As a kid I missed out on Micronauts. (I wasn't here for much of the 1970s.) It's a line that has come and gone, be it Takara's nifty reissues or Palisades' less-nifty reissues or even Hasbro's few figures, they are a thing of fascination as a peer to Kenner Star Wars and Fisher-Price Adventure People. With a popular comic book they're also a big deal in their own right - but if you didn't see the comic, you might not know a dang thing about Baron Karza. I picked up the Palisades Micronauts Baron Karza with Andromeda [FOTD #689] way back in 2002, and thought it was pretty cool. Super7's Karza is smaller, measuring a fraction of an inch above a classic Galactic Warrior.
Since he's a ReAction+ Figure - Super7's format which mimics the swivel arm Hasbro G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Hasbro toys - he does not have the full range of motion you might expect. The knees bend, but there are no swivel ankles or wrists. There are no 5mm ports - the backpack doesn't even mix and match with the vintage Hasbro Joes I had handy. The foot pegs are a perfect fit for old Joe stands, and the hands - with hard plastic thumbs - can hold the various accessories I handed him. In other words, he's scaled to fit your G.I. Joe or Micronauts shelves. Karza's engineering best works with Hasbro's 1980s A Real American Hero line but, as I said, it's not a perfect fit.
In terms of articulation, he reminds me a lot of classic Joes with one minor change - the legs don't swing forward as far as I would like. I didn't have any problems getting him to sit in most 3 3/4-inch scaled vehicles, but anything requiring a 90-degree bend at the hip won't work. Everything else is pretty much what you would expect, with great shoulders, good elbows, swiveling biceps, and knees that bend perfectly. It does a good job behaving like a mid-1980s Hasbro G.I. Joe action figure from that period before they introduced the ball-jointed necks, as Karza's can only swivel.
Super7's sculptors did a good job of translating the old Mego toy to this format. The metal magnets are now silver bits, and the figure stands fairly nicely. The head is flat - how flat? You can stand him on it! The backpack fits fine, but doesn't come apart like the original. The minimal paint looks good, and Super7 really nailed the simpler sculpting to ensure that this new action figure looks a lot like an old action figure. It's not a specific 1:1 downscaled recreation, but it's close and its minimalist paint feels appropriate.
My interest in Micronauts comes from slightly older collector peers (Hi Matt) talking about how much fun they had with them when they were children. My friends didn't have any, their older brothers never mentioned them, but I always wanted to know a little more about them. (Clearly, not enough to collect them en masse.) This figure succeeds in delivering a 1980s-feeling figure, with a 1980s-looking sculpt, on a 1980s-style cardback, with a 1970s brand and character. While I wish it would look and feel more like an original Micronauts toy, that wasn't the assignment. Super7 delivered what they set out to make, and while I would've loved a handheld accessory (or horse) Baron Karza succeeds as the first and undoubtedly only 3 3/4-inch figure of the character we'll ever get. That movie never happened, the cartoon got pre-vaulted, and all that's left are memories. There may never be a new audience for this, but that's OK - The Outer Space Men gave us some great retro figures too. I love a good sci-fi toy, and this one looks like Baron Karza and plays like Cobra Commander. It exists between worlds, pushing strange nostalgia buttons, but the quality is there. If you can appreciate it for what it is, I think you'll get your $20 worth.
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