Starriors

Starriors was a robot toy-line created by Tomy in association with Marvel Comics in 1984. They were based on Zoids, but had a new storyline that U.S. Zoids had not had at all. Four Marvel mini-comics were distributed with each toy, and an intelligent four-issue limited series was written by Louise Simonson.

In the future, solar flares threaten all life on Earth. Earth's scientists build two classes of intelligent machines, Protectors, to restore the Earth for human use, and Destructors, to ward off any potential alien invasions, prior to going into a hibernative state underground. The brains of the Starriros are made in the human image. The leader of the Destructors, Slaughter Steelgrave, becomes craven at the thought of deactivation upon the restoration of the humans, and enslaves the Protectors. Eventually, the human race and the Starriors' mission is forgotten as a reality and regarded as a myth--none of the Starriors had been activated when the humans disappeared. Then the Protector, Nipper, discovers a human skull. The Protectors and a small band of dutiful Destructors set out to release the humans from their overly prolonged hibernation.

The toys were not terribly successful. After the initial wave, it appears that there were only eight more toys produced, and only two additional minicomics, though most of the new toys came with the old ones. The Simonson series told a complete story in itself, and did not include the eight new characters. The principal figures, the humanoid Wastors, did not transform, nor did most of the other robots in the line, though many could be disassembled and reassembled, and had motorized parts. Also, there was a tendency toward making new characters out of the same molds as other characters, in different colors, which is more true of the first wave than of the second.Consumer Reports' Penny Power, when it reported on robot toys, found them the least satisying of all the lines covered, though it must be said that the narrative aspects of all the lines were ignored, and the magazine would extol the economic value of GoBots over Transformers in later issues.

Characters

There were different classes of Starriors. Some were unique, while others were types that existed among both Protectors and Destructors. Transfer Rings were plastic rings that contained Starrior heads and weaponry. Both a Protector-themed and Destructor-themed Transfer Ring were sold together and was the least expensive Starriors toy. They could fit over most Wastors' forearms, and their narrative function was to transfer a Starrior's mind into a new body if their old one became incapacitated, as happened to a number of the characters in the comics series.

• Wastors (humanoids with wind-up weaponry)

• Hot Shot, Protector leader (male)
• Crank, Protector forest builder and poet (male)
• Sawtooth, Destructor loyal to finding humankind (male)
• Slaughter Steelgrave; Destructor leader (male)
• Slice, Destructor torturer
• Clawgut, Destructor trouble-maker
• Cut-Up, Protector warrior who passionately hates Destructors
• Gouge, Destructor sadist
• Ripsaw, Protector seeker
• Flashfist, Protector energy master
• Twinblade, Protector artist
• Bolar, Destructor fighter

• Rammors (pull-back action vehicles)

• Thinktank, Protector adviser (male)
• Motormouth, Protector double agent loyal to Slaughter Steelgrave. He is outraged when Hotshot chooses the Destructor Sawtooth to revive with the nearly powered-out Transfer Ring rather than himself, a Protector (male)
• Auntie Tank, Destructor loyal to finding humankind (female)
• Backfire, unlucky Destructor (male)

• Trashors (mini pull-back action vehicles)

• Tinker, Protectors' enterprising repair assistant (male)
• Nipper, Amnesiac scavenger of the Protectors, finds a skull and is destroyed by Slaughter Steelgrave, but given a new body with a Transfer Ring (female)
• Grub, Destructors' lazy scavenger
• Scrapper, fighter for the Destructors

• Starrunner (ripcord-transformation action)

• Speedtrap, erratic, danger-loving Ostrich-like Destructor loyal to finding humankind (female)

• Strazor (ripcord-transformation action)

• Runabout, Apatosaurus-like Protector, imaginative (female)

• Cosmittor

• Deadeye, blind, red Tyrannosaurus-like Destructor with the soul of a poet, fires discs called Demolishers (male)
• Cricket, Deadeye's excitable deaf-mute scout, form of a black Pteranodon

• Vultor

• Windstorm, Pteranodon-like Protector

• Stalkor

• Twinhorn, Triceratops-like Destructor.

The toy packaging and other artwork typically depicted Twinhorn with Sawtooth, so he may be an ally to humankind, though he never appeared in the comics. The packaging does not really make clear whether Windstorm and Twinhorn are characters or merely animal-like vehicles. There are no blurbs about their personalities, unlike the Rammors and Trashors.

• Armored Battle Station

• Lazerram, Cobra-headed Starrior who is the humans' last line of defense
• Stinger, Scorpion-like guardian of the entrance to the humans' stasis chambers.

• Mini-comics

1. Deadeye

2. The Forest

3. Honor

4. The Trap

5. The Wall

6. Bolar!

Template:Spoiler The mini-comics did not muddle who the good guys and bad guys were, unlike the comics, where the functions the Starriors were built for meant little to where the loyalties lay. When the first human is released, it is resolved that he Starriors have their own culture and will remain active amongst the humans, if only Slaughter Steelgrave would listen to reason. Template:Spoilerend

External Links

Starriors images