Zee Toys’ Metal-Man Series; New to Me!
Matt Doughty (Onell Design) pointed me at something pretty cool this morning. (Yeah, it’s best not to wonder why we both choose to trade toy pics/links in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.) Zee Toys had a series of die-cast metal action figures in the seventies and I cannot remember ever seeing these before.
What I find most unusual are the vehicles. A helicopter? That doesn’t at all strike me as the sort of vehicle a metal-man (or should I say Metal-Man?) would be using. The flying saucer toy looks way more appropriate to the line.
And you do not want to miss the Metal-Man catalog at Plaid Stallions Wow. There was even a jeep for the toys to drive around in.
Thanks, Matt! Those look really weird and fun.
These guys RULE and are getting more and more difficult to find as the years go on. They are often found with Micronauts figures online. If you like die-cast and you like Micronauts you will not be disappointed.
The saucer is one of the coolest things out there. I really regret selling mine.
@_RZ_ – What scares me most about these are the prices. Have you looked at what a single figure is selling for? Wow!
@Phillip: They’re really expensive for a few reasons: one, their knock-off-ness made them be under the radar of adult collectors of that time , and since no one was saving these carded, it makes carded examples of them very rare and thus expensive. Two, as Microbry says, they borrow designs pretty liberally from a variety of Japanese toys like Micronauts and various Super Robot shows of the 70’s. And third, the riveted elbow and knee joints are kind of fragile and tend to be found broken, as kids played really hard with these metal men! Finding loose mint ones, that aren’t all floppy and can stand, or even ones with all their joints, is becoming a big challenge.
I had this guy when I was a kid! The jetpack quickly got co-opted by my Star Wars figures, and the figure itself is super heavy. I looked up the five listings for these on eBay, and they’re way more expensive than I thought they’d be. I’ll keep my eyes peeled at the flea markets, I guess!
@rosewater – Yeah, the prices are significantly higher than I expected. Either these are extremely rare OR there’s more demand than I expected. But they sure look cool.
Yeah, Metal Man is well known to Micronauts collectors. Some of the figures are direct KOs or loose/partial KOs of Microman toys. The one above, for example, is 90% copied from Microman GaKeen:
http://www.microforever.com/mgeeggakeen.htm
And the other android figure is a mash-up of details from Acroyear (Micronauts’ Acroyear 2) and the first Super Microman figure (Micronauts’ Galactic Warrior). Some of the toy accessories are retooled versions of Microman ones such as the “recharge capsule” and the spring-loaded wingpack above.
More here, too: http://bugeyedmonster.com/metal-men/
and:
http://www.zylmex.com/
We micro-fans kind of consider Metal Man as an unofficial Micronauts/Microman spin-off, as such. It was clearly marketed by Zee/Zylmex to compete on pegs with Micronaut figures, down to the silvery noggins, and I remember seeing them at drugstore toy sections right next to Micronauts toys back in the day.
Strange, my comment isn’t showing…will try again, but please delete if this gets duplicated. 🙂
Indeed, Metal Man is well known to Micronauts collectors. Some of the figures are direct KOs or loose/partial KOs of Microman toys. The one above, for example, is 90% copied from Microman GaKeen:
http://www.microforever.com/mgeeggakeen.htm
And the other android figure is a mash-up of details from Acroyear (Micronauts’ Acroyear 2) and the first Super Microman figure (Micronauts’ Galactic Warrior). Some of the toy accessories are retooled versions of Microman ones such as the “recharge capsule” and the spring-loaded wingpack above.
More here, too: http://bugeyedmonster.com/metal-men/
and:
http://www.zylmex.com/
We micro-fans kind of consider Metal Man as an unofficial Micronauts/Microman spin-off, as such. It was clearly marketed by Zee/Zylmex to compete on pegs with Micronaut figures, down to the silvery noggins, and I remember seeing them at drugstore toy sections right next to Micronauts toys back in the day.
Ive got one of these, theyre really awesome, totally metal, but that makes them a bit hard to stand because theyre so heavy. Microman sized and compatible!
Wow, these are new to me. I’m definitely keeping my eyes out for these guys.
I had all 5 figures growing up. Unfortunately I played with them. The only two that survived my childhood was the Army man and the gold robot. I never had the vehicles but I loved the figures.
Hi I’ve got two of these loose the gold one in very good condition and the silver and red one there’s a bit of chipping to the red though.just wanted to know what they would be worth to a collector