Here's a look at some of the first wave of
Battlestar Galactica merchandise from late 1978. Gotta love these bizarrely off-model action figures! Reportedly, Mattel simply modified and repurposed some old Major Matt Mason toys (compare "
Captain Lazer" to the Cylon above)...
I'm not sure why these pages sport the "Code Name: Galactica" title. They originally appeared as an advertising insert in some off-brand
Starlog-wannabe magazine I bought as a kid, a month or two before the show premiered. I suppose it's possible that Universal hadn't quite settled on the name
Battlestar Galactica yet....
In any case, even in a decade renowned for funky toys, these are pretty wild. The Cylon Raider and Viper aren't too bad, but the "Star Probe" and "Colonial Scarab" are particularly weird. A small child in Georgia died after swallowing a projectile from either the Viper or Cylon Raider toy, as I remember, and a massive recall was done to make the projectiles permanently attached to the toys. This incident further fanned George Lucas' resentment toward the Glen Larson series, since some news articles attributed the accident to a
Star Wars toy.
Oh, man! I had that viper launch station thing, I think! One was red, and the other blue...
ReplyDeleteSuch fond memories. Thanks for posting those.
ReplyDeleteGreat toys. I never knew about the Viper Launch Station.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the whole missile incident is the reason Kenner ended up turning their Rocket Firing Boba Fett into plain old Boba Fett.
I had that magazine as well. Furthermore, I was fortunate enough to buy the Viper and Raider before the projectiles were glued into place. The stickers are peeling and I lost the pilots long ago, but those missile launchers still work great!
ReplyDeleteI initially thought that there was no way that the 12" figures could've been from Major Matt Mason, as the Mason toys were shorter and--more importantly--bendies.
However, I was wrong! Here's a photo of "Captain Lazer"...
http://www.wildtoys.com/MMMPage/MMMplayers/CaptLazer.jpg
I had the smaller sized action figures !!
ReplyDeleteI had a few of the Galactica vehicle toys. Aside from the Raider and the Viper, they invented a few ships and vehicles that were never in the show but looked like they came from the Galactica universe. I liked them because they were all made to come apart and interchange so you could combine parts to make all sorts of weird designs. .
ReplyDeleteI had the Stellar Probe, and my best friend had a Viper and a Cylon Raider. They were some of my favourite toys, those and Micronauts. And my die-cast Eagle.
ReplyDeleteI am a big Micronaut fan too! Glad to find someone mention them. I have the Stellar Probe, the Viper , the cylon Raider and the scarab. I used to have the Viper launch station as a kid. It was a lot of fun for a few days but I don't think it lasted a long time.
DeleteHah, I had all those, except for the big action figures. I'm surprised at the prices, pretty steep for the 70's, Mom must have been cringing at the checkout line!
ReplyDeleteThe vipers that came with the launcher thingy were made of some kind of foam, and the Vipers slowly curled into a halfmoon shape as they aged - I was not happy! Dog liked to chew 'em too.
I had two sets of the Viper and Raider and both were fairly true to the series (mine were both rocket-firing). I also had the Cylon figure and it didn't look like the one pictured. It looked much closer to the Cylon we knew from the series. It had a silver/metallic chest-piece and a better head. You can see the real version here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/62339328@N00/103708538
These were actually in a magazine? I assumed they were from a pre-season Mattel trade catalog. (Still might be - if it was that cheap a magazine, they may have just swiped and reprinted the pages!)
ReplyDeleteAs well as the "Code Name: GALACTICA" title, almost everything shown is a prototype rather than what actually hit the streets. My sister and I had the big figures; while the Colonial Warrior ("Pilot" in the ad) is pretty much identical to the final toy, the Cylon as released had a more accurate head and breastplate, both chromed. (Oh, and since the guns were a permanent part of the hands, the Colonial wound up "wearing" black gloves to save a painting step!)
And they were indeed Captain Lazer figures with various remolds and accoutrements. (The Colonial's head is Lazer's with a different hair color.)
I loved my Battlestar Galactica toys. I think I had everything here. My mom was a hoarder and felt guilty for me being so isolated. She showered me in great toys like this and I loved them dearly. They were like my friends at that age.
ReplyDeleteI had the probe toy as a kid (post you'll choke on the missiles). I loved the way you could mix and match the pieces into different ships. My brother and I also had the daggit action figure, a cylon centurion, and I want to say starbuck as well, but it may have been apollo..
ReplyDelete