In the early 1980's a new breed of Micronauts began hitting the shelves. But these Micronaut toys were a bit…different.

By about 1981, the Mego Corp. had closed shop and ended its production of Micronauts, and the Lion Rock facility had pretty much successfully dumped off its own overstock of figures. In Italy, the iMicronauti line began taking off, and soon the greatest toy line of the 70's would be nothing more than a faded childhood memory. Or would it?

What started to appear in stores around 1985 or so obviously looked like the good old Micronauts, but they were kind of strange looking. They had bright neon color schemes. They were made of a much cheaper grade of plastic…but they looked just like the old stuff did. What the hell were these things? Were they cheap knock-off bootleg toys? They didn't say "Micronauts" on the packaging, but there was another familiar word… "interchangeable"…they were "The Inter-changeables".

The Inter-changeables were definitely NOT Micronauts, but then again, they were. There are a few mysteries surrounding the Inter-changeables - some are known, some are not. But what is known for sure is that these toys were made from the same molds that made the Micronaut toys. But the Inter-changeables certainly had their share of problems. The super low grade of plastic they were cast in made for one set of brittle action toys and caused ill-fitting 5mm joints. The appearance of the Inter-changeables confused retailers as well as consumers, and could have truly been the death knell for any type of Micronaut re-launch in the works. The true story has yet to be revealed about these toys, but the answers may be coming soon. The Inter-changeables were produced in very low numbers, and are highly collectible for Micro-fanatics who crave the different variations. I mean, even cheap knock-off toys of Micronauts are still damn cool. Click on the links above to see the 2 different series of toys that made up "The Fantastic World of the Inter-changeables"!