Genealogy lesson--Hasbro licensed GI Joe to Takara to make Combat Joe. Combat Joe evolved into Henshin Cyborg, which got shrunk down during the 70s oil crisis to Microman, which innovated O-ring construction for small scale figures. Mego imported those back to the US as Micronauts. Microman kept going in Japan and eventually added transforming robots, some of which formed the nucleus of Transformers. MEANWHILE, GI Joe was revamped as A Real American Hero using the basic O-ring construction from Microman and improving upon it. Many years later, Hasbro ends up owning the Micronauts brand, so they sublicense it to Super7 who are working on their own revival of figures in the ARAH format. So these new Micronauts are in the style of GI Joe, which were inspired by the old Micronauts, which were descended from GI Joe, and also they're cousins with Soundwave and Bumblebee.
...so anyway, the Time Traveler was the most basic Microman/Micronauts figure. It's easiest to see the evolution from Henshin Cyborg because the basic design is the same--a translucent plastic body with a fully chromed head and some vac metal embellishments. I use the word "charming" a lot when describing Reactions and other vintage or neo-retro toys, and boy is it apt here. This is just the purest distillation of 70s Japanese sci-fi cheese, and it hits several categories of Japanese toy "fetishes" (to borrow a term from ToyboxDX). It's got clear parts! It's got chrome! It's kind of a robot! In a past life I almost exclusively collected Japanese toys, vintage and otherwise, and this is the sort of thing that you either "get" or you don't. And lemme tell you, I get it. This takes me back to browsing Yahoo Japan Auctions between classes and not having constant lower back pain.
Of course, this is an American toy, and being in the Reaction+ format means he's a little bit different from the figures Mego imported in the Carter era. He's a little bit stockier, as we tend to be, but he's also got swivel arm battle grip and a ball-jointed neck (innovations that Micronauts and other pre-ARAH o-ring figures lacked, including the early ARAHs). The neck on mine is a little loose--I'm going to guess the whole head piece was vac metal at one point in development, then revised due to scraping, and the loss of that fraction of a millimeter was enough to leave the head a mite rattly. That or it's just a quirk of mine. A quick loosening and re-tightening of his back screw seems to have done the trick. Sometimes these things need a little love to be at their best. Honestly, same.
Translucent plastic always makes me a little nervous as a Transformers collector who's had her share of snapped-off windshields to deal with (Earthrise Smokescreen, we hardly knew ye). All the clear parts seem thick and sturdy, the joints move smoothly, and other than the post for the O-ring none of the parts are under tension. I guess time will tell. The hands and feet are separately molded in white and glued into place. The bronze armor on his lower torso is attached via a round post and removing it reveals additional cybernetic details underneath. If you have other Reaction+ Time Travelers, you can mix and match this piece to create more unique looks (as they are technically army builders and not unique characters). True to the originals, there's not a speck of paint on the Time Traveler.
Micronauts was well before my time, but they were always held in high esteem by the older Gen X tastemakers of the early online toy fandom. Basically any Reaction that dips under $15 on Amazon is on sight for me, so it's nice to finally check out the brand at its most basic level. And yeah, this isn't *exactly* the same, but it's close, and this translucent plastic isn't already fifty years old. Can't lie, I might yet pick up the blue and orange Time Travelers too (actually, between the time I started writing this and publication, I have gotten the blue one as well!). The fourth vintage color is clear, which is...pretty boring. Make them in red and green and I'm there. Give me an opportunity to make a Super Sentai team and I will seize it!
