1976 Microman Spy Magician Series

Microman Spy Magician M13X - M131 Dick, M132 Dan, M133 Danny and M134 David (c.1976)

Package

Spy Magicians were sold in small black with yellow stripes card board window box.  Unlike the reproduction version, each box was unique to each member of the series with their name and designation printed on the box.  The insert trays were also unique to each one.  The tray came in four colors - green for M131, yellow for M132, blue for M133 and orange for M134.

Accessories

Each figure came with three set of Spy Magician wands and bracelets.  Each figure also came with the "L" connector - white for M132 & M134, black for M131 and orange for M133.

The accessories were packaged in a small plastic bag.

Takara released Microman Spy Magician as a follow up series to the Second Microman Zone line.    There were two distinctive types of Microman Spy Magicians - the M13X type which used several parts from the last year M11X and M12X and the M14X type which used M11X head design but had a completely new body design.   Unlike the previous year, Microman Spy Magicians were sold in small window box and not in the capsule chamber.   Takara marketed Microman Spy Magician as a "spy-kit" that can be used to "train" and upgrade" other Microman.  Each Microman Spy Magician came with Spy Magician figure, a spy manual and a set of three Spy Magician wand & bracelets.   The wand and bracelet were unique equipment that only given to Microman who had completed the Spy Magician training.

Spy Magician Story

Microman Spy Magician were revived near the beach where the Acroyears first emerged from the polluted ocean depth.  They are the expert in intelligence gathering and fight against the Acroyear by using their spy ability.  With the growing power of the Acroyears, Microman Spy Magician form MCIA (Microman Central Information Agency) to train other Microman in the art of spy.

Microman Spy Magician M13X Type.  M13X sport the chrome chest plate design that was missing from both the M11X and M12X.

 M131 Dick - tactical expert, leading authority of spy field.  Responsible for tactic planning.

M132 Dan - expert in decoding the encryption.  Extremely intelligence.  (Dan was depicted as leader of Spy Magician in Microman manga and he was the only Spy Magician with M13X style body, the rest of the team had M14X body style)

M133 Danny - explosive expert and sharpshooter.

M134 David - excel at wire tapping and eave dropping on the enemy.

Tools of the Trade

Magic Wand: Teleportation device to help expedites spy activity.

Spy Bracelet: By altering the ESP wave randomly it allow the Spy-Magicians to communicate with 5 other members simultaneously without interference by Acroyear.  The bracelet also maximize the ESP power of Microman to allow him to use United Will.

United Will: by utilizing bracelet ESP function combine with the teleport wand, the SpyMagician can merge his psyche with another Microman. For this reason untrained Microman is excluded from wearing the SpyMagician Bracelet.

The Spy Manual

One of the unique feature for the Spy Magician series was the fact that each figure came with Spy Training Manual.  The manual was basically a Microman catalog with Spy Magician story and their special powers along with a special training section.  The training section featured thing like how to encrypt and decode message, basic magic trick and how to amplify one ESP energy. 

The manual also featured the pictures of famous prototype Microman Spy Magician figures.  (NOTE: Takara later released these two prototypes in 2001 as Spy Magician Leaders M130 & M140.  (See also Replica Series - Spy Leaders Set) which were sold as Takara e-Hobby exclusive. There were also metallic editions of these two figures).  The Spy Magician Manual also had a section on Spy gadgets that were suppose to be sold by Takara as part of the Microman Spy Magician line but they were cancel and never got pass the design stage.

Above are the various Microman Spy Magician "Manual" Catalogs from 1976.  So far there appeared to be three different covers.

M131 Dick (vintage)

M132 Dan (vintage)

M133 Danny (vintage)

M134 David (vintage)

Beside these four colors, Takara also released limited gold plated edition of M133 and M134.  Takara also sold M132 with black shin guards and pelvic.  These three figures were sold as promotional items around 1978-79.  They were packaged in Microman capsule instead of the cardboard window box.

After the cancellation of Original Microman line in 1980, Microman Spy Magician series were the only types beside the M18X that were not sold as New Microman. It was not until 1997, when Romando reissued several Microman figures during Microman Two-One line that the M13X Spy Magician was re-issued.  In 2000, Takara also re-issued reproduction version of M13X as part of their Microman Replica Series line.  The vintages can be distinguish by their shaper chrome details on the chest plate and the head.

(See also Romando Microman Two-One and Replica Series - Spy Magician M13X)