This is Mattel's Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior.I don't have too much to say about this guy. He's supposed to represent one of the "good guys" from the not-so-successful-but fondly-remembered 1978 TV show, Battlestar Galactica. However, he doesn't resemble any of the actual characters from the show.
My only guess is that Mattel wanted to make a quick buck off of the TV series and used the available resources they already had to pull it off. The Colonial Warrior actually uses molds from Mattel's late 1960's toy line, Major Matt Mason. Major Matt Mason toys were small bendy-type figures with space helmets and lots of cool accessories. The Colonial Warrior's twin, Captain Lazer, was a 12" scale figure sold as "Major Matt Mason's Friend from Outer Space." He was kind of an anomaly as he was a 12" figure being sold in a 5 or 6" scale line of figures. I guess he was some sort of big, alien friend.
From what I can tell, Mattel's Colonial Warrior is nothing more than a redeco of Captain Lazer with a brown fuzzy vest. To be fair, Mattel DID release a Cylon figure at the same time that did feature, at least, a new head sculpt.
The Colonial Warrior is made of hard plastic and features very limited articulation. He has a backpack that takes two AA batteries. When you push down on the backpack's plunger, the gun (or detachable view screen) lights up. A complete Colonial Warrior should include his brown vest and the "view screen" that attaches to his molded-in-hand gun.
We had one of the spaceships form Battlestar.
ReplyDeleteIt launched bullets and got pulled because kids got choked on it.
Who shoots them down their throat?
Aim at the Cylons you crazy kids.
Being Mattel, and in the 70's I bet this was one of their first attempts prior the birth the only accessory in history of toy to be the same size as the head line... The Ken Doll
ReplyDeleteThe commercial from the 60s said something like 'he's a giant, but a friendly one who spent his boyhood on Mars'
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents kept my dad's Captain Lazer. It had 3 buttons on the backpack; one to light up the gun, one to light up the eyes, and one to light up the disk on its chest.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed this Colonial Warrior version still has the original toy's Spock ears.