Cyborgs
Sci-fi battle figurines with interchangeable limbs and weapons
This early Seventies Denys Fisher range beats later incarnations developed around the same theme (including Timanic Cyborgs and Micronauts) by virtue of being constructed to a larger scale (meaning they could be pitched in inter-species war with Action Man) and by being not widely owned or affordable.
Cleverly manufactured in a combination of clear plastic, chromed parts and die-cast metal, they were very cool looking toys (in three flavours, Android, Muton and Cyborg), though there was no clear baddie/goodie division. There was some comic strip business on the back of the boxes setting up an interplanetary war backstory but kids just make up their own, don’t they?
There was also the slightly scary implication, not exploited by the later brands, that we would all one day become part human, part machine, with plastic or metal replacing what once was flesh. Which, when you were a youngster conversant with the plot of the Six Million Dollar Man (the TV series was based on Martin Caidin’s 1972 book, Cyborg), seemed eminently plausible1.
As with the later figure collections, there was an assortment of accessories; in this case, weapons sets (the limbs of the Cyborgs could be replaced), flying discs a la the Green Goblin, costumes (or “subforms”) for Muton, and the CyboInvader spaceship. Forget the rubber-suited Cybermen of Doctor Who or the monotone Borg of Star Trek, here’s a frightening notion: when the Queen Mum had her hip replacement, she technically qualified as a cyborg. A PR opportunity missed there, we feel2.
Available in the UK only for a short period, the reissued Takara Henshin Cyborgs are still popular today in Japan.
Steve
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Er, I never had a Cyborg of any description. Hope this helps!
Shame the film's not still available on DVD. Phil Daniels, Mark Wingett, Jonathan Pryce, Gary Tibbs! And cameos from Ken Campbell, Charlie from Casualty, Gary Holton, Gary Olsen, Jim Broadbent, Janine Duvitski, Richard Griffiths. Start petitioning Network now!
Speaking of Android, I *believe* he was launched later, as I remember having Cyborg and Muton and being very excited that they had a new enemy. Android seemed cast in a different manner, though, being more "brittle" and lacking the rubber head. His chest panel popped open to reveal a 4-missile launcher, which could be fired by pressing a button on his back.
The ship - which I had - was made of two main sections: a saucer with a plastic dome (which some little b****** smashed when he "flipped" it out of my arms the day I took it into school one "toy day") and a chair with fold-out wings that sat inside the saucer, which was very Gieger-esque, a quasi-biomechanical thing. In addition, it was armed to the teeth with those rubber dart launchers you can't use to make toys now, as you'd wind up with a lawsuit.
It's not accurate to say there was "no clear goodie/baddie divide", as the backstory was laid out in comic strip form on the back of the box. Muton was an intergalactic space parasite type bod who decided one day that it was Earth's turn to be laid to waste. Humanity's best scientific minds got together to create the ultimate defender of the human race, and created Cyborg - apparently half man half machine (though no organic bits were evident on the toy) and cased in a diamond body shell.
I believe Android, introduced a couple of years after Cyborg and Muton, was designed as another "hero" toy. This always seemed to me a tad unfair on poor ol' Muton. Anyway, I never had an Android figure, they seemed to be rather harder to find than the others.
Each figure had a range of accessories, some of which were supplied with the figure. Cyborg came with a Cybo-Liquidator (aka very small water pistol) and a Cybo-Eliminator (springloaded rocketfiring thing), while Muton came with a "Scorch Bore" and a "Venom Injector", comprised of three rubber snakes' heads.
While Cyborg's accessories were all of the "interchangeable limb" variety (and the prohibitively expensive Cybo-Interceptor spaceship), Muton had actual outfits to wear - these were known as "Subforms" and comprised "Torg" (a horned and skeletal demon thing), "X-Akron" (a red roboty monster thing) and "Amaluk" (green fishy monster thing).
How do I remember all this rubbish? God only knows.
Had totally forgotten about these.
Jesus - looking back I think I might have been a bit of a spoiled only child.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shonen+cyborg&search=Search
But then it gets very interesting... Basically, as Micronauts' (or "Microman" as he's known in Japan) popularity began to wane, the company behind them came up with a new range of vehicles for him that could transmute into everyday objects like cameras or become giant robots... Licensing them to the US, these Microman robots were rebranded as... Transformers...
And the rest is history...
Eventually got my hands on Android, and by virtue of being black (not a race thing, more Vader, etc.) instantly joined the fight with the Lizard, Penguin and a big-headed alien from Space 1999 against Spiderman, Captain America and a bendy Evel Knievel (hey, this was war - all hands to the pump).
But yeah, the missiles disappeared instantly, and feet and hands went the same way eventually. As for Muton's unfortunately shaped weapon - I do remember a crinkly rubber kind of flame shaped ray gun of some sort; it's similarity to a pooch's old fella still open to speculation....