If you have been looking through this site, you already know about the toy splendor that is the Microman Acroyrears and their American cousins the Micronauts Acroyears. What you might not know, is that the Japanese Microman line was far more diverse than the Mego releases. We here in the US were happy with the three different Acroyears we got: Acroyear, Acroyear ll, and Giant Acroyear. But kids in Japan were treated to a much larger family of cool toys to play with. There were allot of heroes in the Microman line, so there had to be an equal amount of villians! Not only Acroyears, but Ardens, Uniquers, Death Marcks, AcroSatans...so here is a breif look at the different series of Acroyears we never got...and get ready to be jealous!
 

 
The A32X series of President or "Kaiser" Acroyears were released in 1976. The three Acroyears were all plastic, unlike the other Acroyears that we a combo of plastic and die cast metal. Released as a boxed item, these cool figures came with a small BB inside the cavity of the chest. This could be moved around with the magnetic wand shown in the center figures hand.

 

  

(l-r) A322 Satander, A323 Demon and A321 Devil

  

President Acroyear box
 
Other accessories included these various race car parts...these parts could be combined with the Acroyears body to transform him into a vehicle. The car body was also riddled with numerous 5mm holes and pegs, fully interchangeable with the rest of the line. A small sticker sheet was also included to decorate the car, as well as instructions and a catalog. A nice full package!

 

 
The Amazon Acroyear was an amazing piece of action figure work. The incredibly cool yet strange clear head is just the topper to this leader of the Acroyears. Since they share the same basic body style as the previous President Acroyears, the back story read that the Ardens rebuilt them to become the Amazons. The A37X series was released in 1979, and was yet another great toy Mego chose not to produce.
 

(l-r): A373 Amazon, A372 Amazon and A371 Amazon

The Amazon Acroyears came with a multitude of extra accessories that were packed to the brim inside their green window box. The box was adorned with a great Manga style illustration, and each side panel was full of cool graphics. The figure was stored in a styrofoam tray, with sections cut away to fit all the pieces. The colorful flower like "wing" which fit into the figures back via 5mm pin, could spin freely to hypnotize an oncoming Rescue Command figure. A clear color matched spear and figure stand were also included.

A color matched side kick for the Amazons was also added, the Amazon Monsters. These guys were all vinyl, and had articulation in the arms and waste.
 

 
(above, l-r): Urokoman, Tokageras and Mushikeller vinyl monsters and at left the Amazon Acroyear box
  

 

 
In 1979 Takara re-tooled and re-released the original Acroyear figure, and re-named him the "new" Acroyear. They were meant to be similar to the popular Arden figures released earlier, and were given a new box and cape which helped them to complete the match.

 

  

(l-r): A381 Fire Star, A382 Earth Star and A383 Sky Star

  
Along with the new cape and box came new names, a new color and number designations. The A38X Acroyears were named after the Earth's elements. Yellow for earth, red for fire and blue for sky. They did however also come with the same extra accessories as the originals did: chrome wing, missile launcher and wheels. in 1999 Takara re-issued these figures as a Toys R Us 3 pack exclusive. This also lead to a few new variations, from the A384 Iron Star included in the watch set and the Bounty Hunter Rock Star Warp Magazine exclusive.

New Acroyear box
 

A38X Rock Star Acroyear

 

 
Under the "new" Microman banner in 1981, the last of the "new" Acroyear series was released. This new design of Acroyears went back to the die-cast/plastic route for the figures body, and featured a great new transforming feature. The number designations were finally dropped but the great features continued.

 

  

 

This new Acroyear could transform into a missile firing "crab". The leg sections could be separated and folded open to supprt the figure, and the torso could be swiveled bacward to lay horizontally. A new mechanical looking head could be inserted into the opening facing forward, and arms raised to resemble some sort of twisted crab creature. The figure also came with two claws and three missiles that could shoot from the spring loaded launchers in the arms. Finally a rocket type backpack was included, and the second head could be stored onto a 2mm peg there. The different colored Acroyears had similar yet distinctively sculpted die-cast torsos.
 
For more indepth information on these and other Microman figures, please visit Paul Lorphanpaibul's Microman Forever