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Starcom

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Starcom: The U.S. Space Force is an animated syndicated series in the 1980s that spawned a successful motorized toy line franchise in Europe and Asia for Mattel, despite its failures to succeed in its U.S. domestic market. The plot was based on the adventures of an American astronaut brigade as they fought off attempted invasions by Shadow Force, a nasty collection of aliens and robots led by the nefarious Emperor Dark.

The show was developed with the help of the Young Astronauts Council, Starcom: The U.S. Space Force with the original intention of sparking young viewers' interest in the U.S. NASA Space Program. However, Starcom did not get much of a chance to make kids want to join the space program and was cancelled off the air after one brief season. It was revived for a short run in the early 1990s, but no new episodes were aired.

The plot was classic Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers fare. The evil members of Shadow Force, led by Emperor Dark, were trying to take over the cosmos, and it was up to Starcom to stop them. Young hero Dash, an ace Starcom pilot, was the star of the series, and several of his teammates were family members. He was also backed up by the resourceful Slim, whose niece was yet another Starcom pilot. Other heroes on the Starcom side included ace pilot John ‘Slim’ Griffin. Together, the members of Starcom fought Dark's legions of robotic minions, flying into battle in a fleet of advanced spacecraft.

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Toys

Like many 1980s toys, the Starcom line was developed as part of the merchandising for a cartoon.

Starcom: The U.S. Space Force debuted on television screens in 1987, and the toy line hit stores around the same time. There was plenty of variety for the pint-sized empire builder to choose from: the complete series of Starcom toys offered 23 figures, 6 playsets, and 13 vehicles on the Starcom side, while the Shadow Force was represented by 15 action figures and 11 vehicles. The action figures were two inches tall and came packaged with a backpack, a weapon, and identification cards that explained who they were and what their equipment could do. Like the figures, the vehicles and playsets benefited from a sleek, attractive design.

The most unique - and indeed exciting - aspect of the Starcom toy line was its use of Magna Lock technology. Basically, the action figures had tiny magnets implanted in their feet. Not only did this allow them to stand on the vehicles and playsets without falling off, but it also activated nifty gizmos in the playsets. For instance, if you placed a figure in the elevator of the Starbase Station playset, its Magna Lock magnets would cause the elevator to rise to the top by itself. On the same playset, if you put a figure in one of cannons, the Magna Lock magnets would activate a mechanism that made it turn and fire its rockets.

The vehicles and playsets also delivered Power Deploy features, meaning they offered plenty of moving parts (hidden compartments, cannons, folding wings, etc.). All in all, the Starcom toys represented one of the best action figure lines of its time, offering handsome designs and a variety of cool features that didn’t require batteries or electric power, and all at a reasonable price.

Starcom toys never caught on in the U.S. due to poor promotion and the fact that its parent show only lasted a year in syndication. They were discontinued after two years but ended up doing very well in Europe, where both the show and the toys continued to be popular long after the American toys. According to an article by Stephen Thanabalan in Wizard Comics, the toys were successful and hugely popular in Europe and Southeast Asia only after coming under the production and promotion of Mattel. That company removed the US flag and NASA details from the Coleco originals (Coleco would later declare bankruptcy and be bought over by Hasbro) and launched the toys with a second line of promotions in the early 1990s. One view is that the toys had such unique features that the toys' marketing should not have been marked by national symbols of one nation, and would adopt a more universal theme of space travel following the end of the space race and post-cold war era.

Today, the Starcom toys remain popular among toy collectors thanks to their combination of slick design and unique features. The toys garnered an older cult following, and have a status for being rare in the 2000s, where Ebay sites continue to see sellers from Europe and Asia, who own these toy "antiques" sell them to these buyers at highly profitable rates. Their enduring ability to command the attention of toy fans proves that a well-designed toy will endure no matter where its inspiration came from.

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