Tag Archives: Micronauts

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0096: Time Traveler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS (PALISADES)

Welcome to Friday everyone! We made it! Hooray!  And I’m here to talk about Micronauts, for a second time in the same week!  Is that even legal?  We’ll find out, I guess.  Here’s a second look at the Time Traveler!

Mego’s Micronauts line of the ‘70s was never a super huge hit, and it was definitely overshadowed by the many toys first toylines of the ‘80s, but it does still have something of a cult following. This cult following helped get the line a relaunch in the early 2000s, courtesy of fan-favorite toy company Palisades. Palisades put a lot of effort into bringing Micronauts back. Sadly, the line was cursed with several pretty awful factory issues, causing the final figures to suffer, hurting the sales of what was already a pretty niche line. This came back to bite Palisades pretty hard, leading to the end of their Micronauts line after just two full series, and their eventual bankruptcy. Kind of a bummer. So hey, how ‘bout those figures, though? Let’s have a look at what is perhaps the most iconic of all Micronauts figures, the Time Traveler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Time Traveler was part of the first series of Palisades’ Micronauts line. The figure was available in four possible color schemes, two transparent and two opaque. This one is the clear translucent one, which is a pretty direct recreation of one of the original Time Travelers, with just a few minor differences. He’s 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation, same as his 70s predecessor. Sculpturally, this figure is more or less identical to the original version, but there are a few differences to note. The real differences are on the head, which is a little thinner than the original and features a higher level of detail work. It’s certainly a higher quality sculpt than the original, though I’m not sure I prefer it to the original. It’s in that weird area of being a more modernized sculpt that still possesses many of the style tics of the vintage toy, but without the nostalgic charm. The Time Traveler possesses no actual paint, but his head and all of his chest plates are done in a nice vac-metalized gold. The golden head is actually another change from the vintage figures, where all of the Time Travelers were silver. While the original Time Traveler figures each only included a single chest plate, chosen at random from the four possible designs, Palisades’ Time Traveler included all four of the original plates, as well as two new designs (though, I could only find four of the chest plates when I went to take the pictures!). My personal favorite is the “windows” piece, but they’re all pretty cool. The Time Traveler also included the L-port piece from the original figure, as well as a black display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Palisades’ Micronauts line, amongst other things, was not super easy to find, especially before the introduction of all the online toy buying options we now have. I did end up finding a Time Traveler at an out of the way toy store around the time of release, but it wasn’t this one. Unfortunately, the first series figures were incredibly fragile and he ended up breaking, which was a definite bummer. I ended up getting this guy many years later, courtesy of the Toy Robot Museum, near Allentown, PA. Even with all of the factory issues and the slight changes from the originals, this guy’s a lot of fun, and I’m definitely glad I managed to find one.

In October of 2015, I decided to rip the band-aid off on discussing Palisades’ Micronauts, and really did just jump right into it there, huh?  Back when they were new, I was downright obsessed with the Palisades run, but I only owned four of them during the line’s actual run. It was ultimately better that way, I think, because it’s a frustrating line.   My review holds up fine, but I was missing two of the chest plates at the time, which I’ve since found again.  Unfortunately, in the mean time, he’s also succumb to the dreaded Series 1 quality control issues, and one of his elbow joints has cracked, so these new photos are *very* carefully staged.  I do still love these figures, but it’s definitely better from afar.

#4146: Acroyear & Time Traveler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ACROYEAR & TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGURES (SUPER 7)

The list of current toy lines I’m actively invested in these days is a very short one.  Mostly, it’s the McFarlane Super Powers and Super 7’s Micronauts.  I’ve loved Micronauts since I was a kid, but it’s been a lot of loving from afar, because vintage pieces in good shape are tricky, and the attempts at reviving the brand can be even trickier.  But, it does seem like Super 7’s been having some success with their go at it, and I’ve been immensely enjoying that, so here I am, looking at the next two offerings in the line, an Acroyear and another Time Traveler!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Acroyear and Time Traveler make up the sixth series of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures line.  If you’ve been following my reviews, you might notice a skip from Series 4 to Series 6; I didn’t miss any figures, but Super 7 apparently counted the SDCC re-packs of Biotron and Karza in new boxes as a “series,” so here we are.

ACROYEAR

Hey, it’s a new mold!  Yay!  Counting the SDCC set, we’ve had two sets in a row that were re-used molds, but we finally get a new one, in the form of the Acroyear.  The Acroyear is one of the signature designs of the original line, forming the backbone of the villainous side, equivalent to the Time Traveller on the side of the heroes (though neither *really* fit those roles in the associated fiction).  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  The original Acroyear (whose mold I looked at via the Palisades Battle Acroyear release) used a solid construction mix of plastic a die-cast, rather than the o-ring construction of others from the line.  As with all the other non-o-ring figures from this line, for this release, he’s been migrated to the o-ring construction.  That said, unlike the “trons” and magnetic figures, this figure maintains the outer appearance and scaling of the original, with one the internals and articulation scheme actually changing.  Mostly, it means he gains swivels on the upper arm and wrists, as well as movement at the waist, while removing the movement on the shins.  While I miss the shin swivels (and the transformation gimmick that accompanied them), I do really like the new joints on the arms.  He also still gets the wheels on the bottoms of the feet, which are quite a lot of fun.  As with many of the original Mego Micronauts, Acroyear was offered in multiple colors, specifically pink, green, and blue.  This release goes with the blue, which isn’t quite the standard, but is a good look, and one I rather like.  The blue chrome looks very slick, and honestly is a lot more saturated than I’d expected.  Acroyear is packed with his wing pack and a small dagger.  The wing pack is scaled down a bit from the vintage (and Palisades) counterparts, but still looks the part.  The turbines are now a removable element, if you’re into that sort of thing.  The dagger matches well with the original, and it’s fine, though I do kind of miss the Palisades-style sword.

TIME TRAVELER

The first Time Traveler release in this line did two of the original four colors at once.  The follow-up did one additional color.  It didn’t take much of a fortune teller to guess there’d be at least one more.  We got blue, yellow, and orange, so the only one missing was clear, which is the one we got here.  Honestly, the clear’s kind of the go-to look for the “main” Time Traveler, so it’s probably the most essential of the bunch.  As with the orange Traveler from Series 4, the mold here seems to be slightly degraded from the Series 3 releases, which were just a bit crisper.  It’s still not a bad mold, though.  This one gets the fourth chest-plate design, the “radio dials” piece, rounding out the set of chest-plates.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The last set of these felt a lot more like playing it safe, so I was definitely hoping for something a little more adventurous this time around.  The Time Traveler was pretty much a lock, but the Acroyear was definitely on my short list of hopes.  I was very happy to see the announcement, and it was honestly kind of crazy that they were just available and in stock with no prior announcement.  The Acroyear is very much the star here.  I love the look, and the changes work well.  I look forward to buying this in the additional two colors, presumably over the course of the next two sets.  Retread though he may be, I do really like the Time Traveler, and I’m glad to have rounded out the four core color variants.  I’m curious if they’ll do the opaque variants, but I’m honestly hoping for a break from the Travelers for a minute, because I desperately need a Space Glider update.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0094: Space Glider

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

SPACE GLIDER

MICRONAUTS (MEGO)

Hey, ho, it’s Friday, you guys!  That means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  This week, we’re taking a jump back to a line I haven’t jumped back to before, Micronauts, with the guy what glides through space, Space Glider!

One line that I am surprised I haven’t talked about more on this site is Micronauts. Before I was firmly on the Minimates train, there were few lines that filled me with as much joy as Micronauts. For those of you that don’t know, Micronauts began its life as a Japanese toyline called Henshin Cyborg, which were actually the Japanese equivalent of the original GI Joes. Toymaker Takara decided to make a line of smaller scale figures, called Microman. In 1976, US toymaker Mego decided to import the line under the title Micronauts. The figures are some of the earliest 3 ¾ inch figures, and they ended up having quite a few lasting contributions to toys in general, even if the Micronauts themselves may not be as widely remembered. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s heroic characters, the Space Glider!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Space Glider was released in the first series of Mego’s Micronauts line. He was available in three different colors: Blue, Green, and Yellow. In case you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one being reviewed is blue. The Space Glider is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation. It’s also worth noting that, aside from the head and hands, the whole figure is made from die cast metal. It means the figure is pretty darn sturdy, and he has quite a bit of heft to him. Space Glider was an import of the Super Steel Microman M21X, from the Microman line. His sculpt is essentially the same. While the sculpt does show its age a bit, it’s certainly well done for the time. The torso and arms have lots of hard angles, which look really good. His head is a great, generic “70s space hero” look, although the vac-metalizing has made some of the details a little soft. This figure has some definite style to it, which really makes it stand out. The paint work on the Space Glider is fairly basic, but well done. All of the blue areas are done with a very nice metallic sheen, and the color is nice and evenly applied. Everything else is pretty much just molded in the proper color, but it looks good. The Space Glider included a helmet and a wingpack, both of which are sadly missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the Space Glider from the Antique Depot, an antique store not far from where I live. I saw him while walking through during Ellicott City’s annual Midnight Madness event. The Space Glider has long been my favorite of Micronauts figure, but I had never had one of the originals. With some light prodding from my friends Tim and Jill, I purchased the figure. The Space Glider really holds up. He’s a really strong figure, and he’s just a lot of fun!

I ran this review the day after Christmas in 2014, and in fact wrote it a few days before.  I used to go out of town with my family for the holidays, which meant not having ready access to my photo tent set-up, so no new photos could be taken until after we got back, so I’d have a small handful of figures that would sort of fill-in.  This guy, and the Time Traveller bought at the same time, were sort of the perfect set-up, having been bought at the beginning of the month.  In terms of the actual review, well, I think it does hold up alright.  He’s got sort of a kitschy quality about him that’s always fun.  Since I bought him loose at an antique store, he didn’t have his helmet or wing pack at the time, and in fact spent a good while with some Palisades pieces standing in on the shelf, but I finally broke down and bought proper replacements a few months back.  I really do love this figure, and he holds up really well for a figure that’s 50 years old this year.

#4090: Phobos & Time Traveler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

PHOBOS & TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGURES (SUPER 7)

These Micronauts reviews are just becoming a downright regular feature these days, aren’t they? I can’t say I’m all that displeased about this development.  Super 7 has actually been having some decent luck with their relaunch of the brand, in contrast to just about everyone else that’s tried, and I have to kind of admire them for that.  Or, at the very least, reward them by, you know, actually buying the product.  It’s really the best I can offer.  So, let’s look at the latest Micronauts that I bought!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Phobos and Time Traveler (Orange) are the fourth series of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures line.  After jumping up to three figures for the last set, we’re back to two for this round, which is sort of interesting, because there were two Time Travelers last time, and there were two Time Traveler colors left, but only one is present here.  Maybe they’re just trying to space them out for more usage of the mold? Maybe there’s already a plan for a totally new mold next assortment and they’re using the last color to offset it? I don’t know, and I don’t want to get myself to worked up about it, I guess.  These are the two we got, and I’m focusing on them.  They’re a pretty quick turnaround, hitting about a month or so after the last set.

PHOBOS

Mego was big on re-using parts as much as they could, and Micronauts did a lot of that.  One of the notable moves they had on getting more use out of the “Trons” was to give them each a nemesis.  Biotron’s was Phobos, more of a playset/vehicle like Biotron in the original line.  But, with Biotron scaled downwards for this line, Phobos has been sized to match….mostly because he’s just re-using the same parts.  Like his vintage counterpart, Phobos is identical to Biotron from the neck down.  It was a good sculpt the first time, and it remains a good sculpt here.  Topping it off is a brand-new head sculpt, based on Phobos’ distinctive two-faced head from the original.  It’s quite a piece of beauty; both sides of the original are present, in quite a faithful, if scaled down, recreation.  Phobos’s color work is generally a good recreation of the original.  Mostly, he relies on molded colors, and he also gets some chroming for his head and hands.  Technically, the sides of his torso should also be chromed, but as they’re no longer separate parts like the original, they’re just painted silver, much the same as they were on Biotron.

TIME TRAVELER

With only two Time Traveler colors the first time around, it’s not even remotely surprising that he’s getting a follow-up.  He’s sort of a signature of the line and all.  This time around, he’s the orange one.  Very different.  Obviously, he’s mostly a parts re-use from the other two.  I did really like the sculpt the first two times, and that’s still true now.  I did notice, however, that the head’s a lot softer this time around; I wonder if they’re suffering from some mold degradation already?  As with the other two, the only sculptural difference here is his chest plate, which is the “volt meter” design from the original, which is also my personal favorite. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If I’m honest, I was a *tad* let down by this set’s announcement.  It’s my own fault.  After Series 3, I was filling my head with visions of King Atlas, the Green Baron, and Space Glider.  This pair is…a more realistic outcome.  Honestly, in hand, I still really like them.  Phobos is downright fantastic, and I’ll never knock getting another Time Traveler.  I’m certainly hoping for something slightly more adventurous for the next set, but these aren’t bad at all.

#4074: Emperor & Time Travelers

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

EMPEROR & TIME TRAVELERS

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGURES (SUPER 7)

Well, it was a six month break between reviews last time, but this time around, you only have to wait two weeks for more Micronauts.  Did you want more Micronauts?  I hope so, because I have more Micronauts.  So, there’s gonna be more.  That’s just how it is.  Anyway, let’s just jump right into these guys, and see how they turned out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Emperor, Time Traveler (Blue), and Time Traveler (Yellow) make up the third series of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures line.  While prior assortments only had two figures, this one is three, as we’ve doubled up on the Time Traveler.  The next assortment is back to two, so I can’t say I quite understand the change, but I shan’t complain.

EMPEROR

“Despite his imposing appearance, Emperor rules over the heroic Micronauts in their battle against Baron Karza and his Acroyear.  His true nature and goals for the Microverse after defeating Karza are known only to himself.  Many speculate whether his aims are for good or evil.”

While the figures in the line up to this point have all been the early bulk of the original line, real flagship figures, this one marks a change up, based instead on the 1980/1981 Magno Emperor, a rather rare piece from the original run, post-Mego, with a much wider release in Italy than in the US.  Palisades also included him in their ill-fated line, but that one may well be rarer than the original.  His bio up there suggests he’s not a villain, something not really pulled from any source I’m aware of, and also seemingly at odds with the back of the package, which gives him the same red background as Karza, rather than the blue used by all the others.  Also, I guess “Emperor” is his name, rather than a title, given the lack of a “the” in front of it?  Guy named Emperor becoming a ruler feels a bit on the nose, but maybe it’s a common name in the Microverse, like Jeff.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Much like his original release, this figure is the same as Karza and Force Commander from the neck down.  It remains a good sculpt, and I can’t really raise any complaints.  He does get a new head sculpt, which seems like a pretty good rendition of his original look, scaled well to the existing body mold.  He also gets a vinyl cape, which isn’t quite as impressive as the sculpted piece from his original, but still does the job pretty well, especially for the scale.  His color work features vac metallization on the torso and pelvis, which adds a pretty cool bit of pop, and separates him a bit more from Karza’s design.  He’s packed with the same backpack as Karza and Force Commander, as well as a sword.  The sword is neat, but I do miss the distinctive hand guard from the vintage figure.

TIME TRAVELERS

“The Time Travelers can move forward and backward in time.  They see possible futures, and when they detect a threat to the Microverse, they take steps counter that threat.  In their Temple of Time, they sift through clues and formulate strategies.”

The Time Traveler is kind of the signature figure of the original run, so it’s admittedly a little bit surprising that it’s taken until wave 3 to get him, but at the same time, given *everyone* has him, usually in multiples, I suppose it’s okay to hold out a bit.  Super 7 did at least come out swinging, though, with two color variants at once.  He’s also the first of the proper 3 3/4 inch figures from the original run to be transferred over here.  His construction is more like the o-ring Joes that followed the vintage line, than the original.  He lacks the interchangeable hands and feet and associated articulation, but does gain the bicep swivels that have become standard for the style.  He’s also a little bulkier than the original, making him feel generally sturdier, and his head sculpt sports a sharper selection of details.  Like the original release, the Time Traveler has a removable torso plate, with two options available, updates of the “windows” and “log cabin” looks.  They’re not compatible with the originals, but work on the same basic design philosophy.  In terms of coloring, he’s operating on the original translucent and chrome set-up, with both blue and yellow offered here.  I’m partial to the blue, but I dig them both in their own way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After kind of sleeping on the first two rounds of these, this was the assortment that really got me motivated to jump in right away.  I’ve always wanted an Emperor in some form and I’m a sucker for the Time Traveler.  So, I snagged them from Entertainment Earth as soon as they dropped.  I really like them.  Honestly, I’ve been liking the line ore and more as its moved along, and each further release makes me like the prior ones even more.  While I’ll admit the next wave doesn’t quite excite me as much, I’m still very much excited by the prospect of more.  With a figure like Emperor, I have hope we might see King Atlas or the Green Baron to keep the mold going, and the Time Traveler makes me want to see how a Space Glider might turn out.  All in all, I do really love this set.

#4066: Force Commander & Microtron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

FORCE COMMANDER & MICROTRON

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGRURES (SUPER 7)

Back in December of last year, I got to take my first look at Super 7’s revival of Micronauts, a brand with a history of really struggling, not just at retail, but also behind the scenes.  Despite all that, it seems like Super 7’s had at least a little more luck than others, and they’ve even managed to get through multiple rounds of follow-ups.  I’ve finally pulled myself together and jumped on board for those, so today, I’m taking a look at the second round of figures, Force Commander and Microtron!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Force Commander and Microtron are Series 2 of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures, which like the first series, is an o-ring construction based line.  And, much like the first series, both figures included were larger scale, non-o-ring figures in the vintage line, in a sort of reversal of things.

FORCE COMMANDER

“Force Commander, ruler of Homeworld, the Capitol of the Microverse under the rule of Baron Karza.  Captured and merged with his horse Oberon in the Body Banks, he temporarily became a centaur-like being.  As Force Commander, he was a leader of the rebellion against Baron Karza.”

Karza’s opposite number (at least in the toyline; the fiction never really treated him as such, more often treating him as somewhat misguided and out of touch), Force Commander’s original figure jointed the vintage line in its second year, alongside the Baron.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Force Commander and Karza have classically shared most of their parts, and this release is no exception.  From the neck down, he’s identical to the Series 1 Karza, which is accurate, and also not a bad thing, since the Karza sculpt is really quite nice.  He has a new head sculpt.  There are two head variants on the original figure, and Super 7’s gone with Hong Kong-produced version with larger eyes and rebreather.  It’s the generally more “on-model” of the two, and looks a bit better, so it’s the right choice.  The sculpt is clean and sharp and fits well with the rest of the mold.  Force Commander’s color work is pretty much the same set-up as Karza, just swapping out white plastic for the black plastic.  I think it ends up rather striking.  Force Commander has a backpack piece, modeled on his original rocket pack, now as a simple plug-in back pack.

MICROTRON

“Microtron has been Princess Mari’s diminutive roboid attendant since her birth.  He is equipped with an interlingual translator.  He never abandons her while she joins the underground and the Micronauts fighting Baron Karza.”

As with Biotron from Series 1, the original Microtron was less a figure himself and more a vehicle/accessory to the main figures from the line. He was much larger in scale, and had features like a seat that flipped out of the top of his head.  Just like Biotron, the comics would shrink him down significantly to better interact with the other characters, which the toys never really replicated.  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  While the original figure had no real movement below the shoulders, this figure uses the o-ring construction to give him movement at the waist, and he’s also got swivels at the “hips” on the tops of the treads, so there’s some more room for tweaking his posing there.  The sculpt is a pretty respectable recreation of the original, just shrunk down and made more posable.  His color scheme is particularly eye-catching, and like Biotron, he gets to dabble in the signature Mircronauts chrome a bit, albeit not for the head, but rather his visor and arms.  It’s quite a fun look, and it gives him a lot of pop that might get lost if he were just relying on painted silver.  The original Microtron had a number of swappable parts, but this release just grants him his drill piece.  It’s chromed as well, and you can still place it in its original (somewhat unfortunate) spot on the front of the pelvis, or in any of the 5mm sockets on the front or back of the torso.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the first series, I kind of dragged my feet on getting these, and I don’t really know why exactly I did that, but I finally bought them, and now here they are.  Back in the Palisades days, I really wanted a Force Commander, but was never able to get one, so I’m happy to finally have the chance here.  Karza was neat, but I like Force Commander just a little bit better.  Microtron is just a cool little robot guy, and I can never really complain about getting one of those.  Despite the delay in getting them, I think this one’s a bit more exciting for me than the first.

#3975: Baron Karza & Biotron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BARON KARZA & BIOTRON

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGURES (SUPER 7)

While I’ve discussed Microman relatively recently here on the site, it’s been since 2018 that I’ve properly talked about the line’s American cousin, Micronauts.  Micronauts is kind of the story of defeat in the face of defeat.  Though quite successful when brought to the US by Mego in the late ‘70s, it was ultimately ahead of its time, and got lost in the shuffle into Star Wars at the end of the decade. The line sort of disappeared domestically, with an attempted revival in the ‘90s by Takara, and an actual (but very ill-fated) revival by Palisades in the ‘00s, which wound up going so badly it killed the company.  SOTA proposed another revival that went nowhere, and then Hasbro bought the brand, did, like, two things with it, and then abandoned all their plans, including an entire, completed cartoon.  Hasbro started sub-licensing out some of their brands to Super 7, and Micronauts got mixed in, so we’re getting *something* at least.  So, far overdue, I’m taking a look at Super 7’s takes on Baron Karza and Biotron!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Baron Karza and Biotron make up the first series of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures.  Like the ReAction+ G.I. Joes, these ones are o-ring construction, rather than the standard 5-poa set-up of earlier ReAction offerings.  In the vintage line, both Karza and Biotron were larger, non-o-ring figures, but in the Marvel comics, both of them were the same general size as the other characters, so these figures allow them to interact with the more standard sized figures from the vintage line.

BARON KARZA

The original Karza was one of the line’s magnetic construction figures, much like the Red Falcon I reviewed.  He maintained the same general structure, but was larger, and had a tendency to fall apart a lot.  This one simply takes the design of that one, in its full, predating Darth Vader by a number of years, glory, and moves it to a more conventional construction.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  His sculpt is new (though most of it, much like his vintage counterpart, is shared with the second series’ Force Commander figure), and it’s a solid match for the original in terms of styling.  It’s got a good, classic, retro sci-fi appearance, which is incredibly distinctive.  The slightly more geometric shaping of the sculpt, while slightly odd on the Joes, is totally at home on a character like Karza.  He doesn’t come apart like the original, which is a blessing and a curse, since it means he loses a feature, but he’s also sturdier for it.  He’s got rather basic color work, but the essentials are covered, and he’s even got silver detailing where the original magnets would have been.  Karza was packed with a backpack, modeled on the rocket packs from the original, but now as one single piece.

BIOTRON

Biotron was notable in his original incarnation for being less of a figure proper, and more of a playset/vehicle for the standard figures.  In order to allow him to more easily with the main characters of the comic, he was shrunk down to a regular size (the later “Biotron II” was the size of the actual toy).  The revisits to the original line have never gathered enough success to get to anything larger than the magnetic figures, so he’s had no coverage since the vintage line.  This figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  While he doesn’t have the bicep swivels like Karza, he does have wrist swivels, which are fun.  His sculpt takes the elements of the vintage figure, and puts them onto a fully articulated frame, which is very fun.  While he’s obviously not large enough to house a full-sized figure like the original, the chest hatch is still removable, so you could *conceivably* put a micro figure of some sort in there.  The color work on Biotron is very bright and eye-catching.  He brings back the trademark Micronauts chrome, for the head and hands, which is always very fun.  He’s packed with a backpack, which looks like the original Biotron’s back wheels, and is also chromed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wanted to jump on these right away, but admittedly, I’ve been burned before by Micronauts relaunches, so I was apprehensive, and then I got distracted, and then it was most of the year over, and I realized I just never bought them.  The weekend after Thanksgiving, Cards, Comics, and Collectibles always does a huge storewide sale, which I haven’t been able to make it to in well over a decade.  But, I finally had the time this year, and intermingled with a bunch of stuff for Matty, I snagged these two for a very good price.  They’re quite a neat pair, and I’m happy I finally got them.  Now I feel like I need to get the second set.  Also, I know it’s virtually impossible, but I would kill for a Bug and Marionette in this style.

#3947: Magne Arthur

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MAGNE ARTHUR

MICROMAN MAGNE POWER (TAKARA)

In the ‘90s, teams of colorful heroes imbued with weird fantasy powers were all the rage.  Well, Power Rangers was all the rage, and a lot of other people wanted that success for themselves, so other stuff became very Power Rangers-like.  Takara’s Microman, descendant of G.I. Joe and progenitor to Transformers, decided to give the whole thing a try, as well as throwing in a bit of a scale shift.  The result was Microman Magne Power, a brief run on the line at the tail end of the decade.  Today, I’m looking at the central member of this incarnation’s core team, Magne Arthur!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magne Arthur was figure 001 in Takara’s Microman Magne Power series.  He was the first of the figures that debuted the line at the very end of 1998, and helped to establish the line’s new style.  The figure stands abut 3 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  As with the rest of the figures in this line, Arthur was scaled down from Microman’s usual 3 3/4-inch set-up, with the in-universe explanation being that these guys came from a  different Micro Earth than the original line’s figures, following up on the slightly smaller vintage Micro Hoodmen, who shrank themselves further to conserve resources.  His sculpt is largely the same as the other four core figures from the line, albeit with a unique head.  Arthur’s head was especially unique amongst the launch figures, as he didn’t have a helmet like the other four, instead just getting a set of funky headphones.  It’s ultimately a sculpt that’s a bit more in keeping with the earlier Microman figures in that regard.  From the neck down, he’s the same as the others, with the same kind of dated, bulky and boxy sort of body sculpt.  As the leader guy of a team of chromatically themed heroes in the ‘90s, Arthur was obviously predominantly red, which is done in a nice translucent plastic.  He’s also got white and dark grey accenting, and of course the usual chromed head.  As with all the basic figures, he had no accessories, but did have magnets in his torso, right arm, and feet, so you can stick him to all manner of metal surfaces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After discovering this line’s existence from the Micronauts guy at Mego Meet in 2011, I jumped pretty quickly on finding what I could of the line domestically.  Thankfully, Big Bad Toy Store had a rather nice selection of figures for pretty cheap at the time, so I was able to get the whole core set without much trouble.  Arthur is the most standard of the set, and that makes him the easiest for taking in the whole of what the line meant to be.  It’s not quite the success that Takara was hoping for, but it’s still a fun little set to look back at, and Arthur is a nice central piece.

#3888: Magne Edison

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MAGNE EDISON

MICROMAN MAGNE POWER (TAKARA)

The success of GI Joe in the ‘60s in the US led, unsurprisingly, to an export of the line to other countries.  Nowadays, lines are largely produced by one company even internationally, but there was a lot more licensing out back in the day.  Palitoy had great success with Action Man, a line that stuck pretty close to the spirit of the original line.  In Japan, however, Takara had to get a little more inventive.  As materials were scarcer, the figures could not be easily clothed, so to avoid selling a naked figure, the molded them in clear plastic and filled the hollow sections with “machinery,” creating Henshin Cyborg. It was quite a success, leading to the creation of a smaller scale equivalent, Microman.  That line would itself be imported back to the US by Mego as Micronauts, which picked up a dedicated following.  There have been attempts at relaunching Micronauts over the years, always falling shy of success.  The first of these attempts was in the late ‘90s, by Takara themselves.  But, when a US market failed to materialize, the Micronauts angle was dropped, leaving just the Microman component.  Alas.  Well, at least there were cool toys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Edison is figure 004 in Takara’s Microman Magne Power line, released in 1999.  He’s the second to last of the five-man team that made up the core focus of this new line.  The figure is about 3 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  The Magne Power line was unique in its scaling; they weren’t the traditional 3 3/4 inch figures, but a bit smaller.  All of the original five were identical sculpts from the neck down.  It’s a sculpt that’s certainly a product of its time, with some rather pronounced proportions, and the very awkward magnet arm attachment on the left arm that removes the elbow joint.  It’s an interesting offering, especially so close to the immensely revamped Microman base body Takara would transition to very shortly after.  It feels like the last hurrah of the older style.  Each of them got a unique head.  In Edison’s case, it’s a helmet, patterned on a sort of grasshopper style.  It’s a little goofy, but certainly fun.  Edison’s primary color is green, so there’s a lot of that.  He’s got a mix of translucent and opaque, as well as some yellow and gold accenting.  And, of course, he’s got the chrome head, which is always super cool.  The standard figures didn’t get any extras, but they do have magnets in their left hands and torsos, which are fun for sticking them to fridges or metal shelves and the like.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since the US distribution failed on these, they were kind of unknown on this side of the world.  I only learned about them in 2011, when the Micronauts guy at Mego Meet brought up the planned relaunch of the line in his presentation, and had Edison as his sample figure for what the line looked like.  I was intrigued, and also happy to find that they weren’t an especially expensive line of figures.  Edison’s got a neat vibe, similar to Bug from the Marvel tie-in comics, and I really like that.  He definitely appeals to what I loved about the original line.

#1584: Red Falcon

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

RED FALCON

MICRONAUTS (PALISADES)

“The most fantastic and elaborate of the original Micronauts figure line, this winged warrior was dubbed “The Prince of the Micronauts” and – like Emperor – plays a mysterious role in the Microverse.  Red Falcon transforms as occasions or battles require, becoming an avenging angel or transforming into a stellar warbird with Hypersonic Missile Launchers.  The prize of the classic Magna-Powered Micronaut series, he returns to a new century with a new weapon and fantastic new colors.”

I’ve delved into the sad tale of Palisades’ Micronauts line twice before, with one figure from the first series and one from the first and a half series (just go with it).  Today, I jump forward one more series, looking into one of Palisades’ final offerings from the line, Red Falcon.  Red Falcon?  Wait, isn’t that the Marvel comics character?  No, wait, that’s just the Falcon, and he’s mostly red.  This guy’s blue.  Does that make him Blue Falcon?  No, because then Hannah Barbera’s gonna be all mad and poor Dyno-Mutt will be confused.  This is RED FALCON, the Micronauts character.  Who, inexplicably, doesn’t actually have much red going on.  Try not to think about it too much, okay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Falcon was part of Series 2 of Palisades’ Micronauts, which, thanks to some rough circumstances surrounding the line, actually ended up as the third assortment of figures to hit retail.  Unlike his vintage counterpart, which only had one color scheme, this Red Falcon was available in three different color schemes: the classic primary colored scheme (seen in this review), a green and bronze scheme, and a translucent red/yellow scheme.  The classic scheme was the heaviest packed, followed by the green, and finally the red.  Yes, that’s right, the red Red Falcon was the chase.  Good times.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation (you could add two more points to that for the wings, but when plugged into his back, they don’t really move).  Red Falcon was one of the lager Magna-Powered Micronauts, in the same style established by the likes of Baron Karza and Force Commander.  In addition to his larger size, he also featured a magnetically attached head and limbs.  It’s an interesting gimmick, but has the unintended side-effect of causing him to fall apart a lot.  He also had rocket fists, which, while cool, also means his hands pop out a lot.  What I’m getting at here is that he falls apart a lot.  But, the important thing here is that he also goes back together, which was more than could be said about the Series 1 figures.  Palisades made tweaks to their Micronauts to distinguish them from their Mego counterparts, but Red Falcon was probably one of the least changed, I’m sure largely due to how rare the original figure was in the States.  Red Falcon’s sculpt is definitlet one of my favorites from the line.  Though he still keeps much of the Micronauts aesthetic, there’s no denying that Red Falcon showed a lot more Japanese influence than many of the line’s offerings.  His head in particular brings to mind a lot of classic anime, and even a little bit of a super sentai vibe.  This is a guy wouldn’t look out of place fighting the likes of Ultraman or the Power Rangers, or helping out Astro Boy.  As with all Micronauts, this sculpt is definitely a product of the time it came from, but there’s a definite charm to the clean, smooth, line work of this guy.  of course, there are still a lot of small details that are a lot of fun, especially the fully detailed mechanics under his clear torso.  Paint is at a minimum on this guy; he’s mostly just molded in the appropriate colors.  He’s definitely very vibrant, though, and the chrome on the torso does a great job of tying him back to the rest of the line.  In terms of extras, Red Falcon was pretty well-off.  He gets his big-ass sword (which is chrome and oh-so-cool), as well as the new cannon piece that matches it.  Also included are the pieces to turn him into his actual bird form.  Yes, Red Falcon was one of the earliest examples of a transformer.  Of course, it’s really rudimentary.  Essentially, you just pop off the head and limbs and put on the bird pieces in their place.  The only shared piece is the torso, and if you’re clever, you can even assemble the pieces without that, giving Red Falcon a cool companion.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Falcon was one of my earlier Micronauts.  I was fascinated with the original, but obviously he wasn’t available to me.  So, the re-release was at the top of my list, and he was my second purchase (after a Series 1 Time Traveler, and at the same time as Series 1.5’s Time Medic).  But here’s the thing: remember how I mentioned he fell apart really easily?  Well, I was twelve when I got him, and not quite so careful with my figures as I am now.  Needless to say, my original figure is no doubt scattered throughout various sections of my parents’ house.  During my collecting renaissance the summer after my first year of college, I decided I ordered a replacement, though I assumed I’d be getting the green variant.  Instead, this guy showed up, and I wasn’t even mad.  In fact, I was quite the opposite.  This figure remains one of my favorite Micronauts, challenged only by Battle Acroyear.