The History of Starcom: The Toys With Magnets On Their Feet!
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- Опубликовано: 15 авг 2018
- Starcom: The U.S. Space Force is a 1987 animated syndicated television series inspired by a motorized toy franchise manufactured by Coleco. The plot detailed the adventures of an American astronaut brigade as they fought off attempted invasions by Shadow Force, a nasty collection of humans and robots led by the nefarious Emperor Dark.
You might remember them as the small action figures with magnets in their feet.
Unfortunately, no one seemed to care as 1987 was jammed full of other more popular lines based on already established brands like GI Joe and Transformers and MASK.
The show earned poor ratings, and it was cancelled after 13 episodes.[3] The series was broadcast in reruns in the early 1990s, but no new episodes were produced.
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Starcom was one of my absolute favorite action figure series out of the 80’s; every bit as good as Transformers and M.A.S.K. Those vehicles had so much playability and cool mechanized action gimmicks! Miss playing with those toys.
It was a great toy line. Seemed super futuristic to me at the time!!
Me too, although i would say they were much better than Transformers, the toys i meant.
I was absolutely one of the dozens. Loved these figures
As was I!
Me too!!
Same
Same. I still have a bunch of them in storage but they have been abused by my imagination. 😂
Me too
I loved StarCom! The motorized action and magnets were the kind of things that nailed it for me! That and zip lines so Sky Commanders were both hits for me...
Bob Gosh yes! Sky commanders.
JT Manuel Right?! It made no sense, totally impractical but awesome and ZIP LINES!!!
I'm so glad that someone else remembers the SkyCommanders! I was living overseas at the time, and it always puzzled me as a kid how a toy line would be introduced and then disappear before the cartoon ever made it out to me. It was always a weird slice of America, and I figured that if I liked it, then everybody else would, too...
Sky Commanders! I’ve been trying to think of that name for the longest time. Hopefully they get the Toy Galaxy treatment in a future episode.
Same here! I had and love both StarCom and Sky Commanders, too!
One interesting thing about this toy line was they failed to mention how each smaller toy was built around having a box transformation so it would fit in all of the cargo hold of the other bigger toys. The smaller tanks and flyers had a way to fold into the same square shape. I always thought that was kind of cool and original
I can still hear that noise the toys made when you activated their ability
Krgggrgrgrgrgrrgrgrggrgrgrgrggrgrgrgrgrggrgr.... click.
Magnets in feet, just as Dads were bringing home floppy disks, with warnings from IT that magnets were the devil...
I loved the magnetic feet. I would walk the figures up and down the fridge and around the door frames etc.
I loved Starcom. I had some of their toys. Wished my parents at the time had the money to get me all of them.
I was going to say, the toys weren't cheap and like he said they got lost easy. I had the car thing and liked it a lot but it wasn't "compatible"with my other toys.
Starcom was brilliant both in concept and playability.
I had a bunch of these toys, they were some of my most favorite. But all the tiny accessories were indeed kinda flimsy and easy to lose. I had no idea they kept on in Europe after it was cancelled in the U.S though.
I *loved* StarCom. I have fond memories of when I received some of my favorite vehicles and I couldn't get enough.
To this day, I still have 2 of these figures that have lived on my refrigerator for the last 3 decades. It's become a tradition now
Same, but I have 6 doing the Abby Road walk 🚶🚶🏃🚶🏃🚶
along the edge of my refrigerator. No accessories, no visors,
& Never had Any of the vehicles... 👍
I have one walking on my fridge as well, 30-ish years or so later...
I’m not the only one......
We should all get together like Veterans do. lol
Wow dude! 👍🏿
you still have the tube and the gun and the visor?
The series needs a hard reboot. Take the best parts of GI JOE, Voltron Legendary Defender, Starship Troopers & MechWarrior and put them in a 20 episode updated cartoon run jointly on Netflix/VOD.
Donald Trump must have been a fan. He made the US Space force to make StarCom for real!
@@joshyfox1 then so are the Russians and Chinese, they've both had a space force for 20+ years.
@@matthewsmith2979 Well there you go then. Star Com is beloved by all.
@@joshyfox1 when I first heard trump say the US needed a space force.... Magna lock deploy echoed in my head.
totally agree.
The "We'll be right back" sections with the commercials are my favorite part of these series and an awesome touch. Man this channel deserves so many more subs I hope the stupid RUclips algorithm picks up on you guys real soon.
The original Team America: World Police :D
Just less dirty
I swear to God, I'm not stalking you... BUT WHY DO I KEEP FINDING YOU IN EVER GODDAMN COMMENT SECTION?!
@@SecretGalaxyTV 😇
My brother and I adored Starcom. We had a bunch of the vehicles and it is one of the few lines I have gone back and re-collected. We had the Shadow Raider, Shadow Parasite, Shadow Invader, and the Battlecrane. We didn't have the Shadow Bat but it was awesome and had multiple Shadow Parasites that could detach from it. Motherships are radical.
Snakebite from the Super Naturals toy line helped to reinforce my youthful interest in Egyptology and archaeology. I've been an archaeologist with state government for over ten years now.
Shadowbat blew my mind when I saw it at a friend's house. I LOVED the idea of the Parasites mounting on the wings AND the cargo bay underneath. I LOVED that it was a supply ship, essentially, instead of a heavily armed battleship.
I had the Shadowbat but only ever had one Parasite. My parents refused to buy a second one just so I could have them on both wings...
These were my favourite toys as a nerdy kid growing up in the '80s. The tiny astronaut dudes with the magnetic boots were just too cool. And how can you not love the universal cargo concept? The idea that you could configure the same vehicle to launch fighter jets or drop off ground vehicles was so cool. Sadly I never got the Starmax bomber but the other toys were incredibly fun too.
As a kid growing up in the 80s, I only remember three action figure toylines that I really fell in love with: MotU, M.A.S.K. and Starcom, even without having seen any of the corresponding series (things where different back then here in Europe). All that other stuff was fine and dandy, but these three were it. Sadly, while most of my friends back then shared the love of MotU and M.A.S.K., nobody got into Starcom. I really got a kick out of those little figures with their nifty play feature and all the small parts like the guns, visors and hoses that you could assemble and dissassemble. And the toy designs were the first that - for me - had a sense of "plausibility" to them without being directly lifted from actual military hardware. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
This entire show and toy line was too ahead of its time. I enjoyed both the show AND the toys as a kid.
Ah,the good old days of astronauts ,spaceships and intergalactic battles ,Starcom was the shit back in the 80's ,great video guys.
I remember getting one of the spaceship toys on Christmas when I was a kid. Probably the coolest toy I ever got, not including Nintendo of course.
Magnalock and Power Deploy. The two features that made Starcom the great toyline that it was. I had one of the toys back then. It was great playtime for me.
This could make a comeback easily. Today's animation tech (anime style), CGI, in combination with a slight update to the toys which themselves were WAY ahead of their time are primed for a second bite of the apple.
This needs an update for the 21st Century. Loved these toys as a kid.
I was born in '79, these were my favorite toys as a kid in the 80's. They were so great, i would rebuy them for my son if they didnt cost$$$$
IKR! I had the Shadowbat ship and the Railgunner 6 wheeled turret buggy. Just looked online, granted only briefly, but it seemed to be about £70 to get both of them. They were really cool, but not £70 cool to just own. Bit different in your case as at least your son would get hands=on play enjoyment out of them!
@@TheEyez187 I ended up buying him an Ipad, and havnt seen him in 2 years.
@@lovecchio420 Don't feel bad. In 30 or so yrs, he'll remember the enjoyment of the Ipad (?!? I've never actually held one! :D Is 40 that old?*) and may think to get his kid one, but they'll be rare and/or obsolete and thus expensive and end up getting the new in thing of the 2050's (fully immersible, interactive VR with sensation suit, or something!? :D) and they won't see their kid for ages either! :D
I was a neat freak child and NEVER broke any of my toys which is one reason my dad would buy me toys like this. I still have all my StarCom and its all in working order still. ShadowBat and all. In fact before my daughter grew out of toys I used to play with my StarCom guys with her why she used her barbies and wanted to mix up the adventure! Still have all my Lego's and Micro Machines as well. It all just sits in a closet now though.
@@lovecchio420 I got my daughter a computer 2 years ago too, Haven't seen her since she became lost in Roblox and Steam. I don't blame kids though it really is a different time sadly Pedo's everywhere and all.
Loved my Starcom, so glad my mum kept them for my kids to also play with them 30 years later. They were so ahead of their time, great toys and no batteries required!
I love that the god guys had "factions" with the Command, Marines, and Star Wing groups...while I have few Starcom toys, I've mostly focused on the Star Wing guys....have the Starmax Bomber, a couple of Star Wolves, and several of the guys to crew the Bomber
I had one friend who was absolutely obsessed with StarCom and he had memorized all the ranks and names and everything on the filecards. I felt bad for him because no one was as into it as he was. I was all over the Shadow Bat, Parasites and anything painted black.
For me, it was that all the smaller vehicles “transformed” into a standard cargo shape which in turn could be manipulated by the larger vehicles. I don’t even remember a cartoon of this. I’m not sure why I had access to this toy line in Northern Ontario, but my childhood is sure glad I did!
There was a sound when the vehicles transforms, it was "keeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~chik", loved the toys! Only had one and it was the smallest one, I think it was one of the cargo blocks that acted as a vehicle as well
Thank you for making this video. I mean, thank you for making ALL of your videos... but this one THIS ONE. I loved Starcom and was one of the dozens that had a whole bunch of these little dudes. They are so danged expensive to buy or my nostalgia would have gotten the better of me.
From the UK here. Had the Starmax Bomber when I was a kid, I remember one Christmas that these toys were in Argos and there was a slight hubub over it all.
I loved this toy as a kid, but remember that none of the other toys or figures were available so much after I got this one, however this could be due to me living in the country as opposed to a city or town.
After taking a look at Ebay, I wish I still had it...
I'm so shocked they didn't do well because a friend and I were super into them and it was a big toyline that stuck around for a good five years, but then I'm in the UK.
I lost my collection a few years ago when they were donated to charity by mistake during the sale of my childhood home, and it was absolutely gutting because they were already inaccessibly priced on the collectors' market by then. It seems like the appeal of this line has held for a lot of us!
I've been trying(unsuccessfully) to tell my buddy about these toys for years whenever we talk about favorite childhood toys. Now, thanks to this channel, I finally remember what the hell they were called! Thank you, thank you!
I had a few of these. They were absolutely awesome.
I loved my StarCom toys so much. Too bad it never really took off. :(
Agreed,had the lil sumbitches standing on everything metal in my home
Interestingly, it was my searches to see the StarCom toys that brought me to this channel to begin with. I have very fond memories of those toys.
love this one. I had these toys as a kid and I think about them from time to time and I always forget the name of the line and have to look 'em up by "80's toy with magnets in the feet" lol
Yeeeeeeesssss! I still play with my Starcom...I'm always having the starmax bomber doings bomb runs on parked shadowbat vehicles.
I thought the toys were pretty cool. I only had the Starwolf, and starmax. But what really got me involved, was the animated series. I REALLY enjoyed the fact that not every episode was about fighting empower Dark. The sky whales, was cool. ( and also where I heard about something new ( Nantucket sleigh ride) the banter, jokes, back stories told,... it was a nice "older kid" cartoon. Although the quality of animation varied, in some episodes, usually it was quite good. ( especially the "Trojan Crowbar" episode. The colors, sound, and conversation, was really nice. The art style, and how it was thought out, was usually well designed. It was almost " a typical day in the life of (space) soldiers. I LOVED IT.
I hecking loved Starcom. I had all the toys. Also think this show is a prime candidate for a reboot.
These toys were absolutely amazing. Maybe a little fragile.
3:21 That little car and its driver are still on my toy shelf. Starcom was awesome!
I remember having a small fighter that folds up that can fit into the cargo hold of the big fighter jet. (Sold separately) it was the coolest thing ever.
I had these in the early 90s when I was about 8 or so due to some toy liquidator that opened near me as a kid. I ended up with lots of dead 80s toys. Starcom, MASK, Captain Power, Battle Beasts etc. Starcom was always my favorite. I took them everywhere, including school where I'd magnetize the figures to my desk.
These toys were so ahead of their time. A friend of mine had the base. Needless to say that my mind was blown away by the elevator. Had a couple of vehicles myself. By far the coolest of my collection at the time.
I still have my Star Com toys in a box in the closet. They were fantastic. I had little figures walking all over the fridge when I was a kid.
THANK YOU for this episode. I loved these toys as a kid and was not able to see the show (for some reason) until now.
You guys rock, childhood memory unlocked thanks to this great channel again, i was part of that international fans that really loved the show, thanks again from Argentina
I loved these things. Starcom was great but I watched so many 80s cartoons I never realized it was only 1 season. I played with these toys for years. They were travel ready when I had to go somewhere.
I had a few of these toys, UK, they were cool. If I close my eyes I can still hear the whirring noise they would make as the wings unfolded or the cargo bay slid out.
I actually had several of these toys and complete forgot about them until watching this. Thanks for reminding me these existed.
I still have a bunch of Starcom toys in a box in my basement. Never getting rid of them. This explains why I was only ever able to see a couple of the episodes on TV though - too damn short!
I encountered StarCom in a toy store back in the late 80s before I knew anything about the cartoon. The thing that jazzed me the most about them, were their "Astro Marines" branch, giving us space Marine toy figures just a year after the release of ALIENS, also largely known for their space Marine "Colonial Marine Corps." In my mind, especially with no knowledge of any official cartoon to tell me otherwise, the Astro Marines of StarCom became the same thing, and it was with these figures that I played "ALIENS." As I got older, I even started getting extras of the Astro Marines figures, and customizing them to make even more Astro Marines, with versions of character from ALIENS, like Sgt. Apone, Hicks, etc. I even managed to not lose most of those visors! I still have them to this day, loved the detail of the rank insignia. Definitely one of my all-time favorite toy lines!
I don't think I was aware of the cartoon as a kid, but my grandma or my dad bought me a bunch of these one year. They were fantastic to play. Some of the few toys I kept around after I grew up. Then my daughters got to play with them, and they loved them too. Unfortunately, that last cycle with them pretty much finished them off for good.
I had the Starwolf and RAT... omg i played with those into my teens. you know the Starwolf was the inspiration for the Starfleet Runnabouts used on DS9, compare the two, you an see it in their designs, they both even have a swappable cargo payload area. even long after all of the starwolf's guns fell off, and the RAT's switches would no longer keep itself closed up, i still loved the microscopic attention to detail, the tiny computer panels, the pure feasibility of it, they really gave me such a great inkling that some people DO CARE about kid's and our/their perceptions, i remember feeling like kids did matter if they were going to make toys this well. so awesome.
I am so glad you did a video on these. I loved my Starcom toys especially the magnets and motor aspects. Wish it would come back so I can get them for my son
Oh my god! I loved this toy line and the cartoon, which I didn't get to see often. Thanks for doing this video. If it wasnt for the fact my family remembered this series I'd have thought I made this up, so few of my friends have ever heard of it.
I had a couple of these figures from a discount store. So glad to finally find out more about them.
AAAH Starcom... damn, thank you! i was trying so hard to remember how these were called... Loved it, show and toys alike.
Starcom is awesome. Most of the stuff still works. The young one in the house is now playing with the spaceships.
i had a bunch of the toys and liked the cartoon. i bought the dvd last year,it had some good stories.
I watched another vid thinking it was going to be for these beloved, but name forgotten, toy from my youth. Thank you for this concise video. Don’t recall ever learning any true science or being inspired by the cool toys; never saw the cartoon
I loved hanging these figures from the railing in my grandparents E Baltimore rowhome. Several times I recall forgetting one in an odd spot, sticking at an angle, poking out near the awful brown/black carpet. After weeks, I'd come back to find it still there. Perhaps knocked a bit to a new angle from a blind vacuum hit. Great stuff.
I had most of these; they were one of my favorite toy lines. And I was always surprised that nobody else seemed to be aware of them. They were ahead of their time. The automatic winding mechanisms were genius and brought the toys to life in a way we hadn't seen before.
I wore these toys out as a kid. I had a lot of the vehicles and the space station with the elevator. Because i grew up in the backwoods my tv only had 3 channels so I never knew the cartoon existed. Great episode!
I loved this show as a kid in Sweden. Had some of the figures, but never any of the ships. Loved the ads back on the comic books.
That's it. After watching many episodes, finally subscribed!!! Such a great show.
Thank you very much.
Nice redux of this episode. This is one of those toy lines that I'm sure I would have loved- had I known they existed.
I had so many Starcom toys as a kid, but I never saw the animated series ever. I was just super into the toys, and still am. They hold up as great looking figures and vehicles to this day!
Awesome show guy's. Thanks for the bloopers. Keep up the good work. I grew up with these toys. Great to get the history.
I had some starcom toys- they were pretty sweet. I had a large triangular spaceship that belonged to the baddies- two smaller ships could be deployed from the wings and there was a cargo bay with room for another rolling vehicle (but I never had that). My older brother had the good guy’s stuff (their shuttle was the coolest). Shame these didn’t take off- they were really well made and the deploying gimmicks were cool (though noisy)
Starcom got buried. I remember only ever catching a part of one episode. It came on early on the weekdays if memory serves. A prime time slot for cartoons.
Newly invented legend has it that having failed at space exploration, they switched to space communication & renamed themselves COMSTA --- Space AT&T.
I had SOOO many of these toys... SOOO MANY when I was a kid..
Starcom were great toys and an awesome show, airing on Friday mornings here in L.A.
This is the first video on the channel I've ever seen and I already love it, lol!
SUBSCRIBED!
I have 2 of them magnetically attached to the ceiling fan in my bedroom. Loved these toys
I love the mistakes and that you guys leave them in. Toygalaxy has easily become one of my favorite channels
As a kid in the 80's based in Canada, I can remember having a ton of these vehicles and figures. They were really cool. Loved how they used to transform.
I was born in 1.973. I meet the STARCOM action figures in 1988 here in Spain. I love them and now, 2018, I have a semi-full collection carded and MIP of these super action toys.
GIJoe, Starcom and M.A.S.K. were the reason for me to became soldier of the spanish air force in 1991 and security guard in 2003.
Starcom was quite popular in Italy around 87/88, and it was an incredibly well detailed and engineered toyline for the time it was releades, I remember havving the good guys white spaceship and some of the smaller ones, very well playable and robust for the scale and the time
I had the M6-Railgunner, which I always flew around inside the Shadowbat. Fun toys, though I never saw the cartoon as a kid!
I love that line, use to have a few, wish I would’ve kept them. I did heard they were over seas but I never seen any other vehicles then the ones we got here 🤔
Great video! As always Toy Galaxy never disappoints ✌🏽
Ahhh so nice, i had some Starcom toys back in the days, amazing stuff, i have a lot of fond memories about it , thanks
I really loved it back then! Still have a lot of toys from both the first as well from the second toyline!
Nice reup... loved these toys. They were awesome! The Shadow Bat and Parasites were some serious hardwarr.
ok i thought i was having a stroke
Starcom was hands down one of the most well-designed action figure toy series of the 80’s; right up there with M.A.S.K. The carrier spaceship and 4WD buggy that could ride in its cargo bay were absolute perfection... wish I still had mine.
They had me at magnalock on, getting one of them to walk straight up a fridge, that was fun.
Re-watching older episodes and I just want to say that I put magnets on the feet of many of my figures because this toy line inspired my young mind. MAGNETS!
One of my favorite toy line growing up, toys had a great design and good price point back in the day. Had like five of them on my grandmothers fridge
LOVED these figures. I diddnt play with the vehicles though. I would always pretend like I was shrunk and had this special magnet suit to help me out with navigating the house as a tiny person.
I loved these SOOOOO MUCH.
I had so many of these toys. So amazing.
Another great video! I loved the whole idea behind this toy line but missed both it and the TV series back in the day where I could only catch an episode here and there on TV. I recently picked up the complete series on DVD from Amazon for a really great price and I was able to pick up some Starcom figures and a complete Starcom Starmax shuttle and a near complete Starcom Starwolf fighter I am restoring. In many ways Starcom reminds me of the AMAZINGLY underappreciated modern show and toyline of Thunderbirds Are Go. Like Starcom both the show and toys scream quality but I never hear any collector talking about the toys. Over time I was able to pick up the complete line of Thunderbirds toys including the new Tracy Island playset and I am so glad I did. Please do a video on the Thunderbirds next. Keep up the great work!
Had a few of these, love these videos as a lot of these toys and shows I barely remember
These were my favorites when I was a kid. I think I still have my starcom stuff
i wore starcom shoes and had the shoe box in my closet for like 20 years as a storage box and never even knew they had a cartoon or toys
Dude I LOVED STARCOM. Those little things were so sick.
I really enjoyed Starcom. In 1987, I was hitting the beginning of my Dark Ages. Finishing my Freshman year in HS/starting my Soph year, summer job at Six Flags New Jersey, toys were being packed to be stowed away, LEGO in my closet, etc.! Enter Starcom; smaller than MASK, bigger than BSG pilots, they could only ever interact with themselves. Space Shuttle exploded only a couple of years prior, the idea of kids, younger kids, wanting to be astronauts was probably squashed by concerned parents; a teacher died, a civilian. The toys were awesome, but it was no longer the late 70s/early 80s when Space Lab was awesome, the first space shuttle was named after a famous starship, and every little boy wanted to be an astronaut.
If Boss Fight Studio or Acid Rain picked up this franchise, made a 1:18 toy line, it could be incredible. Even if Acid Rain put it in their B25 (1:25) scale, it could still be great. Very few action figure molds needed, accessories abound, Sunok Studios even has a armour helmet seal design that is so cool.
This line could even look cool in LEGO form, or in Diaclone scale. Alas, we, as the US Government, have to seek outside help to visit the ISS. Great summary. Keep it up.
P.S. Those pesky magnets getting swallowed...nuff said! 😋
Awesome video! I was one of the dozens! I still have my Starcom Laser Rat vehicle.
Man I totally forgot that I was in the young astronauts club in elementary school. It was totally awesome and I can't believe I forgot all about it. Thanks for the reminder I might of forgot that forever!
Gotta be against some YT law that this channel only has 222k subs! Time flies by when watching.
I cared. Had em all,all started with a kid at school who got picked as my secret santa. She knew the kind of toys I liked,so she got me the little white one man space ship. I immediately had to get them all,black guy with a mustache wearing red and white was my favorite
I was replaying the theme in my head when you said it didn’t have a memorable theme. Lol. I woke up early to watch that show every weekend, and I love the toys. The interchangeable cargo pods and the way the vehicles folded up and deployed was so cool. Like so many toylines at that time with small figures (or even large, like Visionaries), I think the lack of distinct character appearance really hurt it. They all look very similar with the exception of color scheme. The cartoon had good characters, but it’s scarcely mattered when it came to the toys (Wheeled Warriors, anyone?)