Tomland Star Raiders Archive Launches

[RSS]

Tomland (a UK Company who was in the Marx family of companies) marketed these fun and strange 8 inch mego-like action figures under a variety of names but the best known is "Star Raiders" which were obviously meant to cash in on the renewed interest in Sci Fi thanks entirely to "Star Wars" coming on scene.

Star Raiders hadn't been Tomland's first kick at the knock off can, they got their feet wet with "Famous of Monsters of Legend" an attempt to cash in on the AHI/LIncoln/Mego 8" Monster craze of the mid 1970s and they followed up with "Creatures from other Worlds" which apes the Mego Star Trek Aliens line.

When Star Wars came up, they merely repackaged all of these previous characters, created 8 new, somewhat copyright infringing ones and bundled them as "Star Raiders" and then later "Star Command".






What we have here is the beginnings of an archive, which will include every line mentioned. If you have items you'd like to add, please drop me a line. For now enjoy the complete knock off wonder that is the Tomlands Star Raiders Archive on PlaidStallions....



Other Action Figure Galleries on PlaidStallions

Super Joe Gallery
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[sauce]

oh, this is so much fun! Thank you for continuing this love!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Looking at these is a lot of fun. You can see the progression of pop culture in the 70s through the packaging, pretty cool.

Some of the head sculpts are actually pretty nice. Others are just odd!

Chris

[ScottA]

This right here could cause me to want to start collecting these guys.

[Chris]

Were the Star Raiders available in regular department/toy stores or did you have to go to a Discount Outlet to find them?

[palitoy]

They were in the Ward's catalog and several have TRU stickers. I think they were widely avaiable.

[4NDR01D]

Were they distributed throughout Ontario Brian? I found a loose 3 3/4 Tomland near Kingston once, but all the Tomland auctions I've seen from Canada have been from Quebec.

Also, I took a stab at acquiring that AH figure. perhaps I shouldnt have posted a link to an auction I was hoping to win, but it was late and I got excited to share.

[palitoy]

They were distributed in Canada out of Manitoba, I have seen Canuck cards. I used to find them at flea markets and toy shows but I do not remember them at all as a kid.

[ctc]

>all the Tomland auctions I've seen from Canada have been from Quebec

When I was a kid, the 3.5" ones were EVERYWHERE. Every department store in Ontario seemed to have shelves of them. THe only time I ever saw the 8" ones was on a trip to Toronto, at the Yorkdale Eatons. (Bummed me out 'cos I was hoping to get more when we came home....)

Don C.

[vulcan2074]

Awesome archive. I Love the way these figures look.
Sammy

[kennermike]

Ive always liked this line but I dont remember seeing them on the shelves back in 1978?

[dumbldor]

Looking good, Brian!

[palitoy]

Looking good, Brian!

Couldn't have done it without you sir!

[SeattleEd]

Ive always liked this line but I dont remember seeing them on the shelves back in 1978?

I saw these at Woolworth, Save-On's, Zody's, Pic-n-Save, Burt Wheeler's, Hollywood Toys and Thrifty's when I was a kid. Never got them but they were fun to look at on the pegs.

[Figuremod73]

i wonder how many people hated these when first released but adore them now.
this is back when knockoffs were cool