Original Microman Series

1976 MAT & Spy Magician

MAT/Spy Magician

Microman Series

1974

Microman Zone
First year of included the Founder Microman, Micro Kit Machines and Conning Tower.

1975

Project Victory
Second year saw more Microman and several new sub series such as the Acroyears, Titans and Victory series.

1976

Spy Magician

The line finally came into its own during the third year with new figures and the classic Microman Transfer Fortress.

1977

Command
A watershed year for Microman series, this year saw some of the best toys for the line. 

1978

Police Keeper

Takara tried new design and direction for the series with the released of Hoodman and Arden. 

1979

Rescue Team
Takara "rescue" attempt for the series with the Rescue Team Microman.  This year saw updated of the old favorite - New Tower Base.

1980

Punch & Blizzard Man
The last year of the original series saw the shift in the line to more robot like look and larger figures.

New Microman Series

1981

New Microman
Takara reset the line and relaunch the series under the New Microman banner.

1982

Micro Robot
Micro Robot series became the main focus of the new line.  Takara also tried to cash in on the "pla-mo" popularity with Real Type and Micro Borg.

1983

Micro Change
The "transformation" for Microman series began with the Micro Change series.

1984

Transformers

Takara continued with the successful Micro Change series but the changing of the guard was inevitable.

In 1976 Takara also introduced new Microman ally called the Titans which employed magnetic ball joint system known as "magnemo".  The Magnemo System was Takara toy line designed for Kotetsu Geeg, TV show.  Acroyear also got reintroduced but this time with separate designation from Microman instead of "M", they got "A" prefix instead.  Takara plan was to promote these three Microman sub-series under the MAT campaign (MAT stands for Microman-Acroyear-Titan) using the roundel logo with cartoon drawing of the characters from respective series denoted by their initial lettering on the chest.

Takara also released new type of Microman toys - the Spy Magician. The series idea started with the release of Spy Heli vehicle and Spy Micro-Kit Machines (repaint of the Micro-Kit Machine from 1974) The Spy Series would expanded to include two new Microman types and half a dozen of Spy Car vehicles. The theme behind Spy Magician was one of the highlight of Microman line feature, with no anime or TV tie in, the series could take the current fad or popular trend and turned them into theme for Microman series.  This year the fad was the secret agent and the magic act, so by combining the two, Takara came up with this new Microman series.

Later part of 1976, saw addition to the Titan series with Titan 2. Titan 2 came with two types of accessories - a race car or a flying saucer. (They were the only Microman series with two separate designation but shared the same exact body.)  The Acroyears also made the return with the third member - President Acroyears. Acroyears also got their own "magnemo" series under the Uniquer Force name.

As part of the Victory Project, Takara also expanded Microman figure line-up with "character tie-in" Microman figures - Microman Geeg, Mini Mechadon Robotman and Mini-Robotman. Takara also released Robotman Gakeen and Robotman Mechadon as part of the Robotman line.

This year the vehicles line up included several repaints of the old toy. Aside from three Micro Kit Machines from 1974 that got reissued as Micro-Kit Spy Machines, the Mecha-Cosmo Micro-Escargot from last year was retooled and sold as Spy Boy Baseball Machines. While the vehicle line up was quite limited, this year saw the released of the popular Microman Base - the Transfer Fortress.  In 1976 also had several significant developments, first Takara commissioned new Microman comic (manga) for TV Magazine comic book and Mego, a US toys company, licensed Microman line to be released in the US and the rest of the world as the Micronauts.

Spy Magician Story

Spy Magicians were members of Microman who station near the beach where the Acroyears were lurking.  They have a long history of fighting against the Acroyears as spies.  They established MCIA  (*Microman Central Intelligence Agency) where they trained a prospective Microman in the art of Spy and Magic.  After the Microman passed the trial at the end of the training session they were given a bracelet, a magic wand and a title of Spy Magician.  Takara build on this concept by including with each Spy Magician figures a training kit consisted of training "manual" and extra sets of bracelets and wands so kid could then used them to "upgrade" their older Microman by training him to become a Spy Magician.