I 🫀 the Micronauts so much. The colors. The designs. The clear and vac metal parts. The interchangeable and transformable components. All of it…fantastic.
i begged and begged for micronauts as a kid but never had one. once star wars toys came out i quickly forgot about micronauts. now i have a modest micronauts collection filling that hole once an for all.
Despite being essentially a box, the Astro Station was a great design and a much-loved toy when I was a kid. They don't make stuff like this anymore and that is a shame.
Man I still remember How awesome Christmas in 1977 were with my present containing one of these and several Micronauts. I got some more in 1978 as well as Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars figures/toys.
I wish a company like Mego would restart this line. Takara has been making Microman and there are many existing toys that could be packaged as new Micronauts. Just make it a cheap line for kids and not an expensive line for collectors.
I still have so many of my childhood toys in great condition, but none of my Micronauts. I had the big motorized spaceship, Biotron, the space station, and a bunch of smaller vehicles, but none of them survive. Don't remember what happened.
Always wanted the Astro Station! The 3½ inch action figures and accessories scaled perfectly with Kenner’s Star Wars toys, so they inhabited a shared universe in my bedroom.
Is your Acroyear figure suffering from metal fatigue? My original one is slowly crumbling away. I think only the paint is holding him together! I got him in 1980, as new old stock from a comic shop. I have s newer one, but like the old one better.
I always love the full story behind these guys. What Brian neglects to mention is that Takara was a licensing partner with US toy company Hasbro. They were the Regional licensee for Hasbro's GI Joe 12" line. In the 1970's they sought to update things, Soldier toys not being a huge seller in Japan. So they cast the body in clear with some inner workings, gave it a chrome head and presto Henshin Cyborg. All of this would later come full circle. After Mego's licensing of the Micronauts ended as did Mego, the license exchange would go the other way. Hasbro would take Takara's Microman line which had spawned 2 spinoff lines. Micro Change and Diaclone. Hasbro brought these two lines together in the US and combined them as The Transformers. So yes the Transformers are the illegitimate Asian love children of G I Joe. The things that happen when you let an American GI loose in Tokyo. Even weirder, this story would repeat itself in even stranger ways. Spider-Man is the secret Daddy of the Power Rangers.
I always wanted one of these but Micronauts vanished before I could get it. I did get one later when it was reissued under the Inter-changables line. I wasn't super thrilled by it so my Pharoid kept flaying my Y Wing instead. If you didn't put batteries in the Y-Wing, you could shove gear into the spot.
Micronaut Toys were so much ahead of the Toylines that followed - like Star Wars Toys or Master. So much more to play and interchange - and cheaper, too. The Astro Station was, although not beeing a giant robot or cool looking spacefighter, the coolest of them all with so many features and stickers that fired the inspiration. The spring loaded Catapult was actually so fast, that it rather bent the figures legs inside, instead of pushing it out :)
If only the line had had more characters from the comic or the comic had had at least an issue or two bringing the figures to life. The robots and warrior (Acroyer?) were in it both, but the two leads and the breakaway semi-comic relief, Bug, were the heart of the series for so many of us that it was just too much of a disconnect. And the annoyance was Karza and Force Commnader being made but not in size. It made me and my buddies actually grumpy a lot of times at even the sight of the toys. If only Super 7 or one of those would finally heal that old wound by doing the comic rest of characters in this toy style or the whole team and Karza in their Star Wars style so they can at least be added alongside the original.
Wow, just when I thought this day couldn't get any better, you drop a video on the Micronauts Astro Station. I *loved* this playset no end, although I didn't have one myself. My best friend in 5th grade did, and we would combine our figures and have epic battles on his living room floor while listening to Queen's News of The World LP. And of course when the Star Wars figures came out in early '78, we combined them all, ditto with Adventure People, and the Battlestar Galactica figures that showed up late that summer. I'm so happy you included all the Marvel comic book lore. I loved that book immediately, and tried my best to get every issue, a spotty proposition when you had to depend on the wire spinner rack at the local grocery store. I have the complete run of the first couple of years and it gets a little spottier after that. If I squinted a little bit my Space Glider and Acroyear looked like Commander Rann and King Acroyear from the comics. You should have seen me smiling through the whole video.
The Mego instructions for this vehicle depicted the Takara Microman M111 Bobson mold figure piloting it, despite that figure not being part of the Micronauts line.
The Neutron Missile Gun was recolored for the Hyperion. The Ray Wave Missile Gun was recolored for the foreign release of the Eagle Force Talon Tank, called the Carro Armato Artiglio. A seat was to be recolored for the unreleased Iguanos. The Ray Wave Missile Gun was to be recolored into the launcher for the unreleased Lords of Light Cosmic Raider and Hyper Flyte.
I loved the Micronauts as a kid. I never had an Astro Station, but I had lots of characters and vehicles, and character/vehicles like Microtron and Giant Acroyear. It was a bit of a shame that the Star Wars line of toys wound up sucking up all of the oxygen in this category as time wore on, as I really think the Micronauts had better play value, especially since you were free from a hard and fast narrative based on the films. The seventies were the absolute best time to have been a kid.
I had this set and I loved it. Had a bunch of the Micronauts stuff back in the day. I think mine is still in storage w/the rest of my toys from the 70's.
I don't know how it ended up in my house. Perhaps it belonged to my oldest sister. I am one of the few people who actually read "the micronauts" book by Gorden Williams. I think the book got torn up or something. I still remember how the weapons were nylon net based to spread out inside of insects to destroy the insides to stop them. Would love a movie.
Had very few of the toys, but was always interested in them, due to my love of the Micronuats comic. Always loved seeing what was from the toy line and what was a marvel creation.
This set is special to me for a very particular reason. I found two of the Inter-Changeables version on the shelf of a dusty, crowded Asian convenience store in south Los Angeles...this was in 2018. *2018*
My neighbor had this but sadly it escaped my clutches. It looks like it would have provided lots of play value. The Micronauts packaging brings back fond 1970s memories.
i did get space glider, acroyear ( the one pictured at the emd if the video) and time traveler in early 78. star wars not until spring and i used a domino covered with electric tape as my first Darth Vader . we wpuld use items from the kitchen as space vehicles in the late 70s
Had it and it's all Marvel's fault. Wish Mego could have worked with Marvel to bring the original characters to the line. Bug, Devil and Huntarr would have been great additions.
Great vid B! Still have my Astro Station from childhood and the box too. Had many hours of adventure with this toy. Love Micronauts! I would be FANTASTIC to see a real return of the Micronauts toyline.
I still have my Baron Karza somewhere, but not his "equine centaroid' add-on. Too bad. He was a kick-ass Centaur General in the imagination playground of my childhood mind. I would have him command legions of basic plastic roman legions. Fun fun. Thanks for the memories. Also, the Marvel Comics Micronauts book was quite good as well. Excellent art and a decent story tying in all the figures.
Absolutely brilliant video, Brian, thank you very very much for making and posting. The Astro Station remains to this day one of my favourite Micronaut toys, and fortunately I was able to snap one up online for a reasonable price, about ten years (!) ago now. Micronauts has been such an part of my collecting life for more than 45 years, and I remain amazed that this brilliant toy line hasn't been brought back in some shape or form. The Astro Station will always hold fond memories for me, as it was one of the first major playsets that my late Mum bought me when we went up to visit relatives in Manchester, about 1978 I think, August time. I also recall getting the Mobile Exploration Lab as well, so that was fun getting all of those back down to the south coast of the UK on the train! Unfortunately, my original Astro Station "vanished" around 1980, but thankfully many years later I was able to pick one up online, as I mentioned. I think together with my various Pharoid figures, the Astro station definitely remains one of my favourites to this day. Thanks again for such a great video, and a (belated) Happy New year to you, Brian. P.s. nice to see Isaac getting in on the action!
i loved the micronauts. i even read the comics up until they went to earth, and then it sucked. i don't remember a thing about the comics, though, much like ROM -- i had the toys, read the comics... and have zero recollection of the characters. the toys were so much fun, though. the only problem was they were the cheapest damn things, so if you were rough on your toys then this probably wasn't the toy line for you. really hoping the next ant-man movie touches on this line. it would be the MCU's formula to introduce new characters in an already established character's movie, and obviously the quantum realm is where they would reside.
Toys just aren’t made like this anymore. So many corners are cut to save on costs for plastics and manufacturing. The only toy line that has some quality right now is Masters Of The Universe origins. It’s a shame.
Besides being a main ship in the Marvel Micronauts comics, the Astro Station made cameos In the Image and IDW Micronauts comics. In the Image comics it was a ship in Baron Karza's attack fleet in issue 4. In IDW comics it was a vessel used by the heroes in issue 1.
Did the launcher work with Space Glider, or was his metal figure too heavy? I envision him being "launched" for a comical flight of two inches or thereabouts.
This one was my favorite of all the Micronauts sets. I used this toy constantly it was my main means if transportation and exploration. It's a shame these aren't around anymore I think my nephew's would love them.
This is why I love this channel. We get to see up close a rare toy that otherwise we’d probably only catch in a still shot. This is giving me pains because a few years ago I sold a complete minty Acroyear in box. And I didn’t need to, that’s what hurts. I’m sure other collectors here understand my pain as probably nobody else would,lol. But thanks for sharing this toy, micronauts seem to get more fantastic with each passing year.
This is one of my great missed opportunities as a kid...never had the space for many vehicles in the house, so only the really small stuff got bought. Have never seen one at a show. I'd love a die-cast version, Hot Wheels scale.
I had the interchangeables version and it was basically a G.I.Joe base. Kinda neat how Micronauts, Star wars and GI Joe all shared the same time period. Really great toys
I had this baby as a kid. In fact I still might have the shell of it somewhere in a storage box, along with my vintage Star Wars toys and Fisher Price Adventure People. It was probably my first major Micronaut toy outside of the action figures themselves. Got it for Christmas as I recall. I used it more as a vehicle rather then a space station. Like when you mentioned it about Stratos Station, I SO wish the Astro Station had been rereleased for Buck Rogers. It was a lot of fun! Thank you!
You have no idea how HARD it was to watch a sci-fi movie on TV in France in the 80s' plus my parents didn't like that genre, so it was one chance in a million I could see it (especially on "school-night") but it was all the rage at school the next morning… everybody was talking about the "invisible monster" and its footprints in the sand (and the 'bent' staircase). I bought it years later on DVD, along the 1953 "The war of the worlds" 🤗
I remember this as a kid, I never had it but always wanted it. I always built little rebel bases for Star Wars in my room and wanted this toy so bad. On the plus side, when I was 5 or 6 my dad was stationed at Okinawa and sent a Microman Voyager-1 toy for my birthday. I think it was called Star Voyager for Micronauts and was white, mine was blue.
Hi all, cool video this brought back many good memories of Christmas, loved these toys. I've still got some of my original Micronauts from the 70's. Regarding the Astro Station, alas I only have the time capsule remaining ;)_~
I miss my Astro Station, but I was one of the odd kids. I didn't mix my figures, but it never occurred to me. The idea of launching Boba or Vader with the AS launcher, still has great appeal.
heh heh, i mixed lines up like nothing else. flash gordon was right there next to han solo, some micronaut guys, starbuck, black hole, star trek, buck rogers and even some cowboy lines who were always cannon fodder.
I absolutely adored this toy line as a little girl. Why don’t you review the metropolis? That was a toy I lost it after back then, but it was too expensive for my parents to buy. I did have the mobile exploration lab, however. That toy was so awesome to play with! By the way, I feel that the Micronauts toys blew away the Star Wars toys!
I've casually bought up every Micronauts comic I've come across for the past 12+ years, as well as Shogun Warriors comics, & Dungeons & Dragons comics...
after revisiting alot of your other micronauts videos (but especially the superhero shuttle episodes) I cant help but entertain the what if scenario where MEGO thought to re-theme/repurpose the astro station into some manner of crime lab for Spiderman, Batman, and not to mention a gamma lab for Banner and Hulk. Maybe Im getting ahead of myself here but I even imagined them repurposing some Black Hole tooling for a Bruce Banner pack-in figure (perhaps a Reinhardt body done up with purple legs and a white vinyl lab coat) along with tossing in the existing Hulk pocket superheroes figure. It would have been neat if Cap had gotten a shuttle of his own too. Oh well cest la vie!
Loved the Micronauts as a kid in the late 70s. In my mind, I thought of Star Wars figures as a big wave sweeping aside other assorted 3.75" figures I had. But your video puts it into better context for me. Micronauts would have scratched the scifi itch in 1977 as we waited for Star Wars. And Battlestar Galactica in 1978 and The Black Hole in 1979 figures would have been complimentary to the Star Wars line, which I think might have only had two dozen figures those figure couple of years. I can remember mixing these other figures into my Star Wars play. Maybe it's more the increasing quantity of Star Wars figures with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi that muscled out other lines, as I don't remember having other figures from those years. It was only when Star Wars wrapped up with Return of the Jedi in 1983 that I shifted my attention to GI Joe, which had launched its 3.75" figures the year before.
I love the video! It's always cool to see anything that has to do with the Micronauts! Your video brought back great childhood memories for me! I got my Micronauts in 1977 or '78 as individual Christmas presents from my family. We didn't have a lot of money back then, so I didn't always get Christmas presents, believe it or not, but that year it rained fun for me! I still have some of my original Micronauts, and I've replaced a few others. I have a working Microtron, a complete Bio-tron, two Baron Karza figures (one loose, but one mint and still in the box!), a loose Andromeda (Karza's horse), the red version of Acroyear, and all four color versions of Time Traveler. Those are all of the ones that I had as a kid. I would have loved to have had that Astro Station Playset or some of the vehicles and other Micronaut figures, but those are all that I have. My figures are still very nice looking. Two of my Time Travelers don't stand all that well without a little joint compound, but they all of their hands, feet and that little "L" shaped peg for putting them in vehicles. Alas, I don't have a single vehicle though! lol. Before STAR WARS figures came along, Micronauts, Mego superheroes, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and the 6 Million Dollar Man were my jam! I still have my '74 Mego Batman, and I recently bought and re-furbished a Steve Austin Bionic Man figure with the engine block! I purchased a nice repo box for him. I guess I'll probably do the same for my Mego Batman. I found him some replacement gloves and a new Bat emblem a few years ago, and he is lookin' great after all of these years. He's in my studio display cabinet, but here's a photo: www.lostonwallace.com/megobatman1.jpg
Even though I was around during this time I never had any Micronauts. I missed out, and this looks like a really fun toy I would’ve loved! Lots of potential considering how much they packed into one small toy.
I absolutely loved the Micronauts toy line and the Marvel Comics adaptation. Many of these toys fought alongside the Rebellion, trying to stop the combined forces of Darth Vader AND Baron Karza. Although I never had this playset, it was always on my Christmas. I got the Death Star instead, but my Micronauts got their own Astro Station when I built one out of a shoebox. I followed the comics closely and one day I’d like to see a toy line based on the characters. Who wouldn’t want a comic version of Arcturus Rann and Marionette in modern plastic?
Had it. Lost the sarcophagus early on. No idea where it went. Pieces floated around toy boxes and were eventually reunited, but I think the holder for the slide was MIA, too. One of the yellow chair pegs broke off in the back. Blue launcher's peg also broke off. I had one broken microman that survived early childhood, so the set saw use with Star Wars and maybe later GI JOE, along with two battle cruisers my brother and i had, probably bought on clearance. Parts of those were the mini-rigs before there were mini-rigs. The view screen was an oddity, having no idea who that robot was. The micronaughts were strange if you knew little about them. I did have some of the Inter Changeables, mostly the magnetic figures and that giant acroyear (?) recolor. Still fragile stuff.
