CAPTAIN LAZER: THE NEXT GENERATION

I had a Mattel Captain Lazer when I was a kid in the Sixties. You know, Major Mat Mason's big chum that looked like Mister Spock.

Years later a whole new Generation of Mattel kids got to own a Captain, in a nifty bit of recycling, this time in the form of a Colonial Warrior from the Battlestar Galactica range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3B6k-ejYsI

Which version did you have readers? 

THE COLONIAL THRONE

 

I had to chuckle when I saw this online shot of the Mattel Colonial Warrior aka Captain Lazer!

Now c'mon readers! That's just bursting with comic caption potential!

Go!

WALKING CAPTAIN LAZERS SURFACE

Evidence has surfaced that Mattel's toy Captain Lazer is inexplicably standing up and strolling off from display shelves and walking around.

The first sign appears to be the Captain's knees bending.

The next stage is standing up and simply walking off.

Found Footage has emerged to back up the theory of mobile Captains, even on the moon!

The only way to stop your Captain it would seem is to to detach at least one leg as shown in the picture..

If you notice anything strange today do let us know.

CLASSIC LEGS OF ACTION

I saw this trio of action fellas on the Bay. 

They're hip and lookin for a good time!

I know the Captain well but not the others. Two of them come from Mattel's place: Pulsar and Cap Laser.

The headless guy in the middle is Maskatron. He's from the house of Kenner.

But all three seem to have been given the same legs, give or take an inch.

Am I seeing things or are are they all borrowed from GI Joe/ Action Man?

*I love Pulsar's trousers! I want some!

TOYS I HAD TEN YEARS AGO

A glimpse of treasures I once had in my loft on the 11th September 2008. Four days later I started this blog!

What a Christmas morning these toys would make!

All part of my Ebaying and Toy Fairing back in 2008.

A MOTU boxed set - I think it was the Slime Pit - I found mint boxed at a car boot and a He-Man Starship Eternia I bought in a roughed-up box from the clearance shelves of Toys R Us. On top is a boxed Captain Laser I bought as an investment for my toy fair stall from Ebay back in its early days in the UK.

In the bottom shelf is a tinplate remote-controlled James Bond DB5 I found amongst dumped furniture in a German street in 1981.

Next to it is a large mystery action plastic VW Beetle from a boot sale I think.

I think the two games are Risk and Railroader. I adored finding games at boot sales more than anything.

I think the Beetle is all that's left now ten years later!

Have you had any of these readers?

TOOTSIETOYS CAPTAIN LAZER

Here are some Tootsietoys including Captain Lazer in red.

The man in blue is Major Mars.

The car is reminiscent of the types included in the playsets. 

Last picture was taken in my attic from a storage tub full of mini-figures of all different types.

Brian

New Jersey

Tootsietoy Captain Laser and his Snazzy Car Shop

I have always been intrigued by that other Captain Laser.

You know, the Tootsietoy one hailing from Chicago.

Here he is in a setting I've never seen before. I saw it on the Bay around New Year.

It looks like a car workshop complete with ramp and console!

Dated 1977, I love the spacey graphics on the monitors.

What went on the ramp? The HotWheels like car pictured at the back? Anyone know?

captains my captains

I was flicking through my old copy of Tom Tumbusch's seminal book Space Adventure Collectables and was reminded that Captain Lazer had another life beyond 1967.

Mattel upcycled the blue Captain ten years later.

He stepped into the Mattel dream machine and came out in 1978 as the Seventies style icon Colonial Warrior and the Darth Vader wannabe Cylon Centurion.

Complete with chirruping back pack, disco chest plate, flashing eyes and lazer hand stump, these cool dudes were part of Mattel's Battlestar Galactica line and a bid presumably to save money on moulds. Get the Captain out I hear them shout!

It makes sense to go for the big guy. His Doctor Spock looks were enough to get him noticed, never mind his toned galactic physique. He was standing blue and tall decades before Doctor Manhattan too.

So, having been a big fan of the blue man in his first incarnation back in '67 I can't help but wonder whether those fine accessories I loved so much - proto-light sabre, glam rock boots, purple bed-table shield and Achilles' space helmet - would fit the new Captains from the Seventies?

The '67 helmet fitting the '78 Cylon Centurion maybe academic anyway as his chromed robo headpiece may not even come off! This is something I just don't know.

I'd love to see a mash up of the three Captains. What Marvel and DC would call a crossover where the Mattel universes of Major Mat Mason and Battlestar Galactica jam together like a supergroup.

Maybe the Colonial Warrior cruising in the Firebolt Laser Canon, maybe Callisto gun-stringing a Cylon Centurion and just maybe all three Captains staring each other out.

Does anyone have all three figures?

CAPTAIN LAZER HAD THE FIRST LIGHT SABRE

I reckon that Captain Lazer was a Jedi before Jedi's were invented a decade later by George Lucas. Why do I say this? Because Captain Lazer clearly had a light sabre way back in 1967! What say you?

The Captain's wand.

WHERE'S MY CAPTAIN LAZER MUM?

If there was one toy I could take to Mars it would be Mattel's Captain Lazer. With his Leonard Nimoy looks and glam rock boots the Captain is the coolest toy ever. I adored him as a kid. My Mum forgot to leave it out for me on Xmas morning so on hearing my sobbing she quickly retrieved it from under the bed, came down stairs and handed it to me wrapped in paper. "There you go Son, Santa didn't forget".  

I even wrote a poem about him when I was a teenager. Such is the power of the Captain's dazzling eyes and chest plate. I think the neatest stuff though, were his lazer attachments; the rod, the barrel and my favourite, the purple shield. Callisto and his cissy string pistol never stood a chance against the might of the glowing Captain! 

These three coloured lazer parts reminded me of the cool weapons and accessories which came with Colorform's Outer Space Men, probably the best space toy range ever made. In fact Mattel's Major Matt Mason range and the Outer Space Men fit together perfectly. Callisto could easily be an Outer Space Man! Ol' Cap was so cool that Mattel used his body again for a new generation in the Seventies, by which time Captain Lazer will have been but a distant ray blast.

Finally I'd like to mention the sound the Cap's backpack made. I've talked about it before and will no doubt again. It is one of those iconic sounds unique to a Sixties childhood, like a spring rattling round a paint tin. Words like 'bodoingggggg' and 'de-de-de-de-de' don't do it justice. What do you think readers? What was that sound like?