This week another rather special item was added to my collection. It’s the Joustra Diaclone version of Optimus Prime, simply called ‘Diaclone Truck’. As most Transformers G1 collectors will know, most of the early G1 Transformers are actually based on an earlier Japanese toyline called Diaclone. Although Diaclone toys never achieved the same level of popularity as Transformers, they were succesfully exported out of Japan before the Transformers onslaught of the second half of the 1980s. In most parts of Europe, a company called Ceji Joustra was responsible for the European import of Diaclone toys. What sets the Joustra Diaclones apart from all the other Diaclone toys is the custom packaging artwork. Where as companies like the Italian GiG mostly copied the packaging from the original Japanese releases, Joustra totally redesigned the packaging and added a mini comic book. This truely eyecatching box art is what sets these Joustra Diaclone releases apart and makes them highly sought pre-Transformers collection items!
Although they’re pretty rare, Joustra Diaclones do pop up on the collector’s market every now and again. The (pre-Optimus Prime) Diaclone Truck, though, is so hard to find it’s unreal! Lucky for me I finally managed to find one for sale from a private collector whom I bought from before in the past and always got great deals from. I bought this Diaclone Truck together with a Joustra Diaclone F-15 (pre-Starscream) for a very good price. The box is in very nice condition for its age with some wear, but still displays beautifully. The toy itself though is in pristine condition. Stickers are unapplied and the joints are nice and tight. Even the smoke stacks move stiffly as though this toy was just recently bought from a toy store! Good times!
I now have nearly all of the first series of Joustra Diaclone releases in my collection and will be adding special Joustra Diaclone pages to this website soon. There was a second wave of Joustra Diaclone toys planned and some of those seem to have been released, but they’re virtually impossible to find, most likely due to the bankruptcy of Joustra’s parent company Ceji in 1985. A collector’s work is never done… :-)
