Today we've got a 1978-vintage kid's TV ad for Mattel's new Battlestar Galactica "Colonial Warrior" and "Cylon Centurion" action figures. Have a great weekend!
Yeaaah, I remember them vividly on the shelves in '78, all mint in box. 'Course I had CPT Lazer from MMM as a kid, so I knew it was the same mold instantly.
I didn't start getting into Galactica until about mid-way through the first year, then I was hooked. I always felt the toyline had a lot to be desired, compared to Kenner's SW line, but I understand merchandising investments.
Actually Mattel thought the BG line would have a LONGER life being on television each week than the single 'Star Wars' movie ~ Boy, were they wrong.
Missed having ships for the 3" figure series, but the Monogram models were fairly close in scale. Perhaps that's what they were counting on.
I did have the ROM the Space Knight.. er, I mean Cylon warrior. Battlestar Galactica toys were such crap. Even when they weren't rehashed garbage like this, and were relatively nicely done (like the modular Mattel ships and the Flying Aces viper carrier), they seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual TV show.
Never had those larger scale figures... only had some of the 3.75 inch scale figures as a kid. They were cool, but I always wanted the Cylon Centurion to have more articulation.
Got the missile firing Viper and Raider before they were withdrawn... still have them.
Had the missile-firing Viper and Raider too! Wish I'd held onto them. Most of my friends has the non-firing variety. Always wondered why the Viper's wings tilted up- I didn't notice them doing that on the TV show. Mattel cancelled the Shogun Warriors line too after the unfortunate death of that child from swallowing the Viper missile I believe. The Micronauts had lots of firing missiles as well, but they were gone when Mego folded circa 1980-81.
The Cylon figure was okay -- the coolest feature being the red eye that you could pulse back and forth. The chestplate often came off, so I had to deal with that breaking a lot during play. I had zero interest in the Colonial Warrior, since it had nothing to do with the series. In 2005, I finally purchased decent 12" Cylon and Apollo figures when the sculpts were finally given some justice by Majestic Studios.
I think Universal originally had an agreement with Lucasfilm/Fox which prevented them from making any Battlestar Galactica toys that were the same scale as Kenner's Star Wars line. That's why the two 12" figures were released first, instead of the smaller figures (which didn't actually appear until 1979). Mattel also purposely made the vehicles in their early BG line too small to be compatible with the Kenner toys.
Yeaaah, I remember them vividly on the shelves in '78, all mint in box. 'Course I had CPT Lazer from MMM as a kid, so I knew it was the same mold instantly.
ReplyDeleteI didn't start getting into Galactica until about mid-way through the first year, then I was hooked. I always felt the toyline had a lot to be desired, compared to Kenner's SW line, but I understand merchandising investments.
Actually Mattel thought the BG line would have a LONGER life being on television each week than the single 'Star Wars' movie ~ Boy, were they wrong.
Missed having ships for the 3" figure series, but the Monogram models were fairly close in scale. Perhaps that's what they were counting on.
I did have the ROM the Space Knight.. er, I mean Cylon warrior. Battlestar Galactica toys were such crap. Even when they weren't rehashed garbage like this, and were relatively nicely done (like the modular Mattel ships and the Flying Aces viper carrier), they seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual TV show.
ReplyDeleteNever had those larger scale figures... only had some of the 3.75 inch scale figures as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThey were cool, but I always wanted the Cylon Centurion to have more articulation.
Got the missile firing Viper and Raider before they were withdrawn... still have them.
Had the missile-firing Viper and Raider too! Wish I'd held onto them. Most of my friends has the non-firing variety. Always wondered why the Viper's wings tilted up- I didn't notice them doing that on the TV show. Mattel cancelled the Shogun Warriors line too after the unfortunate death of that child from swallowing the Viper missile I believe. The Micronauts had lots of firing missiles as well, but they were gone when Mego folded circa 1980-81.
DeleteThe Cylon figure was okay -- the coolest feature being the red eye that you could pulse back and forth. The chestplate often came off, so I had to deal with that breaking a lot during play. I had zero interest in the Colonial Warrior, since it had nothing to do with the series. In 2005, I finally purchased decent 12" Cylon and Apollo figures when the sculpts were finally given some justice by Majestic Studios.
ReplyDeleteI think Universal originally had an agreement with Lucasfilm/Fox which prevented them from making any Battlestar Galactica toys that were the same scale as Kenner's Star Wars line. That's why the two 12" figures were released first, instead of the smaller figures (which didn't actually appear until 1979). Mattel also purposely made the vehicles in their early BG line too small to be compatible with the Kenner toys.
ReplyDelete