One of the all time fan favorite ships dating way back to 1974 with the original Japanese Microman line tends to be the same with it's Inter-changeables counterpart released almost 10 years later. With Microman it was the M-115 Conning tower, with Mego it was the M.E.L. (Mobile Exploration Lab) and with the IC line it is the C.I.E.L., or "Cosmic Interstellar Exploration Lab".

Even with it's headache inducing color scheme, you can't beat all the interesting play features this large roving tower ship can offer. One of the most involved and intricate releases as far as assemblage and parts count goes, the C.I.E.L. can break down and become 3 or 4 different ship combinations much like the M.E.L. could, even with it's ill-fitting parts due to the cheap plastic used.

 
 
 
 

One interesting detail to note: as nice as this ship looks, no one can pilot it in the standard upright configuration. You really can't fit one figure in any of the numerous pilot seats. The front nose cone ship section and observation dome seat do not have the holes cut into the "floor" for the figures legs to go...and the rear seats behind the tower were designed smaller to begin with to accommodate the M-10X barefoot Microman.


 

 
Now, when the C.I.E.L. ship is reconfigured to it's horizontal "rover" mode (adding the smaller "forward capsule" attached) C.I.E.L. can comfortably seat 3 figures. C.I.E.L. also came with Inter-changeables versions instruction and sticker sheets, which were basically altered Micronauts sheets. Also any kind of copyright or company info was removed from the ships body, and any kind of release date or year indication on the packaging was nonexistent…even further deepening the mystery of the exact origins of the toys altogether. The Micronology below shows C.I.E.L. clocking in as the 4th variation on the same ship.