This week I watched about 4 episodes of Toy Hunter. which my Daughter had recorded. Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for Jordan Hembrough and his toy hunting TV show from the States. We even met him at the Birmingham NEC here in England last year. What a nice bloke!
Anyway, watching Toy Hunter is always an education. Jordan's knowledge is encyclopedic and his interests eclectic. He mentioned a whole gaggle of rare vintage toys I'd never heard of and here are just two of them.
UZAY Star Wars Action Figures: these were knockoff 'STARSWAR' figures from Turkey from the late 1980's [ notice the misspelling of Star Wars ] and hugely appealing to Star Wars collectors. The most famous and sought after is the 'Blue Stars', pictured below, which Jordan found on his show. Its a Hoth Stormtrooper painted blue and a group of Blue Stars seem to be stood in a pool of custard on the card art! You can learn all about them here at the Star Wars Collectors Archive. Fascinating stuff!
COLONIAL LANDRAM 40 from Mattel's Battlestar Galactica line: from how Jordan reacted and what I've subsequently read this is the rarest of Mattel's toy line and possibley only available in Canada. It has the style and look of a vehicle from a Gerry Anderson TV show! For some reason it also reminds me of another old space toy, maybe Starcom? You can read more about the Landram at the excellent Battlestar Galactoca Memorabilia.
The Landram was a Canadian exclusive, rare as hens teeth. Unfortunately the Galactica toy line was seriously set back in 1982, when a child choked to death on one of the missiles. Subsequent releases were non-firing, but mattel didn't extend the range beyond four models and the final Landram. Id love one of these!
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