I spotted this unboxed Mattel Battlestar Galactica Cylon Raider the other day at a local flea market. As is common with these toys, it’s missing it’s canopy, Cylon pilot, and a front wheel. But for under a tenner, I wasn’t going to pass it up.
It still has it’s missiles, which do fire of a fashion, although they simply flick out, remaining firmly attached to the launcher.
Missile firing toys were always popular with us kids during the sixties, and it was assumed we were aware of the dangers. I like to think that, even as children most of us had a modicum of common sense. But, it’s obvious accidents are bound to happen, and in the case of Mattel’s Cylon Raider, it’s fairly well known to BSG toy collectors that the toy resulted in tragedy a few days after Christmas, 1978.
4 year-old Robert Jeffery Warren died from chocking on a missile from the Cylon Raider after firing it down his throat. The missile was eventually removed, but sadly however, Jeffery’s brain had been starved of oxygen and the poor child died six days later.
Mattel initiated a recall of the missiles shortly after the tragedy, offering a free Hot Wheels car to anyone who returned them!
A caution sticker on the boxes followed, before all the missile firing toys were modified meaning the missiles remained attached to the launchers.
This incident, and others like it would obviously cause a vast number of safety changes in many of the toy ranges that followed.
At least they haven't outlawed hot coffee yet, no matter how many folks spill it on themselves.
ReplyDeleteGive it time, Baron! :D
DeleteIf you wanted to be mean, you could say that anyone dumb enough to launch a missile in his mouth… but still and all, a tragedy, and a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the missiles, pistols and other projectile-firing war toys of the postwar era, I am surprised there wasn’t an epidemic of poked-out eyes and such. Or maybe there was, and the media hushed it up? Still, an era long gone. I wouldn’t trust the highly disturbed youngsters of today with a paper napkin! SFZ
Valid points, Zigg, as we say over here, 'it's health and safety gone mad!'
DeleteTo be objective, Robert Warren was just four years old, so really there may be an argument that his parents should take some responsibility. However, Mattel marked the toys safe to children over three, so they didn't have a leg to stand on in this.
I believe there was a separate case when another Battlestar Galactica toy missile was stuck in a little girls throat, but thankfully she survived.
I can see both sides. The cynic in me thinks it's more about selling more toys, but as a parent I think there should be safety considerations in place.
As a child growing up in the sixties playing with toys that wouldn't come close to passing today's safety rules, but who nevertheless managed to survive, I would probably be thinking don't spoil my fun!
We had a lot more dangerous toys when I was growing up. Hell a few of us had firearms. We learned to be responsible at an early age. Hell the playground equipment we had would result in a veritable bloodbath today.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true, Anon. How many of us tried to swing as high as we could on the swings, or cling precariously onto a dangerously spinning roundabout. Or even simply climb trees . I suppose it would be called risk assessment these days.!
DeleteWhen I was a kid, I often played on building sites when nobody was working on them. They were unfenced and unguarded in those days!
DeleteMy mates and I would do exactly the same thing, Kev. I'm not saying it was right, but kids were kids. The same applied to abandoned buildings. When the railway track next to my street were ripped up during Beeching's time, we had a ready made playground for us kids to enjoy.
DeleteWhen I came home wounded my Mother wouldn't call a lawyer she would tell me "That'll learn ya."
DeleteThese were amazingly good toys and a far cry from the utterly awful action figures. They predated the Star Wars Action Fleet toys by at least 15 or 20 years and are very similar in scale. The beauty of the the Colonial ships was they were modular and the fuselage of the Viper could be connected to other parts from different sets such as the Scarab and Stellar Probe, to make different ships. Due to the unfortunate PR tragedy with the childs death, the line tanked very quickly after launch and the final vehicle, the Colonial Landram only made release in Canada, making it an ultra rare find. Bill
ReplyDeleteThey certainly were pretty good toys, Bill. I don't know whether the line suffered significantly or not , you'd imagine so, but they were certainly popular even after the alterations.
DeleteAs you say the Landram is very scarse. There's one currently on eBay for two grand!!
I'll do a post on the small action figures next week.
Was it Mattel or Ideal that did the toy Ouiji board??
ReplyDeleteI think it's Hasbro or Parker Brothers, Marky.
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