We Had That

Zee Toys / Zylmex Metal-Man: Roton With a confusing similarity in appearance to some of the 3 3/4" Mego Micronauts and little to no advertising, the Metal-Man toy line of die-cast action figures has all but faded into obscurity.  Of the figures released, the blue and silver Radon is the one I see most often (click HERE for my Radon review), but he was hardly the only Metal-Man on the shelves! Metal-Man action figures: Major Mercury, Roton, & Radon  Today, I would like to take a look at Roton, the red and silver Metal-Man who seems to have possibly been released later in the line.  Radon, Major Mercury, Sergeant Silver, and Corporal Chrome have all been found on cards marked 1976 while as far as I know, Roton has not.  Additionally, Roton has been seen with fewer packaging variations than the rest of the figures, so it would make sense if the others hit the stores before Roton.  I have seen him in the 1979 Zee Toys catalog, so I know that he...

Princess Leia hides the plans to the Death Star with R2-D2 As an adult, life has probably kicked us in the crotch enough times that we're not too surprised when things don't go as planned.  However, as kids we still lived in a world with hope and optimism. In those days. waking up on Christmas morning to find the wrong toys under the tree could sometimes be heartbreaking.  We knew Grandma had the best intentions.  She just really didn't know the difference between C-3PO and a Micronaut.  But kids are resilient.  After the shock of disappointment, we figured out a way to make it work and still played out our Star Wars adventure with substitute action figures standing in for the figures that we wanted!  At least for me, in some cases those replacement figures grew into being some of my favorites. C-3PO and R2-D2?  Um...Those actually weren't the Droids I was looking for. I loved Micronauts as a kid, so it was only natural that my Time Travele...

Micronaut Time Travelers by MEGO Shortly before Star Wars figures dominated the shelves of every toy store, MEGO released a line of more articulated figures in the same scale: Micronauts.  The Japanese company Takara had found success with their Microman line of toys, so MEGO licensed several of the figures, vehicles and playsets, re-branded them Micronauts and released them to the USA. The most common figures from the line were the 3.75" Time Travelers.  Sold individually as well as packaged along with select vehicles, the Time Traveler was the figure that just about every Micronauts fan had.  Even though the Time Travelers didn't come with every vehicle released by MEGO, they would fit in any vehicle that could hold a figure, so they were a 'must have' for any kid with Micronauts! Although there were several different Micronauts figures, the Time Travelers were always my favorite.  As a kid, there were many Micronauts figures that I never saw, but even if I...

Center: Metal-Man "Radon" figure. Background: Micronauts "Galactic Warrior" and "Space Glider" Going back at least as far as 1976, Metal-Man action figures were some of the earliest 3.75" figures on the market.  Their die cast metal construction and numerous points of articulation combined with multiple themes such as Space, Military, Robots, Police Men, and Construction Workers made them cool and curious toys!  Yet unlike many of the toys of the time, it seems few people remember them. Metal-Man "Radon" figure from Zee Toys Although Micronauts aren't as well known as Star Wars, G.I. Joe, or Masters of the Universe toys, I would think that most people who collect action figures from the 70s and early 80s are at least familiar with Micronauts, so it only makes sense that people might think some of the Metal-Man figures fell into that toy line.  I don't know if the reason for their relative obscurity was that Metal-Man didn...