The Japanese Diaclone Car Robot No.7 Fairlady Z 280Z T-Bar Roof verison was released in two colours back in 1982/1983. Both have become quite famous for one reason or another in the Transformers universe. This is of course the predecessor to the Transformers "Bluestreak". The Transformers version (as well as the Italian pre-TF release) was all silver with red launchers. That version was heavily based on the second Diaclone release pictured above which was mainly silver with a black hood and roof. The first Diaclone release of the Fairlady Z mold was mostly blue with a silver hood and white launchers. A very famous toy in Transformers mythos as it was pictured on Transformers boxes, instructions and catalogs, the "Blue Bluestreak". The box for all Japanese Diaclone Fairlady Z's had the same art, the blue robot, as that was the first release of the mould. But there's plenty of literature on the web about the Blue Fairlady Z, this article is about the second, black hooded release:

Both Japanese Diaclone Fairladies came with the same Diaclone driver: black torso with red limbs. There was no difference between the boxes for the two releases, even the product numbers were identical.

When I first heard about this particular version of the mould, I never imagined it could look that nice. The colour scheme didn't make much sense to me, and I thought the TF and Blue Diaclone were a lot smarter. It wasn't until I actually had this in my possession that I began to give it the appreciation it deserved. Bluestreak has always been a very nice looking toy, very shiny and chromey, definitely a sparkle to it. It obviously got it from its Diaclone older brother. The black hood really adds to the overall look in robot mode, and it made me wonder how I ever thought the piece looked so good without it having grown up with the all-silver TF Bluestreak. It is of course a very lovely mould with a nice transformation process; rotating waist and fold-away arms. Very nice:

This is not to be confused with the 2002 Takara E-hobby exclusive reissue of "Anime Streak" which shared the same colour scheme as this Diaclone. "Anime Streak"? What's that all about? Well "Streak" was the Takara Japanese Transformers name given to the "Bluestreak" character and "Anime" makes reference to the Transformers cartoon representation of Bluestreak in the 1980s. That brings me nicely on to why this particular Diaclone's paint job is famous in the TF universe. The cartoon version of Bluestreak was animated based on the black hooded Diaclone release. He was silver (well... more white) with a black hood and roof, even though the TF toy was all-silver, and its packaging depicted the blue Diaclone. Confusing? It must have been! So basically, Takara released a special exclusive version of the mould based on the Diaclone in 2002, while also making reference to the cartoon representation of the character, therefore tapping into the toy's Diaclone AND Transformers roots. They recoloured the original boxart too for the reissue collector's card to match the black hooded toy, and it looked fantastic. Here are a couple shots of the 2002 Takara "Anime Streak" Reissue:

Unfortunately the reissue's plastic colour was too light, plus the facial moulding quality was not spot on. This disappointed a number of fans, myself included. They also seemed to make the chrome on the back windows a little different too. Another thing that had to be changed for the reissue were the stickers. No longer could the toy say "Fairlady Z" on the bumpers due to licensing issues, so the reissue sported a great big "STREAK" instead. Not too pretty.

Anyway, back to the Diaclone, I personally think the diecast on the Diaclone was a slightly lighter shade of silver compared to the Transformers release, but other than the black sections, a few tiny molding differences (like firing launchers) and the diecast, the original TF wasn't too far off and was a fine toy in its own right.

This Fairlady Z, like most Japanese Car Robots from the Diaclone line is stamped "TAKARA JAPAN" in a circle. Some very very early pre-rubsign US Transformers Bluestreaks share that stamping, and all the same moulding features of this Diaclone, and that's a good thing because I had to nab the doors and back windows off one of those very early Bluestreaks to complete this Diaclone!

One strange feature of this particular Diaclone Fairlady Z is that the small tab at the end of the roof (the one that the back windows rest on in car mode) is unpainted, but every other black hooded Diaclone Fairlady Z I've seen has a painted black tab. Unfortunately there just aren't enough of these around to do a large scale comparison.

I don't think this is a toy that receives enough credit other than from Diaclone collectors. The Blue Diaclone receives all the hype and desire, but it was THIS version that is mostly responsible for any place in our hearts we hold for Bluestreak. Most of us would have been introduced to Bluestreak through the TF toy or cartoon character, and the black hooded Fairlady Z is the origin of those as explained above.

Just for the sake of completeness, in the Diaclone line this mould was first issued in blue/silver, then silver/black, then in gold and silver as prize campaign cars. Later it was retooled in Diaclone as the Fairlady Z Racing type (later to become the TF "Smokescreen"), a Police Type (to become the TF "Prowl") and there was also a Diaclone gold Fairlady Z racing proto campaign car. In Italy, GiG released an all silver Fairlady Z, a blue/silver Fairlady Z and also the racing and police type moulds. Most countries received the above (except blue/silver) as TFs. In Mexico, IGA did their own thing, releasing Bluestreak in mostly grey with an unpainted face, the Prowl was done in at least 3 different schemes with a mostly black look, and Smokescreen was just the original Fairlady Z mold in racing colours, not even the bumpers and spoiler were included. That was later corrected in Mexico. In Europe they received Prowl as a 1990s Classic toy as well in a gold box. Takara have since reissued Prowl, Anime Streak, the silver chrome Bluestreak and Hasbro have reissued Prowl and Smokescreen, but "Silverstreak" was the original TF all-silver style reissue.

And to finish up, one final pic:

All the best
Maz