"A Totally Unique Space-Age Concept"

One of my favorite experiences as a kid revolved around getting a duplicate Ultra Magnus, the Transformers City Commander from the original Transformers movie. I had gotten a second one of these for Christmas from my god-parents, and so I got to go to Children's Palace and exchange it. The coolest thing was I had all the time in the world to plot out what I would get in exchange since my family was a few doors down from the store at the Chuck E Cheese, and I was told just to go there after I picked out my exchange. Although Transformers is by far one of the coolest properties to ever exist, there was an unbridled level of envy for kid's who owned the Mighty Voltron. I wanted the most bang for my dollar though, and I looked up and down the action figure aisle. Bear in mind, as a kid I rarely had the opportunity to go to the toy store, so I didn't really know much of what existed other than what was on TV. I certainly didn't know much about alternative generic toys, except for the ones that did measure up to the full priced licensed properties they were ripping off in the first place. After what seemed like hours of decided what I could get with $25 in mid 80's cash, I finally walked away with a few things, one of which was either the Kronoform or DiaKron Multi-Force 14. Check out CollectionDX for the low down. A robot comprised of 14 smaller spaceships that were piloted by a handful of inch tall robotic pilots with articulated arms and legs, similar to but cheaper than Voltron. These guys fit perfectly into into an assortment of Generation One Transformers cockpits, including Ultra Magnus, StarScream, and the Insecticons. I would later discover these were in fact the pilots of the pre-Transformers Diaclones from Japan, which included the above mentioned Transformers, and the rest of the Seeker Jets, The Autobots, and the Dinobots. Multi Force 14 was manufactured for that line but never brought to the states for Transformers. Hasbro dropped the Diaclone pilots, because the vehicles were changed into the heroes and Hasbro felt the pilots were not needed. I assure you, my Transformers adventures were much cooler after I got these drivers/pilots. I can remember at least one other item I got on this heady exchange trip, more on that later.