Eagle One to Base

Recent posts ive made have talked about Mattel toys and how in some ways they got some things wrong. Current toys are formulaic and uninspiring. The Battlestar Galactica action figure line was appalling and Hot Wheels cars are now a shadow of their former selves. After Major Matt Mason folded in about 1970, all seemed lost. But what amazes me is the absolutely fabulous toy they managed to sneak by in 1976, a full twelve months before Star Wars changed the toy industry forever.

The Mattel Eagle One playset is a giant of a toy, easily over two feet long. When Star Wars appeared with its range of action figures, the ships were largely deformed in shape and scale to accomodate the figures, resulting in fat X-Wings and stubby Falcons. Mattel didn't make this mistake and created smaller figures in a larger ship. As you can see in the catalogue example shown here with kind permission from Plaidstallions.com, the figures were streets ahead of their time.

The central 'pod' wasn't detachable, but featured two large clamshell doors, giving full access to the interior, which had seats, equipment bay and lots of room for cargo. To further expand playability, it has a winch fitted and a hatch in the base to allow astronauts to be lowered down on cable.

 Detailing overall is consistent with the actual vehicle, including small Moonbase Alpha stickers. The main body is sturdy plastic and the feet and other accessories are a softer, slightly flexible silver plastic. The cabin features an opening hatch in the roof, to allow the figures into the cockpit.

 The cockpit and engine array are detachable and able to join together to make a smaller probe ship, not unlike the pod from the Ultra Probe in the episode 'Dragons Domain'.

Special thanks go to Charles for the magnificent Eagle model and to Plaidstallions for use of the catalogue - click on the link to see more Space 1999 toys on their fabulous site!