|
|
Original Microman Series 1976 MAT & Spy Magician |
MAT/Spy Magician |
|||||||||
|
1974 Microman Zone
1975 Project Victory
1976 The line finally came into its own during the third year with new figures and the classic Microman Transfer Fortress.
1977 Command
1978 Takara tried new designs and directions for the series with the release of Hoodman and Arden.
1979 Rescue Team
1980 Punch & Blizzard Man
New Microman Series
1981 New Microman
1982 Micro Robot
1983 Micro Change
1984 Takara continued with the successful Micro Change series but the changing of the guard was inevitable. |
In 1976 Takara also introduced a new Microman ally called the Titans which employed a magnetic ball joint system known as "magnemo". The Magnemo System was another Takara toy line designed for Kotetsu Geeg, a TV show. Acroyear also got reintroduced but this time with a separate designation from Microman instead of "M", they got an "A" prefix instead. Takara's plan was to promote these three Microman sub-series under the MAT campaign (MAT stands for Microman-Acroyear-Titan) using the roundel logo with cartoon drawings of the characters from respective series denoted by their initial lettering on the chest.
Takara also released a new type of Microman toy - the Spy Magician. The series idea started with the release of the Spy Heli vehicle and Spy Micro-Kit Machines (repaint of the Micro-Kit Machine from 1974) The Spy Series would be expanded to include two new Microman types and half a dozen of Spy Car vehicles. The theme behind Spy Magician was one of the highlights of Microman's line feature, with no anime or TV tie-in, the series could take the current fad or popular trend and turn them into theme for Microman's series. This year the fad was the secret agent and the magic act, so by combining the two, Takara came up with this new Microman series.
The later part of 1976, saw an addition to the Titan series with Titan 2. Titan 2 came with two types of accessories - a race car or a flying saucer. (They were the only Microman series with two separate designations but shared the same exact body.) The Acroyears also made the return with the third member - President Acroyears. Acroyears also got their own "magnemo" series under the Uniquer Force name. As part of the Victory Project, Takara also expanded the Microman figure line-up with "character tie-in" Microman figures - Microman Geeg, Mini Mechadon Robotman, and Mini-Robotman. Takara also released Robotman Gakeen and Robotman Mechadon as part of the Robotman line. This year the vehicles line up included several repaints of the old toy. Aside from three Micro Kit Machines from 1974 that got reissued as Micro-Kit Spy Machines, the Mecha-Cosmo Micro-Escargot from last year was retooled and sold as Spy Boy Baseball Machines. While the vehicle lineup was quite limited, this year saw the release of the popular Microman Base - the Transfer Fortress. In 1976 also had several significant developments, first Takara commissioned a new Microman comic (manga) for TV Magazine comic book, and Mego, a US toys company, licensed the Microman line to be released in the US and the rest of the world as the Micronauts.
Spy Magician Story Spy Magicians were members of Microman who station near the beach where the Acroyears were lurking. They have a long history of fighting against the Acroyears as spies. They established MCIA (*Microman Central Intelligence Agency) where they trained a prospective Microman in the art of Spy and Magic. After the Microman passed the trial at the end of the training session they were given a bracelet, a magic wand and a title of Spy Magician. Takara build on this concept by including with each Spy Magician figures a training kit consisted of training "manual" and extra sets of bracelets and wands so kid could then used them to "upgrade" their older Microman by training him to become a Spy Magician. |
|
|||||||||
