| 1975 MICROMAN ZONE |
1975 Mecha-Cosmo Series Mecha-Cosmo Series No.1 - Marine Copter (c.1975) |
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Packages
Marine Copter package. The box is smaller than Mego Hydro Copter box.
The back of the package show the Hydro Copter specification (fictionalize) and also a picture of second Mecha-Cosmo toy - the Escargot. The box also show the 1975 Microman figure series line-up which include the one lone Acroyear at the end. The right hand side of the box show the new second Micro-Machine Series. Accessories
Marine Copter sticker sheet. Mego removed all the Marine Copter and Microman reference when they imported the toy as Micronauts in 1976. The brand name logo like STP, Ford and Goodyear were also replaced with ugly looking random drawing of stars and lines by Mego. One of the more notable sticker that got "alter" by Mego was the cool "nose-art" sticker which feature picture of a cartoon crow in military style invert triangle with the word "Marine Copter" and code number 682 which is a typical military code number for real attack submarine.
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In 1975 Takara introduced the first Mecha series
which consisted of two motorized toys - Marine Copter and Escargo. The
series was originally named "Mecha-Cosmo" in keeping with 1974
Microman Zone "Man from Cosmo" theme, later the word
"Cosmo" was drop in favor of just "Mecha Series" during
the Command Series in 1977.
Mecha Cosmo Marine Copter Like most of the Microman toys released during early part of 1975, they were designed for 1974 Microman "barefoot" series. The Marine Copter seat lacked 5mm peg hole and the figure is held to the seat by a rubber band. The cockpit is also slightly cramp for the new 1975 figures with the "shoes" since it was probably design for the shorter "barefoot" Microman.
Marine Copter in a "sub" mode. The rear part actually had two white ballast parts which unfortunately got blend into the white background of this picture. Marine Copter features a very innovative design whereby the cockpit "ball" also serves as front wheel for the vehicle. The seat is suspend between the two clear plastic bubble shell and has metal "weight" to keep the seat up-right while the clear ball-like wheel is moving. The clear ball cockpit is connect together by the big rubber band with "teeth" so it can be turn by the gears inside the vehicle. The gears turn via motorized unit housed inside "torpedo-like" tube similar to the motor unit that came with most submarine bath toy. The reason for using this "submarine toy motor" is because the motor unit can be remove and attaches to the bottom of Marine Copter to turn it into a bath toy. Takara included two ballast parts so the vehicle can stay afloat and also two fins to be attach to the ball cockpit so it can be self propel in the water. Marine Copter clever design combines with the extensive used of 5mm interchangeable parts made it one of the coolest toys from the early Microman Zone series.
Note the word "Takara" on the tail fin. The main body also has the word "Marine-Copter" inscribed near the rotor section. Mego imported Marine Copter in 1976 as Micronauts "Hydro Copter" along with its Mecha-Cosmo's counterpart, Escargo, as Micronauts "Gyrotron". However, Gyrotron never got released as Micronauts toys by Mego and only appeared in the early Mego Micronauts catalogs. Microman Marine Copter differed slightly from Mego version mainly in the quality of the plastic used and all the references to "Microman", " Takara" and "Marine Copter" were removed from Mego version. |
