Sci Fi Galaxy Laser Team and Star Wars figures

 

Just for fun, I decided to compare several Galaxy Laser Team figures with the Star Wars characters who inspired them. Or did they? On closer inspection, some Galaxy figures are entirely different from those they supposedly portray. Star Wars may have inspired some of the Tim Mee brand figures, but both sets are distinct.

 

 

Chewbacca and Chompsnuffa

 

The main similarity between Star Wars’ Wookie and the Galaxy Fur Alien is the fur. Granted, the Galaxy figure was an attempt to take the place of the Wookie, but the facial features and weapon are entirely different. My suggestion for those who paint their figures is to use very different colors on these funny fellows. An imaginative modeler could get a very distinct miniature from the Galaxy fur alien just by creative use of paint. Green fur? Maybe...

 

Darth Vader and Magnutto

 

Darth Vader is a very distinct character. Side by side with the supposed Galaxy Laser team version, they are very different figures. The Tim Mee counterpart looks like a Marvel Comics character. Thigh-high boots, a pectoral chest-plate and pro wrestler belt are very different from Vader’s clothing. The helmets are also unique. The Tim Mee figure wears what looks like a variant of an open-faced Greek helmet. His cape is shorter and so is his weapon. A light-club? With a little work, it could be a Greek-type sword. Again, a creative painter could make the Tim Mee figure look stunning.

 

X-Wing Pilot and Soldier with Pistol

 

These two have more in common than the other pairs. Helmets, though distinct, have a similar overall shape. However, the pilot is obviously in a flight suit. The Tim Mee figure could be anything from a security officer to Buck Rogers type soldier. He wears a very different outfit and unique boots that seem to flop over the top like those of pirates. While he could fit in the realms of Buck Rogers, Death Star personnel or Rebel infantry, he is unique enough to stand out. It is all in the paint work.

 

Tusken Raider and Turto-lob

 

These are so distinct as to have no middle ground between them. The Tusken is a desert character. If not humanoid, it is still likely mammalian. The Turto-lob (Turtle + lobster) is reptilian with a bird-like beak, buggy antennae and lobster claws. Still and all, both are cool aliens to add spice to your spice adventures.

　

 

R2D2 and the Washboard Robot

 

Mistakenly called "droids" in the movies, short tin-can robots were a common feature of the Star Wars franchise. (Droid is short for android, a robot having a basic human shape. C3PO from Star Wars, Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Terminator are androids. R2D2 and his type are not.) R2D2 is a small, cylindrical machine with a dome top and three legs. By comparison, Tim Mee’s Galaxy Laser Team robot is a flat, rectangular-bodied machine with two legs.

 

Small robots like both of these examples were common in the Star Wars movies. Another movie using small robots was Silent Running with Bruce Dern from 1972. He had a pair of two-legged, boxy robots. Cute robots seem to have been a thing of the times. For instance, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a 1970s show, had a comical little robot named Twiki. (Think Hello Kitty goes Andriod: Twiki.)

 

Of course, Star Wars was not the only inspiration. Three of the characters in the Galaxy Laser Team had other origins:

 

The Astronauts

 

The two astronauts in the Galaxy Laser Team are somewhere between Gemini and the Space Shuttle. One pose is reminiscent of the early MPC "Mercury" type astronauts. The other has similarities to two other poses. However, these Galaxy astronauts are more modern. For instance, the air supply on the astronauts’ backs tells the tale. The MPC astronauts have tanks similar to a scuba diver. The Galaxy men have a boxy pack instead. It would have been more like that worn on the Space Shuttle. The Apollo air pack was much larger, wider and taller.

　

 

What happened to the woman with console? She is apparently based on the female crew of the original run of Star Trek. Unlike the others, there is no previous plastic figure on which she might be based.

　

The Galaxy Laser Team is a good source of affordable 50 to 54mm scale space figures. Because they are different from the characters of popular sci-fi movies, there is a lot of leeway as to how they can be painted and their use in games. A skillful modeler could get more than a few good conversions from them. The recent Hasbro "Star Wars" plastic figures are a great asset, but they will be getting scarce due to discontinued production. Perhaps Airfix will reissue their fantasy space men soon. They can accompany both of the aforementioned sets of spacemen.

 

Review: Hasbro’s Star Wars Command army men

 

Two things I like in a figure are historical accuracy and realism. I like good poses, good detail and good proportions. A miniature soldier is a story in itself. I like to look at a figure and see the story of the character it portrays.

 

The Star Wars Command figures, which are Star Wars army men, are some of the best figures I have seen in the science fiction genre. Good detail and animated poses make them a charm. They are true to the movie characters they portray. When you look at a Star Wars figure, you know exactly who he is and what he is doing. That is, if you know the movies. My only complaint about the figures themselves is that a few have smallish heads. That is it. The choice of poses and even the plastic colors are just right.

 

I ordered a 51-piece figure set from an Amazon vendor and two smaller sets from Hasbro Toy Shop on Ebay. Wow! Nice figures all around. Along with the various rebel and Imperial troops are characters such as Wookies and Tusken Sand people. They look good. Whether making a diorama of a Star Wars gunfight or playing a skirmish game, the Hasbro Star Wars army men are excellent.

The science fiction genre occasionally gets some really nice figures. The old Ajax figures had six poses of classic spacemen that looked good. Archer’s spacemen were nice, too. Marx produced astronauts, spacemen and aliens worth having. One of the best and most common sets in the old days was by MPC. They were Mercury-type astronauts in various poses. The original MPC figures were well-posed and sculpted. They were followed in the 1970s by the Tim Mee Galaxy Laser Team.

The Star Wars figures are fun both for fans of the movie franchise and for sci-fi skirmish gamers. For games, there are armored infantry, light troops, unarmored station personnel and some weird aliens. In fact, you could easily build a heavy infantry squad with the Stormtroopers. They have a kneeling and standing figure with a short submachine-gun sized weapon and a "sandtrooper" with what looks like a light machine gun. There is even a binoculars guy among the Stormtroopers.

 

Two things I like: good minatures and good sci-fi. I liked the first two Star Wars movies because they were entertaining. I had a problem with the third and its teddy bear Ewoks. I tried to watch the fourth on cable, but it was a kiddie movie. Good sci fi is not kiddie cutesy. Good sci fi is gritty and tough. The first two Star Wars movies had enough edge to them. Farscape and Starship Troopers did not pull their punches, either. That’s what I like.

 

The figure sets I bought were mostly characters from the first two movies. Like good sci fi, the figures were in animated poses and had the right detail and realism. These are the kind of space army men I will enjoy having. They have character.

 

I understand that Hasbro has discontinued the series, so get while the getting is good. I found a great deal at the Hasbro Toy Shop on Ebay. They have four sets total. I got good deals on Amazon, but it seems the 51 piece set is now over $20. Get `em while you can because these are nice figures and great pieces for space skirmish games.

 

************

 

If we judge by movies and TV shows, some of the worst soldiers in space are the Imperial Stormtroopers and original Star Trek’s redshirts. They are lousy shots and take a lot of casualties. Most movie bad guys are like that.

 

As an Army veteran, I would think Imperial stormtroopers and Federation of Planets redshirts would be much more formidable. They would be trained to fight and defend. They would be given intensive weapons training, especially in using personal weapons. The stormtroopers and redshirts would also be taught to disperse and use cover rather than "bunch up" in a mob. Were they handled more realistically, security forces would be crack shots who attacked and defended with skill. Amateurs would have no chance against them.

 

A squad of soldiers just out of basic training in Fort Dix circa 1972 could make short work of a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers or Federation redshirts. Imagine a sci fi story where the enemy is formidable. Imagine he is motivated, trained and very skillful in use of weapons and tactics. He is a good shot! That would be a good story, indeed!