Heroes come in all sizes. note
In Another Dimension known as Microspace, all that exists is threatened by the all-consuming cloud of the Entropy Storm. As it expands across Microspace, consuming planets in its wake, the twin armies of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Science are more concerned with fighting each other to secure power than protecting the people of the universe; and as the enigmatic Time Travellers realise, it might take unlikely heroes to save their world.Micronauts is the third comic adaptation of the original toyline by Mego
, and now owned by Hasbro, the other two being a series by Marvel and a series by Image. Published by IDW Publishing, this new series features ground-up reinvention of the concept and characters; a necessity caused by Marvel's ownership of the original characters and concepts created for their series. A Space Opera in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), IDW's Micronauts focuses on a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits who, through a quirk of fate, are the only ones with a hope of saving their home universe. Our heroes are:
- Oziron Rael, the Pharoid — the crew's captain: a roguish, Martial Pacifist smuggler with latent Psychic Powers and a connection to the Time Travellers.
- Phenolo-Phi, the Space Glider — a runaway noble with a stolen, experimental glider suit and a grudge against the Ministries.
- Acroyear — an amnesiac Super-Soldier taken in by Oz and one of the Last of His Kind; a dry-humored warrior and the team's muscle.
- Larissa, the Orbital Defender — a Barrier Warrior, scientist and medic with a Mysterious Past, assigned to Oz's crew as insurance on a mission that went badly wrong.
- Microtron — Oz's Robot Buddy and the pilot of the Heliopolis, with strong senses of sarcasm and self-preservation.
- Biotron — a Humongous Mecha capable of linking up with organic beings to enhance its abilities; it's usually piloted by Oz, and absorbed some of his personality when he was revived by the Time Travellers.
Written by Cullen Bunn (Uncanny X-Men, Magneto, Sinestro), the Micronauts comics form a core part of the Revolution crossover, which brings the characters into the Hasbro Comic Universe. Now they just have to try and get home again...
The series concluded with issue 11 and was followed by the miniseries Wrath of Karza. The series then got a soft reboot post First Strike as ROM and the Micronauts.
IDW Micronauts series
- Micronauts (2016): An ongoing series by Cullen Bunn, about the Micronauts' journey between Microspace and Earth to save their dimension. Lasted for 11 issues, plus an annual and Revolution one-shot.
- Micronauts: Wrath of Karza (2017): Leading directly out of the ongoing, this 5-issue miniseries written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Andrew Griffith (The Transformers: Robots in Disguise) shows Baron Karza's attack on Earth and the heroes of the Hasbro Comic Universe.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: The military hunting the Micronauts and the human allies they made are forgotten by the time Wrath of Karza rolls around.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Acroyear (and the rest of his kind) are members of Baron Karza's species, who he had converted into super-soldiers.
- The Pharoid's Time Chamber is correlated with the Time Travellers, who now used them to ascend.
- Microspace was specifically created by Micronus Prime, which gives the Micronauts a connection to the Transformers.
- Adaptational Villainy: Baron Daegon, based on the Force Commander.
- Another Dimension: Microspace is a parallel dimension to the Hasbro Comic Universe, which can only be reached through use of interdimensional portals.
- Apocalypse How: The main driving force of the plot is the Entropy Cloud, which threatens to destroy the entirety of Microspace.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Enerchange, an in-story application of the Micronauts toys' interchangeability. It primarily seems to be used to summon objects from Hammerspace and swap out body parts, though it's apparently also an element of controlling Biotrons.
- Ascended Extra: In the original Micronauts comics, Prince Pharoid was only an ally to the Micronauts, and the Galactic Defender died in his first appearance; by contrast, Oz and Larissa are core members of the team.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: The Time Travellers.
- Arc Welding:
- Microspace was created by Micronus Prime, one of the original Transformers and progenitor of the Mini-Con race.
- The human organisation attempting to capture the Micronauts is taking its orders from Miles Mayhem.
- Arc Words: Time is all things.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Rom and the Micronauts ends with Baron Karza dispelling the Entropy Cloud and escaping back to Microspace before the heroes, setting himself up as the dimension's savior and ruler, while branding the Micronauts traitors.
- Barrier Warrior: Larissa, Orbital Defender.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Time Traveller who helps the Micronauts throughout their quest turns out to not only be responsible for the Entropy Cloud, but also wearing a Mask of Sanity.
- The Cameo:
- Antron, from the original toyline, makes a brief cameo attempting to assassinate Karza.
- The Emperor, a toy from the Italian Micronauts line, appears briefly in issue 4.
- The future Micronauts' ship is Karrio, a humanoid toy carrying case. Yes, really.
- Captain Ersatz: In the Unit-E comic book one shot, Celeste is apparently a lawyer-friendly version of Marionette from Marvel's incarnation of Micronauts. She only appears briefly and in the form of a hologram.
- Civil War: The main background conflict of the series is the war between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Science, over how the Entropy Storm should be dealt with.
- Dark Is Evil: Baron Karza.
- Deadpan Snarker: Much of the cast, particularly Microtron. Biotron also picks up this trait after absorbing some of Oz's personality.
- Decomposite Character: Most of the toy-based Micronauts (Acroyear, Space Glider, Pharoid, Biotron) are now entire groups or races of characters, as a nod to the toyline, where each toy came in multiple different color schemes. Notable exceptions are Baron Karza, Baron Daegon, Red Falcon, and Membros.
- Driving Question: What is the Entropy Cloud? Can it be contained?
- Dying Dream: After being stabbed by Commander Raith, Oz has a vision through which the Time Travellers speak to him, before reviving him.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Talisman shows up in issue #9 in a collage of artifacts that might allow the Micronauts to return home.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In his first few appearances, Daegon's name is spelled "Daigon". However, once Jimmy Johnston came onboard, it went back to the original spelling, making this a case of Inconsistent Spelling.
- Facial Horror: Acroyear's face under the helmet looks truly horrific.
- Future Me Scares Me: Invoked by the golden mask when it has the Micronauts encounter their future selves, to discourage the Micronauts from returning to their own world.
- The Internet Is for Cats: The abundance of cat videos on the Internet is remarked upon by Biotron when he connects to the Internet to find information about Earth.
- The Internet Is for Porn: When connecting to the Internet to get more information on Earth, Biotron comments on how there are a lot of images of nude women there.
- Interservice Rivalry: The Ministries of Defense and Science didn't like each other much even before the Civil War.
- Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Biotron takes on traits of Oz's personality after his near-death and revival.
- Irony: According to his character profile, Baron Daigon hates enerchanging. Then he was made Minister of Science, a position that requires him to do so.
- Lady Macbeth: Shazraella Karza.
- Light Is Not Good: Daegon isn't much better than Karza.
- Lilliputians: The denizens of Microspace, of course.
- Lilliputian Warriors: All of the heroes (and Baron Karza), but especially Acroyear, who's capable of singlehandedly destroying a human car.
- Mouse World: The miniature civilisation formed on Earth by the Kronus and the sentient time chamber. To an extent, the same applies to Microspace itself.
- Mysterious Past: Larissa is the most enigmatic and secretive about her past of the main cast members. The annual implies that she was raised by Karza and Shazraella.
- Mythology Gag:
- The majority of the Acroyears being villainous is a nod to the original toys, where they were described as "the enemies of the Micronauts".
- The Acroyears II being much weaker than the originals is a reference to how their toys were... not quite as good as their predecessors.
- Negative Space Wedgie: The Entropy Cloud.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Baron Karza does want to save the inhabitants of Microspace from the Entropy Cloud. He just can't conceive of doing this without conquest and bloodshed.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Becomes apparent once the inhabitants of Microspace mace it to Earth. Baron Karza in particular stands out for taking on the combined might of the Autobots, Rom, M.A.S.K., and G.I. Joe. Twice.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Acroyears as a race.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Micronauts themselves.
- Robot Buddy: Biotron and Microtron.
- Rocket Punch: Baron Karza uses his fingers and hands as missiles to take out an assassin trying to kill him.
- Sentient Phlebotinum: The gold mask from the living time chamber, which is guiding the Micronauts for currently unknown motives. Potentially the Entropy Cloud itself, too.
- The So-Called Coward: Oz and the other Pharoids are thought to be weak or cowardly because of their pacifism. Oz, at least, isn't.
- Space Opera: Fits just as well as the original run did, though inspired more by Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) than Star Wars.
- Super Prototype: The original run of the Acroyears are far more powerful than the Acroyears II, to the extent of being able to wipe out large numbers of their later counterparts effortlessly.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Karza may be a ruthless bad guy, but all he really wants to do is to save Microspace from the Entropy Cloud. At least until he ends up spending years in the Entropy Cloud and discovers the origins of their race, leading him to decide that it would be better for Microspace if he conquered it.
- Baron Daigon fits this as well.
- Wetware CPU: The Biotrons are very powerful, but need to interface with an organic being to unlock the full spectrum of their abilities.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time is unstable inside the Entropy Cloud, meaning that Karza spent years in there before encountering the Micronauts, who had last seen him only hours before.
