Into the Microverse

Whilst Micronauts appeared in the UK around the late seventies, they had been available in Japan for quite some time before. Brought to the West by Mego from Japanese makers Takara, they arrived in England via kit maker Airfix. Denys Fisher had previously released a Cyborg figure culled from the Henshin line, which predated Microman too - the European Cyborg being a junior figure to the actual 14" Henshin Cyborg.

Micronauts as us Brits knew them, were mostly a series of transparent 3" figures and interchaneable vehicles. These were however a small fraction of a vast Microman line which had been running in Japan for some years before and would continue in various guises until the present.

The grail guide to the toys Microman Forever, shows the development of the line from simple humanoid figures into a complexity of multi articulated mini figures which knocked Kenners simple Star Wars figures into a cocked hat.

Later Microman figures are more poseable than GI Joe and delicately sculpted and detailed. The line spanned many versions and another element which contributed to the line and to the genesis of Transformers was Diaclone, which has recently been reimagined by Tomy Takara.