Brief History:

In 1984, Hasbro licensed part of Microman and Diaclone toys and market them in the US as The Transformers :More than Meet the Eye. Many of the toys in the first series were simply repackage of Microman and Diaclone toys (not unlike what Mego did with the Micronauts line back in 1976). The Transformers became a big hit and spawn comic books, TV show and even a feature film. Takara re-imported the toys back to Japan as the Transformers. The popularity of the Transformers and the similarity in toys caused Takara to end both the Microman and Diaclone line in 1984. The original line, which are now refer to as "Generation 1" or Gen1 Transformers span seven series from 1984-1990.

The new Robotman borrowed heavily from many mecha designs from Evangelion organic look to the blocky Ranger Zord design. Each of the new Robotman shared the same basic body but with different heads and colors. Each Robotman came with four weapon attachments - saber, claw hand, cannon and a special unique weapon. While the overall design of these figures did not break any new ground they however are very cool looking robots and probably some of the best toys that came out of the Magne Power Series. Takara followed the Robotman with two more magnemo-11 type toys - new Magne Titans and Magne Animals. During the second half of 1999, Takara would later released two larger Robotman - Dean and Endeavor and new Giant Acroyear. It was unfortunate that these magnemo-11 toys did not catch on since they are extremely interchangeable and they are probably the most innovative play mechanics to ever came out from Takara design house.