Mission Improbable

Some time ago, I blogged the Airfix Eagles figures and the super copter from the line. The Eagles toys were also released as Action Stars figures with a much larger range in Europe. However, I recently discovered an obscure St Michael (Marks and Spencers department store own brand) toy - the Mission Space set. This includes a 'tank' and three figures, one of which is exactly the same as Captain Eagle from the Airfix line, renamed here as 'Captain Superspace. He comes with a dark side clone - basically the same figure in black with a silver helmet, called 'Chrome Dome'. The name Krome Dome was originally used for a 1970's Bandai robot. The third figure is Tartron, a weird orange suited alien with one of the worst - or laziest - designed faces ive ever seen.

Besides these figures lifted directly from another series, there is the unusual 'tank'. On the face of it, this appears to be original, although it does look a little like a simple GI Joe craft. big enough to house one figure, it has a large bazooka cannon, tracks and a separate twin missile launcher on the back which has again been lifted from another series, the Mego Micronauts. As you can see from the last picture, its a remould from the white and red launcher on the Astrostation. The Micronauts were sold under the Airfix brand in the Uk at the same time as the Eagles, so its possible that the designs from both series of toys were pillaged by the third party manufacturer for St Michael. The box states that the toy was made and produced in the Uk, but has bilingual packaging for the european market. Micronauts and Eagles were sold from 1978 in the Uk, Micronauts lasted considerable longer than the unpopular Eagles, so this set would be dated probably around 1980+.