#Microman forever series
Īfter Mego’s 1982 bankruptcy and dissolution, the original molds for many of the toys were sold to Hourtoys/M&D Toys for their Interchangables discount toyline, other original molds were sold to PAC Toys for use in their Lords of Light toyline and even Takara produced several series 5 toys for Italian licensee/distributor Gig’s i Micronauti line. According to Neal Kublan, Mego’s Executive VP of Marketing/Vice President of Mego Research & Development (1972-1980), the line generated more than $32 million in sales for the $110 million company during one period. The Micronaut toyline sold extremely well for Mego. In addition, as the Micronaut line grew in popularity, Mego expanded the line by creating whole new figures from scratch such as the "Aliens" line which included Antron, Repto, Membros, Lobros, Kronos and Centaurus.
For example, the larger, 6.5-inch (17 cm) magnetic action figures Baron Karza and Force Commander were re-colorings of the Magnemo Kotetsu Jeeg action figures with newly designed heads. While much of the initial Micronaut toyline offerings were simply repackaged versions of Takara Microman equivalents, some items in the Micronaut toyline were original Mego creations that used modified and reconfigured parts from existing Takara toys. During their initial series 1 and series 2 release, Takara produced small quantities of products in Japan before production was officially moved to Mego’s facilities in Hong Kong. In 1976, Mego licensed several Microman toys from Takara and marketed the toyline in North America and other countries as Micronauts. In Japan, the Microman figures themselves were marketed as actually being 3.75-inch-tall (9.5 cm) cyborg entities that hailed from a fictional planet known as "Micro Earth" and disguised themselves as action figures while on Earth. Smaller Microman figures would not only cost less to produce during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the line's smaller scale would also take up less physical space in a household and thus be more attractive to space conscious consumers in the Japanese market.
#Microman forever full
īy downscaling their size, Takara sought to create a toyline that would offset the sheer cost of producing a full line of plastic-based figures and related playsets as well as acknowledging that basic living space is limited for most Japanese households. Joe figures-with their bodies molded in clear plastic, exposing their inner workings and supposed cybernetic parts. Henshin Cyborg figures were based on Combat Joe figures-which themselves were based on Hasbro’s G.I. Takara first released Microman toys in Japan in 1974 as a smaller version of their popular 8-inch-tall (20 cm) and 12-inch-tall (30 cm) 1972 Henshin Cyborg (Transforming Cyborg) line. A Mego (U.S.) Acroyear (Red) action figure which was based on the Takara (Japan) Acroyear 2 (A311 Mad Pink).
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