Acroyear (group)

This article is about the race of super-soldiers. For the member of the Micronauts, see Acroyear (Micronaut). For a list of other meanings, see Acroyear (disambiguation).

Give me a hundred Space Marines. Or failing that, give me a thousand other troops.

The Acroyears are a race of super-soldiers, created on the orders of Baron Karza through genetic and behavioral modification of the Sandmen of the Aegis Cluster. Though incredibly powerful, with the ability to Enerchange to summon turbine-powered wings and weaponry, they suffer from mental instability due to the rushed creation process they were put through, and most of them were recalled and destroyed. One of them has joined up with Oziron Rael's crew of Micronauts.

Fiction

The Acroyears were created by Baron Karza, a former member of the Sandmen, after he became the Minister of Defense. Karza forcibly conscripted his former allies to undergo genetic and behavioral modification, sealing them into power armor and using them as his personal strike force. Unfortunately, the instability caused by the modification process came to a head at the MoDee research station; during the operation, the research station was destroyed, all scientists and civilians were killed, and many of the Acroyears died. After the incident, the Acroyears were recalled by Karza and terminated. Acroyear's profile Baron Karza's profile

Though the Acroyears were widely believed to have all been killed, a few survived: the warrior known only as "Acroyear" was left for dead on MoDee, but was found by Oz Rael and Microtron, while Karza maintained a small number of Acroyear I warriors, including Commander Raith. The modification process was subsequently refined, and used to produce the Acroyear II warrior class. Micronauts #1 Micronauts #5 Acroyear's profile

Variants

Acroyears II

The second generation Acroyears, also known as the Acroyear II class, were created through refinement of the Acroyear creation process, and made up the main bulk of the Ministry of Defense's forces by the time of their war with the Ministry of Science. Though more stable and easy to control than the first generation, they are significantly weaker, and can be easily destroyed in large numbers by first generation Acroyears. Micronauts #5 Acroyear's profile

Acroyears III

The third generation Acroyears, also known as the Acroyear III class, are an advanced series of Acroyears who were predicted by the future Oziron Rael and the Helmet to take part in the Earthwar. However, when they travelled to Earth through the anomaly created by the future Micronauts, they arrived sooner than the Helmet had predicted them to. Micronauts Annual Micronauts #10 Significantly more powerful than the second generation Acroyears, the Acroyears III are armed with spherical metal fists that can Enerchange into an endless array of weaponry. Micronauts #10

Giant Acroyears

The Giant Acroyear is a very big Acroyear, first seen on Earth alongside the New Acroyears. It's very vulnerable to a Weeble to the chest. Micronauts #10

Notes

• The Acroyears debuted in the Mego Micronauts toyline as the "enemy of the Micronauts", while the Bill Mantlo Marvel Micronauts comic recast the toy as a heroic character. The IDW series splits the difference by making them a race of villains with a notable heroic defector.
  • The Acroyears share their name with their Microman counterparts, depicted as corrupted Micromen. The name presumably comes from "aku" ("evil") and "destroyer", and is properly pronounced as "a-KROY-er". It probably should have been Romanised as Acroyer, but the spelling from Takara's Microman packaging stuck.
• Confusingly, the IDW Acroyear II design is based more closely on the Micronauts Acroyear I, while the Acroyears III are based on the Acroyear II toy.