Toy Bender

For the very delayed final part of my Battlestar Galactica toy want list (you can find Part One here and Part Two here, I’d like to focus a bit on possible vehicles and playsets that would be great for the toy series that solely exists in my head like the Abe Lincoln that lives in my pants.

1. Colonial Viper

This one goes without saying and you’d need both the older and newer versions of the show’s signature fighter to make me happy. The ship seems like it would be about the same size as the original Kenner X-Wing, so they shouldn’t cost too much. If Hasbro really wanted to go all out they could include some electronic sounds from the show so I don’t have to go, “badadadadadadadada” whenever I wanted to pretend that the guns were firing.

2. Colonial Raptor

I really like the Raptor’s style as it follows the classic sci-fi tradition of sort of ripping off Aliens. This all purpose military ship would almost be a playset in itself if you could fit three or four figures into it. Pack it with an exclusive pilot figure and you’re all set.

3. Stealth Blackbird

This sleek, black Viper inspired ship not only looks great, but it had a pretty big role in the series for a couple of episodes. This would have to come with a toaster destroying missile and a removable ejection seat so you could replicate Apollo transforming into Goth Apollo as he nearly dies in the cold and deadly clutches of space. It would also be named Laura so I could think about when they christened it and cry all over again.

4. Cylon Raider

The Cylon Raider scares the hell out of me. It’s a flying head with wings! If you could get the red eye to light up and move, I’d definitely pick one up. Just think, Hasbro could have some opening compartments for the stranded Starbuck to get back to the Galactica. A great variant or alternate version of the Raider would have to be Scar, the bad ass raider who plagued the Galactica’s pilots with his fancy tricks and robot knock knock jokes.

5. Cylon Heavy Raider

If you needed any more reasons to buy a whole crap load of Cylon Centurions, this would be it. The Heavy Raider features the same freaky head as the plain raider, but it has more of a specialized role. It has a good amount of firepower with at least six cannons in the front, a few rear facing cannons in the rear, as well as some missiles. It also serves as a drop ship for those Cylon jerks so you better buy enough to fill this sucker up. Now, that’s marketing.

6. Colonial Humvee

You’d don’t see many ground vehicles on Battlestar Galactica because of budget constraints. Apparently, all human-like civilizations at one time build the Humvee, because they’ve got them on Caprica. It’s like the wheel or KFC, it’s an inevitable byproduct of evolution. Hasbro just made a G.I. Joe Humvee so all they’d need to do is to change the box art and bam, you’ve got a new toy.

Playsets:

1. Combat Information Center

The CIC of the Battlestar Galactica would be a must if you’re making Galatica figures. You could even do two versions, one for the old school Galactica and one for the newer, Imperial Star Destroyer looking Pegasus. I can see this having some tactical stations with various sound effects built in or exploding control panels. The thing it must do is have a glowing table for the characters to lean on during intense battles. I can just imagine all the sweet, sweet battle plan fun I’d have with my figures.

2. Galactica Hanger

In order to fully replicate the experience of Battlestar Galactica in toy form, you’d need a hanger playset. Hell, you need a place for chief to beat up his future wife! (Sorry that was in poor taste). This playset would of course fit at least one Viper and maybe a Raptor. My geeky excitement can’t be contained for the parts that may be included, like a little ladder for your pilots to get out of their Viper’s with, or various tools to hook up to the ships. Hell, you could even have ammo to fake load or explode in a horrible accident, killing dozens of pilots at once.

3. Tomb of Athena

This could be like the old school Dagobah set of many a child’s youth, basically a piece that had all kinds of action crammed all around it. Put some Cylon death traps in, a hidden room or two, a rope for characters to swing across a pit, and maybe throw some mummies in there for good measure. You could even use the spear of Apollo to activate a halogen light to shoot you in the eyes to replicate a vision from the gods.

4. New Caprica

I love this human shanty town and it has a lot of potential for a playset. The big drawback is that the new episodes are on my computer right now and I’m not anywhere near it. So, I assume that there’s some action, I guess that there’s some character development, and I’ll conjecture that this would be a good playset. Then again, I could be wrong.

Battlestar Galactica, toy collecting, toys, action figures, playsets