1975 Microman Series

Super Steel Microman M21X Dash Wing Type M211 Ken, M212 Kelly & M213 Kim (c.1975)

Super Steel

Microman Series

1974

Microman Zone
First year included the Founder Microman, Micro Kit Machines and the 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 line 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.

M211 Ken, M212 Kelly and M213 Kim

Flight Helmet Included

M21X Type is one of the few Microman to come with helmet accessory. The helmet is molded in blue for all three figures.

Have Dash Wings, will travel

One of the main gimmick for M21X type is the "Dash Wing" back pack. The pack has spring-loaded wing that flap open by pushing down on small switch on the back pack. The pack connects to Microman body via 5mm connector.

Genuine Microman

Aside from the color plated heads, Microman Dash Wing Type can also be distinguish from the Micronauts version by "Takara Micro Man" stamp on the buttock and "M" letters on left arm and left leg.

In March of 1975, Takara released die-cast style Microman figures called Super Steel Microman. The first series, M20X Type was essentially a die-cast version of the early "barefoot" Microman. The Super Steel line was introduce by Takara to capture some of the market share of die-cast robot toys that were very popular in Japan at the time. In August of 1975, Takara released second Super Steel Microman series designated as M21X Dash Wing Type. The third and last Super Steel series, M22X Hand Bazooka, was introduced the following month in September of 1975. While the early M20X still had the short cuff style and lack the 5mm ports, the M21X and M22X were updated with 1975 style figure completed with 5mm ports and longer cuff style hands. 

M21X Type is probably one of the most recognizable Microman figure next to the Founder "barefoot" Series. The lead character in the original Microman manga is depicted as M21X Super Steel Microman. The M21X have full die-cast body and come with blue "Flight" helmet and wing-pack known as "Dash Wing". The wing pack plug into 5mm port in the back and has spring-loaded wings that flap up by pushing a small button at the base of the wing pack. There are three members in M21X Super Steel Dash Wing Type - M211 Ken, M212 Kelly and M213 Kim.  M211 Ken has gold color body with clear yellow wing pack and gold plated head, M212 Kelly has green body, clear green wing pack and green plated head.  M213 Kim has metallic blue body, clear blue wing pack and blue plated head.

SUPER STEEL M21X STORY

Super Steel Microman are Microman whose body have undergone a major evolution inside the capsule. Being bury inside Earth iron core, these Microman bodies are encased in Super Steel Alloy. The M21X are equipped with "Dash Wing" that allow them to fly at speed of Mach 15

Micronauts and Palisades Retro Series

In 1976, Mego licensed Microman toys from Takara and M21X figures were sold as "Space Glider" in Micronauts line. (See sidebar). Micronauts Space Gliders were very similar to Microman counterpart but with some minor alteration by Mego to reduce production cost. The figure's colors however were mostly the same as Microman versions. When Palisades released Retro Micronauts line in 2002, they introduced several new color variants to M21X style and even include a new gun accessory for the figure.

The classic colors - gold, green and blue shared by both Microman and Micronauts.

M21X COLORS

The 2002 Palisades Retro Micronauts Space Gliders offer some unique colors for M21X style figure including "Commander" version based on the Marvel comic series and Microman "Jack" from Microman manga.