Microman 2005 Series - Microman Road Spartan Series

RS-01

MACHSLUGGER + microman kaito MICROMAN 2005 ROAD FORCE SERIES

MICROMAN 2005

RELEASE DATE : 7/5/05

RETAIL PRICE : 1,680 Yen

Microman Road Spartan Series come packaged in standard size blister card style.

ROAD FORCE SERIES

+microman kaito

+microman ryu

+microman thunder

+microlady ray

Spartan Form

MICROMAN 2005 ROAD FORCE

TAKARA released Microman Road Force Series in summer of 2005. Road Force Road Spartan line is the second Microman and vehicle set to be released by TAKARA for the Force Series. Each Road Spartan toy comes with Roadmobile Road Spartan vehicle and Microman Road Force figure. There are total of four sets in Road Spartan line - RS-01 Mach Slugger with Microman Kaito, RS-02 Ride Python with Microman Ryu, RS-03 Delta Phantom with Microman Thunder and RS-04 Side Caliber with Microlady Ray. RS-04 is the only female member of the Road Force team.

MICROMAN KAITO

Mach Slugger came with Road Force Microman Kaito (Kite)

Microman Kaito comes with red interchangeable set of extra hands.

Road Spartan comes with standard official Microman Force series stand in clear. Toys R Us Japan ran a promotion at the release of Road Spartan Series where one can get matching figure stand set for Microman Road Force when spend $20.00 or more on Microman toys.

Microman Infomercial Vol.06 Catalog and story booklet.

ROAD SPARTAN STORY (as translated by Tomoyoshi Araki, edited by Paul L>)

"No" Ryu said at the first meeting with members of Road Force.
Magne Microman is in testing phase now. Road Force unit is ask to support those Magne Microman.
Ryu was selected for leader of Road Force, but Ryu hates Human.
he does not want to accept order from human, he does not want to do anything for human.
This is a disgrace for him, Ryu though. But all of his friends, Thunder and Kite (Kaito) stopped by him, but he ignore them and begins to leave the meeting room. He can hear Thunder was yelling "Ryu! wait!!!"

"Then Road Force members are Thunder, Kite and me. And transient leader is Kite" Ray said to him as he walks out.

"That's no matter, and not important for me. I hate Human. Why I must be doing these things for human ? That's sucks" Ryu answer Ray.

But Ray says to Ryu. "Ryu listen, I can't believing it myself, but I have to help our members ...our team. especially when members needs my help"

".........." Ryu is at lost for words.

"Who else can help friend ? I think only a friend, we must help each other"
Ryu can not look at her face, but he can only let out a deep sigh......

One day, Ryu heard about the unthinkable mission for Road Force. Three Magne Microman are infected by Acro-Virus. Mission of Road Force is usually "to Annihilate Acro-Virus"
but now Road Force is make into a Rescue team and to possibly fight the Magne Force Acroyear. "Why?" Ryu thinks and begins to wonder about his friends.

In the hanger bay of Road Force unit.

"That's no problem, I can do that, we are No.1 team" Kite is exciting in front of his Mach-Slugger.
Thunder checked his Vehicle "Delta-Phantom" with utmost care.
Ray is checking running data of Side-Caliber. She is little bit nervous.

Everyone become anxious or nervous about the new task set out for them. Then, they feels another Microman entering the dock.

"This is my vehicle?" ask Ryu.
"Yes, Ryu, the Ride-Bison (Note: this was original name for Ride-Python), that's a powerful Road Mobile unit" said Ray.

Thunder comes up beside Ryu. and says with a grin "So you over slept ?"

"We detect Magne Acroyear. Road Force ready to go"

Battle begins..............

ROAD-MOBILE VEHICLES

Road Spartan Road Force is a series of futuristic motorcycles pack together with Microman riders. Each bike was design of course to match its Microman Road Force rider. Since the days of Microman Zone, Microman line have always been known for its vehicle playset that interact with the action figures, so the idea of Microman and vehicle set is always a welcome one for Microman collectors especially in these recent periods where vehicle toys for action-figures are very far and few in between. Road Spartan series, unlike the recent Biomachine series, uses different approach for the design. Instead of the all chromed, hyper details and small and often fragile decorative pieces of Biomachine line, Road Spartan vehicles use solid and steady construction with colors and painted plastics, accent with large piece of chrome sections. The results are very nice, and playable toys instead of just being pretty display pieces. The series definitely has more of the toys feel than most of the recent Microman Force line-up.

RS-01 MACH SLUGGER

Mach Slugger is red and white jet trike with silver accent. Unit 01 has the lest bike like appearance of all the Road Spartan Road-Mobile vehicles. The vehicle can easily accommodates Microman figure which fit snugly inside the cockpit. Mach Slugger has two modes and can transform into jet mode (which is also the mode for Road Spartan Formation). The wheels have smooth rolling action and the vehicle glides easily across any hard surface. The unit is pretty solid though the big red wing can sometime come off a little too easy but mostly they stay pretty well on the main body.

ROAD FORCE KAITO

Road Force Microman body has several new parts. The legs and feet are all new along with the main torso. Road Force also has very bright paint scheme and look more like other, if somewhat typical, modern anime designs than your usual Microman figures. The design is very simple and solid which make the Road Force the most toy-like and one can not help but think that may be TAKARA is trying to move the line closer to be more kids friendly toys rather than collectible figures. Road Force has one new notable feature, the addition of feet articulations. Kaito has movable clear green visor which adds a nice color to the head design. (This seem to be TAKARA recent trend with Microman Force line). The design is simple and clean which goes well with the bike theme. One nice thing about Road Force is the clear chest part which add a nice cool factor to the otherwise mundane anime look.

Road Spartan Formation

SPARTAN FORM AND ROAD SPARTAN FORMATION!

As with most recent Microman toys, the vehicles have ability to combine with Microman figures and with one another to form large vehicle. For the figures, the bike chrome parts are used to combine with Road Force Microman to give them their Spartan Form with the only exception being Ray and her Side Caliber. For Ray, her Spartan Form is basically sticks her body into the side-car part and used it as body armor for the figure. The design probably look alright on drawing board but in real practice it just doesn't work well and she ends up looking like she is wearing a giant shell. As for Kaito, his Spartan Form is pretty much his vehicle in alternate mode with the two "blades" holding in his hands which can look a bit strange. The vehicles can also be combine and form the Road Spartan. The combination is pretty simple but surprisingly effective and form a nice "playable" larger vehicle. The formation is very solid and the entire thing can be rolls around on the floor without fear of its falling apart. Road Spartan Offensive Formation mode is simply Road Force Spartan Form riding on top of Road Spartan. While the Road Spartan Mode does involve a little more than just sticking the four bikes together, you should not expect to get something like Biomachine Bio-suit. That said, Road Spartan is definitely more fun than the static Bio-suits, now only if TAKARA would add pull-back motors and spring-loaded firing missiles to these toys.