Necronomitron

And it only took 40 years!

I really enjoy the new Deluxe Insecticon “Venin”, but I’m still perplexed by the silly name change Hasbro went with.

Obviously it’s supposed to be “Beetras 04: Battle Expert Emergency Task Ranger Anthromobile System, Beet-Zeguna”.

But apparently that was unavailable?

The Bio Suit figure can’t do a T-pose, only a regular Microman can, like the Rescue Team M27X it shows.

Last, it’s a dead ringer for 1980 Punch Robo. I’m guessing it was intended as a retool of Punch Robo for a 1986 Microman line that didn’t happen.

That’d make it one of the last Microman patents.

Gotcha. So, the Bio Suits were model kits. Obvious you know, the focus of utility patents was “what the thing do”, so their patents were about assembling them.

Even when a kit also transformed, like the keshi kit for Countach / Sunstreaker, the patents were centered on “you put this together”.

This patent is deeply confusing on multiple levels. There are several elements which are anachronisms. If you don’t mind, how did you come to the conclusion it was intended for Microman’s Bio Suit series?

In Takara’s 1983 Tokyo Toy Show catalog, the prototype art of Cassette Man shows the original Micro Change Rumble / Frenzy cassette deco was… Enemy?

This is for the Jumpstarters. You can see the latch for the spring mechanism on the chest. Also, Drill Dasher was released in 1981.

Remembering Ron Friedman

2/2

Two of the vintage art pieces were used in the Menko card series, while the Sky Base art was from its packaging. The Battle Buffalo lunar assault painting was used in the 1982 catalog.

Aside from being some cute little guys, the e-HOBBY color swap versions of Powered System A&B came with some stunning art prints of modern and vintage Diaclone paintings.

1/2

3/3

Anyway, I learned Micro Language to translate one of the Microman Zero Zero comics.

For some reason, the comic reads left to right. Enjoy!

2/3

One of the features is a short comic written entirely in the “Micro Language” alphabet. A chart dares you to learn Micro Language, so you can decipher the text.

Curiously, text on doors and vehicles is still written in Japanese and English….

1/3

1977’s Microman Magazine Zero Zero is nearly 80 pages of high concept sci-fi art, devoted to life on Microman’s home planet, from fashion to robot pets. It’s a beautiful thing, which shouldn’t exist.

It’s hard to imagine a company today making a book so removed from advertising current toys.

My favorite is how the Japanese release of G2 Laser Optimus Prime was “Battle Convoy”, but he still had the giant “Optimus Prime” sticker on the trailer. A name which just fully didn’t exist in Japanese Transformers at the time.

This is accurate. It wasn’t a numbered sticker, and the instructions didn’t tell you to do anything specific with it, but a lot of kids chose that spot.

So, it turns out they make ridiculously tiny record players…

Henshin Cyborg Command Machine Secret Documents booklets (1972), English translation : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive English translation of all three secret documents booklets for Takara’s 1972 Henshin Cyborg Command Machine.

10/10

Each of the three record sets came with a 16 page “Top Secret Documents” booklet, fleshing out the stories from the records.

This is the English translation of all three.

(Since Bluesky compresses images, here’s a link to hi-res versions on Archive instead)

9/10

Henshin Cyborg Command Machine Records 11 - 14 (1972), from the Cyborg Commands record set.

8/10

Henshin Cyborg Command Machine Records 7 - 10 (1972), from the Transformation Commands record set.

7/10

Henshin Cyborg Command Machine Records 3 - 6 (1972), from the Spy Tactics record set.

6/10

Henshin Cyborg Command Machine Records 1 & 2 (1972), the records which came with the player.

Exact same, but hang on a second, I’m building dramatic tension.

…….

….

As an archivist, it’s frustrating to acknowledge some media was too ephemeral.

Because of the low quality of the item, it was almost too late to preserve it even when it was new, let alone over fifty years later.

It’s difficult to accept not everything CAN be preserved.

5/10

After all that, the audio quality on the players are just as awful as you’d imagine.

Here’s on the original machine, then a newer version of the player, and then edited to the proper speed.

No matter what, it’s the tinniest audio ever. The commercial shows how rich and full it should be.

4/10

So, we track down as many copies as possible. They’re going to be scratched, but not in the exact same places. We’ll record them all, then edit them together to make the cleanest audio.

What’s that? They’re expensive and hard to find? Well it sounds like someone ought to archive them, huh?

3/10

The first hurdle is the condition of the records. With no sleeves, they’ve spent 50 years bouncing around in some kid’s toy box.

One solution is to get packed copies, and open them. Unfortunately, this isn’t foolproof. Life isn’t fair, and old things are still old, no matter how new they are.

2/10

The 1973 Henshin Cyborg Command Machine was a handheld device that played 2” records.

There were 14 in all, each 30 seconds long, none of them very good. However, as some of the first Henshin Cyborg fiction, obviously nothing has ever been more important.

This is the attempt to archive them.

1/10

Note: The “I’m not afraid” part of “Henshin March” is from the Japanese version of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”

Bearded monster “Papahigera”,
“hige” is “beard”.

Scolding monster “Mamakogoton”,
“kogoto” is “to scold”.

Bullying monster “Ijimegon”,
“ijime” is “to bully”.