Micro Machines are a line of toys originally made by

Galoob Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc., was a toy company headquartered in South San Francisco, California. They are perhaps best known for creating Micro Machines, which accounted for 50% of its sales in 1989, and distributing the Game Genie in the United State ...

(now part of

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

) in the mid-1980s and throughout the 1990s. Micro Machines are tiny scale component style "playsets" and vehicles that are slightly larger than

N scale N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...

The toys

Many different styles of Micros have been made including all the popular

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

s and

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s of the times,

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

emergency vehicle An emergency vehicle is a vehicle used by emergency services. Emergency vehicles typically have specialized emergency lighting and vehicle equipment that allow emergency services to reach calls for service in a timely manner, transport equipment a ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s, and

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s. The Tuff Trax series contained many of the popular TNT Motorsports

Monster Truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pic ...

s, including the influential

Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...

truck.

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

and

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

models were also made, as were models from other

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

s including

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...

and

MIB The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

and

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

themed toys were also released. After being bought by Hasbro, Winner's Circle

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

and

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

themed cars and playsets were added. While the ''Micro Machines'' collection is known primarily for sizing down automobiles, it has also featured several playsets including 1991's fold-out Super Van City. Licensed character products would often be fold-open heads including miniature characters and vehicles interactive with their playset environment. Micro Machines also utilized several diverse features such as color-changing cars and "Private Eyes" vehicles that even allowed one to peek inside and view an illustration of the contents. One of the many Micro Machines product lines was the Insiders series. Incredibly popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Insiders series featured a small vehicle inside the standard size Micro Machine. The body and chassis of the larger vehicle connected via a hinge. Opening the larger revealed the smaller, which was a different model of car. Micro Machines released a special Presidential Limousine series, which used President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

's 1950

Lincoln Cosmopolitan The Lincoln Cosmopolitan is a full-size luxury car that was sold by Lincoln from the 1949 through the 1954 model year. All Lincolns were manufactured at Lincoln Assembly, Dearborn, Michigan, while some were sent in "knock-down kits" to regional ...

Bubble top limousine. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a personal vehicle for Edse ...

or the X-100 convertible limousine, and President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

's 1977

Lincoln Town Car The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to ...

was featured in series done in 1989. For 3 to 4 years, Micro Machines was the largest selling toy car line in the US with total dollar sales exceeding the combined sales of the next top-selling lines:

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

Matchbox Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Matchbox A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designed ...

and

Majorette A majorette is a baton twirler whose twirling performance is often accompanied by dance, movement, or gymnastics; they are primarily associated with marching bands during parades. Majorettes can also spin knives, fire knives, flags, light-up ba ...

. Micro Machines had a well-known advertising campaign in the 1980s involving fast-talker

John Moschitta Jr. John Moschitta Jr. (born August 6, 1954), also known as "Motormouth" John Moschitta and The Fast-Talking Guy, is an American actor, singer and spokesman. He is best known for his rapid speech delivery. He appeared in over 100 commercials as "The ...

The commercials featured pitches in his trademark speedy style and ended with the slogan "If it doesn't say Micro Machines, it's not the real thing!". In the 1990s, transforming playsets were released. Some could transform from one playset to another, such as a factory to a test track. Others could transform from giant vehicles to playsets, such as a 6x6 to a jungle. Earlier releases included models that could transform from a toolbox to a city. Another innovative release was a line of special boats in the 1990s. While past boats had merely sunk and were not intended for water use, these new sets could actually float. Camper Micro Machines

When sold to Hasbro, the basic line was largely discontinued, and new packaging of the toys did not catch on. In 2006, the brand name was visible only in the detail panel of the Star Wars and Transformers Titanium series die-cast vehicles and figures.

In popular culture

Early Micro Machines television commercials were famous for featuring actor

, who was (at the time) listed in the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' as the world's fastest talker. As a result of his work in the commercials, Moschitta came to be known as the "Micro Machines man". Micro Machines were featured in the 1990 Christmas movie ''

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hear ...

'', starring

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

. In the movie, Culkin's character sets dozens of Micro Machines at the bottom of a flight of stairs as a hazard for a pair of bungling burglars. This trap was also featured in the Sega Genesis game, though it's referred to generically as "Toys".

Revivals

First revival

The Micro Machines brand was revived for a few years in response to the popularity of the similar Speedeez brand. Hasbro also opted to use many fantasy castings in the revival. The revival only lasted a couple of years. The brand 'Micro Machines' has also been incorporated into the packaging of the popular 'Star Wars: Titanium Series' 3-inch vehicle range.

Second revival

With the release of the movie '' Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens'', Hasbro released a new set of themed Micro Machines. This second revival lasted only a year; no more sets were released after ''

Rogue One ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (or simply ''Rogue One'') is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. The screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy is from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. It was produced by Luc ...

''.

Third revival

At the 2020 New York Fair, new Micro Machines were announced and are available in stores as of August 2020. Sets include Muscle Cars, Farm, Racing, Construction, and Off-Road, and an updated version of the Super Van City is available as well.

References

External links

{{commons category
www.m2museum.com
The Micro Machines museum. The World's Largest Collection of Micro Machines and go to reference guide for collectors.

- history and development of the Micro Machines brand and catalogue of all collections and playsets produced 1980s toys 1990s toys 2000s toys 2020s toys Products introduced in 1986 Hasbro brands Hasbro franchises Hasbro products Toy cars and trucks Toy brands 1986 establishments in the United States