MicroHeritage
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.

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.  Also check out his MicroWha??? - a sister site about the unusual and rare Micronauts merchandise.

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*** 

Action-figures

Time Traveler

Galactic Warrior

Space Glider

Acroyear

Vehicles

Photon Sled

Ultronic Scooter

Crater Cruncher

Hydra

Galactic Cruiser

Hydro Copter

Base & Play-sets

Mobile Exploration Lab

Astro Station

Biotron

Microtron

Stratastation

Action-figures

Pharoid (Type1)

Pharoid (Type2)

Acroyear II

Baron Karza

Andromeda

Force Commander

Oberon

Vehicles

Neon Orbitor

Rhodium Orbitor

Thorium Orbitor

Aquatron

Base & Play-sets

Battle Cruiser

Giant Acroyear

Action-figures

Galactic Defender

Vehicles

Star Searcher

Taurion

Solarion

Alpha Tron

Gamma Tron

Beta Tron

Base & Play-sets

Microrail City

Interplanetary HQ

Galactic Command Center

Satellite Survey Station

Mega City

Phobos

Nemesis

Carrio

Action-figures

Repto*

Antron*

Membros*

Centaurus*

Kronos*

Lobros*

Opaque Time Traveler**

Base & Play-sets

Ampzilla

Lobstros

Sharkos

Star Defender

Rocket Tube

* Micronauts alien series came with different colors of glow-in-the-dark brain parts. Also the first three aliens actually came out in late 1978.  

**Mego produced four different colors of opaque Time Travelers - blue, yellow, red and green.

NOTE: Several Micronauts toys were also released by Lion Rock under Micronauts banner after Mego went bankrupt.

Action-figures

Emperor

Mega

King Atlas

Green Baron

Lantaurian

Pegasus

Red Falcon

Blizzard

*Some toys from the fifth series only appeared as "I Micronauti" and only sold in overseas market, others had very limited released in the US.

The Inter-Changeables

Action-figures

Cosmo-Man

Cosmic Warp Chamber

Captain Cosmo

Count Magno

Lord Meto

Cosmo Steed

Magna Steed

Metallion

Vehicles

Cosmic Amphi-Copter (Hydro Copter)

Base & Play-sets

C.E.D.M* (Astro Station)

C.I.T.S* (Stratastation)

C.I.E.L* (MEL)

C.I.R.E.S* (Giant Acroyear)

CosmoBot* (Biotron)

C.A.R.P* (Microtron)

Cosmic Attack Cruiser* (Battle Cruiser)

*The second series of The Inter-changeables featured silver color versions of these toys.  The second series were produced in very small numbers and were very hard to find.  The second series was produced by M & D Toys while the first series was produced by Hourtoy.

Left - card back showing Hourtoy's The Inter-Changeables with "colorful" versions of Micronauts toys.  Right - card back showing M&D's The Inter-changeables with silver versions of Micronauts toys.