Although 1977 is most often remembered as the year Star Wars debuted in movie theaters and created a strong demand for sci-fi toys, Micronauts really didn't see strong newspaper advertising support until 1978. There is an impression that competition from Star Wars was most directly responsible for the demise of the Micronauts line but newspaper ads tell a different story, with retailers advertising Micronauts toys alongside or sometimes even instead of Star Wars toys through the late seveties. It wasn't until 1980 when Mego's financial troubles crippled the company did new ads for Micronauts stop running in newspapers.

In my experience the most common Micronauts ads are for the Time Traveler figure and the Battle Cruiser, although I have found ads for every figure and vehicle from the first couple of series (with the exception of the infamous near-mythical Gyrotron which has become for me the holy grail of Micronauts ads). An overwhleming number of different assortments were introduced and the majority of the early toys stayed in production throughout the life of the line so ads for many later toys like the post 1978 vehicles are difficult to find but they probably exist. The exceptions are that I don't know if the 1980 series saw release in the U.S. so I seriously doubt I will ever find ads for figures and vehicles like Red Falcon and the Ampzilla. But I do hold out the hope that I will one day find ads for the Star Defender and others that remain underrepresented or nonexistent here so far.

• For more thoughts and musings on old Micronauts toy ads you can read my blog post:
  • "NAUT AGAIN!"