We have often seen the little red shuttle that comes with the big Apollo Moon Exploring set, or carded on the small Imperial brand rack toys. Its often been suggested that it was based on the Blue Box range of four toys as shown below, but the design appears in many different guises, even as a Blakes 7 version!
Some time ago, I found what I thought may have been the definitive version on which the Apollo Moon Explorer might have been based, but on closer inspection, I saw that the red spanish Payva version, was different again, having two nacelles at the rear and an unusual arrangement of panels on the top.
So I was very pleased to find yet another version in red, with a blue canopy like the smaller cousin, by japanese manufacturer Yone. This is a clockwork version, as opposed to friction and has a similar panel arrangement on the back. I suspect that the Yone version may be the oldest, although it does have wingtip tanks that are only shared by the most recent Blue Box version. Yone also included a fifth model, the Space Tank in their line, which has so far eluded me.
The chrome purple model is by Ahi, makers of the
Moonship, who also produced versions of the Space Jet and Space Disk.
Here is my current fleet of Ahi, Blue Box ad white unbranded Space Disk. There are other branded versions of the clockwork sparking series too.
Addendum: Kevin D, a long time Blakes 7 fan, shared these images of the Gauda Prime saucers and Federation Pursuit Ship which must have been the basis of the decision to use these four toys as B7 tie ins. The toys were called 'Cosmic Strikeforce' and appear to be officially endorsed by the Beeb. They were made by an unkown company called 'Jotastar'.
There are Blakes 7 versions of each of those, for some odd reason.
ReplyDeleteIthink it was just Blue Box saw a bandwagon and jumped on!
ReplyDeleteIf I'm being generous, two of them do resemble ships from Blakes 7, a Federation Pursuit Ship and the Gauda Prime ships that shoot down Scorpio in the final episode. It has to be coincidence though.
ReplyDeleteJotastar also made a Neutron Space Rifle, which was a passable copy of the weapon carried by the bad guys in Blake's 7 (except that it fired ping pong balls!).
ReplyDeleteWere they officially licensed by Big Terry and the BBC ?
DeleteYes, but they were only available for a fairly brief time.
DeleteThey'd have to be to use the official logo and mention the BBC.
ReplyDeleteMish.
I think the gun was, judging by its packaging.
DeleteI found an incomplete Blakes 7 'Falcon' toy at a car boot about 25 years ago but didn't know what it was. i blogged the story in 2018 http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2018/10/my-blakes-7-jotastar-falcon.html
ReplyDeleteI've ended up a bunch of these myself in varying sizes. They're nice because, as spaceships go, they don't take up a lot of room and a fleet can be obtained fairly easy.
ReplyDeleteThe Blake's 7-branded toys appeared years before the saucer-shaped ones appeared in the final episode. I got them for Christmas in either 1979 or 1980 and was baffled as to why they had the B7 logo on them, since they bore no resemblance to any ships seen in the series up to that point.
ReplyDeleteThe ones in "Blake" *have* to be either directly inspired by or even built from the toys.
You may be right but I'm inclined to the view that it is coincidence. I think the toys are too small to be converted into filming miniatures but maybe, as you say, someone saw them and it influenced the design.
ReplyDelete