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1980 Blizzard & Punch

1980 Microman Punch Series

Microman Blizzard B-1 Pallas, B-2 Juno, B-3 Vesta with Scorpio and B-4 Ceres with Aquarius (c.1980)

Packages

B-1 & B-2 came in a small box.  The box has artist rendering of Blizzard-man and photo of the toy that came inside.

B-3 & B-4 came in bigger box to accommodate extra accessory - the Mystery Ship. 

Accessories

Each Microman Blizzard came with the shooting spin-wheel accessories.  When the front section of the cannon is remove it can be replace with spin-wheel adapter.  The spin-wheel shoot when the motor is turn on.  The spin-wheels came in matching color as the propeller and hose on the Cyclone Cannon.

Microman Blizzard Story

Microman Blizzards were Microman that escaped to Gauss Star after Micro Earth explosion.  Microman Blizzard are encased in strong armor that can withstand the Super Plasma Ray blast from the Emperor Death King.  Blizzards come equip with Cyclone Cannon that can chilled object to 270 times below the freezing point.

 (Side note - the name Gauss Star most likely came from Carl F. Gauss, a German mathematician and astronomer who did extensive works on the study of magnetism and who also calculated the exact position of asteroid Ceres.  Today a unit of magnetic fields intensity is call the gauss.  It is quite interesting to see that Takara did not randomly named Microman Blizzards but picked names and story to tie in with this year theme of magnetic power.  The names for each member of Blizzard also came from the names of major asteroids as a tribute to Gauss discover of Ceres)

Takara released Microman Blizzard in 1980 at the end of the Original Microman series.  Microman Blizzard design, like Microman Punch, was a big departure from typical Microman figure.  Microman Blizzards are quite big and stand almost 6" tall.  Their feet are permanently mounted to the hover craft and their hands are also permanently connected to their weapon - Blizzard Cyclone Cannon. 

Microman Blizzard have the distinction of being  the only "motorized" Microman figures released by Takara.  Their backpack can house two AA batteries and their Blizzard Cyclone Cannon contains very powerful motor.   When the power is on, Microman Blizzard would move across the smooth surface using vibration from the motor.   The motion is facilitated by the rows of hard plastic bristles under their feet.

B-3 Vesta and Mystery Jet.  Microman Blizzard can be detach at the waist and split in half.  The Cyclone Cannon act as motor for the Mystery Jet.  The vehicle has self-turning wheels underneath.  

Takara released total of four Microman Blizzards which were designated as B-1 Paris (green), B-2 Juno (red), B-3 Vesper (orange) and B-4 Ceres (blue).  The last two, B-3 & B-4 came with additional accessory - the Mystery Ship.  B-3 came with blue Mystery Jet called Scorpio and B-4 came with red Mystery Cycle named Aquarius.   The Blizzard Cannon can be used to power the ship by plugging the cannon into the receptor on the vehicle.   When the power is switch to on the Mystery Ship would move using the motor inside Microman Blizzard's cannon - a very clever design.

B-4 Ceres and the Mystery Cycle.  Like Mystery Jet, Mystery Cycle is power by Blizzard's motor.

Microman Blizzards have very little articulation. Since the arms and feet are attached to the weapon and hover jet and this combine with their bulky size made the Blizzard not very interchangeable.  (Which is pretty much like the rest of this year series).    Blizzards have several 5mm pegs which allow Microman figure to ride on their hovercraft and Mystery Ships.

Microman Blizzards are not very popular with Microman collector probably because of their un-conventional look.  The toys are actually quite fun to play with.   Microman Blizzards were also sold under Italian Micronauts label as Blizzard.  Only B-4 Ceres was repackaged under Micronauts brand and  Micronauts version did not include the Mystery Cycle.

B-1 Pallas

B-2 Juno

B-3 Vesta

B-4 Ceres

Ceres has different color schemes than the rest of the members.  While all the other Blizzards have black feet, helmet and cannon, Ceres has bright yellow color instead.