In 1968 Ideal unleashed the S.T.A.R. (Space Travel And Reconnaissance) Team toy line on children everywhere with an awesome line of Space Adventure Gear. Coupled with Ideal's very popular Utility Belts these were classic and very popular toys that enabled young Astronauts to explore the stars and work with some pretty innovative accessories for the time.
Quick Links:
Space Adventure Gear (1968 - 1971) Star Team Action Figures and Playset (1977 -
1979) Did You Know?
Space Helmet
For the young astronaut, complete with earphones, durable plastic construction, removable amber dome, Star Team member patch included!
Astro Headset
Nebulizer
Squeezing the trigger produced a fine vapor mist. The red and blue bottles unscrewed and were filled with water. When one ran dry, you switched over to the emergency back up supply. Luckily the bottles are plastic and not some type of bulk glass bottles that could easily break. Glass bottles may make better beverage containers than plastic, but plastic is much safer for toy components.
Space Utility Belt
Belt with secret compartment, life support tank, scanner scope, communicator, antigravity tool
Remote Gripper Device
Space Boots
Exploratory Probe Launcher
The XPL was a limited release foot powered (by way of air) rocket. Unfortunately the XPL should have only been used by children wearing the space helmet like on the box because multiple injuries caused by the rocket impacting unprotected faces of children led to a quick recall of this toy. Good luck finding one - they are super rare!
Astro Beacon
One item I had missed was the Astro Beacon. Referred to well by someone with great knowledge of this line as a "glorified flashlight" - it is basically just that, with a few bits and pieces to make it space-ready!
Star Team Patches and Badges
Star Team Action Figures and Playset
Knight of Darkness Zem-21 Kent Zeroid Star Hawk
The Knight of Darkness was the top seller of the Star Team action figure line. He was obviously a Darth Vader knock off and was released within weeks of the Star Wars film release. He came with a silver painted shirt that is almost always worn off when found outside of the box. The Knight of Darkness was a black-molded version of the 1960s Ideal Captain Action body and also included a Captain Action Flash Gordon laser pistol. These facts alone have made him fairly sought after by Captain Action collectors.
Zem-21 was Ideal's version of C-3PO and was a reworked Ideal J.J. Armes action figure body with a green rubber head. He came with no accessories.
The blue Star Team Zeroid is fairly hard to find today and was essentially a remake of the late 60s Zeroids.
The Star Hawk is essentially a red flying saucer with a clear dome. This ship came packed with a red battery-powered Star Team Zeroid (identical to the blue version above).
Kent was the late edition human to the line (released in early 1978) and unfortunately the line was discontinued soon after his release, making Kent fairly hard to find. I suppose the fact that his spaceship has no cover and looked like something from a carnival ride might have contributed to this...
Ever wonder why George Lucas never sued Ideal for
obviously trying to rip-off the Star Wars franchise? Well, he did actually! To
the dismay of Jedis everywhere he lost because the STAR Team franchise had been launched
10 years earlier and the case was quickly tossed. George won in the end, however, because the Ideal Star Team line was destroyed by
the official Kenner toy line and thus was quickly cancelled by Ideal.
Have a question about a toy you have or one you are looking for? Send me an e-mail!
