Micro Machines
Micro Machines - The originals , also known as Micro Machines or simply "Micros", were a toy range from the Californian company Galoob in the 1980s and 1990s , which Hasbro bought in the late 1990s . The Micro Machines were mainly model cars a few centimeters in size. Together with the similar, albeit larger, products from Matchbox and Hot Wheels , the Micro Machines formed the "big three" of the US model car market.
history
At the beginning, the aim of the series was to develop realistic miniature versions of existing car brand models. The target sales volume for 1988 was 45 million units. Many different types of micro machines were made, including all popular cars and trucks of the time, trains, emergency vehicles, tanks, boats, planes, helicopters, motorcycles, and monster trucks.
Later, sets for films and series such as Starship Troopers , Star Trek , Indiana Jones or Star Wars were produced, which in addition to the respective vehicles sometimes also contained characters, aircraft and ships.
Transformational play sets were released in the 1990s. Some have been able to transform themselves from one playset to another, such as from a factory to a test track. Others could go from giant vehicles to play sets or from a toolbox to a city.
Another innovative release were the Travel City play sets, which folded up into a trouser pocket and were therefore very popular with children. A Travel City play set was open, for example, to a workshop or a police station. The individual travel cities could be put together, they then resulted in a city.
Another very popular play set was the Hiways & Byways , a play set was built on a square base plate and could be connected to a large city with matching streets.
In German-language TV advertising, the following simple slogan was used to advertise: Micro Machines, the originals. The "cooler" slogan was later adopted from the USA: Remember if it doesn't say Micro Machines, it's not the real thing!
For 3 to 4 years, Micro Machines was the best-selling and most popular line of toy cars in the US and Europe. Total sales in US dollars exceeded total sales for the next best-selling lines: Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Majorette.
A series of computer and video games produced by Codemasters appeared from 1991 .
In February 2020, Hasbro presented the comeback of the micro machines at the New York Toy Fair .
Filmography
Micro Machines was shown in the 1991 Christmas film " Home Alone " starring Macaulay Culkin. In the film, Culkin's character uses dozen of micro machines at the top of a flight of stairs as a trap for some crazy burglars.
Individual evidence
