This stunning package is the European pre-Transformers release of what would later become "Mirage" in the TF line, available back in 1984 in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Scandinavia. Licenced by Takara in Japan, this toy was distributed by the Ceji Joustra group in the aforementioned European countries. These 'Joustra' releases are recognised and loved specifically for their spectacular and exclusive artwork, and the 'Joustra Ligier' above is no exception whatsoever. In fact it was the artwork for this release that made me fall in love with it so many years ago, and I finally managed to get one. You can see the large 'Diaclone' text on the box front as well as the Ceji Joustra logo. You can also see multinlingual text on the box front mentioning the exclusive comic included with the package, another excellent exclusive feature of the larger Joustra releases.

Just to give a little more background on these Joustra Diaclone releases, a number of the original Takara Diaclone and Microman toys were released in those European countries around 1984 - 1985, all with exclusive artwork but badged 'Diaclone'. The toys themselves were not exactly the same as the Japanese pre-TF releases, some of them had moulding differences, and the minibots even had Autobot stickers. They are usually very similar to pre-rubsign Transformers moulds, but not always.

The box back picture above shows a few of the other releases available under the Joustra banner such as Battle Convoy (pre-Optimus), Porsche 935 (pre-Jazz), Ambulance (pre-Ratchet) and Toyota 4x4 (pre-Trailbreaker). Notice how the Trailbreaker has yellow fists in the picture. You can also see Joustra Ligier in that picture and the box back contains the number '9610' to the right of the picture and that is Ligier's catalog designation in the Joustra line.

You can see from the various sides of the box that the 'Diaclone' text is extremely prominent. Unlike the GiG pre-TFs with their "Trasformer" text on the boxes, these weren't specifically marketed as close to The Transformers as possible, they are still very much in the pre-TF vein and the exclusive comics that these toys come with support that.

No matter what face of the box you look at, Ceji Joustra did something a little differently to Takara and GiG when decorating the package. The stock photos used are not the same as the Japanese or Italian pre-TF packages and even the official name of the toy is not the same. The Japanese Diaclone version of this toy was designated No.16 Ligier JS 11 F1 (for reasons I'll address in a second) but this Joustra version is just designated 'Ligier'. Interestingly enough, if you look at the picture of Ligier in robot mode (top picture) his launcher has been attached backwards.

So, what on Earth does "Ligier" mean and how does it relate in the slightest to the Transformers Mirage that we all know and love?

This toy is of course based on a Formula 1 car, and not just any fictional Formula 1 racer, but the 1979 race-winning No.26 Equipe Gitanes Ligier Ford-Cosworth of Jacques Laffite seen above with team-mate No.25 Patrick Depailler leading off the Brazilian Grand Prix grid at Interlagos in 1979. Laffite won the first two races of the 1979 F1 season in the 'ground-effect' Ligier JS 11 in Brazil and Argentina with team-mate Depailler winning the 3rd race of the year in Spain. After a fantastic start to the season, the other teams started to catch up with the French Ligier team and surpassed them on development, leaving Ligier 3rd in the constructor's championship at the end of the 1979 season, not being able to win any more races that season. Depailler was replaced with Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx for the last few races of 1979. The car itself was designed by Gerard Ducarouge, Michel Beaujon and Paul Carillo.

The name 'Ligier' comes from French team founder Guy Ligier, and the designation 'JS 11' has its own story as well. 'JS' are the initials of Ligier's close friend Jo Schlesser who was killed on his F1 debut. The '11' is a model number. All of Ligier's cars had the 'JS' prefix. Now, as mentioned before, the first release of the pre-Mirage toy was in Japan in the Takara Diaclone line in August 1983 where the toy had the full Ligier JS11 designation. Here is that toy:

The accessories and look of this toy are of course extremely familiar to G1 Transformers collectors and fans. The Diaclone pilot/driver with the magnetic feet is exclusive to the Japanese release of the pre-TF. It's also quite a faithful representation of the original F1 car as you can see from the above pictures and scans.

A little later in early 1984, about the time the Transformers were being released, this pre-TF Ligier was also released in Italy by GiG, but with a few changes...

Apart from the lack of a Diaclone driver and the use of big rubber bopper missiles instead of the standard silver ones, there is a huge difference between this and every other release of this toy. If you look at the sidepod of this GiG Ligier, it doesn't have the same writing on that the Japanese Diaclone, The TF or indeed the Joustra have. Instead of "CITANES 26", it says "LIGIER 26". Have a closer look:

Now THIS is going to take some explaining. First of all, remember that the full name of the original Formula 1 team that this car is based on was "Equipe Gitanes Ligier" which translates into English as "Team Gitanes Ligier". Ligier was of course the owner, but Gitanes were the main sponsor of the Ligier team back then. Gitanes is a famous French brand of cigarettes, and therefore when it came time to produce the toys, the name "Gitanes" was altered to "Citanes", very much in the same vein as how "Marlboro" was changed to "Marlboor" on the famous Diaclone pre-Wheeljack variant.

GiG took the whole thing one step further and instead of using a mis-spelling of the cigarette brand, changed it altogether and used the team name "Ligier" on the sidepods instead, covering up the orignal text with a set of factory stickers. Of course, later releases of the GiG Ligier pre-TF had the "LIGIER 26" printed on instead of stickered on, creating an inter-release variant right there. If you also pay attention to the photograph on the GiG box front, it shows it with "Ligier" stickers on the chrome front wing, but the stickersheet for the GiG toy is exactly the same as the Japanese Diaclone, so in fact there are small "Citanes" stickers for the front wing. Only the factory labels were altered.

There was also a version of the Diaclone Ligier JS11 F-1 released in Finalnd directly by Takara, but despite having a toy that said "Citanes" with similar contents and moulding to the Japanese version (apart from a lopsided copyright stamping), the box was actually an altered GiG template, which in itself had been altered from the Japanese template. Notice the "Citanes" on the sidepods but "Ligier" remains on the chrome front wing of the box photography. This is the rarest version of the Diaclone Ligier, the packaging containing much English text, including "Diaclone" in the top left corner.

Going back to the Joustra release...

...you can see that the main art used on the box front looks very much as if the side pod/arm says "Gitanes" with a 'G', making it a correct spelling of the cigarette brand. A closer look reveals the artists responsible, P. and G. Brizzi:

Now before I delve into the Joustra Ligier release in more intricate detail, here are some final introductory bits of background information. The pre-TF Ligier was released again in Japan as part of the extraordinarily rare and desireable Powered Convoy DX set in January 1985 (after the Joustra release) alongside a chrome-trailered Powered Convoy (pre-Magnus) and black Countach (pre-Sideswipe). This exclusive release of the Ligier was red...

So as you can see, this toy has a rich pre-Transformers history and an equally rich Transformers history as well (more on this later as well). Concentrating for now on the Joustra release again, here are the contents of the package:

As with the Japanese Diaclone release of Ligier, this Joustra is very nicely packaged and presented. The styrofoam insert is exactly the same as the Japanese release. You can see the empty styro space which would have been for the Diaclone driver had Ceji Joustra included them with their releases. Also, you can see the Japanese-style weapons, "CITANES", stickersheet and marvellous Joustra-exclusive comic/catalog.

Here is a scan of the cover page for Ligier's comic, the same cover used for all the Joustra comics:

The art and story credits are given here and the lovely artwork depicts a few well known favourites. The prominence of the Trailbreaker character is indicative of the story "War on Diaclona".

On the reverse of that front cover is another page which appears in all the Joustra booklets. This page depicts the Joustra Battle Convoy "Diaclone" as the protector of the city of "Diaclona", defending it from the evil "Multiforce 14".

"DIACLONE, the liberator of DIACLONA succeeded in driving out MULTIFORCE 14, who still dreams about revenge and destruction. Can DIACLONE repel this danger?"

"DIACLONE: The ruler of DIACLONA CITY. In order to deceive its enemies, transforms into a truck. The trailer contains a combat base."

"MULTIFORCE 14: The ex-tyrant of DIACLONA CITY wants to return. Its strength is in its ability to convert into 14 individual combat vehicles."

The catalog pages of the booklet are also usually pretty uniform throughout the releases:

This is not an exhaustive and complete listing of Joustra figures available, but it does show what is commonly referred to as 'Wave 1' of the Joustra Diaclone line. It was interesting to see whether or not the Joustra Trailbreaker actually had yellow fists and the Japanese Diaclone-style yellow vehicle stickers. It actually didn't because the catalog depicts Diaclone toys whereas the Joustra releases were typically closer to pre-rub TFs.

Now onto the more character-specific pages of the comic, where the real gems lie...

"Surprise Attack: In DIACLONA it is a day of celebration. All the vehicles are on parade to celebrate the first anniversary of the liberation of the great city".

First panel: "But on the horizon, the sky is obscured..."

Second panel: "It is the flotilla of MULTIFORCE 14, reigned as a tyrant on DIACLONA and prohibited circulation with the vehicles. Those, revolted behind DIACLONE. After a memorable battle, MULTIFORCE 14 was defeated (reversed). One year passed until the deposed tyrant could reform a flotilla...

Third panel: "Who breaks on DIACLONA. "Objective heavy fire!!!""

Final panel: "The MULTIFORCE is coming to play havoc with the celebration!!"

First panel: "I too have a surprise"

Second panel: "Come closer..."

Final panel: "I have a hatred of bores"

First panel: "These three there located me; with me to play!"

Second panel: "A small head-to-tail for a change in structure!"

Final panel: "Veiled in escape! Let us propose with DIACLONE a meeting of the great council to counter this threat".

Please excuse my dreadful attempts at translation! Basically what appears to be happening is that it's the 1 year anniversary of the liberation of Diaclona from the evil tyrant Multiforce 14 after a memorable battle where Diaclone and his forces won. After 1 year he returns with a new fleet and attacks during the celebration. I think this particular comic is included with the Porsche 935 (pre-Jazz) Joustra release as well seeing as how his boxart is also included in the strip. I know that the F15 and Microx shared a comic as well as they both featured in that comic. As I said, a beautiful exclusive feature of these releases and the inclusion of which should be a major deciding factor if you should choose to pick up a Joustra release. This comic was also released in German, but no Dutch version has ever been found.

Here is a scan of the Joustra Ligier stickersheet, followed by the Japanese (and GiG) Diaclone stickersheet:

The Joustra stickersheets actually say "DIACLONE" on them whereas the Japanese stickersheets usually have the Takara Car Robot logo in Japanese. The Joustra stickers also say "No. 16" which is the Japanese designation for the Ligier JS11 F1. The actual decals themselves are the same.

Another unique Joustra stickersheet feature is that on the back, there is a stickermap printed seeing as how they do not come with instruction sheets:

You might notice that on the figure's chest, he is shown as being "28" when it should really say "26", the number of Laffite's 1979 Ligier F1 car.

Finally, onto the Ceji Joustra Diaclone Ligier toy itself:

I've not had a Mirage this new and mint since I was a child, so this was a wonderful experience. It has always been my favourite character in the cartoon, and my immense love of F1 (see website name) means that this has always been a highlight of the Transformers line for me. It's a beautiful reproduction of the original car and has a unique and striking look all its own. In this condition, the shiny chrome gives it a phenomenal appearance. Stunning from all angles.

Extraordinarily reminiscent of its time, the JS11 was an excellent choice for a Diaclone/Joustra/Transformers release. Maybe even moreso for this Joustra release as it is a French team, French driver and predominantly French toy release. It started life as an all-conquering race car as well before the Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus and Williams cars caught up in 1979. In the pictures above you can see the "Goodyear" text on the tyres are very visible from the front and rear pics, almost as if the car has just rolled onto the grid with fresh race tyres!

Not only does the Ligier mould have a lovely vehicle mode, it also sports a gorgeous figure mode:

Even though it's a little bit plain without the decals, he still looks fantastic. Again the chrome giving a beautiful contrast to the mostly-blue toy. Since there doesn't appear to be much chance of a Mirage reissue, getting a pre-Transformer is one of the only ways of finding a Ligier mould toy in such pristine condition. This is also a mould that can be easily damaged. The white plastic can yellow, the chrome wears easily, the waist can snap and looseness can set in fast. All that said, the quality of this Joustra is sublime and it was an absolute treat to transform.

When the accessories are attached, this figure truly comes to life. A magnificent sight indeed and a beautifully proportioned look. Please make sure you check out all the figure mode thumbnails, I'm very pleased with how they came out. So here you have a figure that impresses thoroughly from all angles in both modes. That in itself is a rarity among Transformers toys. The missile in the above pictures is from a rubsign TF Mirage, as the Joustra weapons are still on the sprue. Articulation is limited to the arms and shoulders, but the launcher can be pointed at various angles and it does have a significant effect on the overall look and pose. Also, there are no safety-consideration measures in evidence, the launcher is potent.

Here are some close-ups of the various stand-out features of the toy:

Looking forward a little bit, when Hasbro came to release The Transformers, this Ligier obviously became "Mirage". Here is the US/UK Transformers Mirage in package:

Now when Mirage was going to see release in Europe for the first time as a Transformer, Hasbro did not have access to their own manufacturing facilities and as a result, used those of Milton Bradley. Until the takeover of Milton Bradley was completed in 1985, Transformers releases in France, Belguim, Germany, The Netherlands and Austria had an MB badge on them. Here is the Milton Bradley Mirage:

The details of these releases has been covered in depth in the MB article on this site, but just to re-iterate, some of the first MB Autobot car releases had the same insert as the Japanese (and Joustra) Diaclones with cardboard supports. They also share the same copyrights so the theory of overstook gets a look-in again. That certainly doesn't explain all the MB toys as not all of them saw Joustra release, but there is definitely a link between the two sets of releases. In fact it has since been discovered and deduced that all Joustra Diaclone cars were repackaged as MB Transformers.

Here are a few comparison shots of the Joustra Ligier alongside a rubsign Transformers Mirage from 1985:

The most notable differences are the Autobot logos and the rubsign on the TF compared to the Ligier. The moulds appear very similar with possibly some truly minor differences on the fists. The rubsign TF has a '3' moulded into various places whereas the Ligier has no numbers moulded in. They do make a lovely pair and it wouldn't be too hard to simulate the Ligier F1 team if you can get a set of repro labels with '25' instead of '26'!.

Just for those who are interested, the US Mirages tend to have the rubsign on the bottom of the feet (exhaust area), but Japanese Mirages have the rubsign on the rear wing.

Here is a close-up of the Joustra Ligier figure head followed by the TF:

There is a slight difference in paint application around the eyes and mouth, but that's never perfectly uniform between any set of Ligier/Mirage releases. The accessories, however, do throw up a variation. First of all, here are the accessories from the Ligier:

The missiles and handgun are almost identical to the rubsign TF, but the launcher shows differences. Now, a while ago, I found a variation on pre-rub TF Mirage launchers vs rubsign TF Mirage launchers. Have a look:

The one on the bottom is the pre-rub launcher from a 1984 Transformer. The launcher with the shorter barrel lines has a deeper indented circle-pattern towards the centre of the launcher. The launcher with the longer barrel lines has clips/pegs which are slightly more curved around the edge and also it appears to be ridged on one side, as in both halves of the clips are not the exact same shape or size. This launcher also has a different pattern for the segments towards the far end of the launcher. The segments are flatter and maybe a tad longer.

The Joustra Ligier launcher is almost identical to the pre-rub launcher, and therefore shares the same differences between itself and the rubsign TF launcher. The Ligier and rubsign launchers are compared below:

The Joustra Ligier launcher has the elongated barrel lines, the ridged clip, the shallower indents in the circular moulding in the centre of the launcher and also the flatter segments. Again, showing that Joustra releases tend to have more in common with pre-rub Transformers. Also, to quote Himawari:

"Just to also mention another thing that is later changed in the launchers is the beveling on the barrel. If looking at the barrel from the hole towards you, the first version which is the one with longer lines and ridge down the one side and such is flush. A transitional one would have lines indented in on "O" face where it is beveled. The last variant will be the same as the second except for a more defined bevel from looking towards the opening therefore more of a bevel than the second or first version, and a launcher trigger variant with the ridges continuing down further than the first two variations...just to make it clear, the one with the ridge and long lines w/non extended ridges on the trigger which is more circular than the other two is the diaclone version."

Moving onto the copyrights, this mould has always been a little strange. Both the 1983 Japanese Diaclone No.16 blue Ligier JS11, this 1984 Joustra Ligier AND the Milton Bradley Transformers Mirage have "PAT. P. TAKARA JAPAN" in a circle as below:

It has also recently been discovered that the Joustra cars came with the later 3-line Takara copyright too (all 4 wave 1 cars have been spotted with both variants) and the later release Joustra Ligier even has the rubsign TF-style launcher features detailed above. Here is the later Joustra Ligier stamping:

The slightly later 1985 Japanese Diaclone red PCDX exclusive Ligier JS11 had a similar copyright as seen below:

And finally the later 1985 rubsign Transformers Mirage had something printed under both feet, including a Hasbro stamping:

This would imply that the Japanese Diaclone, early Joustra and pre-rub/MB Ligiers/Mirages all share similar moulding, but maybe not exactly the same. The later stamped versions, especially the rubsign TF, would have revised moulding, however slight.

Just before this article is concluded, the following section includes a few obscure, interesting and fun bits related to the Ligier and Mirage toys which I thought would add nicely to the whole picture.

Here is what the exclusive PCDX red Diaclone Ligier JS11 would have looked had it been released as a single-packed toy instead of only in the giftset, don't drool too much:

Here are the Joustra Ligier, GiG Ligier and Finnish Diaclone Ligier together:

Here are some original adverts from various sources (such as Japanese Television magazine) for Transformers Mirage:

Pictures of Mirage from a 1985 Hasbro trade catalog including a boxed mock-up:

A portion of the original 1984 Mirage box art (notice the brush strokes!):

A Mirage animation cel:

A close up of the resin hardcopy prototype for the upcoming Alternators Mirage Ford GT figure:

And some screencaps of one of the best G1 characters in the cartoon, you know, the one who actually saved the day and made sure the Decepticons didn't make it back to Cybertron and made the whole series possible:

When a Transformer has a character as unique, recogniseable, special and loved as Mirage does, every toy that bears that name takes on a special relevance. This is most evident in the Alternators Ford GT Mirage that was without a shadow of a doubt the most highly-anticipated release of the line.

Obviously, for any fan of the Transformers character, the pre-TF releases of the mould are also very special. None more so than the red PCDX release due to its striking looks and ridiculous rarity. However, for those who have seen some of the Ceji Joustra releases in the flesh and have witnessed the mesmerising exclusive character artwork used on those releases, there can be few releases more special than the Joustra Ligier. I fell in love with it the moment I saw that artwork, and it took me years to purchase one of my holy grails, and when I finally did, I was even more impressed than I thought I would be.

Not only did I get a fantastic and uniquely presented packaging variant, I also received an absolutely pristine example of one of the absolute best preTF/G1 moulds available. A toy that looked awesome in both modes and from all angles and tied in beautifully with my love of motorsport and especially Formula 1. To me, the Joustra Ligier represents a historic piece with true character, one that encompasses the rich heritage of pre-TFs, the prestige of Diaclone, the wealth of character given to this toy by Joustra and indeed the Transformers mythos and of course the history and glamour of Formula 1. A born winner in more ways than one.

My deepest thanks to Paul Hitchens for catalog scans, DVD stills, GiG Ligier pictures and toy adverts, to Ben Munn for PCDX and Takara Ligier JS11 images, to Himawari for red Diaclone Ligier JS11 images and scans, to RpChristophe for Joustra Ligier stamping images and to EvilGrin for MB Mirage images. Thank you all of you for making this article so much more than a standard review of a spectacular toy.

All the best
Maz@tf-1.com