Original Microman Series

1978 Police Keeper & Hoodman

Police Keeper

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 also saw updated of the old favorite like the 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.

If 1977 was the height of Microman series. Then 1978 surely marked the declined for the series.  This year saw heavy competition from other series especially in the sci-fi space theme with the popularity of Star Wars movie and many that followed. Only one Microman type was released this year, the M23X type Microman Police Keeper. However, Takara introduced two new series of figures for the line, the first was the diminutive size Microman called Micro Hoodman and the second was the Ardens - a newly arrive enemy from planet Arden.

Microman Police Keeper Story

Micro Hoodman were seafaring Micro-race who had shrunk themselves into  smaller size by using the alpha H-7 energy.   Their small size allow them to conserve food and supply while they travel the stars in RCB Noah interstellar ship. Each Micro Hoodman come with a special hood helmet that allowed them to function in hash environment.

Micro-Comet was detected to enter Jupiter orbit.  When Microman went to investigate they found the Police Keeper Microman emerged from the Micro-comet core.  The Police Keeper Microman are well trained in the art of weapon.  They each came with special pulse wave energy gun and power generator backpack.

There were actually two themes running this year. The first was was the arrival of Microman space colonist - Micro Hoodman and the second theme was Police Keeper, Microman that emerged from Micro-Comet. The Hoodman began as a spin-off series from Microman but was soon incorporate as part of Microman line. Takara actually introduced Hoodman toys toward the end of the Command series in late 1977. The Hoodman were long lost Microman race that set out on space exploration long ago from Micro Earth and became space-faring Microman. The Hoodman figures were slightly smaller than standard Microman figures, and they stood only 8cm tall. Each Hoodman came with protective Hood "Armored" helmet that resembled astronauts suit.  The Hoodman also had painted face instead of the usual chrome. During the second half of 1978, Takara introduced Police Keeper Microman. The Police Keeper were standard style Microman with the usual chrome head and standard 10cm size. Each figure came with weapon and backpack accessories.

This year focus was not on the vehicle or robot but rather on the big playset called Build Base. The Build Base was large Microman base that utilized the construction toy concept. Thought Takara never released anymore set beside the three Play Build accessories, the design was used extensively by Mego for their Micronauts City series. Beside the Play Build series, Takara also release ten small rubber band power kit vehicles - the Hoodman Kit Machines.  There were also two battery power vehicles ; Air Roader and Climb Leader, both utilized the magnet activation system. Takara also release an unusual "display" piece - a Space Shuttle vehicle called Micro NASA for the Hoodman.  Takara released only two big robots for Police Keeper line, the first was Arden Robo and the second was a retooled Robotman toy called Robotman 2.

By the end of 1978, Microman popularity was on the decline and many of the Police Keeper and Hoodman series of toys were canceled such as the rest of the Play Build toys, a small bike which would be a companion piece to Speed Jumper, and the large remote control vehicle - Hoodman's RCB Noah. Takara also released the last of the Titans series in 1978 called Titan Space Knight. The Space Knights consisted only of two new figures and repaint of the old Titan Condor and Titan Dober. In early part of 1979, Takara released the remnants of the Police Keeper toys such as the second Microman Police Keeper type and the last Micro Hoodman type (the chrome heads). The second Police Keeper Microman were metallic plated medieval knight armor suit figures called Micro Knights.  Micro Knights were, however not Microman in the truest sense, they were actually androids build by Microman Police Keeper to fight the Ardens. These Micro Knights figures were some of the most decorative and elaborately detail figures in Microman series.

1978-79 Microman Catalog insert