Toy links
1980 Diaclone catalogue translation.
“The history of Transformers has always been as interesting as the toys themselves.” (1981. Early 1982. Late 1982. 1983. 1983-84. 1985.)
Tags: catalogue, Diaclone, site, Takara, Transformers
Toy links
Okude Nobuyuki interviewed.
“Our main target was boys, so we really looked for what the boys have around them and what they were interested in. Then we found that they all like cars!”
Tags: designer, Diaclone, Interviews, Takara, Transformers
Toy links
1983 Diaclone Car Robot Battle Convoy.
The toy that would become Optimus Prime. (See also.)
Tags: Diaclone, Optimus Prime, site, Takara
Toy links
2021 Diaclone Battle Convoy V-Max.
Part of the Diaclone revival. (See also.)
Tags: designer, Diaclone, Interviews, Takara, Takara Tomy
Toy links
1983 Tokyo Toy Fair.
Where Takara’s Microman Microchange and Diaclone Car Robot came to Hasbro’s attention. (YouTube, 24:39.)
Tags: Diaclone, Microman/Micronauts, Takara, video, YouTube
Toy links
Japan and the oil crisis.
“The question I ask myself is whether Japan can survive.” (Spoiler: it did.)
Tags: article
Toy links
Microman Zone catalogue.
“With the crisis of the great ‘oil shock’ in 1973, the large clear cyborg toys were getting too high-cost for manufacture, so some new scale formats were tried out …” (Parts 2, 3, 4, 5.)
Tags: catalogue, Microman/Micronauts, Takara
Toy links
Microforever.
“Microman Zone proved to be popular and by its second year Microman line began to take on its own identity and separated itself from the influence of the Henshin Cyborg line.”
Tags: Microman/Micronauts, site, Takara
Toy links
Ogawa Iwakichi interviewed.
“… when we manufactured Jaguar, we used 3mm joints of ABS plastic for attachments. … Since the 3mm pegs seemed to break easily, I figured, okay, let’s go with 5mm. From that point onward, Takara has used the 5mm gauge for all their product’s molds ever since.”
Tags: designer, Interviews, Microman/Micronauts, Takara
Toy links
Marty Abrams interviewed.
“We were making action figures, we were making playsets, and making toys of multiple figures within brands. Micronauts had all of the above, plus one additional piece of the pie, which was construction and building. … You could take characters apart and put them back together again.”
Tags: Interviews, Microman/Micronauts