The Henshin Boom/Second Kaiju Boom was kind of the reason for both the rise and fall of Henshin Cyborg, interestingly. Takara's G.I. Joe wasn't a failure; it was actually fairly popular, but when the Henshin Boom kicked off with Kamen Rider and Return of Ultraman, everybody only wanted transforming superheroes. In fact, Takara's first hero costumes were made for Joe; they called it the "Allies of Justice Series". Takara switched to Cyborg in '72 because it could be sold as a character separate from the costume packs. Cyborg actually managed to ride out the Oil Shock into '74, but when the Henshin Boom couldn't do the same and became a Henshin Bust, Cyborg was pincered by both chasing a dying trend and being too expensive to justify selling. Microman was a win-win for Takara: smaller toys are cheaper to produce and easier to sell, AND they could chase the hot new robot anime craze.
Thanks for the comment! I probably should have clarified, I think one of the big issues was that Japanese adults were extremely uncomfortable seeing their kids playing with military toys. In the late Fifties there were a lot of critics and of kids playing with tin replicas of American jeeps and B29’s in such, and there was a boom for Zeros and battleships in the early Sixties, but then Astro Boy and the Thunderbirds flipped that script. I think GI Joe must have turned some heads (and caused some kung-fu grips) arriving as it did during the big student protest era!
Very true, although that temper had definitely cooled by 1969, when Takara got the rights to Joe. Apparently, part of that cooling through the 60's was the popularity of Combat! on TV in Japan. Even so, the soldier motif went on the back-burner in 1970, when Takara did the same thing that was done with Barbie and released New G.I. Joe, re-sculpting his face to be more appealing to Japanese children, and adding sports themes to the costume lineup. But then the Henshin Boom dropped in '71 as I mentioned and Takara completely abandoned the soldier motif.
The Henshin Boom/Second Kaiju Boom was kind of the reason for both the rise and fall of Henshin Cyborg, interestingly. Takara's G.I. Joe wasn't a failure; it was actually fairly popular, but when the Henshin Boom kicked off with Kamen Rider and Return of Ultraman, everybody only wanted transforming superheroes. In fact, Takara's first hero costumes were made for Joe; they called it the "Allies of Justice Series". Takara switched to Cyborg in '72 because it could be sold as a character separate from the costume packs. Cyborg actually managed to ride out the Oil Shock into '74, but when the Henshin Boom couldn't do the same and became a Henshin Bust, Cyborg was pincered by both chasing a dying trend and being too expensive to justify selling. Microman was a win-win for Takara: smaller toys are cheaper to produce and easier to sell, AND they could chase the hot new robot anime craze.
Thanks for the comment! I probably should have clarified, I think one of the big issues was that Japanese adults were extremely uncomfortable seeing their kids playing with military toys. In the late Fifties there were a lot of critics and of kids playing with tin replicas of American jeeps and B29’s in such, and there was a boom for Zeros and battleships in the early Sixties, but then Astro Boy and the Thunderbirds flipped that script. I think GI Joe must have turned some heads (and caused some kung-fu grips) arriving as it did during the big student protest era!
Very true, although that temper had definitely cooled by 1969, when Takara got the rights to Joe. Apparently, part of that cooling through the 60's was the popularity of Combat! on TV in Japan. Even so, the soldier motif went on the back-burner in 1970, when Takara did the same thing that was done with Barbie and released New G.I. Joe, re-sculpting his face to be more appealing to Japanese children, and adding sports themes to the costume lineup. But then the Henshin Boom dropped in '71 as I mentioned and Takara completely abandoned the soldier motif.