This week my Super7 ReAction+ Microtron arrived from Amazon, completing my assemblage of Wave 1 and 2 of this line, which only started just under a year ago. I initially only purchased Biotron, since this smaller version would scale nicely with my original magno Baron Karza. And I have to admit, he looked great on the shelf next to my Marvel Comics Micronauts Omnibuses. Before Christmas, I saw Baron Karza go on sale for ~$13 (I think), down from the normal $20 to $25, but I passed on it in case someone in my family got it for me for Christmas. Well, he quickly sold out at that price, and before you knew it, he was commanding higher than the retail price. However, I found a normal-priced one from the BigBadToyStore and ordered him and his arch-rival buddy (the good guy), Force Commander. Then Microtron went on sale for $19 (he's currently slightly less), so I scooped him up.
Now that I've opened them all up, what's my verdict?
Well, one of the intriguing things about these figures is the potential for future offerings because when you look at their card backs, you see clear references to the Marvel Comics storyline:
What if they one day made comic-book accurate figures of Commander Rann, Bug, Marionette (Princess Mari), Acroyear, and Prince Shaitan? I would certainly be interested in them.
I say that even though seeing the figures all together, there is a clear issue with scale. The original MEGO Biotron was 13" tall and Microtron was 4.5". This means Microtron is roughly 1/3rd the size of Biotron. As you can see below, the Super7 version is about 3/4 the size. So they don't look as good together as I hoped. Microtron should be smaller and Biotron should at least 1.5x bigger to match his comic proportions. This means Biotron looked better as a single figure than part of the group.
Super7's goals seem to be really challenging. They're taking figures that never were O-ring style or size and making them O-ring like the original Micronauts figures. They're referencing the comics (for suckers like me), but remaining faithful (up to a point) to the original Micronauts toy appearance. That's why Microtron sports the colorful crest on his chest, but doesn't have the red "nipples". One thing Microtron can do over the original is bend his arms at the elbow. The shoulder connections shouldn't rotate outward, but it would've been nice if his head pivoted some. At least he does have some limited interchangeable accessories (drill and circles). More on their confounding future plans further below...
The Baron Karza and Force Commander figures look nice, but they have just as much trouble standing up as the originals. It's a shame they're not designed for a future centaur version, but I doubt the line will continue that far. I also wish they had interchangeable hands or even ones that swiveled.
The cover art on the packaging is attractive and the figures look really good on the card (like I said, I already opened mine - the 'trons can be a bit tough to remove):
I like the red for evil, blue for good, background colors, and Biotron and Microtron could easily be doing a Disco dance.
Another reason I was thinking about discussing this was a teaser announcement for the next wave (Wave 3) from Toy News International last week.
The Emperor? You've got to be kidding me. He was never in the comics! He does look cool though, and was super rare, as he was distributed near the demise of the line and mostly overseas (or so I've read). I guess, they'll just reuse the molds from BK and FC, needing only to retool a new head and sword. From a production standpoint, it makes sense, but there's got to be a second offering for the wave. What will that be?
I hope it's Acroyear, but he needs to be more comic-accurate with a Michael Golden or Pat Broderick helmet with extended fins. I suppose as long as he has comic coloring but looked like the original toy, it would be desirable. Then in Wave 4, they could offer another magno figure (that I don't care about), and Prince Shaitan (a.k.a. Acroyear II).
At $25 a pop, they're quite expensive. And worst of all, once the new wave is released, the previous one is nearly sold out, so it pressures you to not wait too long. I don't need to be a completist for sure, but it'll really depend on who they decide to release to keep me interested. I think we all would rather see fully comic-accurate figures from Hasbro in their Marvel Legends line (at $28/each!), or even 3-3/4 scale figures, same size as Star Wars and the aborted non-funded Tron Haslab.
Meanwhile, Jim and I have our calendars marked to pre-order the excellent-looking John Carter figure from Icon Collectibles. I think it will retail from between $70 and $110 - quite a bargain when you consider the price of all four of these Micronauts!!
Speaking of expensive, check out these just announced Battlestar Galactica figures and vehicles:
3-3/4 scaled Viper - $220!
3-3/4 scale wave 1 of 5 figures - $150! That's $30 each, sheesh.
This is when I sometimes wish I only liked one theme of SYFY. I would love those, but I've got a LEGO Minas Tirith to save up for...
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