MF1-01 Commander Microman
In 2003 Takara released a new Microman male body to the market: Microforce! These were new body types featuring an insane amount of articulation for a 4-inch action figure. They also came with a ton of add-on parts, proving that if handled properly, a 4-inch action figure line could be handled as well as 12-inch or 6-inch superposable line.
I’ve covered some recent love for Microman when I reviewed Superman, Medalg, and Robotman Ace. I’ll be covering more in the months to come as these figures continue to hold their old against modern 4-inch figures. Hand candy, tons of fun, tons of accessories.
Microman Commander has a new body-type that pretty much dominated the line from 2003 on. The figure stands 4 inches tall and has tons of articulation: ball feet, hinged ankles, double knees, thigh swivel, ball hips, ball waist, ball chest, double-ball shoulders, bicep swivel, double elbows, wrist swivels, hinged hands, and a ball head. TOOOONS of articluation. Tons. Maybe too much. Nah, there can never be too much. For the most part, I have not had problems with the joints on my Microman figures. They are solid, the joints are solid, and there is never breakage. Except on this fella. Commander’s crotch exploded to powder out of the box. I had to drill holes in the balls and peg them to his crotch. Nothing a little hobby sprue and Gundam joints couldn’t fix.
The sculpt is pretty standard; it’s just a blank body and could be any superposeable 12-inch figure from the time shrunk down. The one complaint that I have about the sculpt is the long arms, the monkey arms; they are outside of my comfort zone for OK proportions. And yet, those long arms do lend to some dynamic poses. The head-sculpt is very well done. It’s actually one of my favorite human head sculpts from the line; it says, “What it is, Commander?” The sculpting that pops for me is the accessories; they are extremely well done and really look sharp.
And part of the reason that they look sharp is the vac-metalizing. Takara really knows how to vac-metalize figures. The vac-metal accessories look fantastic against the painted and clear plastics. They’ve also perfected the clear, “Jolly Rancher” action figure. I’m continually impressed by their efforts on vac-metals and clear plastics.
There are a good many accessories with the figure, and the usual hands are included. Commander comes with a chest harness, thigh holster, and a wrist holder. Commander’s knife goes into the wrist holder, his pistol into the thigh holster, and the rifle on the chest harness. Outside of the wrist holster, the other pieces struggle for a tight fit. I had to glue my chest harness into place since the two pieces kept popping apart and the thigh holster is glued into place. It’s fallen off, cracked, and has seen better days. I don’t have a suggestion on how they could be better.
Despite the exploding hips and the fragile accessories, the figure is a ton of fun. It still ranks as one of my favorite figures, and will be leading my team of growing Micromen.
I don’t know where to point you to pick this up but you can find them on eBay or Amazon every once in a while.
As always you can discuss this topic further on the Fwoosh forums.
