Small Things Bemuse Small Minds

I'm sure we're all familiar with Chaos Theory. It was a big thing in the eighties when Mitchell Feigenbaums' work on theoretical mathematics revealed that a tiny change in a complex system could produce an imbalance which would ultimately disrupt the workings of the system and produce chaotic results. It was also termed the 'Butterfly Effect' whereby an insect fluttering its wings in Brazil might cause tiny atmospheric change which could theoretically disrupt weather patterns and lead to a storm across the other side of the globe. Now at this point i'm sure you're probably thinking i've had a little too much caffeine or i'm on a sugar rush, but the point here is that a small thing introduced into an organised system can have a disruptive effect.

Here then, is that small thing. I admit, he doesn't look like much and indeed, the whole basis of his existence was intended to emerge from the subatomic. This little guy is a Micronaut - a Time Traveller to be exact and he had one of the single most disruptive influences on my collecting habits than any other toy.

So aside from being a 'space-themed' toy and causing mayhem within the emergent Wotan Archive, what business does he have here ? What is the relationship between Micronauts and SWORD you wonder ?

In order to answer this and other questions we need to set the wayback machine for 1977 and that seminal period when toys changed forever and the previous 'Golden Age' of simple rockets and spaceships gave way to a new generation of play in the form of 'Action Figures'.

In this year, Star Wars fever gripped the world and the first clumsy and simple figures emerged. Chewbacca looked like a deformed chocolate flake and Luke looked like he was permanently tripping on acid with a plastic, stupefied expression and stiff limbs. Merchandising took off and among the onslaught was a new british Marvel comic based on Star Wars and 100% reprint. As the american version of the comic was monthly and the british version had to be meted out weekly, the comic needed filler so was always backed up by some lesser story. At some point during its run, a new black and white back up story appeared - The Micronauts. The basic premise followed the exploits of a hero making his way through a subatomic universe and trying to defeat a despotic vaderesque villain. Pretty standard stuff with plenty of Lucasian parallels and good artwork by Michael Golden. As I read through it, I realised that it was actually based around a series of newly released toys, made by none other than Airfix. The toys were interchangeable vehicles which connected with a standardised 5mm plug, so you could swap parts around to suit. What made it stand out from the crowd however where the figures - the standard Micronaut was the same size as a Star Wars figure, but nimble and having 14 points of articulation. At the time I was at college and only had a meagre grant to support me, but I dived in headfirst and bought my first (expensive) Micronaut, a Pharoid. This little figure was basically a slightly modified figure which came with an Egyptian styled 'mummy case' or Time Chamber. As I was taken with mythology even then, mixing two of my favourite themes seemed like manna from heaven and I soon added to my collection of toys.

Trouble was, the toys were expensive and there were a lot of them. My grant would only extend so far and I was keen to extend the range. So I decided to scratchbuild my own accessories. I began by cannibalising bits of broken materials and using old kits and toys, but as I went on and I discovered the authentic Micronauts comic on a monthly basis, my demand for parts knew no bounds. The colour comic showed all kinds of fabulous vehicles and figures, most of which hadn't reached the UK as they were produced by Mego and licensed to Airfix. As it transpired, the line was actually a rebrand of existing Microman toys from japanese giant Takara. So, faced with a huge variety of comparatively unobtainable toys and having run out of options on the new toy side, I began to recycle my old toys and to my lasting regret, started to take apart my old spacex and Matt Mason stuff.

So as a consequence of this small act - I ended up tearing apart classic toys which I assumed at the time had had their day and would never be seen again to use for parts on the newcomers. Had I been a Time Traveller myself and had the ability to zip forward a couple of decades and discover the internet and ebay, it would have been a different story indeed..