Micronauts
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During the 70's, MEGO was one of the biggest toy companies around, at least
in terms of action figures. Most people remember the terrific line of 8" licensed
figures they produced, but there was another very popular line - Micronauts.
Small in stature, but large in articulation, this unique line won kids over, and is
highly sought by collectors today. Palisades Toys has issued reproductions of several of
the original figures, and has plans to expand on this with all new toys to be
released next year.
I'm reviewing four of the carded figures here - Membros (evil alien), Acroyear (robot villain),
Time Traveler (very first of the Micronauts), and Space Glider. Each of these four comes in
multiple colors as well - Space Glider in green, blue, gray or a translucent red; Acroyear in
red, blue, clear or a transparent yellow; Membros in red, black, clear or a transparent blue;
and Time Traveler in red, transparent blue, black or clear.
These are reproductions of toys from 30 years ago, but even then they were well ahead of
their time. You can pick them up at many comic ships, or stores like Media Play. There's
plenty of on-line options as well, and I've listed a few at the end like usual.
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Packaging - ***
The colors and graphics on the packaging are eye catching, and the bubble has a rather unique
design. Rather than a simple box, it is angled inward where the special sticker is located,
giving it a slightly different appearance on the peg.
There's some good text on the back, laying out some info on the original figure, any
enhancements they might have added this time around, and some general character info. The package isn't oversized
either, which is important with small figures like this.
Sculpting - ***
These are the vintage Micronauts, at least as far as a basic inspection can tell. I don't collect
vintage Micronauts, so I don't have one handy to compare in an exacting fashion, but from what I
remember they match the originals.
That's all you can really ask here - these aren't 'collectors items', but rather toys for kids.
The originals were sculpted that way, not like some sort of McToys statue, but like something you
could have a ton of fun with. And Palisades has re-captured that look, which was their
intention.
Articulation - ****
This is an area in which these were far ahead of their time. Acroyear has the least amount, with
neck, ball jointed shoulders, hips, knees, elbows, and the wings snap up and down. The others all
go up from there.
Space Glider has a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, and ball jointed hips and hands. He
also has knees, elbows, waist and wrists. Time Traveler and Membros have all that, plus feet and
ankles.
Many of these joints use rivets, and several of these were loose. I'll be covering that under the
Quality category though, so I won't hit them for it here. One of the neatest features, which I'll
bring up here for lack of a better place, is that many of the pieces to Space Glider are die cast metal,
rather than plastic. That makes for a very hefty figure!
Paint - ***
Again, these are 70's toys. The paint ops reflect that, with simple work and little detail.
Most of the pieces are cast in the intended color, and that leaves little chance for bleed or
inconsistencies.
Accessories - ***
All of the figures come with a sticker, which is attractive but fairly basic. They also all
come with a small display stand, which has posts for their feet (or in the case of Acroyear, for his
Spy Drone) but not much detail.
Acroyear also comes with the Spy Drone, a small bird like accessory, his Glider Pack, and a Power
Sword. I particularly like the silver sword, although it looks very much like your basic action
figure accessory from thirty years ago.
Membros is loaded, with his Hydra-pack, Hydra-laser, Hydra-pipe, and Hydra-blaster. I had troubles
getting the pack to fit correctly, and the pipe had some issues as well. But both hands pop off the
figure easily, and the blaster and laser pop back on again with no trouble. He looks cool either way,
and he was easily my favorite of the set.
Time Traveler has a bundle of 'cyber-modules - six in all - that can be popped on and off his chest.
They look like protective plates, with various designs.
And finally, Space Glider has, not surprisingly, his glider (wing pack), a blaster and a helmet. Unlike
the originals who all had a blue helmet, no matter what the color of their body armor, the new Space Glider
gets a matching helmet for each figure.
Quality - **
Unfortunately, I had a lot of quality issues with my set. Several of the rivet joints were very
loose, and my favorite of the set, Membros, lost half his arm right out of the package! I believe Palisades is
aware of some of these issues, and has recently switched manufacturers in Asia. It was disappointing, since
I've come to know Palisades for such excellent quality in other lines.
Value - ***
You should be able to pick these up for about eight bucks each at most stores. That's a decent value,
and you aren't getting ripped. But I suspect that only the hard core Micronauts fans are going to get
too excited.
Overall - **1/2
These figures would have scored another half star higher had the quality issues not been there. That's
a fairly big issue, since the break my Membros suffered was irreparable, and the is little you can
do about the loose rivets.
I suspect that the serious Micronauts fan will pick these up, but just like the He-man re-introduction,
I'm betting that they do better when they go to newer designs. None of the
simple reproductions of old lines have ever done that well except with the
core fans, but a re-introduction with new designs and a modern take may
spark interest from other groups. If you're a huge fan of the original line,
you can add a half star to the score simply for nostalgia sake.
Where to Buy -
You can find them at some comic shops, or at the Musicland family of stores - Sam Goody,
Musicland, Media Play, On Cue. On-line:
- Aisle Sniper has them in stock for $8 each plus shipping.
- Entertainment Earth
has them for $40 plus shipping for the set of four. (MROTW Affiliate)
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Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford. |