Galactica Redux

The Mattel range of Battlestar Galactica toys are a firm favourite of mine from late seventies. Coming in direct competition to the market leader of kenners Star Wars toys, Mattel took several separate paths to grab a slice of the space toy market. The main thrust was a series of action figures, which were simplistic and ugly, with an almost doll-like shape. Secondly, came a pair of large figures based on the sixties Captain Laser body, of a Cylon and Colonial Warror. But the best part of the marketing strategy was for me the vehicle range. Ive looked at these before, but until recently, my collection was incomplete. My collection lacked the Viper and also the pilot for my Cylon Raider. Thanks to the kind intervention of blog contributor CS, my fleet is now complete.

For some reason, Mattel seemed to be unable, or unwilling to get the look of the Cylon correct. the action figure version was closest, but still distorted, the large figure was all black with a grossly distorted head and the small vehicle pilot has more in common with Gort than a cylon.

Its a nice little figure, jointed at shoulders and hips and looks suitably sinister.The Viper pilot looks a little more doll like and is less able to stand than the cylon. One of the best features of the  vehicle range is the interchaneability of the colonial vehicles, something the Raider doesn't share.The Colonial Stellar Probe can be married with the Viper to create a long range Viper craft with the addition of the extended fuselage.