I wrote about a toy line I'd never really looked twice at before the other day: SPACE ACE. Not to be confused with the Ron Turner magazine we promote of the same name, the SPACE ACE toy generated a few intriguing responses.
Its obviously got a keen following and judging by the number of sites on the net covering it and the actual video arcade machines, the following is quite big. The toys are based on a 1980's video game which will gave the toys that crossover appeal with the retro gamer guys, something I've just never caught onto.
All of the toys I've found online appear to be knockoffs of other toys, which I find odd if it was such a popular video game. The toys, or at least one, the Space Ace Robot Playset, cross over into Action Figure collecting and Blackstarr, which you read all about on the cool LITTLE WEIRDO's.
Here are the two pictures of Space Ace toys I've found online on Ebay over the years and I'm looking at them now in a whole new light. These are just a couple of the toys and collectables that were made. For a more complete listing visit the uber-ace Dragon's Lair Fans site.
SPACE SET and WALKIE TALKIE [Larami]
These two Larami knockoffs feature the Space Ace backing card but I imagine the toys have nothing to do with the game. I say this because both of these are ripoffs of other more established rack toy lines: Flash Gordon [Larami as well?] and Buck Rogers [HG Toys]. The original toys are shown below:
Arto is a big fan of SPACE ACE and recently wrote in with some cool memories and pictures of some neat paper collectables:
Your blog posting of Space Ace toys today was a happy coincidence, because I [have] an original Space Ace press kit from 1984! So I dug it up for a couple of (shoddy, sorry) piccies. Got the press kit at the Animation Days held in Helsinki back in '84.
Don Bluth, an ex-animator at Disney who had started his own company, was a pioneering figure introducing arcade games that had animated sequences advancing the game - and as such being precursors of today's video games. Having introduced their pioneering game effort Dragon's Lair some time earlier, Space Ace was their second major video game production, premiering in 1984.
The press kit is a lavish package with game presentation, press releases, and numerous brochures featuring both Dragon's Lair and Bluth Animation's then-in-production first full-length animation The Secret of NIMH. There is also a set of 10 promotional b/w production stills of Space Ace. To give the press kit a vintage feel, also a brochure for Panasonic Laserdisc player is included!
Arto
Any more Space Ace memorabilia in your collections readers?
The only bit of Space Ace kit I have is the laser disc out of the arcade machine. My roommate at he time got the Dragon's Lair laser disc. One side of the disc is covered in metal, basically to act as a heat sink and help prevent warpage. It plays fine in a regular laser disc machine. Some of the scenes are flipped, just like in Dragon's Lair.
ReplyDeleteCool Lance. Space Ace has more life in it than I ever knew. Does your laser disc machine still work?
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed still work. It was one of the early ones, with the lid that pops up with a deep thunk noise when the button is pressed. No fancy bits on it but I suspect it'd still work after the world went Mad Max (as long as their was electricity of course).
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff Lance. I've never seen one close-up and certainly never watched a Laserdisc. Do you project the image onto a screen?
ReplyDeleteNot as such. It uses RCA plugs into my selector box and from there into my tv. Essentially it uses the same type of connectors as a VCR. Looking at the quality of it, I'd rate it right around DVD quality but not HD/Blu Ray. It was definitely a step up or two from VHS in terms of quality of picture and longevity.
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