Toy Schnitzel: April 2016

Takara Microman : Pharoids with Timechambers, 90s reproductions.

Japanese Toys from Takara were known to me already when i was a kid but it was mainly the G1 and G2 Transformers that i was crazy about as a boy and also other 80s classics like GIJOE, Masters of the Universe and Starcom.
The Micronauts were introduced to me in Comicbook form when i was a Teenager in the mid 90s but i didn't pay much attention to them because i could not connect them to any toys that i had or found interesting.
When i grew up in Germany in the 80s and 90s there was no sign of Micronauts / Microman toys anywhere.

During my one year stay in Japan 2 Years ago, i learned that Microman was a huuuuge hit in Japan and they also were the predecessor of the Transformers /Go Bots.
In the late 70s, Mego distributed some Microman toys under the name Micronauts in America and Europe.Even some in Germany through Airfix!

Together with the also very awesome Henshin Cyborg, Takara released a large amount of very cool boys toys in the 70s and 80s and Microman really stands out as something special and very creative!

To make a long story a bit shorter i will try to explain a bit about how the Microman Toyline came into being although i am no expert and didn't grow up directly with the toys.

For a comprehensive look about the awesomeness that is microman i can recommend this page :

http://www.microforever.com

(it's really amazing how much stuff there is….! the original vintage Micromen come with a hefty price tag quite often nowadays but they are worth it mostly, also in terms of quality!)

also check out Ishii sans awesome toyshop in Tokyo when you have a chance : TOY CATS ! (his shop Rules!)
he is one of the greatest experts on Microman in whole Japan!

https://www.facebook.com/toycatstokyo/

Microman was developed from a toyline called the Henshin Cyborg which was exclusive to Japan!
The Takara Company bought molds for making GIJOE 12 inch figures, but during the Vietnam War and shortly after no one wanted to play with Figures based on American GIs and that would also have been a political statement which was not so popular for obvious reasons in Asia at that time.
So Takara decided to use the molds for the GI figures in a more creative way and created the HENSHIN CYBORG!

The background story for him was quickly told as some scientist created a human like cyborg in order to save humanity against some invading alien forces from other planets.the cyborg was humanities last hope.

The 12 inch body was cast in a translucent plastic and they gave the figure metallic looking innards underneath.Also the translucent head could be popped off to reveal a robot head.The design was excellent and very unique compared to other figures from the same period of time.
No need to say the figure became a great success in Japan with several characters that were added to the line later.The villains also tuned out to be great.Weird colorful aliens with interchangeable parts.The idea with the interchangeable parts would continue as some kind of bonus feature to make the figures even more appealing.
I just own a bunch of the 90s repro Versions of the Henshin Cyborg called Neo Henshin Cyborg.
They also added some crazy weapons and special Armor as well as a light up feature in their hearts for this newer line in the mid and late 90s.

Neo Henshin Cyborgs with Armor parts and weapons! Those are in the 12 inch scale.

The Henshin Cyborg figures were a pretty complicated build that cost quite some money for the manufacturer Takara so at some point later they decided to reduce the scale of the figures and alter their appearance a bit.
A new background story was invented for them and thus the MICROMAN line was created.

His size was reduced to 3,75 inch instead of the 12 inch size that was used before.That was also done because as a space traveller and hero he would need some cool vehicles.

Like i said the documentary of all the microman figures and their villains and vehicles has been made and and if you want to see all of them which i highly recommend, go over to the www.microforever.com page!

Micromans enemies were also a very unique and awesome design : the Acroyear!

Take a look for yourself:

Acroyear RED by Mego 1978! the japanese versions had a more vibrant coloring but basically they were the same figures.

Acroyear RED and GREEN by Mego 1978

Those guys were basically aliens that crashed on earth and they were altered by environmental influences from the regions on earth that they landed in.Green was the smartest one and Red was the most aggressive one.
In the Comicbook this was differently done.I don't want to spoiler the Comicbook story here because its really cool and u should read that if you like (the) Microman/Micronauts!

The main Villian of this Series is Baron Karza!
He is bigger than the Acroyear figures, almost 6 inches tall and has some totally different features like his interchangeable limbs and a jetpack with rockets.He is also magentic at his joints!
He was developed from another Takara figure that was JEEG Robot, from a popular mecha anime series.Takara changed the head and the Colour so they could produce the Baron Karza Figure!
He is really impressive, his head design resembles darth Vader and Mephisto!He also features spring loaded firing fists and a spring loaded firing rocket in his belly!The guy is armed to the teeth!

With Force Commander they later created a powerful leader to stand against Baron Karza.He was cast in White plastic and had the same magnetic build and features so you could also mix them up if u wanted to.

Baron Karza in the Micronauts Comics!

BARON KARZA, the Micronauts /Micromans main villian!

There was also a crazy horse that could be mixed with parts of Baron Karza to create an ultimate Centaur like version of him with additional rockets on the sides and even wheels.

I could go on for hours and hours here but instead i will now just show you a bunch of the Microman/Micronauts toys that i could gather over the years!

My buddy jeremy is also a microman buff so check out his page that has some Microman /Micronauts related stuff on it!
http://tokyotoybastard.blogspot.de