I've only seen that light blue roof on GiG Lancia Stratos "Diaclone" toys released in Italy. As people have said, it was eithe r apaint application error or just discoloration to which that release was more prone.

I've always liked it  

All the best
Maz

 

i agree it was GIG. my friend told me what it was about, and all i remembered it was BEFORE hasbro, i just forgot that italy had them too.

 

and this gig variant is a pre-rubsign?

 

Gig never had rubsigns, and i THINK these came out even before hasbro owned the property rights, so yeah, they would be pre-rub

 

thanks

 

so is the a gig Trasformer (without the 'n') or did the Hasbro Gig TraNsformers also have the variant?

 

Hasbro DID NOT have this Variant. only GIG

 

so are you saying the autobot symbol on my figure is a fake and not original?

 

could be pieced together like mine. parts from different WJs. what does the copyright stamp say?

 

the copyright stamp just says 'Takara Japan' in a circle located under the vehicle mode.

 

Wajo357, I have the same Wheeljack variant. I believe I got it as a birthday/holiday gift back in 1984. My parents' friends gave it to me. They were from Italy so I'm assuming they bought it overseas or from an import store in NYC. I replaced the stickers with reprolabels a while ago, but it had an Autobot symbol on it (no rub sign) and the same "Takara Japan" stamp in a circle. I've always believed the blue canopy was the normal version, thanks for letting me know that one of my first TF's is a unique variant.

 

YA! circle copyright is PRE-Hasbro. so would be pre-rub. AFAIK, when rub signs came, so did the new copyright. maybe a few blue roofs did make it into hasbro boxes. i thoughtit was an italy only type thingy.

 

so 'pre-Hasbro' means 'Pre Transformers' and is therefore a 'diaclone'? And the autobot symbol was probably placed on by somebody else at a later time, or is it possible it could still be an official 'Transformer' product? I'm not too familiar with the history of GiG and their relationship with Hasbro; especially with this product.

thx!

 

Copyrights aren't as straightforward as that. You will mostly find Japanese Diaclones with "TAKARA JAPAN" stampings, some even with NO stamping (Diaclone jets and Dinobots). Some of thios stamping format made it to pre-rub Transformers in the US and Europe, for example Mirage and some other early cars and Optimus etc.

GiG tend to have dates and Takara Stamping, but again, some of them are similar to japanese Diaclone in that they have Takara Japan only (yellow GiG Sideswipe)...

It's not always as simple to categorise and obtain exact chronology. I would say it's most likely your toy is a GiG "Diaclone" Lancia, but I suppose it's not impossible that it was a GiG Transformers Wheeljack, called "Saetta". I've never seen one of those with a blue roof though, mainly because the only ones I ever saw were MISB.

All the best
Maz

 

here is another one on eBay: VINTAGE TRANSFORMERS G1 WHEELJACK 100% COMPLETE - eBay (item 330564817197 end time May-21-11 19:49:20 PDT)

it seems too common to be a pre-Hasbro Trasformer from GiG and everyone putting on fake separate autobot symbols at a later time.

I would love to say that I got 'G1 Wheeljack' and not a 'diaclone'.

 

Another discussion on this:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-toy-discussion/302373-g1-wheeljack-question.html

Everything I have read or seen seems to simply indicate that it's a very early release G1 figure from when they repacked Diaclone for some of the first G1 releases.

 

you have a G1 wheeljack!

unless you know what box it came in, there is no way to tell 100%. IT'S NOT A KO!! thats for sure.

and to be honest, the rub sign for WJ was on his spoiler, which is lost 90% of the time anyway. so even if you DID find one, there is no way to tell if it's a replacement original spoiler that was pre-rub or not, unless he's misb.

 

from what I understand, the rubsign spoilers don't fit on the non-rubsign spoilers. So since the non-rubsign spoiler fits on mine, I would assume the original (if this wasn't one) was also a non-rubsign.

I also haven't seen any KOs with the blue top. And the figure I got is too abused for me to think someone did it to an unknown KO just to make it look real.

And I thought from your help above (which I am very grateful for), suggested it was a GiG pre-Hasbro Trasformer (not a G1).