Not sure if this should be in off topic or not. I know a lot of people have a wealth of knowledge on this site, so I was wondering if anyone knew which figure line was the originator of the O-ring. I remember as a kid having Buck Rogers, Black Hole and Dukes of Hazzard figures from Mego that sported the O. Just curious as to if anyone knows which line brought the O-ring to figuredom.

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The first line that I ever encountered it in was Micronauts, which was brought over by Mego from Takara in Japan, where it was known as Microman. Mego later used the same basic construction design for some of their own lines, such as Buck Rogers and The Black Hole.

Hasbro adapted the design to G.I.Joe, but their figures were generally sturdier and weightier-looking than most of Mego's offerings, certainly more than the Micronauts (not to malign any of those lines -- I was a huge Micronauts fan and I still have my Twiki figure from Buck Rogers).

Within a year, Hasbro had adapted the construction design with the very welcome swivel-arm battle grip, and a couple of years after that, the greater range of motion in the neck.

If anyone used the design prior to Micronauts, I am not aware of it.

Thanks Trekker. I never new the MN used the o-ring. Just the kind of info I was looking for.

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http://yojoe.com/archive/preprod/82/cobra.shtml

You can tell by the crotch style that the original Cobra mock up figures were customized MEGO figures...weather Dukes, Black Hole, or Buck Rogers I'm not sure...but it's a distinctive crotch

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well,.. we know Joes didnt come out until 81-82 as mock ups or production Models, But Micronauts and megos outdated them but a few years (comming out in 78-79).

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Many forget that the COPS line was an O-ring adaptation to five inch figures it also was the first time the later Joe articulation was used on toys. It is a shame we lost swivel wrists though...

Steve

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It sure is.

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I think COPS was probably the largest line to use the basic G.I.Joe/O-Ring construction design (and I'm still surprised they got away with it with Big Boss). Let is also not forget that VISIONARIES also used the same construction design at 4-1/2", although they made the change of switching the backscrew to the front, whereupon it was covered by the holographic chest plate.

To this day, I wish we'd gotten the second year of Visionaries...

Listen to this man, if there's one thing Nova knows, its crotch.

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Hey, I'm just going by what I read on the walls in the men's room.



That's the MEGO reproductions coming out here in America. MicroMan figs came out in Japan in 1974, as a cost-saving adaptation of the 12" Henshin Cyborg line that was itself a take off the original 12" Joe line. The Joe/MicroMan relationship is an Ouroboros, one of them mythic snakes that eat their own tails.

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That, Sir, is deep, very deep.

Not sure if I would have referenced your exstensive knowledge of crotches and "eating one's own" in the same post though......

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