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Mar 2, 2018

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1101: Micronauts v.1 #16, April 1980

https://www.comics.org/issue/34300/

This comic brought back a very interesting memory. It relates to the toys that this series was ostensibly tied to. Much like the later G.I. Joe series (which I have just learned was actually a pitch for a covert strike force commanded by Nick Fury!), the writers had to walk a fine line between storytelling and advertising. By and large, I think, the Marvel scribes of the early 80s who did this did it very well. The early Transfomers, the afore-mentioned G.I. Joe, Starriors, Sectaurs, Star's Masters of the Universe, all were well-executed stories that just happened, occasionally to feature a character or vehicle that, lo and behold, was on toy store shelves around the same time.

The thing with Micronauts is that I never really had any of them. I remember seeing them as a young kid, and being vaguely aware of them, and of actually having a few, I think, but they were a very North America toy, I think, and I was arriving on these shores just as they were in decline. Or maybe I was just too preoccupied with Star Wars toys that I just ignored everything else.

Though I did like the He-Man figures. They were pretty cool.

Anyway, the memory was of a particular figure that I did have from the toy line, the Repto, a creature that appears as the greatest fear of Bug and his friend Jasmine. I had completely forgotten this toy until reading this comics, and then it leapt back into my mind. I have absolutely no idea what happened to it, or actually where it came from. But then there it was, bright as four-coloured day on page 7. Neat.

To be continued.

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