This will stick. It did with me ever since I was a wee lad. Microman’s legendary magnetic-joint modular toys made any other toy line released in the 1970s look stiff, dusty and, well, ignored (at least in my ‘romper room’).

Above: This custom ‘Spy Magician’ is road-ready with his transformed Microman ‘Dober’ trike via Takara’s vintage magnetic-joint design.

Above: Microman’s ‘BEST FRIEND’ before ‘Transformers’ were even a spot in the kennel – The Dober Trike (This vintage model being blue/white, there are vintage red/yellow models as well and even a ‘Gold Dober’ which I understand to be insanely RARE)

Talk about ‘man’s best friend’ … wow! I absolutely go full-giddy when I’m around vintage Microman magne-anything! I mean, durable construction, awesome original design concepts and MAGNETIC JOINTS?!? Sign me up.

I was sold immediately when I got my first Microman Titan kit (pictured above). Blown away by the elegant articulation and easy modification that magne-joint introduced into the world of modular play, I began collecting almost any toy that utilized this type of joint system.

Above: A Microman ‘Catwoman’ crashes the bash on a Microman Magne-Cat from 1999 as ‘man’s best friend’ takes it all in.

I guess the ‘magic’ of magnetics really got me going and Takara‘s earliest figures in the Microman line was and still is a MAJOR influence on the type of play I like to reference when brainstorming to develop designs and joint systems for my own frugal toy custom kits, ‘Phantomophigures’ in which each figure utilizes micro-neodymium magnetics for exceptional display and play possibilities (more on this HERE:

https://phantomoshop.blog/2017/08/11/more-micro-scale-customs/).

Anyhoo, my addictions really started to flare once again, this time when Takara Microman released it’s most versatile magnetic figure (in my opinion), Microforce.

Above: Takara’s ‘Microman Magneforce’ like to hang around via magnetic joints and feet. Boss.

You can find your Microman fix at seller 545’s ‘Phantomotoi’ (Fan-toe-moe-toy) booth of collector cool inside Fox Lake Country Antique Mall, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

GREAT PRICES! M.O.C.! N.I.B.! See you THERE!

Collect on,
– John

Phantomoshop

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