Micro Heritage

From Henshin Cyborg to the Transformers : The Legacy of Microman 1972-present

Micro Heritage

Microman toys line actually originated from another Japanese toy line by Takara called the Henshin Cyborg. Henshin Cyborg was clear 12" action "cyborg" doll based on GI Joe body. (Takara was producing a licensed GI Joe toys called Combat Joe for Japanese market at that time) The early Microman was supposed to be a miniaturized version of these Cyborgs.

During the height of Microman line in 1976, a US toy company Mego, licensed Microman and distributed them worldwide as the Micronauts. In 1979, Takara tried to spin off another toy line called the Timanic but it did not gain much popularity. By 1980, Mego had almost gone out of business, Takara decided to market the Microman toys themselves in the US and took part of the New Microman line and combined it with Diaclone (a spin-off line from Microman) and released them in the US as the Diakron and later as Kronoform.

Due to poor marketing and little knowledge of the US market, Takara did not fare too well and pulled out of US market by 1983. Takara decided to go back to being just a licensee and licensed part of New Microman - Micro Change and also a large portion of Diaclone to Hasbro who then marketed the combine toy lines as the Transformers. Takara re-imported Transformers toy concept back to Japan. Ironically, the popularity of the Transformers in Japan ended the Microman line, thought many of its toys live on as the Transformers. (Megatron was Micro Change MC12 P-38 UNCLE).

Micro Heritage

Fifteen years after the Generation One Transformers and the demised of Microman line, Hasbro reintroduced new Transformers as the Beast Wars. Transformers : Beast Wars proved to be popular with kids and even fans of the original series. In 1996, a small company call Medicom licensed Takara Combat Joe body and began producing update version of Henshin Cyborg costume heroes. By late 1990s, Microman line has come full circle, with the nostalgic craze in toys industry and popularity of toys as collectibles, Takara in 1997 released a new Henshin Cyborg series called Neo Cyborg which was soon follow by new Microman toys, both the completely new design line call Magne Power and reproductions of the vintage line in 1998.By late 1990's, nostalgia wave had hit the collectibles scenes and many companies including Takara rush to cash in on this new craze by producing new collectibles toys based on the old properties or even reissued of the old toys.

This section shall examined some of these toys that are related to Microman from both past and present. This will not be in depth look, since there are several excellent web sites that cover these toys in much more details than could be done here. Links will be provided if one want to explore further this fascinating legacy of Microman both the old lines and the new current revival lines.

Henshin Cyborg Series

Takara released the first Henshin Cyborg, Cyborg-1, in late 1972, two years prior to the debut of Microman. Henshin Cyborg figure, interestingly, was based on the popular 12" (1/6) Combat Joe body (licensed GI Joe). The toy featured clear Combat Joe figure with visible "cyborg" and "atomic engine" machinery innards. Takara also released several accessories and villain figure (King Walder) for the series, most notably were the fabric costumes for the cyborg The costumes were from the popular early 1970's live TV shows such as the Ultraman and Kamen Rider series. (It seem Henshin Cyborg concept seem to came from the US Captain Action line) In 1974, Takara decided to release miniature version of the Henshin Cyborg. Takara shrunk the cyborg figure down to 10cm (1/18) size and released them as Microman Zone.

Takara also released 8" Shonen (Child) Cyborg along with Jaguar Cyborg as Cyborg-1 allies. Evil King Walder which shared the same body as Cyborg-1 but with organic grotesques inner part was released as Cyborg-1's nemesis. King Walder became the first enemy figure to be produced and sold in Japan. Beside the multitude of costumes Takara also released several play-sets and weapon sets for the figures including the Cyborg Station case and Cyborg Cycle set.

In 1975, Takara introduced new series of Cyborg called Android A, along with "Victory Project" series (an attempt to tie Microman series which now became separated series with the Henshin Cyborg). However by the end of 1975, Microman became very popular and the Cyborg series was canceled and Victory Series (Robotman toys) was absorbed into Microman line-up. It would be over 20 years before Takara finally introduced a new Henshin Cyborg series called Neo Henshin Cyborg. Neo Cyborg only last a year and the new series was followed by another short live series called Double-Nine. After the unsuccessful relaunch, Takara decided to reissue old Henshin Cyborg toy instead. (See MicroHeritage - Neo Cyborg & Cyborg99 Series)

GI JOE/Combat Joe

Henshin Cyborg body was licensed GI Joe body sold in Japan by Takara under Combat Joe banner. Takara actually produced costume hero figures based on Japanese live-action sci-fi TV show in 1971 using the Combat Joe for the body. But it was not until 1972, that Takara introduced the clear cyborg body completed with atomic engine (which interestingly inspired by motorcycle engine from plastic model kit) not only as body for the costume heroes (and villains) but also as stand alone sci-fi figure toy.

Mego Corp. - Micronauts (1976-1981)

In 1976, a US toys company call Mego licensed Microman toys from Takara and marketed the toys to the US (and the rest of the world) as Micronauts. Early Micronauts toys were basically Microman toys repackage in Micronauts packaging. Later Mego copied Takara molds and produced Micronauts toys themselves in Hong Kong. Mego Micronauts molds were difference in many way from Microman counterparts. Mego also substituted and changed some of the colors and parts to reduced cost.

Mego later produced their own original Micronauts toys called the Aliens series. The aliens basically shared 5mm compatibility with their Micronauts cousin but were design with glow in the dark brains instead of the chrome heads. Mego also produced several vehicles for the aliens. By the time Mego released the second series aliens the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. After Mego went bankrupt, the molds were sold to another company call Hourtoy which marketed the toy as The Inter-Changeables. Micronauts were also distributed with different packaging for Europe and Canada. The line was call "I Micronauti" in Italy. The Italian I Micronauti line had several toys that were never release in the States.

Early Micronauts toys were simply repackage of Microman toys. Mego later produced their own version using their own molds but they generally kept basic Microman design.

Toward the end of the line Mego started to produce their own new design such as the alien series. They also repainted and retooled several Microman toys to produce new designs such as the opaque version of Time Travelers, Galactic Defender, and Phobos.

By the time of The Inter-changeables, Mego and its successors (Hourtoy and M&D Toys) had produced many interesting new variations that were quite differ from Microman toys.

Cosmic Warp Chamber from The Inter-changeables produced by Hourtoy and Cosmo-Man from second series of The Inter-Changeables produced by M&D.

***Special Thanks to Dave Waugh for helping with Micronauts chronology listing***

Links to Micronauts Web Sites

Erik Larsen's The Micronauts Homepage - this site has all the basic Micronauts information, and the site also has the distinction of being the first US Micro web site.

Dave Waugh's Inner Space On-line - this site features an in-depth look at Mego Micronauts line complete with excellent pictorials.

Takara - Timanic (1978-1979)

Takara released Timanic - Space Traveler line in the spring of 1978. The line was an off-shoot from Microman line. By 1978, Microman popularity began to decline and Takara was searching for a new toys line to supplement it. Timanic was almost a reverse back to the Henshin Cyborg line. The new line featured 7" tall figures and assortment of vehicles. The Timanic figure was a mixture of Microman and Henshin Cyborg look with translucent body, removable armors and Microman-style hands and feet. The figures and vehicles used the same gimmicks as Microman Police Keeper series (which came out the same year) whereby utilizing magnet to activate light up feature inside Timanic body.

Timanic line was short live and only last about a year. The line consisted of only three basic figure style (with few color variants, of course) and five vehicles call the Time-Machines and the Nic-Machines.

Takara Blockman Series (1984-1985)

Takara released Union Fighter Blockman series in 1984 as a way to reintegrate the 5mm building block system in their sci-fi toy lines. By 1984, New Microman series and Diaclone had greatly "changed" from their original futuristic conceptions into the "Real & Robot" theme. The New Microman line became dominated by the Micro Change and Diaclone was dominated by the Car Robot toys. By this point both series greatly lacked any sci-fi futuristic theme that they started out with since the toys had became series of robots disguised as modern day objects. Blockman was designed to fill in the futuristic aspect of Takara sci-fi line and also to take up the 5mm interchangeability that was essentially abandoned by the New Microman series. Blockman then became a true successor line to the 5mm portion of the old Microman. Unfortunately the series was short lived and ended pretty much along with Diaclone and New Microman when Takara opted for the Transformers Super Robot Life series as a sole successor to their sci-fi toy legacy.

Blockman idea was build around small 5cm tall plastic robot "block" with die-cast chest. The robot was essentially New Microman Micro Robot figure that had been turn into "Lego" block brick. There were two basic Blockman core robots : CD-1-L (CD = Combination Droid) Light Duty Function Type (single rectangle grill chest) and CD-1-H Heavy Duty Function Type (two small rectangles chest). While there were only two Blockman they came in multitudes of colors and later even combination of colors. (body and limbs had different colors). These figures were then used as the "core building block" that can be stack together and form various futuristic space ships and robots by combining with special parts, all with 5mm ports and pegs system just like the early Microman toys from 1970's. There was even a plan for friction motor part that looked like an updated version of the old wind-up block used by 1970's Microman Machine Car series. (The part was released for Robolinks line but without the motor). Takara planed to release seven Blockman series (A - G) for Japan market but only series A ,C and G made it to market while the rest were never produced when the line was canceled along with New Microman and Diaclone. Blockman was clearly design to interact with both Microman and Diaclone as evidence by the design aspect of Blockman. All the Blockman parts were fully compatible with pre-Micro Change Microman toys and the cockpits for Blockman toys were done in the same scale as Diaclone pilot figure. (Blockman even came with chrome static pilot figure, it would not be Takara line if they do not get to add some type of chrome parts).

Blockman, like Diaclone and New Microman, was exported outside of Japan when Takara tried to expand their world market share (which was greatly decline after Mego went bankrupt in 1980). Blockman was sold in Europe as "Combination Warrior Blockman" series and the line up was essentially repackaged of Japanese version of Blockman. For USA market, the line was distributed by Revell in 1985 which sold the line under the "Robotech" license which they owned and tried very hard to expand at that time. Blockman became a sub-series to Robotech called the Robolinks series. Most toys were repackaged of Japanese toys but with difference numbering system with exception of Force 50, 51 and 52 which was the unreleased "D" series of Japanese Blockman (but without the motor unit). Curiously, Revel also later sold Blockman in Europe as Robotech Changers. The toys were no longer repackaged of Takara Blockman instead they were produced by Revel in France and made from much inferior materials. The toys in Robotech Changers line were amalgam of the Blockman toys with some added set.

Diaclone

Takara introduced Diaclone in 1981 along with the "New Microman" series as part of the new marketing plan to revamp their sci-fi series.

Transformers

Transformers was probably the most well known of all Microman spin-off toys. Many Diaclone and Microman toys formed the basis for the early Hasbro Transformers line.

Japan Transformers

Takara took Hasbro concept and imported Transformers for Japanese market in 1985. The line eventually replaced both Diaclone and New Microman. Japan Transformers followed its own history and had its own series separated from the US series.

Takara Choro Q

Choro Q was not truly a Microman spin-off toys but came about via Takara Gimca (Microman Titan) cars line. Also Microman Micro Change Mini-CAR are based on these Choro Q toy cars. (Choro Q were sold as Penny Racer in the US)

Takara Choro Q Robo

This was an off-shoot of Choro Q line. Choro Q Robo featured deformed robots that transform into Choro Q vehicles. Takara recently revived the line with new robot characters including the Choro Q Robo Transformers.

Medicom RAH

In 1996, a small company called Medicom began to license Combat Joe body from Takara and produced 12" costume figures much like the old Henshin Cyborg costume line but with modern style and realistic looks. RAH series became very popular and numbered into several hundreds figures. The line is still going strong today.

Medicom RAH 220

RAH 220 was smaller 8" Shonen Cyborg size (220 mm) version of the RAH series. RAH 220 concentrated mainly on characters from Masked Rider TV shows.

Medicom RAH 100

RAH 100 was 10 cm tall "micro" version of Medicom RAH. So far the only series produced was Disney's Tron RAH100.

Bandai Beta Midget

Beta Midget was series of capsule (gashapon) toys designed by long time head of Microman MAFF fan group and produced by Bandai in 2002. The figures were clearly influenced by Microman series right down to the 1:1 scale concept and chrome head.

Takara MYCLONE (Micron) Series 2002-2003

In the summer of 2002, Takara released new series of small figures called MYCLONE (read "micron"). The new series, much like the SCF series, was another attempt by Takara to cash in on the latest collectible craze in Japan. This time the fad was the brick style figure (Lego-like block figure) that made so popular by Medicom's KUBRICK series.

Takara made slight alteration to the standard brick figure and made the MYCLONE series center around the idea of hexagon shape. Each figure had over 15 points of articulations and made from PVC and ABS plastic. MYCLONE figures were design to be fully interchangeable with one another and they were highly details with beautiful clear, painted and even chrome parts. The initial series of MYCLONE were brick-style figures based on Takara early sci-fi properties - Microman and Henshin Cyborg with the Transformers series to follow in 2003.

What made MYCLONE not just another 'clone' of the KUBRICK line was the fact that Takara had incorporate a story line into the series. MYCLONE were not just brick figures of Takara various design but actually a new series with its own little universe. The story was basically a hack of Microman old story combined with some element of Henshin Cyborg and the Transformers. This was quite appropriate since MYCLONE incorporate some elements from Microman such as the interchangeable aspect and each figure even came with the trademark Microman 5mm port in their back!

Aside from sci-fi characters, Takara also released AniMYCLONE - a series of cute animal done in MYCLONE brick style. Takara also added ZenMYCLONE - a wind-up motor MYCLONE robot to the line up for 2003. Takara also released several exclusive MYCLONE figures such as Toys R Us store and Robot Lab store exclusives.

*Note in 2003, Takara decided to change the series designation and split MYCLONE into two separate series MYCLONE-SF series and MYCLONE-TF series. MYCLONE AS-05 Transformers #3 became TF AS-03 and MYCLONE AS-06 became SF AS-03.

MYCLONE Story

They are "Hypercube life MYCLONE" who lives in the Tesserac nebula far from Earth! They combined several material by using the special element "MICLOHEXA" to form their body! MYCLONE is changeable. However bad MYCLONE were manipulated by a darkness nebula emperor. These bad MYCLONE evolved into terrible figures. They began a violence aggression against weak planets! Some of the MYCLONE who have sense of justice stood up against the evil!

Takara - SCF (Super Collection Figures) Series (2000-2001)

In December of 2000 Takara formally entered into the immensely popular collectible segment in Japan of PVC gashapon (capsule) and candy toys with the new line call Super Collection Figures (SCF). The first SCF series revolved around Takara Transformers Generation One property. SCF: Transformers Generation One line was very popular with collectors and already in its fifth series. In 2001, Takara expanded the SCF line to included non-Transformers properties such as Henshin Cyborg and Microman. This new SCF line was call Takara SF Worlds (taking the cue from recent toys book "Takara SF Land").

SCF figurines came in small seal box with content hidden. Each series (called ACT) consisted of twelve standard figurines and two chase (rare) figurines that were randomly inserted into a case of twelve boxes. A case would normally contained all twelve of the standard figurines but some rare case would have one of the standard figure replaced with the rare chase figure. Beside the fourteen figures, each ACT also came with two large Bonus Figures. The Bonus Figures came in multiple parts, with each parts included inside one of the box.

SCF : Takara SF Worlds ACT-1 Henshin Cyborg (10/2001)

ACT-1 of Takara SCF : Takara SF Worlds concentrated mainly on Takara first popular sci-fi line - the Henshin Cyborg. ACT-1 consisted mostly with figurines from Henshin Cyborg line. Nine of the sixteen figures came from Cyborg series with two of them being the chase figures (gray Cyborg1 and blue King Walder, both also came with the arm weapons). Only four of the figures came from Microman line (the barefoot Microman) and one from Microman manga (young boy, Akira Katagai). The two bonus figures came from Diaclone - a clear and a painted version of Diaclone Robotbase. Like Transformers SCF, the bonus figures came as multiple parts distributed in each box (twelve parts in all to make one bonus figure).

A case of ACT-1 came with twelve boxes of SCF figures. A normal case would contained full set of twelve standard figures, however some special cases would have one of the two chase figures (replacing one of the standard figures). Some cases also contained the bonus figures. The bonus figure (Diaclone Robotbase) came in twelve parts, with one part in each box. A full case with bonus figure parts, generally, would give you one complete bonus figure in either the clear or colored version. If the break down was the same as the recent SCF : Transformers ACT-4 then a carton of 10 cases would have 6 cases of just standard figures, 1 case with Gray Cyborg 1 chase figure, 1 Case with blue King Walder chase figure, 4 cases with clear Robotbase bonus figure and 4 cases with colored Robotbase bonus figure. This would made the chase figures about 1:120.

SCF Series - Takara SF World ACT-2 Microman (4/2002)

Act-2 of Takara SF World SCF (Super Collection Figure) shifted the focus to their next sci-fi toys line - Microman. There were total of six figurines from Microman toys line, one from Microman manga and the five came from Henshin Cyborg. The bonus figures were Robotman in painted version and clear version. The bonus figures, like the previous set were split into various parts. However, Robotman only made up six separate parts so only half of the boxes in a display box contained the bonus pieces. There appeared to came in a fix order, the head and chest canopy always came with the Drill Tank (which also contained the body), the arms came with Microman & telephone, and the feet and pelvic came with the Acroyears. Since the body came as part of the Drill Tank, the box with clear Robotman bonus figure would have Clear Drill Tank. The two chase figurines were SAS version of Microman Jack and Green Acroyear. ACT-2 of SCF Takara SF World while provided some interesting look at Takara toys cast in PVC, one can not help but feel Takara could have pick better subject to be depicted in PVC.

Robotman Drill Tank

ACT-2 second main figure was this Robotman Drill Tank. The Drill Tank parts can be removed and the body used to form the bonus figure Robotman. The Drill Tank set also came with head, Microman and canopy parts to make Robotman figure.

Bonus Figure - Robotman

Parts to built Robotman bonus figure came in six separate boxes. (So only six of the twelve boxes in the display carton had the parts for Robotman figure). The feet can be taken apart just like the toys to pose the figure in walking mode. The figure was not very big and only stand about an inch taller than the Yujin gashapon PVC figure. There was also clear version of Robotman bonus figure.

Henshin Cyborg 1 also returned in ACT-2. This time in Super Cool Edition format that depicted Cyborg 1 triumph over Alien Invader Z. There were four versions of Cyborg 1 - gray, gold, silver and blue.

ACT-2 also came with a new Henshin Cyborg figure - Cyborg in Devil-man costume. The figure was pretty much simple PVC figure with no removable parts or articulations. The reason for Devilman was probably to tie in with the recently released Micro Devilman figures.

The Chase Figures

The two chase figures for ACT-2 were SAS Microman Jack and Green Star Acroyear.

Neo Cyborg & Double Nine

Takara revived the Henshin Cyborg series with Neo Henshin Cyborg in 1997 and later with Cyborg Double Nine in 1998. The new series met with only limited success.

Shonen VS KW Jr. Series

In 2000 Takara began another Henshin Cyborg reissued with reissued of Shonen Cyborg (Cyborg-2) along with 8" version of King Walder called KW Jr.

Henshin Collection Series

In 2003, Takara finally reissued Cyborg-1 as part of the new "Henshin Collection" line. Each figure was sold with reissued Henshin Cyborg costume.

Palisades Retro Micronauts

With the big interested in reissue of old toys, Micronauts also made the return in 2002. Palisades produced "retro" version of Mego Micronauts toys.

Transformers Reissued Series

Seeing the popularity of reissued toys, Takara began to reissue vintage Transformers toys in 2000 to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the Transformers. In 2002 the series became TF "Collector's Edition" series and concentrated on new color variants and characters.

Transformers Collection Series

In 2002, Takara launched the "Collection Series" as a new official Transformers reissued line.

TF Commemorative Series

Hasbro released US versions of Takara Reissued Transformers under "Transformers Commemorative Series" banner. The toys were sold as Toys R Us Exclusives.

Binaltech & Masterpiece Series

In 2003, Takara launched new line of Transformers called Binaltech. The new series aimed more at older collectors featured licensed realistic die-cast cars.

Transformers Alternators Series

Hasbro released a plastic version of Binaltech series as Transformers Alternators.

Takara/bbi Cool Girls/Cy Girls

Takara and bbi 12" female action-figure dolls in original and TV shows inspired sci-fi costumes. The line was probably the closest thing to a female Henshin Cyborg.

Takara/bbi X-Borg/Cy Com

X (Cross) Borg was Takara Cool Girls spin-off series of 12" androids that were based on the modified Neo Henshin Cyborg figures. bbi sold the line in the US as Cy Com, also as a spin-off series of their Cy Girls line.