Vintage Mego: Baron Karza and the Magnetic Micronauts

Baron Karza and Force Commander are the yin and yang of the Mego Micronauts toy line, and in this episode, we explain the toy's anime origins and the many twists and turns it's had in revivals and spin-offs.

#mego #micronauts #microman #takara_tomy

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[lipranditoys]

The fun part is that here in Italy the Kotetsu Jeeg anime was VERY popular, but we didn't have the Takara magnetic toy. As soon as Gig distributed here Mego's Force Commander, all Italian kids were painting it in Jeeg's colors.

[chrishight]

THAT is why they were out of scale with the regular Micronauts. I have learned so much. Thank you, BH, Roy and Dr. Tongue. What a wild and long life these figures have lead. I had no idea. Great video.

[MakerFabio]

I can confirm it was a huge success In Italy. I just purchased karza (60 euro without 1 backpack rocket) and force commander (50 euro without belly missil) i m 3d printing the missing parts. Your video deserves much more views, incredible many persons do not remember their best toys

[ChrisConnolly-Mr.C-Dives-In]

I just have to express true appreciation to Brian for his episode choices, even for how his mind works. This was great to revisit these characters and to learn all this backstory.

[loganjorgensen]

That was my first thought seeing them, these are cool, but they don't look much like the Micronauts heh. Some bad blood there, they sure liked to stick the knife in and twist with each other lol.
That's really weird about the cool reception over here for super hero versions since they looked sweet, at least Italy got to enjoy them. To be fair even learning this point just a month ago it still surprises me Italy is like a second Japan with toy culture.
Another great historical archive video there Mantooth, really great stuff. :D

[JohnLloydDavis]

I had a Micronauts ship set when I was a youngster and then later on got the Force Commander and Baron Karza too. There's only a few stray pieces of these guys in amongst the old curly lego nowadays.

[DarkAlex]

A very good video. As italian I lived that times, was actually my childhood and Jeeg was HUGE here (well, most of japanese super robots were but Jeeg was among the most beloved 😂).
About the horse, yeah it may looks weird as accessory but its appearance in the show makes sense. Basically Jeeg was unable to fly on his own and two set of dedicated modules were already made to compensate. The first set were the pair of drill missiles also present in the toy and the micronauts (but they were bigger in the show): very useful and deadly but Jeeg was forced to detach both forearms to combine and use them. Then they made a very specialized set of limbs able to transform Jeeg into an actual aircraft, far better for flying but in such form he was just an aircraft with all the related limititations and a much more limited arsenal.
The horse was the third option, less good for flying but more versatile and without the limitations of the previous tow sets.

[morganhanam]

This is a lot of fun; had Micronauts & comics; the Emperor reminds of Farscape's Skorpius. love the translucent figures especially.

[TheNightBadger]

I had a magnetic Hulk bought at a market back in the day (the ultimate choice: Spiderman or the Hulk? How cruel life can be!) It's one of the few things I didn't keep hold of, and it turned out to be one of the hardest to replace! I'm still not entirely sure I like the magnetic gimmick...

[HandyDandyu]

Christmas of 1977 was pretty amazing...Star Wars summer just ended, Close Encounters came out and Micronauts were under the tree. Baron Karza too. At the time, we had no idea the Micro Man story in Japan, and thought Baron Karza and the whole Micronauts line was just some weird, Japanese rendition or interpretation of the Star Wars craze...maybe different so as to avoid copyright laws. But nobody cared...the sci-fi craze was so significant, and the toys were so cool, it all worked. Thanks for the memories

[johnmiic]

I'll tell you, the American design for Baron Karza is better than most people think. I decided to bring Karza to work and display him on my desk for a while & a co-worker really was disturbed by it. Day after day they kept remarking that it was the scariest thing they ever saw and his visage was so frightening only the devil himself could be scarier. After all this unwanted attention I brought Karza home. I was afraid they would complain and the higher-ups would tell me not to put toys on my desk.

[toytripperv]

Wow those GIGI original micronauts are very cool! Very toy-etic

[francescodarcadia]

When they came out from Gig they were an instant hit on kids in italy. The Microman micronauts disappeared soon, after dropped by Gig in favor of this figures. Italy was having a big craze on japanese super robots indeed and they came out at the right time. The first anime ever broadcasted was Grendizer in its french adaption and it was on air on dinner time. I remember seeing the last wave of micronauts, like Ampzilla and the monster figures, as the last of Micronauts.
I remember recognizing the steel Jeeg body in these figures and thinking it was a funny thing, but Ialso saw many super robots knock off in shops so I was not that surprised anyway. Steel Jeeg was being broadcasted on small tv channels at that time and is one of the best remembered super robot anime, alongside great mazinger and grendizer.
Fond memories...
Great video and top information value!

[brotherkellymatthewbarnes]

Membros was the best and most durable Micronaut actionfigure, that I owned, and Acroyer was the most fragile. I also owned Time Travelers four or five of those, a Pharoid, 1 Acroyer II, a green Galactic Warrior, and a Blue Space Glider.

[MadisonCarter]

These were "my" Micronauts as a child. Got them around the time I was three, maybe four.

[toyfreaks]

OMG I had Baran Karza and the horse, but I lost the horse head, so he was permanently a centaur.

[katenunyabizness]

Funny, I just came across my Karza 5 days ago. He's almost complete, just missing his torso missle.
Loved the Zee Toys Metal Men line. Major Mercury had that "rocket pack" that was a Space 1999 Eagle's landing gear pod.

[waydef]

I love it and I’m happy to still be the owner of many micronauts to this day.

[kprimm]

wish to goodness that they would bring these back, Thank goodness I have a lot of vintage stuff and buy all I can, when I can. Please bring these back.

[richardwatts]

Brilliantly informative video, loved hearing the backstory behind the magno-powered Micronauts figures. Having still got both Baron Karza and Force Commander, I certainly would have liked to have had the other figures on show here, particularly the Emperor and Red Falcon. Interestingly, just as a note, if you look at the Transformers G1 toy Wheeljack the head bears a more than a passing resemblance to Jeeg. Coincidence? Thanks once again, fabulous video.