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Variants, the works.
 On Tuesday I received the three boxed Motorvators I bought from diaclone's own Himawari (thanks again Himawari ;) ). Finally I have all three of them. ;) Prior to this moment I only owned Flame and Lightspeed in loose condition. Well after getting a call from the front desk I crashed downwards along the staircase to retrieve the parcel that had just arrived for me. Seeing a familiar name on the box I rejoiced and took it up to my office and proceeded with opening the thing up. Seems I'm lucky we had dry weather though that day as the short end of one of the sidepanels was no longer closed. I could view one of the boxes from the outside. Oh well, no harm done.
 LIGHTSPEED: Now comes the part where I nearly had to go kill a co-worker as stressrelief. I took the first motorvator from the box...Lightspeed...and saw how the top of his car mode was not present! Shock ! Horror ! Quickly checking the box I saw the sides were taped. Hmm this is strange. Slightly shaking the box about I beheld the top half of the car appearing from behind the rear wheels though. Probably dislodged during transit. Well at least that solves a dilemma. I'll need to open it. I don't have to feel all that bad about it though seeing as how the tape I sliced was actually the third tape set present on the side of the box. Different tape with then the other side as well. Now the toy itself. It looks like this guy was shaken up quite a bit. Not only did the top part come off, I could click it in place without trouble again though, but the front portion of the car was dislodged as well. The rear wheels also seem to have nearyl torn through the cardboard insert as well. Quite vulnerable paper btw. Not at all sturdy enough for the weight of one of these cars. Hmm well time to twist the twisties (no bubbles here people) and open the bag with the stickers and parts...AND take out a japanese instruction sheet as well. Looks like this small one is however an edited copy of the original brainmaster instructions. The bag contained the normal color instructions though. Special since the original instructions didn't include ANY text. Now something of which I'm not sure what I should think of it. The stickers. It seems this guy was out of luck. The color print on the sticker sheet was shifted a bit. This means that the colors for the stickers are on the sheet...but not on the parts that have been cut out in the corect shapes! Snif. :( I'm not applying the things but it is a pitty. The box: Box is fine. Insert slightly damaged as mentioned. Resealed on one side 2 times from the looks of it. The box is completely in english. Looks like the UK didn't share any language versions that year with the rest of Europe? At least we get a complete tech spec for the guy. Seems that only does he share a colorscheme with The Flash but this TF can also drive at faster then light speeds! MOVE OVER BLUR! Variation time: The sword of this guy is a slightly different shade of blue when compared to my other Lightspeed. I can't rule out discoloration on the loose one though since it's only been mine for a year or two at most. So I guess I can't give Fred any additional info on that one. FLAME: Horror again! But this time because this car DID break the insert in the rear axle. Not sure if this was so when they left Himawari's but the cardboard is just to thin to hold the weight of a Motorvator. Bad move on Hasbro/Takara's part there. Most of what applied for Lightspeed holds true for Flame as well but this guys stickers are correct. ;) The box: A few scratches in the window. Was also resealed at least once on the same side as Lightspeed. Last tape was the same thing tape I sliced for Lightspeed. At least I don't have to feel bad about opening him. :) One of the twisty sets was loose as well. The one in the back. This probably caused the tear in the insert as well because the car could slam around a bit. The artwotk for this guy is special as well seeing as how parts of the gestault are visible on his arm! Looks like they colored his face wrong as well. Nearly completely purple. The same purple as his torso. The toy itself is a far less 'strong' purple then the boxart colors though. Variation time: The sword of this guy is different from my other flame as well. Since this new one is purple and the old one is reddish I think we probably can rule out fading. The torso for the robot modes have the same shading difference. Both on the OUTside as the INside of the hatch. Looks like this IS a variant Fred. GRIPPER: Ahh now this is the guy I didn't own yet. :) Also the only one that appeasr to be actually sealed. Hm well he's open now but hey, now I can feel bad about something at least ! Nothing better then destroying seals...preferably seven or so in a row. ;) Quite a nice toy. Extremely messed up transformation examples on the box though...sigh. Quite a nice toy I must say. What is strange though s that this one also had the japanese instructions. That rules out one of the resealings on the other two having ot do with Takara opening them and inserting the instructions. That means these guys were specialy made for the Japanese market. But if they were, then why were the boxes not translated as well? Strange. The box: This guys has a hard carboard insert. Also far more tilted then the other 2. Now why they gave him a different insert, I have no idea. Variations: Unkown.
 Special Notes: Extra instructions. Anyone have any idea why? Sticker on the back with Japanese TF logo and some info. Again, anyone any idea what it says? A pitty these things cover up the numbers of the tech spec though. Then again, that probably IS the part I'd most like to see covered up if I'd have to choose a portion of the backside of the box to stick that on! Different inserts for Gripper. Anyone any idea of this was the same for the regular UK release and Euro release? Were these guys release in a single language format in the UK? Additional Info: Yes these guys merge. Always wanted to see a Euro Road Ceasar? Visit the dutchbot files for a zip with pics or ask me to upload them to diaclone as well. Also includes a trashed G1 Prime for size reference.
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