Hasbro Keen on J.J. Abrams for 'Micronauts' Revival

Hasbro continues their steamrolling of Hollywood with the announcement that J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) is in negotiations to produce a film based on their Micronauts property. The Japanese science-fiction action figure line from Takara was brought to the States in the 1970's by Mego (with some items replicated for the collector's market in 2002 by Palisades), but has kept a pretty low profile since the line's cancellation in 1980.

Most fans are familiar with The Micronauts from the officially licensed Marvel Comic series, which ran throughout the 1980's, long after the toys had vanished from shelves. Image Comics and Devil's Due Publishing both tried their hand at a Micronauts comic book revival during the last decade, but were met with little success.

The original Micronauts figures were an odd-looking assortment of strange heroes and bizarre aliens, and many of the toys featured interchangeable parts. While no over-arching story was created for the toys upon release (marking it as one of the few action figure assortments at the time with no built-in storyline), the comic versions of the Micronauts have positioned the characters as defenders of a microscopic universe, attempting to overthrow the evil Baron Karza.

If a full-on Micronauts revival is just around the corner, I'm hoping Hasbro keeps a lot of the funky character design intact. I had a good amount of Micronauts growing up, and they still stand out to me as being some of the weirdest looking (and most fun) toys from my early childhood.

(via Wall Street Journal)