#diaclone

Print ad for Takara’s Magneborg Death Cross and Machinezaurer.

What’s worth noting here is that, in addition to the rubber suits built for commercials, both toys shared a really unique gimmick. In the ads, Takara encouraged children to decide for themselves which of the two was the true hero and/or villain. I always admire toy companies that encourage kids imaginations.

Which is great because, come on. Death Cross? Totally the bad guy here.

EDIT: The best part of this, according to ally-in-arms @tokugami​,Machinezaurer had a Go Nagai manga and tie-in theme song! 

Smokescreen, one of my oldest Transformers and my only one of the original G1 cars. He’s adapted from the same Diaclone base as Bluestreak and Prowl, and transforms into a Datsun 280ZX, aka Nissan Fairlady Z in Japan. Smokescreen’s deco is based on  Don Devendorf’s Electramotive team racer. (Thanks for tfwiki and transformerland for that trivia.)

Like some other Diaclone originals, his transformation is more fiddly than other G1 bots and some parts are a little fragile. He also has a bunch of die-cast metal, though, which gives him some heft, and his arms are way better articulated than most.

Some sources claim only the Japanese release had spring-loaded missiles in the shoulder cannons, but mine has ‘em, so maybe they were in an early US release too before Hasbro removed them for safety reasons.

Transformers Masterpiece Road Rage