Anybody remember THIS?

[Slant]

With all the talk of GI Joe as a possible CAH campaign, I feel compelled to mention another property that was never actually a cartoon, yet was a definite part of the 1980's: The Micronauts!  

The comic series ran throughout most of the 80's and dealt with a sci-fi uiverse where a handful of somewhat stereotypical heroes (the brave, wise leader, the happy-go-lucky clown, the stern warrior, etc) fought against the regime of a mad scientist who had set himself up as a galactic warlord.  There were bird people, insect people, lizard people, mud people.  The whole deal.  It was always a mystery to me why Micronauts, having sold extremely well as a toy series and as a comic book, never made it to the small screen as a cartoon.  

Now that Devil's Due is producing a new comic series (vastly inferior in most ways from the original, IMHO), perhaps the 'nauts will make it to television after all.

[Norbert]

That certainly remains to be seen, Slant.

I only had a few of the Micronauts action figures, pretty cool and versatile for their time (in fact, I had the Italian version of the Force Commander
in white armor that could be locked together with a white horse-robot to form a centaur, and arms and legs on either could also be exchanged
and replaced with wheels... very surreal, and very interesting to play with
as a kid). I never saw the comicbook series, only a few of the cover pics on a website somewhere.

Thanks for mentioning the line. It brings back some memories.  :-)

[Darrin Kelley]

Actually, the Micronauts toy line was well on its way out by the 80's. It was more of a product of the late 70's. (And yes, I am that old.)

I also remember the Marvel Micronauts comic. It was very epic in scope and took some risks that were definately beyond most books were doing at that age. The level of story, the gore, and the horror in that book was definately a ground-breaker. And in later issues, the storytelling became very epic in scope.

I am reading the Devil's Due Micronauts comic. It's different, but it is also still building momentum. Definately a different animal than the Marvel book. But I also think it is far more solidly grounded in a gritty sci-fi action movie feel. It is definately not the Marvel book, and it doesn't try to be. But I also think it has a tighter focus on showcasing characters based on the original toys more than the Marvel book did. And the Karza limited series really is good.

[Slant]

Karza was my favorite action figure as a young'un.  He was twice the size of all my other figures, and he was made of metal and hard plastic, which meant he was HEAVY when I hefted him.  He felt like he actually COULD beat the snot out of all of my other toys.  I used to stage fights between him and my big Alien movie toy with all my Star Wars and Micronauts toys getting trapped in the crossfire and dying horrible deaths.

Trust me, it was cool.

[Darrin Kelley]

Palisades Toys have been releasing a commemorative Micronauts set of toys. And I sorely wish I could get some of them. But I haven't as yet found a dealer who sells them. They are built with the original materials of the line.

The Baron Karza set includes both him and his horse that combines into a single unit. Very cool. And I wish I could find one.

[Slant]

Yeah, the toys are out down here in South Florida.  They are all over the place. In addition to Karza and his horse they also have Time Traveller, Space Glider, Acroyear, and Membros.  They all come in a variety of different colors.  Well, except for Karza (Damn shame, too: I would have loved a puce and teal Karza).

The second wave is due to come out soon, and it is going to include several Micronauts that were distributed in Japan but never before produced in America.