Well to get into the story, I received a dirge from good ol' Spencer, sealed in the bubble. Well I noticed earlier that the stickers on the wings have a black outline, both main and tail. The canopy of course is smoked and ridged. When I looked at the fists, there is no number and looks similar to the upper right hand corner one of lot shown on Fred's page. Tabbed on both sides, and a circle (small) inside. Also, upon further examination, the die cast shows an "A" marking, not an upside down "A" (I believe upside down letters happened later down the line.) This would mean that it was made from the same diecast mold as let's say a Joustra Starscream, or any other pre rub jet that was first stamped or early rub. Now, here comes the whammy, The copyright is TWO LINED. On top of that, I was given a Skywarp that has a two lined copyright with a "B" marked diecast. However, it has a smooth canopy and washer. (Since I got it second hand I can not use it as any sugnificant evidence unfortunatly unless Fred can vouch for the piece in question.) To top things off, I noticed something that I overlooked before. A very obvious thing actually. There is a date marked in pencil on the TOys R Us price sticker. I'm at school now, but if I recall it was April of 85. Now I would think that it would seem that I have in possession a very first release dirge, would it not? If so, then perhaps the sticker thingy on the die cast never occured, UNLESS if Thrust was issued even before dirge, hence why he can be found with a yellow cockpit not only on his art, but I would assume the toy on the box as well (since I don't have a USa boxed thrust I cannot confirm, I'll need your feedback folks). Since the dirge in both toy and illustration for the box has a grey canopy, he is exempt from the rumor and possibly ramjet as well. Another note that I mentioned before that I just thought I'd bring up again is this box says "5 years and up" where later boxes say "7 and up". Thanks. -Himawari

Response:---Bill Smith Here's some pics which turns Himawari's comments to smoot. (Esteban replies:) Well, Himawari was always open to speculation and he at least theorized about what he felt could be, based on the evidence at hand. His ideas about what made sense were at the very least well informed guesses. He never claimed to be the last word on anything, but he would speculate on matters... The rest should be discarded which makes me question how reliable his articles are on the Variations page. Just because some of his speculation on a matter may or may not be correct, ALL of his contributions are questionable? That's extreme. Just because you found one example that contradicts his theory doesn't mean others exist as he postulated. He could still be right. I know it may seem that I am attacking him (perhaps I might be). Yeah, you do seem to be on an anti-Himawari tirade.