Let’s take a look at some of the coolest books (‘mook’ is a book with the look, design, and layout of a magazine, usually having a Japanese anime theme) that Japan produced for Takara’s AWESOME groundbreaking toy line ‘Microman’!
Now, I’m not going to talk about the manga or ‘comic’ books (another blog for sure) that are quite collectable here. We are going to take a look at books that are ‘product picture books’ which show the history and designs throughout the years, as well as a book dedicated to the customization of Microman! Freaking fantastic… let’s get started.
First of all, let’s get into ‘Micro-Mode’!
Check out the Microman commercials from the 1970s on Youtube (A MILLION THANKS to TOKYO TOY BASTARD for sharing! Check out and sub this chan) ! Just jamming to the AWESOME Microman Theme Song is inspiring to say the least! GOOSEBUMPS!
‘Microman Toy Compendium’
The Japanese are masters of creative vision. The history of the country alone is fascinating, right down to their age-old technologies with paper, as well as architecture, fashion and historical character. I have not been able to get enough of their excellent toy design ever since I was a kid, always gravitating towards the bright colors, awesome concepts and exceptional box and package illustration that emblazoned every out-of-this-world product they would release . True masters! And now, with ‘The Transformers’ being such a world-wide box-office hit, Takara’s ‘Microman’ line is finally accruing an awareness of preceding Hasbro’s uber-successful line of ‘box-office’ support toys that are produced currently.
Cool.
Mi-cr-O-MAAAAAAAAN!!
Be fore-warned that each ‘mook’ covered here is written in Japanese, and quite impossible to translate if you do not speak or read Japanese (one of my main goals is to learn to speak and write Japanese like my grandfather, George S. Bachay who learned quite a bit being in WWII). Grandpa tried to teach me a bit when I was a wee tot, but I could not catch the flow. I wish I could, but it is very possible to thoroughly enjoy these books due to the fantastic content inside their covers. And look out, these books are quite rare, especially in the United States, but not impossible to find. They also might be priced a bit heavy due to their scarcity.
Thank you for reading the Phantomoshop Blog and enjoy your ‘Microman Life’ (I know I’m gonna).
– John
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