Deevil on Imperial dragon

The Galaxy Warrior Deevil riding a cool dragon from Imperial's Dragons, Knights and Daggers toy-line. The beasts from the Imperial line are great for Galaxy Warriors, and they are easier to find than the four beasts from the Warriors line. Deevil was part of the "Swords & Sorcerers" release of Galaxy Warrior figures. The official name of this beast is Sabertooth Serpent.

Fantasy Toy Spotlight: Speclatron

Speclatron, made by S&T Sales around 1984, is an interesting line that used a muscled hero body similar to the Galaxy Warriors. These figures carried shields that were taken from either the Galaxy Warriors or Galaxy Fighters lines, and they all had clear torsos filled with liquid and glitter. Some figures had swords and some had guns. A nice little post about these figures by the Knock-Off Collector can be found HERE.

Left to Right: Speclatron's Hero, Galaxy Warriors' Dino Man.

The Speclatron figure, Deemin, released under a new toy-line title, Aquamen (below).

The Flexatron figures I posted about earlier were also made by S&T Sales and at least some of those figures designs and accessories were just copied from the Speclatron line.

Fantasy Toy Spotlight: DinosaurRider

The DinosaurRider is a fairly cool robot, and made specifically to be ridden by He-Man and other similarly sized figures. If you want to take your Galaxy Warrior collection in a science-fiction direction then adding a giant robot dinosaur to your display is not a bad way to go. This is assuming that you can actually find a DinosaurRider to add to your collection.

The best thing about this toy is its packaging that shows the DinosaurRider being used with He-Man, Moss Man, and Two-Bad from Mattel's Masters of the Universe (MOTU). We can safely say that the makers of this toy did not actually get permission to use MOTU figures in its advertising. I like the last bullet point on the box: "More fun if you put a toy man on the auto-swaying saddle."

DinosaurRider and He-Man? Somebody was just asking to get sued with this marketing idea.

Update

My page The Frazetta Connection is finally complete.

What "Galaxy"? Fantasy vs. Science-Fantasy

[If you are not very familiar with the Galaxy Warriors, then it might be best to start with What are the Galaxy Warriors? before coming back here to discuss their "genre affiliation".]

The most apparent influence for Sungold's Galaxy Warriors is the Masters of the Universe (MOTU) toy-line produced by Mattel. MOTU was the influence for the name "Galaxy Warriors", which is a rephrasing of the MOTU name, and it was also the economic inspiration that made Sungold actually produce an action figure line. Sungold wanted to "cash-in" on MOTU's huge profits by making similar muscular figures with the same scale and look of He-man and other MOTU figures. Sungold hoped that by copying the appearance of MOTU figures, consumers would purchase and use Galaxy Warriors alongside their "real" MOTU figures. However, despite their obvious similarities, Galaxy Warriors differentiates itself from its MOTU "roots" through its design influences and through the fact that Galaxy Warriors creates a fantasy atmosphere that, in its simplicity, is more barbaric and violent than the vastly detailed world of the Masters of the Universe.

      MOTU characters inhabit a world that is a wonderful mix of sword-wielding fantasy and science-fiction elements like lasers, hovercraft, and cyborgs. The MOTU world can be accurately described as a world of science-fantasy, and it should be considered one of the premiere examples of this genre found in all of popular culture. In comparison, the world presented to us by the Galaxy Warriors (GW) toys lacks the technology and science found in the MOTU world, which actually removes GW from the realms of science-fiction and science-fantasy, and places it squarely in the realm of sword and sorcery or "sword-and-sandals."            

      

For details on this book, see Amazon.

       The sword and sorcery genre was started by Robert E. Howard with his gripping stories of Conan and Kull. Similar to Conan, the Galaxy Warriors are presented as physically foreboding barbarians that fight with axes, swords, and no body armor except for a shield. Conan is also the inspiration for MOTU's great hero, He-Man. 

       In essence, the Galaxy Warriors' name was meant to mimic Masters of the Universe, but the actual design of the figures themselves effectively renders the "Galaxy" portion of the name null-and-void. Thus, the only science-fiction element in the Galaxy Warriors line is the name Galaxy Warriors.

       Maybe the lack of science fiction elements in the GW line was due to budget restrictions, but I believe there is a good chance that Sungold made a conscious decision to not include sci-fi elements. After all, Sungold drew a lot of design inspiration from the fantasy paintings of Frank Frazetta, and none of the paintings we can directly trace back to the GW line include any sci-fi elements. For details about the Frazetta influence please see, The Frazetta Connection. 

      The budget restriction theory only goes so far when we consider that Sungold sculpted twelve unique and detailed heads and four large beasts for the line. It would have been simple for them to make one head a cyborg or robot. Also, it would have been easy to make one of the accessories a gun, or one of the beasts into a small flying machine or vehicle.

      Producing muscular action figures was definitely a by-product of the success Mattel was having with MOTU. And even though they were creating cheap "knock-off" toys that mimicked the scale and musculature of He-Man, Sungold still managed to place their figures into a primitive sword & sorcery world that is very different than the science-fantasy world of He-Man and MOTU.

Were other "knock-off" lines fantasy or science-fantasy?

1. Galaxy Fighters (Sewco):

The Galaxy Fighters, which drew their inspiration mostly from Galaxy Warriors actually steps into the science-fantasy realm because their line included a vehicle with guns called the Demon Fighter (below).

The Demon Fighter is the only element in the Galaxy Fighters line that can be considered science-fantasy. To read about the strange connections between the Galaxy Warriors and the Galaxy Fighters, go HERE. 

2. Defenders of the Planets (Sparkle):

The Defenders of the Planets (DoP) was a MOTU knock-off line that mimicked MOTU more closely than Galaxy Warriors did. Produced in 1985, DoP had only 6 figures, most of which were derived from He-Man character types. 

The DoP line has some cool beasts and Canis Major and Weaponsmaster are pretty cool looking figures. This line is mostly fantasy based, but the figure Strongarm, who is a knock-off of MOTU's Trap Jaw, is an obvious cyborg. The inclusion of that one cyborg makes this small line a science-fantasy line. The DoP are rare and hard to find, especially the beasts.

Left to Right: Canis Major, Orion, Strongarm the cyborg, and Weaponsmaster.

3. Fantasy World (Soma):

Produced in 1983, Fantasy World included eight figures and one beast, and all fit purely in the fantasy genre. This line included no guns or machines or cyborgs, and the figures themselves were not the standard hunched muscleman body type used for MOTU, Galaxy Warriors, and the Defenders of the Planets.

Art work from the back of a Fantasy World blister card.

Fantasy Toy Spotlight: Flexatron

These figures come from the Flexatron line. I don't know much about them, but the figure on the left has a red shield that looks like the plain shield that came with some Galaxy Warriors. The figure on the left has a shield that came with Galaxy Fighters toys.

Lord of Insects?

Lord of Insects was a four figure knock-off line trying to copy the Sectaurs toy-line made by Coleco. However, the heads and torsos of these figures are copies of Galaxy Warriors.

A figure from Coleco's Sectaurs, the "inspiration" for Lord of Insects.

General Agus (below) has the head of the Galaxy Warrior Thor.

General Agus from the Lord of Insects.

Ork (below) has the head of the Galaxy Warrior Deevil. This "insect" version of Deevil was copied in the knock-off line Turly Gang.

Ork from the Lord of Insects.

Triton with a beard?!

Professor Orio (below) has the head of Triton from the Galaxy Warriors, with a beard painted on his face.

The Galaxy Warriors Triton with a painted on beard.

Vidar (below) is harder to pin down. His head may be taken from the Galaxy Warrior Rahh, or from a figure in some other toy-line.

The legs are the only part of these figures not copied from Galaxy Warriors, and they are made to resemble the legs found on Sectaurs figures (below).

Galaxy Warriors display.

Galaxy Warriors displayed in front of Masters of the Universe Classics figures. They may be considered "knock-offs" but they still look cool. From left to right: Spikes, Anubi, Thor, Deevil and Huk.

Woolworth's 1987 "Galaxy Warriors"

In 1987 Woolworth produced its own toy-line called Galaxy Warriors. These figures where die-cast metal and have no resemblance to Sungold's action figures of the same name. It is interesting to note that Woolworth appears to have trademarked the name when they released their toys. This could be a reason as to why Sungold re-released their Galaxy Warriors under the name Freedom Fighters.

Fantasy Carrying Case

I know it isn't the best way to store your Galaxy Warriors figures long term if you want to preserve them in good condition, but if you want to briefly carry a few figures somewhere you could do it with some vintage style. Check out this cool Fantasy Action Figure carrying case made by Tara Toys in 1983 (below). This case has cool art and would make a nice display piece behind your figures if you don't want to use it to carry stuff.

Front.

Back.

Side.

This Fantasy Case is an item made specifically to "cash in" on the Masters of the Universe action figure craze. MOTU produced their own carrying cases, one of which is below.

If you think its a bit weird to carry your Galaxy Warriors in a MOTU case, then I suggest the "generic" Fantasy case above.

Anubi on Rhino

A cool image of Anubi riding the Rhino Avenger from Imperial's toy-line Dragons, Knights and Daggers. The Imperial beasts are really cool, fit the Galaxy Warriors well, and are easier to find than the four Fearful Beasts from the warriors line; the Mammoth, Dinosaur, Tiger and Horse.

Thanks to the Toywalker, who I got this image from. His cool blog is found HERE.

Warriors becoming Fighters: The mixing of two toy-lines.

How are the the toy-lines Galaxy Warriors and Galaxy Fighters connected, and why are they connected?

[If you are not very familiar with the Galaxy Warriors, you might want to start with What are the Galaxy Warriors? before reading this very interesting post.]

Logos:
The design of the logos for the two lines is really similar. It appears to be the same font and style.

Reused Characters:
The connections between Sungold's Galaxy Warriors and Sewco's Galaxy Fighters are numerous and curious. The Warriors were released first, in 1983, and the Fighters came a year later in 1984. Three figures from the Warriors line are copied, with identical sculpts, in the Fighters line: Baltard, Magnon, and Anubi. A fourth Warrior, Sahak, is basically copied but given a slightly different head to become the Fighters' Kobra. The Warriors' Baltard was also copied a second time in the Fighters line, when the topknot on his head was removed and he was given an eye patch, thus becoming Batoon.

Comparing the back of the two Galaxy Fighters blister cards (below) shows us some interesting connections between the Fighters and Warriors lines. The first image is the card back for the earliest release of Galaxy Fighters and it shows the Castle Doom set which was never produced. It also uses the Warriors' names Magnon and Anubi for two characters that were copied from the Warriors line. The second image shows a later release card back were the name Magnon has been changed to Daton, and Anubi has been changed to Walph. Also, Castle Doom has been removed. The first card back shows Baltard, while on the second one he has been replaced by Batoon, who is just a slightly altered Baltard.

Early Galaxy Fighters card back before name changes.

Later Galaxy Fighters card back after name changes.

Galaxy Fighter Daton, with black hair.

Galaxy Warrior Magnon, with blonde hair.

Warriors on Fighters Boxes?!
One beast and one vehicle were released in the Fighters line and both came in a box that was the same except for its cover artwork. This "Fighter Box" is interesting because it shows not only Fighters, but also Warriors.
    The Fighter box image (below) shows Magnon the Galaxy Warrior riding the beast Pegasaurus. The box image is interesting because Magnon is clearly holding a Galaxy Warrior shield and sword, neither of which were released in the Galaxy Fighters toy-line. We also know that this is Magnon and not his Fighters counterpart, Daton, because his hair is blonde, not black. It should also be noted that both Magnon and Baltard are wearing Galaxy Warrior harnesses instead of either of the two harnesses actually released with in the Fighters line.

Galaxy Fighter box showing two Warriors.

Detail of Warriors riding on Fighters accessories.

The artwork for the Fighters' Pegasaurus box (below) once again clearly shows the Warrior Magnon. He is even wearing his Warriors "sun-harness" and wielding the long sword from the Warriors line. Neither that sword or harness were released as part of the Fighters toy-line. They were exclusively Warriors accessories.

Box art showing the Galaxy Warrior Magnon.

Questions:
Why are Warriors shown on the artwork and in images on the top of the Fighters box, when actual fighters are used on the images on the side of the box? (see images below)

Actual Fighters on the Fighters box including Daton, the Magnon "knock-off".

More Fighters on the Fighters box.

If actual Fighters were available for pictures, then why use Warriors in one of the images? And why use a Warrior in the artwork? Why use the Warriors' Magnon, when you show the Fighters' version of  Magnon, the black haired Daton, on the side of the box? Similarly, why show the Fighter release of Baltard on the side of the box, while using a Warriors version of Baltard on the top of the box?
 
Blister Cards:
The blister cards for the two lines have a similar overall format. Pay attention to the double stripes motif across the top of the cards.

The double stripes are basically the same color on both the Warriors and Fighters blister cards, and the artwork on the Fighters card is just a repaint of the Warriors art in a slightly different pose. It is interesting to note that the Sun Hawk (above) is an early release Fighter and later Fighters came on a card that was much different than the Warriors cards (below).

The Swords and Sorcerers Connection:
Please read this POST for a full analysis, but basically the Swords and Sorcerers blister cards were Fighter cards with a Warriors logo on them. Also, the S&S releases included both Warriors and at least one Fighter.

Final Thoughts:
 The use of Warriors on the Fighters box might indicate Sewco's desire to have their Fighters considered an extension of Sungold's Warriors, which already had roughly a years worth of exposure in the consumer marketplace. It might be as simple as Sewco trying to take over Sungold's small corner of the muscled-fighter action figure market. After all, Sungold probably couldn't complain because they stole the body design for their figures from Mattel's He-Man, which spawned the muscled-fighter market that these companies were trying to "cash-in" on.
    I also wonder if Sungold and Sewco were connected in some way. Some of the similarities between the Warriors and Fighters seems too great for Sewco to have been simply copying Sungold's figures. The body sculpts and the three head sculpts shared between the two lines are so identical that that we must assume that some molds were shared between the companies, legally or illegally. Of course, these were made in Hong Kong in the 1980s where there were no copyright laws. But Maybe they were partner companies or made some deal where they legitimately shared molds and figure designs in the hope of boosting the sales of each others products.