even guns) that could transform themselves and "change" into other forms to help Microman in their fight against the Acroyears. In 1984 Hasbro acquired the license for the transforming object toys from Takara’s Micro Change toyline as well as similar transforming Takara toys in the Diaclone toyline and the two were combined by Hasbro to create the Transformers toyline. Below is a table showing which Transformers were based on which Micro Change toys and their variants: Microman related anime & manga Microman Kodansha TV Magazine manga (1978–79) In 1977 TV Magazine—a children’s oriented magazine published by Kodansha Ltd.—began publishing an official, Takara approved serialized Microman manga drawn by manga artist Yoshihiro Moritou. This serialized manga was compiled into six volumes released from 1978 to 1979. Additionally, a set of 30 Menko cards featuring Moritou’s manga versions of Microman characters and vehicles was released during that period as well. Microman Secret File Volume 1 catalog and manga (1984) By 1984 Takara was continuing the trend of focusing their New Microman line away from the core Microman action figures to robots and other items. Specifically, their new focus was on their line of transformable items in the Micro Change line. Technically Microman Secret File Volume 1 was not a traditional, stand-alone manga one could purchase on their own; it was a combination catalog and manga that was packaged with a few of the new toys in the 1984 Micro Change toyline such as MC-19: Binocular Robo Scope Man. Its purpose was to establish the new direction of the Microman toyline and place the new Micro Change line in proper context within the larger Microman universe. The manga portion of the Microman Secret File Volume 1 contained artwork by Yoshihiro Moritou; the manga artist who created the original Kodansha TV Magazine manga in the 1970s. Hasbro’s new Transformers toyline and related storyline would supersede many of the concepts and ideas presented in Microman Secret File Volume 1. Microman: The Small Giant Comic BomBom manga (1998–1999) From October 1998 to December 1999 Comic BomBom serialized a new manga based on Takara’s new 1998 Magne Powers & LED Powers Microman toylines drawn by manga artist Hisashi Matsumoto. This manga was subsequently compiled into stand-alone volumes and released by Kodansha Ltd. The plot focused on a school boy who receives a package that contains five small action figures that begin to move on their own and