Way back in the day I was reading a comic book (I want to say Marvel Two-in-One with The Thing guest staring Deathlok but don’t quote me on that) I saw an ad for three very odd looking creatures from the Micronauts collection. Antron, Membros and the subject of this piece: Repto.
Repto was my fav right off the bat, his colors, his wedge shaped head, his buzz-saw, everything about him was just cool. In my collection Repto represented the first time I ever bought a figure based purely on how he looked. He was odd, weird, and mishapped and I couldn’t be happier with him.
There wasn’t a lot about Repto back then. All that was really established on his card was that he was half man and half lizard and came from a planet called Sauria. I never saw an appearance of him in the comic book so I made him into a hero. He was an alien much like Superman but with non-human features. His arch-nemesis: Antron and he fought across the planet searching for a way home, often getting into entanglements with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and eventually GI Joe. However like most toys of our youth he didn’t fair well. His hand weapons were the first to get lost and later the cuffs that held those weapons in place. I was saddened by this cause Repto really was one of my all time favorites probably because I made up most of his character and story.
Fast forward to 2002 (nearly 23 years later) and the toy company Palisades began to produce replicas of the original Micronauts. The following year (2003) my all time favorite was released yet again, however there was a slight problem.
Supposedly the first series of Micronauts were produced in a factory not approved by Palisades. Because of this production errors were unreal for the first series. By the following year Palisades had gotten production moved but the first series had hurt the line severely and Micronauts Series 2 were much harder to find (at least from my perspective where toys are very hard to come by in the first place). Repto (and his companions in the wave) were lost to me in far away stores like Suncoast and Sam Goody’s (both of which are near impossible for me to journey to even under the best conditions, and conditions for me then were less than stellar).
Still some searches on the Internet did yield me some good fortune. I have been able to find many of the Retro Micronauts including Membros and Acroyear, but it wasn’t until 2008 I finally found one of the variants for Repto, the clear one.
Palisades released four variants of Repto, one in close to original colors (some slight variance), one in solid blue, one in clear purple and yellow (an odd combination to say te least), and this clear and black version. The variations were packed evenly so it appears that none are more or less rare than the others, still I have had a hard time finding them (when I have been able that is). Still it does make me laugh a bit that there are stories all over the Internet of these lingering in the back of the store’s clearance sections for years with me unable to get to them.
Repto has the exact same construction as his original. He is held together with an O-Ring just as the ARAH GI Joe figures with Metal rivets in the shoulder and elbow. In fact, with the exception of the swivel arm addition to the 3 & 3/4″ Joe’s in 1983, this figure has the exact articulation of an ARAH GI Joe figure (a full three years before the Joe’s hit retail).
The clear Repto has absolutely no deviation from the original formula and is exactly as his counterpart from 1979 right down to his cuffs and pegs. What did change was his accessories.
Repto came with his blaster and his buzz saw just like his original release. He also had a pair of hands as well. Truth be told the hands don’t work for me on many levels. They are odd shaped and in general don’t add to this figure.
He also came with a mace, however the one I bought was not quite complete and did not include this mace. Still it looks like a cool addition to an already incredible figure.
Another big draw to the original figure was the fact he had a removable
brain (as did all the aliens of that set). Repto was no exception however I have only successfully removed it once. Shortly after I lost Antron’s brain and have never tried to remove Repto’s since. That trepidation still resides in me so I can’t comment on how or if the brain of the new repto removes in the same fashion or not, I would imagine so since these are exact replicas of the originals.
In comparison to other 1:18th figures Repto fits perfectly. He should his original mold was one of the originals which gave us many of the figures we know and love today. No one can deny the effect Micronauts had on the toy world. Most of the guys pictured with Repto probably wouldn’t even be there without him and the other Micronauts.
This time with Repto we got a bit more information about him. This time he was “Terrifying” with “…lethal weapons grafted to his forearms” with an “..armored reptian body..” This time Palisades made him a bit fearsome and creepy rather than simply a reptile from a far off planet. Even though it rubs against my characterization of him at least it shows Palisades was thinking and looking back a what these guys were and ment to the fans.
The flaws of the original figure still exist broadly here. He has a hard time standing due to the wings and tail. Thankfully he does come with a handy dandy battle stand to help him stay standing. Also like the original figure the weapons tend to fall out of the cuffs that hold them. The “hands” are not that much better at staying in either. At least the flaws are consistent throughout the decades.
Overall I would have to give this figure a 9.5 out of 10, I will admit that this is primarily out of a sense of nostalgia as the figure played a prominent part in my toy collecting of past 30 years. He has always has a proud and forward stance in my collection and the reissue just reignited the fire that I felt when I was reading comics way back in 1979.
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