Well its the tail end of the year and I thought I would post something I have been sitting on for a while, Britains Star System toys. I have posted about them before, but I recently bought a few spare parts, so I got the box out to check if I was missing anything.
I bought all the original range as they were released and only stopped when momentum slowed and they began to re-issue the same toys in different colours. The basic idea is a modular system which can be joined together in many different configurations, so to a degree, any part should fit with any other, due to a combination of connection points - one about 5mm and another at 10mm. Using both connectors on one joint ensured some of the heavier die cast elements were well supported.
The system worked extremely well, until the last release of the yellow/green range added two odd figures - the Cybertron and Muteron. Whilst both fitted stylistically into the range, the figures with each set were more akin to the Mini-Set scale at around 1:32. The dinosaur and vehicle are both modular and interchangeable, but for reasons best known to themselves, Britains made all the connections smaller too, meaning there is no interchangeability with the main line!
When I first got the main vehicles, I thought that they would benefit from a few black accents on the vehicles, so out came the shaky hand and the Humbrol Matt Black.
The space buggy suffered at my overenthusiastic touch with the black, but is a nice model which can be opened up and the red seat removed and the wheels re-attached to make a small run around.
My knock-down drag-out favourite have to be the green alien ships, the colour combination and saucer design are what convinced me to buy into the range.
Like the main starship, the saucer has a rotating globe inside, with a tread around the circumference and a self righting, weighted cockpit inside.
The later iterations of the line went from yellow and green to a more sedate white and silver base. To differentiate between the two sides, red and blue accents were used. A similar rotating cockpit dome and an enterprise like saucer were the highlights of the range, both of which had rotating action.
One of the smaller crawler vehicles seems to reflect the Matt Mason line, with the Space Crawler and the Bubble and the little scout vehicle has more than a nod to SWORD.
The space Mutant line which were produced to add another alien style, used the same base plastic body, but added rubbery head and tentacle parts. Once more, the Humbrol paints came out, but as the material was flexible, the paint didn't take well. The Mutants line were for me the weakest element, as they rely on one of my pet hates - anthropomorphism of animals. Dr Who is famous for doing this, putting animal or insect heads on human bodies and Britains did the same thing, with a snake, triceratops, bat, fly and something like a Stingray Terrorfish on the lithe human figures. With years of play and bad storage, the connectors for the heads and chest and back packs have severed in some cases, so the heads tend to pop off!
To compliment the Mutants and presumably to assist the Stargard spacemen, a range of Cyborg figures were produced, using the same rubberised head and tentacle arrangement, but to much better effect.
It looks like these poor chaps have had a brush with the paint too, although I was quite impressed with their design at the time. Loose heads and limbs are a problem here too.
Towards the end of the line, six Terror Raider figures appeared, which hit the alien invader style figure perfectly. While they retained the diecast base, the figures were hard plastic, with some articulation of the limbs.
My original Cybertron has suffered problems with the fragile plastic, but I picked up a second boxed version on ebay. The box is double sided and seems to show some cost cutting measures by Britains.
Again, notice the tiny, simple figure and the seemingly similar connectors, which are at least 2mm different!
The Muteron is one of my favourite designs, reminding me of the old zoo line. Besides the original piece, I have since found three loose models on ebay again, which appear to show a colour variation with later models receiving a yellow paint cover on the back and tail.
I was really quite sad to see the company go to the wall some time after the space line finished, as I was always a fan of the toys generally. Whilst searching online in preparation for the article, I found an ended auction at Sothebys which included a lot of factory materials from Britains, one of which caught my eye. The prototype model and pre-production art shows a large truck like vehicle, with the marking F.A.S. It does not have the same connection standard as the old system, so I wonder if this was a precursor to the Space line, or its successor. It seems to have more in common with contemporary space toys like Fisher Price Construx or Tonka Legions of Power. What might have been...
Those hexagonal modules temi d me of the cargo modules in the SF film Silent Running!
ReplyDeleteI remember those Britain's figures as a kid, but never had any. It's lovely to see you still have yours over half a century later!
Scrumptious stuff, Bill!
ReplyDeleteLovely line-up and an excellent introduction to a a very interesting series of toys.
Best -- Paul
An amazing collection Wote! You know so much about these toys. Where on Earth do you keep all this stuff? That arrowhead SWORD-type spaceship was one of the very first things I ever found at a car boot sale in the early 90's. I had it for years but eventually it got sold on. I love that prototype at the end. Its so Syd Mead!
ReplyDeleteTheres deffo a Silent Running influence on that prototype. My attic is groaning with the weight of stuff. I can only get a small selection out at once!
ReplyDelete