The World's Best Kept "Little" Secret
About The Transformers

The Transformers/Microman Connection:Microman Secret File

"The Story that Hasbro Didn't Want You to Know"

Transformer Toys that originally came from the Microman line:
Blaster | Perceptor | Soundwave / Frenzy / Rumble / Ravage / Lazerbeak / Buzzsaw / Reflector / Autobot Mini-Cars | Megatron
And others... more related pictures can be found on other catalog pages and throughout the main Microman pages on this site.
Microman 1984 MicroChange Series Catalog Cover

Next Page of Catalog


This is the back and front cover of the very last Microman catalog ever produced by Takara (until the recent 1999 revival series began), Microman Secret File Vol. 1.

The back cover slogan reads: "Let me show you my secret." The photo shows the entire Microman MicroChange series. Is it any wonder the kid looks happy? The cover art features a handsome picture of M-011 Salam (New Microman) in the foreground, and the last six robots of the MicroChange series and other Micromen behind him... This catalog is the largest and thickest of the New Microman series, a whopping 30 pages long!

After this point, Takara decided to drop the Microman and Diaclone toylines in favor of the Hasbro repackaging of their latest creations as "The Transformers," and placed their resources (which included the remnants of the Microman/Diaclone design team) at Hasbro's disposal. The Microman series would not appear again until 15 years later, and Diaclone has yet to return but has been alluded to in the new Japanese TF CarRobot series and in the Deluxe Beast Wars toys featuring Diaclone-style cockpits.
My own set of Microchange toys, plus a few Transformer spinoffs and Taiwan fakes. The same toys as the other pic, transformed

The initial marketing of Transformers in Japan was small in scale and experimental. It took place alongside of the final releases of Microman and Diaclone (as well as a short-lived series called Blockman, Lego-like construction sets of blocks that were also robots that was interchangable with Microman AND Diaclone!), and Takara took some unusual measures to try to market both without any confusion. The first Transformers included toys from Microman's MicroChange series--household items that could transform into robots at the same scale (Micromen were dimunitive in size--an alien race of cyborgs about 3 inches tall--and their sales point was that all the toys were full-scale!), and the newer transforming Diaclone robots, robots that changed into (usually) 1/50 scale vehicles like cars, trucks, F-15s, etc. The Diaclone toys, a 1980's spinoff of the popular Microman toyline (which in turn dates back to the early 70's, and the basis for the U.S. Micronauts toy series marketed by now-defunct Mego Corporation) came with small 1-inch high posable mini-figures with tiny magnets on their feet (the metal sidings in the original Optimus Prime trailer are more than cosmetic--the figures' magnets would stick to it). This is why so many Transformers have small seats and cockpits that open.

The Microman and Diaclone designers at this point were already pretty much the same staff, so the styles of the toys were not dissimilar. Even pre-transformer Diaclone toys often look remarkably like VERY TINY scale Microman toys, and the artwork is often almost impossible to differentiate. Some of the figures look like a small "RobotMan"/"Biotron", Takara's first "transforming" robot toy from the Microman series...and direct ancestor of the Optimus Prime design! Diaclone frequently uses the same connector 5mm peg-hole size as Microman toys. Takara briefly tried marketing Diaclone and Microman toys abroad as "Diakron" and "KronoForm" toys shortly before the advent of the Transformers phenomenom.


Transformers brought with it a kind of American sensationalism that the aging Microman and Diaclone series lacked, particularly when the animated series was imported to Japanese airwaves (it was so successful in fact that the Japanese made a few anime-style sequels to the show, and later spun off the Yuusha--Brave--Series). Takara's robot designs already seemed to be getting more attention than the figures, so the decision to drop the "extra weight" isn't surprising, just a little dissapointing that a better solution couldn't be found. Even a pilot film for an animated Diaclone video in '84 featuring an updated "Macross"-style look never made it past early production...
This final Microman catalog is presented here in its entirety as a reference for both Transformer and Microman fans alike. It serves as a final glimpse of what direction Takara was taking this toy design before it was superceded by its new American-derived counterpart.

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Microman is (c) Takara, Ltd, Japan. No infringement is intended.