Collectible of the Week: Buck Rogers Laserscope Fighter (Mego; 1979)

In 1979, the post-Star Wars, Glen Larson version of Buck Rogers took the sci-fi world by storm.  I was nine year old at the time, and both the feature film and the follow-up TV series on NBC were right up my alley. 

The franchise starred Gil Gerard as Buck, Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering, and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala.  The tone of the enterprise was cheeky and knowing, and the special effects, for their day, were absolutely stellar.  Down to the sexy opening credits, the film version played like James Bond in the future, or in space, perhaps.

Accordingly, I was thrilled when I began to see toys from Mego lining the shelves at Toys R Us.  Among the first of these was a spaceship toy with a design you never saw featured on-screen: the “Laserscope fighter.” 

This sharp-nosed space fighter “with simulated lasers and explosions” featured a cockpit for the 3.5 inch Buck Rogers figures.  But more interestingly, it possessed a rear-mounted view screen through which you could track, target, and incinerate enemies.

The box explains: “Look through the view-screen and line up your target, press the switches – see and hear the lasers fire – the target will appear to explode right before your very eyes!”

Also according to the box legend, this Buck Rogers Laserscope fighter featured:

·         Laserscope viewscreen

·         Twin stub wing handles

·         Telescopic focus control

·         Realistic laser sounds

·         Swing-open cockpit

·         Fits any Buck Rogers figure.

Of course, I must confess that when I was generously given the Laserscope fighter as a gift, I was a bit disappointed because I really wanted the Buck Rogers star fighter, a craft which was featured on the show and boasted an infinitely cooler design aesthetic. 

But once I actually got the star fighter for the Christmas of 1980, I could enjoy the Laserscope fighter as a kind of “alternate” ship for the intrepid Buck.  The fighter sort of fit with the universe of the TV series, because Buck often ended up going undercover for the Earth Directorate, flying ships of various designs.  So it was kind of cool to be able to play out that scenario with a ship other than an “official” one.

Also, if I understand my toy history right, the “Laserscope fighter” was also released in Europe, but as a toy from a different Mego license: The Black Hole (1979).  

Of course, the design of the ship doesn’t fit that particular franchise any more than it resembles something you saw on Buck Rogers…

Collectible of the Week: Agent Zero M Radio Rifle (Mattel; 1964)

Back at the height of the James Bond/spy craze of the mid-sixties -- the same era that brought the world The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart and Mission: Impossible --  intrepid toymaker Mattel introduced a great and now-legendary line of espionage-centered toys: the Agent Zero M line.

Several incredibly neat toys were marketing for Zero M, including the item headlining this post, the portable "radio rifle." 

It's a (non-working) transistor radio that you can unfold and transform into a cap-firing rifle.  What's still so cool about this old toy is that the radio actually looks very real, so it's a surprise (especially to your enemies in SPECTRE, THRUSH or KAOS...) when you unfold the radio and the muzzle pops out with significant force to form a deadly weapon.

Along with the radio rifle, kids of the 1960s could also buy a "jet coder" device: a pen that shoots water and writes in code only visible with a special set of spy glasses.

Fans of the Zero M line may also remember the notorious (and ultra-cool) bazooka-like toy called the "sonic blaster."   It was a "most unusual weapon" designed for "counter-espionage" and which would shoot a "massive blast of compressed air."    Great for knocking your annoying sister off her feet, or some such thing, I guess.

Also sold by Mattel for Agent Zero M was a movie camera and camera case "undercover set."  The movie camera turns into a sub-machine gun with, once more, a dramatic pop-out muzzle.

The Zero-M toys were advertised with the ad line "for spies only" and with admonishments to "remember the password...Zero M." 

And the young star of the Zero M commercials (for the sonic blast and radio rifle, anyway) was none other than Snake Plissken himself, Kurt Russell, which adds an extra element of nostalgia to this collectible.  I wasn't even born yet when these toys were first sold, but I'm still thrilled to have a Zero M radio rifle in my collection.

Check out the Mattel Zero M commercials (some starring Mr. Russell) embedded below: