

Some of the most successful to come about were Masters of the Universe, G.I. The 1980s spawned all sorts of popular action figure lines, many based on cartoon series, which were one of the largest marketing tools for toy companies.
#Microman batman house movie
Led by Star Wars-themed sales, collectible action figures quickly became a multimillion-dollar secondary business for movie studios.įrom 1972 to 1986 there was a famous line of Big Jim action figures produced by Mattel. Instead of a single character with outfits that changed for different applications, toy lines included teams of characters with special functions. The widespread success of Kenner's Star Wars 3-3/4" toy line made the newer, smaller size the industry standard.
#Microman batman house license
They eventually brought the Microman toy line to the United States as the Micronauts, but Mego eventually lost control of the market after losing the license to produce Star Wars toys to Kenner in 1976. In 1971, Mego began licensing and making American Marvel and DC comic book superhero figures, which had highly successful sales and are considered highly collectible by many adults today.

These toys also featured interchangeable parts, with emphasis placed on the transformation and combination of the characters. Takara began producing characters in the Microman line with increasingly robotic features, including Robotman, a 12" robot with room for a Microman pilot, and Mini-Robotman, a 3-3/4" version of Robotman. This laid the foundation for both the smaller action figure size and the transforming robot toy. The Microman line was also novel in its use of interchangeable parts. During the oil supply crisis of the 1970s, like many other manufacturers of action figures, Takara was struggling with the costs associated with making the large 11 ½ inch figures, So, a smaller version of the cyborg toy was developed, standing at 3-3/4 inches high, and was first sold in 1974 as Microman. Joe toys in Japan, also manufactured an action figure incorporating the licensed GI Joe torso for Henshin Cyborg-1, using transparent plastic revealing cyborg innards, and a chrome head and cyborg feet. Takara, still under license by Hasbro to make and sell G.I. Takara also issued a sublicense to Medicom for the manufacture of action figures. For example, Palitoy (in the UK) issued a sublicense to Tsukuda, a company in Japan, to manufacture and sell Palitoy's Action Man accessories in the Japanese market. The Japanese had at least two examples where a Hasbro licensee also issued sublicenses for related products. These different licensees had a combination of uniforms and accessories that were usually identical to the ones manufactured for the US market by Hasbro, along with some sets that were unique to the local market. In a move that would create global popularity for this type of toy, Hasbro also licensed the product to companies in other markets. It featured changeable clothes with various uniforms to suit different purposes. Joe was initially a military-themed 11.5-inch figure proposed by marketing and toy idea-man Stan Weston. (A similar toy named Johnny Hero was introduced by Rosko Industries for Sears in 1965, but was known as a "Boy's Doll" since the term action figure had not gained widespread usage at that point). Joe figure to boys who would not play with "dolls". The term "action figure" was first coined by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I.
