Micronauts are a popular line of toys that were first introduced into the U.S. market in 1976. The toys were originally produced under the name Micro-man by toy company Takara and were brought into the United States by Mego Corporation under the leadership of Marty Abrams, the “Father of the modern day Action Figure”.
Micronauts were the brainchild of a designer named Koizumi Hideaki, who worked for Takara and was tasked with creating a toy line to compete in the popular arena of GI Joe and other action figures that were dominating the market at the time. Marty Abrams, CEO of Mego Corporation, had made a trip to Japan and upon visiting Takara, knew that Micronauts had the potential to be a huge success in the United stated. However, he also recognized that the toys and story line would need to be modified in order to appeal to American children.
Abrams worked closely with Takara to ensure that the toys were safe and met American safety standards. He helped to refine the design, the story line and the characters, and once the Micronauts were ready for release in the United States, Abrams went all-in on promoting them. He invested heavily in advertising and marketing, using TV commercials and print ads to get the word out to children and parents. The campaign was a huge success and the Micronauts quickly become one of the most popular toy lines in the 1970’s
One of the key reasons why Abrams was so successful in promoting the Micronauts was his understanding of the toy industry. He knew how to create buzz around new toys and was skilled at identifying trends and predicting what would be popular with children. He also had a great eye for design, which allowed him to recognize the potential of the Micronauts toys even before they were released in the United States
The result of the collaboration between Mego and Takara, was a line of toys that were unlike anything else on the market. The Micronauts were highly poseable and transformable with a variety of joints that allowed them to be arranged in a wide range of positions. This level of pose-ability was later adopted by other toy lines, including G.I. Joe and Star Wars. Today, it is common for action figures to have numerous points of articulation and interchangeable parts. Micronauts were also designed to be modular, with parts that could be combined in a variety of different ways, which allowed children to create their own unique designs by combining different pieces.
The Micronauts were a huge success and went on to influence the creation of many other popular toy lines including LEGO figures, which feature modular designs that allow children to mix and match parts to create their own unique creations and “Transformers”. In fact, many of the designers who worked on Transformers were originally involved in the creation of the Micronauts.
Overall, the Micronauts were a groundbreaking toy line that helped to revolutionize the toy industry. They were highly innovative and influential and their impact can still be seen today in a variety of different ways as many toy companies follow in their footsteps and it continues to inspire designers, inventors and Toy Makers to create new and exciting products for kids of all ages.
Joel Rosenzweig
Mego Corporation
I remember seeing Micronauts for the first time as a kid and they were completely new and original from anything else in the toy aisles. Those colorful transparent bodies with the silver heads. They were very sci-fi like something out of Logans Run. I received Biotron for Xmas one year and rember thinking it looked like the giant robot on Queens "News of the world". Micronauts were the "cool" toys all kids of the time wanted.
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