Origins of Autobot mini cars

[proteus]

you know every now and then you find out something that makes you think- jeeze thats really obvious but i never knew?

well did you ever wonder why the transformers mini cars like bumblebee were in a diferent style to the other figures- almost super deformed dumpy lil cars.

well- in japan micronauts were known as microman- and in the japanese story they were actual size...and their equipment and vehicles were ment to look like toys- they were ment to be disguised as toys- so the warp racer looks like a race car because it is ment to be a microman vehicle disguised as a toy car.

with me so far?
ok so you may be aware that in the uk we had a line called peny racers- these were lil cars that you put a coin in the back and it made them do weelies- well they did a set of microman robots that could transform into penny racer cars- called choro-q in japan- and its these that were reissued as the mini cars.

penny racers were a big deal in 1970s uk, and to find that the mini cars were ment to be diguised as them is so obvious after you know- lol

just a useless bit of marginaly interesting information

[primalfear]

very interesting. I never knew. thanks for the share

[cyberwolf76]

That makes sense when i look at bumblebee hubcap and clifjumper ...That back silver tab that folds out always looked familiar to me and now I know why. thanks for the info.

[victoryleo19]

Was that the same for Warpath, Seaspray, and Beachcomber? Those three were my absolute favorite as a kid. I always wondered why they were all the same size!

[anna]

I always kinda figured that(though I never knew it for sure till now)

[microbry]

More on this here: microforever.com/MC04MiniCAR.htm

Also I just shot some photos that show one of the MicroChange Cars (a red "Bumblebee") in something close to the original context (though the Acroyear is from the prior Microman canon and the Microman figure is from the 2002 Palisades reissued Micronauts): www.flickr.com/photos/microbry/sets/72157626383668783/with/5623612073/

Mostly related, I also talk some about the Microman origins of Transformers in this part of an interview at Fanmode.Net: www.fanmode.net/2009/07/17/fanmode-interview-bryan-wilkinson-part-5/

[figuremod73]

Thanks for the information ( and bit of history). I always figured tranformers basically came from microman but i wasnt sure just where it began. The small cars are my favorite. Ive heard that in japan things got so confusing in there microman line they ended up cancelling it in favor of transformers.

[Deleted]

Apr 3, 2011 17:52:23 GMT -6 victoryleo19 said:

Was that the same for Warpath, Seaspray, and Beachcomber? Those three were my absolute favorite as a kid. I always wondered why they were all the same size!

I believe the second issue ones were not from the microman line but created for the tf line ...but i could be wrong