanese version, so I placed my bid and luckily won the auction!
A few days later, ‘Wheeljack’ arrived, and so I started doing a little research on this particular version, and to my surprise a number of features including the copyright, stickers and a few other design elements all pointed to that fact that is was actually a Diaclone Lancia Stratos, specifically the version sold by Italian toy maker GIG.
(For those who are unaware – Wheeljack, like many other Transformer toys, was actually based on a mold from an older Takara Toyline – Diaclone).
This was pretty surprising, but also very cool! My quest for a Wheeljack toy had somehow turned into something even more interesting and much rarer.
So ‘Diaclone’ Wheeljack made his way onto my Transformers shelf and over the coming weeks I kept my eyes open for any of his missing accessories. Around a month later what should pop up on one of my searches? An empty, GIG Diaclone Lancia Stratos Turbo box, far from mint, but at a very reasonable price. This was too good an opportunity to miss, so I hit the ‘Buy’ button without any hesitation.
Just those two elements – the toy and its box, made for a great display piece, but in typical fashion I kept hunting for those missing parts and over the coming weeks and months I managed to gather the bits I needed, from the Wings & launchers, to the GIG exclusive oversize ‘bopper’ missiles and even a Diaclone ‘Dianaut’ pilot (who actually came with another Diaclone toy, but that’s another story).
Without rambling on too much about sourcing tiny accessories, suffice to say I’ve somehow put together an essentially complete and pretty uncommon toy for a fraction of their normal cost. Sure it’s far from perfect, but it was a pretty unusual little toy quest that’s ended with me collecting something I never expected to own, and that’s exactly the sort of thing that makes this hobby very worthwhile…
