Robocolt
Junior Robot
Robocolt, ze French "Browning" !
Posts: 18
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Post by Robocolt on Sept 21, 2004 7:44:44 GMT -5
Hiya. I had heard those were released by Joustra, but I wasn't sure until a few weeks ago. Yep, the larger MicroMan tapes (than turn into helicopter or motorcycle) were indeed distributed by Joustra :  Gotta admit I love it ! Enjoy ! Seb |
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Post by rednecktex on Sept 21, 2004 20:03:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the pics Robocolt! ;D Keep them comin!
I have the motorcycle one in microman box.
I am also looking for an affordable Great Robot Base! ;D
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Post by shaxper on Sept 21, 2004 22:29:06 GMT -5
Interesting. I've never bothered to learn much about Joustra, outside of it's history regarding Diaclone and it's Diaclone comics. I had no idea that they'd incorperated ANY Microman toys.
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Robocolt
Junior Robot
Robocolt, ze French "Browning" !
Posts: 18
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Post by Robocolt on Sept 22, 2004 4:57:53 GMT -5
Well, there's something I'd like to precise about the DIACLONE line by Joustra :
ALL of the toys were genuine TAKARA products. Except for the "Cosmo Roller" + the 3 "Attack Cars" (Van, Cheetah, Turbo 2000), that were MADE IN MACAU, ALL of the other toys were MADE IN JAPAN. Even the mini-cars that sported the Autobot symbol. It's precised on packages and on the toys. So they are NOT of lesser quality like some may think.
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Post by shaxper on Sept 22, 2004 20:36:32 GMT -5
Well, there's something I'd like to precise about the DIACLONE line by Joustra : ALL of the toys were genuine TAKARA products. Except for the "Cosmo Roller" + the 3 "Attack Cars" (Van, Cheetah, Turbo 2000), that were MADE IN MACAU, ALL of the other toys were MADE IN JAPAN. Even the mini-cars that sported the Autobot symbol. It's precised on packages and on the toys. So they are NOT of lesser quality like some may think. I'm not convinced that can be said for the whole series. Takara off-loaded a lot of their overstock to foreign companies who had the rights to Diaclone (particularly Gig!), but they weren't actively producing them. As a result, some foreign Diaclone toys said "Made in Japan", but not all. I don't know the full story for Joustra regarding this, but I do know that the reason the entire Diaclone series in Japan had gone plastic by this point (1984) was because Takara was nearly bankrupt and no longer felt it could afford to produce diecast. This further adds to my doubt that Takara was producing these toys for Joustra. There was an economic depression in Japan at this point, and toys weren't selling, in general. Takara had a lot of overstock, as a result. |
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Robocolt
Junior Robot
Robocolt, ze French "Browning" !
Posts: 18
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Post by Robocolt on Sept 23, 2004 3:12:36 GMT -5
Well, I have met Joustra's CEO from this period (1981-1986). His name's Mr. Schilling. He fondly remembers the Diaclone lines, and actually told me all of the toys were actually MADE BY TAKARA, and for legal reasons this has to be stated on the boxes of the toys and on the toys themselves. Please refer to this picture, lower left corner of the box :  He actually confirmed those were overstock, that they were receiving the toys in their styro, that the little Diaclone pilotes were removed by Takara, and that takara was also providing them with the stickers-sheet (that were customized with the French Diaclone logo). The only stuff that was MADE IN FRANCE were the boxes & Comic-Book. BTW guys, I'm in contact with the Brizzi brothers, who are the twin brothers that made the French Diaclone comic-book (plus box art-work). They now live in the US, working for DreamWorks. Seems they're OK with providing me with the scans of ALL the issues they have in their archives. I'll post them as soon as I get them. Boy, am I glad  ! |
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Post by cybernoid2 on Sept 23, 2004 6:24:18 GMT -5
wow!!!  tnx for your great infos!! really a great post!! merci |
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Post by shaxper on Sept 23, 2004 17:53:46 GMT -5
Very cool to know. I had no idea Takara was carrying THAT much overstock of Diaclone. I'm begining to wonder if maybe the whole Gig! series was overstock, as well. I'd always assumed Takara couldn't have had THAT much overstock. I guess times were even tougher for them than I'd imagined, but how do you overestimate the market so badly as to get stuck with enough overstock to produce the series in two other countries?
As for getting scans of ALL the Joustra comics, that would be absolutely awesome, Robocolt. Can't wait!
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