Micronauts were released in the late 1970s in the US.

There are a few sites devoted expressly to Tomy (the N. American) Micronauts. Aside from the Time Traveler and Cosmic Pilot? (the ones with the pop-out wings in a backpack), there was also Baron somebody (all-black, leader of the bad guys) as well as a few creatures with glow-in-the-dark exposed brains!

They also had Rocket Tubes that you could place the Micronauts in. They were like coffins pushed through a tube by a blower, very cool at the time.

@ James L: The one with the pop-out wings in the backpack was Space Glider, and the Baron's name was Karza. Those glow-in-the dark brain guys were just referred to as "alien invaders" in the ads. I had the first three, and they were awesome! Never got the other ones, though :(

I had the guys who you put the light sticks into, I think they were called lords of light. The leader of the bad guys was purple and was balding on top. For some reason the leader did not bend at the elbows and knees like everyone else. I remember these guys would get really loosey-goosey after you played with them a little and would not stand up on their own eventually. If anyone has some of these they want to get rid of let me know :)

Yes, they started in the late '70s; but lasted into the '80s. Far & away, the COOLEST toyline EVER, imho! Completely interchangable... Everything worked with EVERYTHING!

I had a few of them I remember the light blue translucent ones the most. I also had the almost meter tall plastic robot display/carry case that used to have shelves inside ( like the darth vader head shaped case for starwars figures only much bigger).

I had a bunch of these back in the 70s. Awesome toys.