The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[GoktimusPrime]

I saw an ad for hasbros star wars micro machines. this got me thinking wasn't micro machines the competition (of sorts) with the micro masters of the time at the tail end of g1. Did Hasbro gain the trademark all those years ago?

Also, there was an economic recession in the early 90s (many of us G1ers will remember Paul Keating describing it as "The recession we had to have"). With more families tightening their belts, it meant that toy companies like Galoob and Hasbro were looking at ways of downsizing toys to make them cheaper and give people better value for money.

And I gotta say, one of the best things about collecting Micromasters was the incredibly awesome value for money! You could grab a Micromaster Patrol with your pocket money and get four Transformers in a single purchase. Six if you bought a Combiner Squad (which were a bit dearer). For birthdays or Xmases, you could get a boxed Micromaster playset, which included its own Micromaster figure, and of course, they all joined up to create a big Micromaster metropolis! And boy did our collection counts suddenly growing at an exponential rate!

[Handsprime]

And I gotta say, one of the best things about collecting Micromasters was the incredibly awesome value for money! You could grab a Micromaster Patrol with your pocket money and get four Transformers in a single purchase. Six if you bought a Combiner Squad (which were a bit dearer). For birthdays or Xmases, you could get a boxed Micromaster playset, which included its own Micromaster figure, and of course, they all joined up to create a big Micromaster metropolis! And boy did our collection counts suddenly growing at an exponential rate!

I love little toy metropolises, I used to collect Hot Wheels citys back in the day, you know when you could make a little metropolis with highways and such

nowadays its just stuff to add to your hot wheels tracks. I'm upset i got rid of all my hot wheels city stuff they were fun

[Paulbot]

And boy did our collection counts suddenly growing at an exponential rate!

True - Micromasters make up more than a quarter of my G1 collection count.

Micromasters were made by Hasbro to copy/compete with Galoob's Micro Machines (a bit like creating Kreo to copy/compete with Lego)

Some younger fans might not realise how closely they imitated Micro Machines back then. The four pack, the reflective silver foil under the vehicles, even the original design of the 'Micro' brand on the TF boxes is suggestive of the Galoob packaging. And of course the TV advertising for the Micromasters: "The Most Incredible Micros Of All. They're Not Just Small"!

vs

Image sources (reuploaded, not hotlinked): TF pic, Mirco Machine pic