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Old June 29th, 2014, 09:12 AM   #8
David Kerin
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Join Date: Sep 2001
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Default Re: The Toy I always wished for... but was never made.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayworld View Post
At one time, I had all 10 of the Mattel 3 3/4" Battlestar figures, and I'm with you; wish there would have been a Viper or Cylon Raider. Although I liked the figures (because they were Battlestar), they were inferior to the Star Wars figures due to lack of detail, no painted features on the face, and severely limited articulation. Both Cylons only moved at the head (swivel), arms, and waist, so even if there had been a Cylon raider produced to scale, the figures would not have fit in them because they were unable to sit. Further, there was never an Apollo figure produced. Also, the Boray figure was just awful, with limited articulation, and an orange, non-detailed head. Mattel really missed the boat on this line.

One reason the Buck Rogers figures were so well done was that they were produced by Mego, who had started producing 3 3/4" figures at that time instead of the 8" line. Mego also did a great job (detail, articulation, etc.) with the Black Hole 3 3/4" figures. The Mego figures had high detail, incredible articulation (on a par with the 1982 GI Joe Real American hero line), and fabric costuming in some cases.
It was sad how poorly done the Battlestar 3 3/4 figures were. The Cylon looked ok, but the articulation was ridiculous! I forgot about the Mego Black Hole figures. I still have somewhere the VINCENT figure, and the detail on that was fantastic! The head would retract into the body, as well as the side clasps and the bottom... black sphere thingies. Oh what could have been if they got the license to Battlestar instead of Mattel. Even Mattel's laser pistol was just some old toy with a Battlestar Galactica sticker slapped on the side. And the 12 inch Cylon and "Colonial Warrior"? At least they made the Cylon head, but the rest were just repackaged old toys. Terrible to a 10 year old kid in 1978.

One toy that did meet my childhood satisfaction, and remains probably my favorite Christmas toy to this day, is the large Space: 1999 Eagle. That with my large Millenium Falcon toy were the pride of my star base setup I had in the family room. As for favorite fighters in said "star base" was the Star Fighter (BR) and the Snow Speeder. And just to fill out the image of the childhood star base for ya, it all centered around the main control tower, which was of course the Death Star playset. Oh the hours spent playing with that stuff!
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