Toy-Ventures: Mike Power Atomic Man

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This week is all about one of my favourite childhood friends, the amazing Mike Power : Atomic Man from the GI Joe Adventure Team.
We talk about his origins, foreign incarnations, accessories and his sales.
Special thanks to Chris at 1964gijoe.com
Hosted and edited by Brian Heiler (@plaidstallions)
#gijoe #Toyventures #plaidstallions
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[@patsparks8731]

It cracks me up that in the comic about his origin, he’s seen at the Bench building his “Atomic Arm” with two fully functional human arms....all while in a wheelchair.....like you said “what did he do, saw his other arm off and replace it w a bionic one”??? 😂 I guess he had no one else to help him? Never crossed our minds as kids though. My Best friend had Mike Powers and I had Six Million Dollar Man. He was so huge though I kept him separate from my huge Adventure Team collection as a kid. I was a wired kid like that, didn’t “mix” themes or lines. We even kept stuff in boxes as kids. My friend was very very meticulous about this and pretty much taught me to do so. All good memories for sure!! Thanks for posting this, as usual, fantastic job. Would love to see more 12” joe stuff too.

[@nealpatterson629]

I love the Action Man narrator; he just seems so enthusiastic about the story lines. Anyway, I was one of the lucky kids who got a Six Million Dollar Man figure early on, but I secretly wanted a Mike Power figure. In 1975, Steve Austin was kind of an oddity. He was bigger than Joe, he only had one outift, and no playsets at that point. Mike Power, on the other hand, fit right in with Joe and the clothes and accessories were interchangeable. I didn't get much play value out of Steve Austin, but I think I would've played with Mike Power a lot more if I had had one.

[@andrewtaylor940]

Ok, the Palitoy version with the atomic nipple is more than a touch creepy. Also this was an incredibly fun Figure back in the day. That arm copter was a great fun gimmick. And back then a lot of us did in many ways prefer Mike Power. Just because he worked with the stuff we had. He fit in with our GIJoe and Big Jim gear and vehicles. The problem with Kenner’s $6 million man figure was it was too big to do that. You had some initial playsets like that bionic rocket coffin thing. But nothing to really allow for broader play. Yeah he was the must have toy. But if he had fit in a Jeep or Copter that we already had, he would have buried Hasbro.

[@fredericknixon4477]

i dont mean to be off topic but does someone know of a tool to get back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly forgot my account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me!

[@cashjaziel5345]

@Frederick Nixon instablaster ;)

[@fredericknixon4477]

@Cash Jaziel Thanks for your reply. I got to the site thru google and Im trying it out now. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@fredericknixon4477]

@Cash Jaziel it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thank you so much, you saved my account!

[@cashjaziel5345]

@Frederick Nixon Happy to help :)

[@nosferatu-369]

I had Mike Power but I remember wanting Bullet Man. My parents never did get me Bullet Man but I was the first kid in the neighborhood to get Shield from the Super Joe line.😀

[@BrickMantooth]

I was also the first kid to get the shield, also the only kid to buy any superjoe.

[@mstheroff]

One of my biggest toy regrets is not buying one of Project Are's embroideried bags made to hold Mike Power's copter blades before they retired. I wish Cotswold Collectibles or someone would start making them for those of us who missed out.

[@tonycox7802]

I received the Mike Powers action figure back in 1975. I still have him and his propeller. He's in great shape along with the rest of my GI Joe's and other toys from the 1970s.

[@salvatorepatrone1912]

I have a clear memory of buying Mike Power from the toy store and loving the figure. Maybe because non Christmas toy buying was an extremely rare occurrence in my family.

[@ScientificLens]

Mike Power & Bulletman were my introduction to GI JOE. Both beloved toys during childhood. I preferred Mike to Steve Austin, so Mike got to fight Maskatron & Bigfoot. Another hero with an atomic heart would be an obscure comic I read at the time called Iron Man.

[@BrickMantooth]

Right, I forgot his heart thing.

[@jackmagicdotcom]

Mike Power was one of the first figures I bought with my own money when I began collecting toys in the summer of 1977. I believe my Mike came from a K-Mart in Hampton Virginia on clearance for $2.00. Because he did not have a muscle body construction he is the only G.I. Joe I bought in the 1970’s that did not have joints that disintegrated.

[@BrickMantooth]

Oh the great muscle body disaster.

[@tntsk868]

Blimmie! I Just won an Atomic Man off Ebay! Thanks for introducing me to this figure both you and Toy Polloi. I am venturing down that 12" vintage Gi joe and Action man RAbbit hole! DAm It!

[@BrickMantooth]

Have fun!

[@Proc112]

It's actually interesting how GI Joe and Action Man started with virtually the same releases in the late 60's but each grew so differently. I just love what Palitoy did, and it clearly worked for them to last until the mid 80's.

[@antonmassopust4835]

I had the atomic man and The Bionic Man from The Six Million Dollar Man series I played with both guys and he was a proud member of the GI Joe team I played with him till he broke I still have him though he was just a fun guy I never had the bullet man always wanted him growing up as a kid I had the GI Joe headquarters and these guys all work together along with my Planet of the Apes and superheroes to battle the forces of evil

[@vincentfranklin17]

I actually wanted both Mike and Steve as a kid!

[@BrickMantooth]

I had both as well.

[@ivantooks9756]

My all time favorite

[@darrellwallace4182]

I loved this figure as a child and I pretended he was Steve Austin's younger brother who was made bionic because of a mountain climbing accident.......lol. Most kids are very creative and imagine all kinds of biographies for their dolls and figures. As always, a great review. Thanks again.

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

That commercial is unintentionally hilarious - memories of 1976/77 thank you 👍👍👍

[@Winch67]

The Palitoy Atomic Man was also sold in a Cellophane Bag with a Header Card towards the end of the Action Man run in the 80's!

[@dazblue5515]

I'm from the UK so had Atomic Man... I own three of them now in various states... one in good condition, albeit with yellowing clear plastic limbs! I loved him as a kid, and he fit seemlessly with the rest of my Action Men (as did Bullet Man)... in fact I still remember getting my Atomic Man one Christmas along with the AM Land Rover...

[@legiontheatregroup]

I loved this guy as a kid. My parents bought him for me exactly for a reason you mention in the video - he beat the 6 Million Dollar Man figure to market. I later had the Kenner 6 Million Dollar Man but honestly thought Mike was a better design. He was a bit lighter, and I felt (back then as a child) that they handled his bionic/atomic eye feature better than Kenner. I always felt the Kenner figure’s face was compromised by having a hole where one eye should be. Mike’s light bar feature was less disfiguring and looked very cool.

[@roberttaweel873]

Great video, I loved it! I had a Mike Power as a kid, where as my rich friend, of course, had the Steve Austin doll. I remember sending in the proof of purchase and GI Joe sent me some cool free clothes and accessories. It was a super cool perk for a kid who didn't have much money. Watching your video made me wish I still had Mike, but I guess you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Anyway, thanks for the great walk down memory lane. BTW, I loved your commentary. Your sense of humor was perfect for this topic. Cheers.

[@ronparker8582]

I got one for Christmas that year. We called him Dr. Powers, he was our MacGyver our Professor and our Q. We didn't buy the super human bit, sure he was strong and but not much faster than Joe. He could jump higher and lift more and his eye let him see UV, IR, Microscopic, telescopic and record for download later and it blinked. It was a Maguffin of the first order. Our Intruder leaders were psychic and could hit Joe with mind numbing pain within line of sight and were from another dimension, opening rifts to Earth that Mike could also detect if close enough. Imagination was an important accessory back in the day.👨

[@carlosescobar6973]

I still got mine😄. Birck You are Great

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheBlindDyslexic]

Had both Six Million Dollar Man & Atomic Mac, it was cool.

[@BrickMantooth]

me too!

[@argocomics6207]

Same here!

[@ChapMeifan]

Mike Power always had a place of honor among my Joes. He was the only one who could beat Pulsar (who was a bad guy in my kid universe) and he was the same size as the Joes (and Steve Austin was just a freakish giant). I remember his fingers were very brittle and one day, as I tried to put that helicopter on his hand (which didn't work so well with the limpy wrist) two of the fingers broke off. This was traumatic as a kid and mom had no way to reattach them. From that day forward he was a wounded warrior and relegated to office duties or caring for the wounded. And, yeah, it bugged me that he only had one bionic (sorry...ATOMIC) leg. Even as a kid I envisioned him running around in circles....fast.

[@kevinnelson66]

I had the Colonel Steve Austin, Maskatron, and Mike Powers figures back in the 1970's. An updated version of Mike Powers with two 'atomic' legs was released via the GI Joe collector club a few years ago.

[@michaelcasalta7679]

I had Mike Power, I think twice, maybe three times. I loved him, but I have to admit, once the Six Million Dollar Man cane out...Mike got left in the dust!!! Great episode, if you can, please do a video on The Intruders!!!

[@TheVineyardFarmhouse]

I had the original Steve Austin. And I remember the shelves being aligned with him at the grocery store and department store.

[@nvmbrsdoom5]

Loved the video, Brian! Mike Power and Bullet Man are two of my absolute all-time favorite toys from my childhood. As I tended to do with so many other toys, I just played with Atomic Man as part of my Six Million Dollar Man toys adventures. I think I devised that Mike Power was Steve Austin's bionic cousin or something along those lines. lol And I had to laugh at the "Cabbage Patch of 1975" comment, I loved hearing your story about your mom trying to get that Steve Austin figure for you at Xmas on the podcast a while back.

[@originalhaggis]

Thanks for this great bionic history lesson! Love the Mike Power! Another great Plaid Stallions video! 👍🏻

[@DougPalumbo]

Great video and great toy history!

[@DougPalumbo]

He’d be an excellent figure to customize!

[@brianartillery]

I always thought the idea of one atomic leg was stupid, as a kid - what? He can hop really fast? - so I wrote to Palitoy saying that I'd damaged the Atomic Man leg, (I hadn't) and needed to replace it. If they could write back and say how much it was, I'd pay for it. The stamped addressed envelope I'd sent them came back not with a reply, but a replacement leg, and a nice note thanking me for my letter. I swapped the leg over, which, although it was on the wrong side, made the figure look a whole lot better. I swapped him a some time later, for a load of Star Wars figures. The kid I swapped him with blew him up with fireworks, something I only found out when I tried to buy him back a few years later.

[@BrickMantooth]

That's pretty darn clever of you, save for the "trading him away" part.

[@ShadeofJeremy]

Another great video. I just missed out on this. I was two when he came out so I didn't get to enjoy this back then. But man he would have been a great one for me to have had when I'd gotten a little older.

[@actionfigureiq9665]

Mego is creating a new Database for all Mego figures , will we still have Mego Museum database ? I hope so

[@BrickMantooth]

Mego is not creating a database that is some 3rd party business, this will not affect the Mego Museum in any way. We're constantly updating and our information/photos is exclusive to our platform. We're not going anywhere.

[@actionfigureiq9665]

@@BrickMantoothThanks for clearing that up for me , I was a little worried

[@chrisedwards6270]

I got my Mike at a Maxway store in 1980, new old stock. Not sure how he came to be there, but I definitely thought he was cool. I had no real memory of the Adventure Team or GI Joe at the time, I just thought he was an awesome standalone figure with cool features. At least until his helicopter hand fell off.

[@BrickMantooth]

He was kind of marketed as a stand alone toy really.

[@MG-id7hl]

Here in the UK, my brother got the Steve Austin figure and I got an Action Man. I think it was because I was more into soldier/military type stuff. I'm now 55, and have the Atomic Man I always wanted. Well, two in poor condition. Nonetheless, opening them just brought back 1970s Christmas joy. I can restore Action Men and what I might do with my collection of parts, is build a Mike Power and an Atomic Man. Mike doesn't have the pacemaker- and one of the figures I have has a broken pacemaker. So....quick question.....can I swop out the Atomic Man torso with a regular Action Man version of the same era? I have a good one in the spares box and obviously it would be better for a Mike figure. What a joy it is getting these things after so many years..

[@TheVineyardFarmhouse]

I had Mike Powers as a kid didn’t know much about him at the time. If he could run at 200 miles an hour, his leg must’ve left him behind because it would’ve ripped off.lol. Same as with the $6 million man, which I also had.

[@4521516]

Great video and information!

[@loganjorgensen]

I find flocking kind of funny, a bit like Chia hair heh. Interesting about the trend pushback for the cyborgs in the Joe community, I can kind of see why with a spin-off character. No past experience but I think he's pretty cool, I love that whole group of bionic toys and Micronaut style transparency has a sweet aesthetic. You had me at not expensive. ;)

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

Great review.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

He looks like he is on vacation. Matter of fact, the crossover comic between GI Joe and Six Million Dollar Man had him on vacation.

[@realrocksavage]

I have both Mike Power and The Six Million Dollar Man!! Why the hell not!!!???

[@Defynt13]

I LOVED the GI Joe Adventure Team as a kid, I also loved the SMDM, but when Mike Power showed up, he rubbed me the wrong way mainly because his hair wasn't flocked and that odd smile which made him look like a Ken doll. Ironically, one of my favorite figures in my new collection is the updated GIJCC Mike Power figure, still painted head but with a light up feature and more serious look.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah his expression was slightly unique for an Adventure Team member.

[@SkotNealey]

"4 in 1975" aha! I figured it out! You're a year younger than me. I was 5 in 1975. But i knew NOBODY that had Mike Power and Big Jim figures. We played with MEGO because Super Friends.

[@BrickMantooth]

Oh trust me, so did i. Mego pretty much took over in 1976 for me.

[@shavanzar]

Neat video Had Mike Power as a kid, lost him and recently got him back. Thought he was cooler then the Six Million Dollar Man.

[@Umbratikus]

I loved my Atomic Man - my brother had the Steve Austin doll, which was slightly too big for the GI Joe Team. I was Adventure Team loyal, even though the Six Million Dollar Man was my favorite TV show at the time.

[@kwandomando]

Great video, just wondering if you are aware that you have the wrong shirt/jacket on your Atomic Man? You have the shirt from the jungle survival set on your figure not the Atomic Man version. They both have the same camo pattern but jungle survival had the zipper front and Atomic Man had buttons. Also the label on the inside collar says "G.i. Joe" on jungle survival and "Atomic Man" on his version. I think the zipper version looks cooler and maybe that is why you have it on him but wasn't sure if you did it on purpose.

[@JosephDickersonUX]

You TOTALLY need to get the Six Million Dollar Man vs. G.I.Joe comic that came out last year. The Real American Hero Joes have to fight Steve Austin, who has been brainwashed by Cobra. They soon discover that there is only ONE WAY they can defeat Austin... By bringing a former Joe back from retirement. You can guess which one. :-)

[@deopersad2915]

I had Six million dollar man, I bought off my school friend, but I hadn't seen atomic man here in New Zealand, but my toy's are long gone, had a look on eBay and the price and shipping is ridiculous now , but maybe one day get another 👍🏽

[@kennybranshaw7526]

i wanted him as a child. My parents couldn't find him in stores!

[@BrickMantooth]

Wow, that's surprising, he seemed like he was everywhere at one point.

[@kennybranshaw7526]

@@BrickMantooth They shopped Toys R Us, must've sold out at the time. I ended up with a regular GI Joe Robert Mitchum.

[@Desslar]

The catalog photo at 1:40 is proof positive that Joe had gotten stale. There's a Joe driving an office chair.

[@BrickMantooth]

thank you for that, I needed a good laugh.

[@Desslar]

De rien.

[@scottmartin7645]

Another action figure that I always wanted but never got! When I was a kid I only had one G.I. Joe, the Adventure Team Talking Commander. I always wanted more but I think Megos with their price point was more in line with what my parents wanted to spend. I'm curious about the Palitoy version. Full outfit, frocked hair, and "pacemaker" but did he have the atomic eye?

[@mpRamosgroove]

I had this figure as a kid. Even back then I wondered about the fact that he only had one mechanical leg. Wouldn't that make it odd when he would run?

[@BrickMantooth]

he just runs in a circle.

[@vincentfranklin17]

Even though I had a Steve Austin action figure, I wanted a Mike Power so badly!

[@YAMISOOLD2009]

Up until last year when I sold him on ebay, I had Mike Power stowed away in my G.I. Joe foot locker. I got him for Christmas one year I think. Or I bought him with Christmas money. I can't recall at this point. But I loved him and his very plastic odor. I don't know if anyone else here picked up on odors but I think I bonded with some toys simply for the way they smelled. Not only was Mike cool but he had a chemical odor that I liked! Anyway I am one of those that mostly wanted the six million dollar man but settled for Atomic man and loved him. Now I regret selling him!

[@jiop538]

Only reason I had Mike Power was because Steve Austin was a lot more expensive and also he was much taller than your average action figure(Gi Joe) length,but I would've prefered Austin.

[@BrickMantooth]

That tallness, i don't think i ever noticed it as a kid. I just assumed Lee Majors was taller than GI Joe.

[@SupesMe]

Had him and Steve Austin prefered Mike. I customize action figures and made my own JLU Mike. I'll send u a pic.

[@bonecos_do_maninho1971]

Parabéns

[@countofdownable]

I have Atomic Man Action Man.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Adventurers were more fun than Superheros but Megos were cheaper so I had more of them .

[@wikkidperson]

The local used toy store is selling a Mike Power for $80. Inspired by your video and emboldened by that price, I went on eBay and got one for $44, copter not included.

[@3dartistguy]

I wonder if Mike Power ever met Steve Austin?

[@BrickMantooth]

they did at my house, they were friends.

[@3dartistguy]

@@BrickMantooth friends? wasnt there an episode of the six million dollar man where he battled the Seven Million dollar man? I think the more expensive bionics made him mad.

[@jimkuna8687]

Do you think the a team was the 80s live action show for kinda gi joe?

[@avaranabraham8507]

I think atomic man was either had an accident that’s why he got robotic limbs

[@haroldellis9721]

I had both, and I think Kenner missed a trick, making him taller, and thus incompatible, with all the other action figures.

[@BrickMantooth]

I'm not sure it hurt sales but it bugged me a little as a kid.

[@zzzombie888]

Mike Power should have gotten a 4 inch figure back in the 80's. If they were willing to make figures of Sgt Slaughter and William Perry then why not Mike?

[@zzzombie888]

I had and loved him... I surmise that maybe my Dad got me him (either to go along with my Steve Austin or cause he threw Steve away while cleaning) to make it up to me cause Steve was my favorite figure then..and still is.

[@tomgarrington5202]

ihave several startrek fugures

[@lipranditoys]

Aside from being on TV, Kenner's Steve Austin was also an infinitely better figure, filled with cool action features, of which Mike had basically none . On a side note, Hasbro did not create the action figure, they only created the term "action figure", the concept was already pretty old.

[@tomgarrington5202]

ilike the six million dallar man

[@jimkuna8687]

Will now hes expensive lol

[@mick_c_horror_and_pop_culture]

A day ago I just purchased Mr. Power at an Antique/Toy mall....for under 20 dollars. Unfortunately do to age, his kung fu grip is a bit brittle.

[@wondercub]

Wish they had made a female counterpart in this series .

[@SkotNealey]

maybe he HOPPED 200 miles per hour.

[@BrickMantooth]

It's weird.

[@tomgarrington5202]

ihad him