something I saw at Toys R Us year ago.

[Drain]

Back in 1982 I bought a Micronaut Hydra, which I still have complete. When I got it home and put together, I found that the missile wouldn't shot. I took the launcher apart and found the springs were gone. I would if Mego did this with the end of their Micronaut run.
During that same trip, I saw some Micronaut available on cards. They were just the figure, no accessaries, ie Space Glider; no jet pack. The assortment also contained Repto, Antron and membros, but that were missing their hand/weapons. I was wondering if any one else seen this type of card before.

[toys2cool]

if they can put Batman gloves and a spiderman body on an Aquaman any thing's possible :smiley1:

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

As I recall, the figures were sold without accessories in Britain, and it's possible they were sold that way here as a way to clear out old stock. The missiles were likely "peace bonded;" that is, the springs were taken out and usually the missiles were glued in place. It's 'cos a kid choked on a Galactica missile way back when. It was illegal (until 92 I think) for toys to shoot small missiles, and it was easier for the company to glue 'em together than retool the molds.

Same reason the original Transformers toys didn't shoot: the Japanese toys they used the molds from did, but it was illegal to make the American ones shoot. 'Course you could just take the guns apart and put springs in yourself.

Don C.

[geotroid]

Yes, Mego eliminated the springs and glued the smaller missiles in place after 4-year old Robert Jeffrey (d. 12/31/78) fatally choked after a Battlestar Galactica/Colonial Viper missile got lodged in his throat.

The Star Wars Collector's Archive (Formerly "Toysrgus.com") has an information page regarding this industry-changing fatal accident.

http://theswca.com/textf/toydeath.html

While that site focuses on how this affected the legendary "Rocket Fett" (the cancelled missile-firing feature originally advertised for Boba Fett), there is no specific Mego related info. However, the wealth of historical information regarding the fatal accident is amazingly detailed.

Mego voluntarily modified their toys due to massive amount of negative press at the time. I have a small certificate from a boxed Micronauts Battle Cruiser that had the small white missiles glued in place. I wish I knew how to attach JPEGs to posts, but here's what it states:

"The contents of this package have been changed slightly. You will read in the enclosed instructions that this toy contains small plastic missiles that fire by spring action. As you may know, the function of missile-firing toys has been questioned. Therefore, we voluntarily have made certain modifications in the toy so that it no longer fires these small missiles." [Mego Corp logo]

-geotroid

[geotroid]

Almost forgot - the Micronaut figures sold sans accessories were indeed over stock that was acquired and repackaged by Lion Rock, one of Mego's distributers, after Mego folded.

They were distributed in both the UK and North America.

Ray can step in anytime and provide more details ;-)

-geotroid

[AcroRay]

Yep! Lionrock was Mego's main production facility, and they began selling anything they could - incomplete or not - just to fill order quanities and generate income to keep off Mego's creditor wolves at the door.

Curator Brian actually knows more details about Lionrock, and has spoken to the people involved there.

So, if you've got a loose, accessory-less alien can you claim it as an unpackaged Lionrock alien? :silly:

[palitoy]

I missed one of these on ebay the other day:

http://i20.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/f1/f7/3fbe_1.JPG
http://i5.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/f1/f7/4907_1.JPG

[Drain]

That is it, Thanks Palitoy. That the first one I have seen in years, of course I was not looking that hard.

As for my hydra, The missiles were removable, but no springs in lauchers

[Drain]

Ya Palitoy, what was that ebay auction number you found that figure in that you posted in this thread.

[Action Martin]

Back when I was playing with Micronauts I didn't care for Membros, Antron, and Repto having weapons instead of hands. So I used some of my extra Time Traveller hands on the aliens and they worked fine. I usually kept one weapon and one hand on Repto and Membros. Antron had hands all around.

[AcroRay]

Palisades made optional hands for both Membros and Repto with their recent repros. The parts are fully compatible with vintage Micros.

Membros has a mechanical hand and an organic hand, each with 2.5 mm sockets to fit most Micronaut wrist-connection points. Repto's hands end in 5mm pegs, so you'd still need wrist cuffs for them.