Crystar: Crystal Warrior

Crystar is pretty bittersweet for me as it's possibly the last action figure I ever purchased as a kid, I was in the last few weeks of being 12 and the winds of change were blowing.  I still think they were neat.

See the 1983 Remco Catalog here.

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The Saga of Crystar Crystal Warrior

I stumbled on this great toy fair ad for Crystar today and it reminded me of the first time I saw the line in a Liesure World as a kid (a store that rarely carried action figures BTW). 

Remco and Marvel teamed up on this and it seemed like it would have been a big hit but this was the age of animation mixed with toys, so the saga was markedly short, Crystar doesn't appear in the 1984 Remco catalog. 



I love showing this picture, from the 1983 Remco showroom, note the proof cards behind our hero. Wonder where these costumes are now?

The 1983 Remco Toys Catalog featuring Crystar

A world beyond fantasy

Hmmm, seems kind of smack dab in the middle of fantasy if you ask me.

While toys like Manglors, Crystar and The Other World probably likely bring back fond memories for many of you,  for me, they kind of have a bittersweet appeal.

I was teetering on being a teenager at this point in time and when toys did the big "fantasy shift" in the early 80s, I felt kind of ....left behind. It was because I was getting too old for this stuff and I knew it, it's hard to describe the feeling but I think we've all had that moment.

The early 1980s saw a lot of unique and creative toy lines and it must have rocked to be a kid.

1983 Remco Toys Catalog

By 1983, Remco had put down their utility belts and picked up some swords but never actually straying from their comic book licensing ties. Their long relationship with Marvel comics made them a natural to market the action figures based on their Crystar comic series , also announced were a series of figures based on Kazar that sadly, never materialized.

DC comics provided Remco the opportunity to combat Masters of the Universe in the form of the "Lost World of the Warlord" toyline based on the works of Mike Grell. The Universal Monsters (another long relationship for AHI and Remco) were still kicking and after years being seperated it seems that Remco/AHI finally became one in 1983 with the rack toy items finally being marketed in the Remco catalog.

Thanks to Steve F. for these marvelous scans. Click on the images for pages with descriptions:

More about Remco:

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Spiderman and His Amazing Friends

Fun addition to the site today, it's a Marvel comics brochure from 1982 that details their service of providing Superheroes to your next event. Want Spider-man, Destro and ROM: Space Knight to visit your mall? This is the sales kit you'd recieve and it's pages of fun shots of actors dressed as Marvel Superheroes and some iconic toy characters from the past.

If anyone has childhood pics of a mall visit such as this, I want them! Send them to me and I'll send you a prize pack.

I wanted to play Destro but I'm too smooth chested....

This may be a Mall costume but I like it better than the recent movie doom.