Diaclone was one of two Takara toy lines (the other being Microchange) from which the earliest Generation One Transformers toys came. The Diaclone toyline was first introduced in 1980, but it was not until March 1982 that toys with alt modes based on realistic, present-day vehicles began to appear as part of the Car Robots sub-line. Before the Transformers brand was introduced, Takara directly exported some Diaclone toys to North America under the brand names Diakron and Kronoform, but those lines met with very little success.