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Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon | ||||||||||
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nyone who is a fan of science fiction knows that the genre really began to take off in the early part of the 20th century with the publication of pulp magazines, with early films and, of course, with the publication of the comic strips Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon.
Starting in 1929, and based on stories from the pulp magazine Amazing Stories, one of the most successful strips was Buck Rogers, which was translated into 18 languages and appeared in 450 newspapers. The strip was so successful that it ran until 1967, and its main characters are as well known in the culture as any ever created. This series spawned radio programs, movies, TV shows and much, much more.
Five years after Buck Rogers began, a competing strip began featuring a human caught up in a plot by an alien invader, Ming the Merciless from the planet Mongo. This strip featured superior art, and soon Flash Gordon, published from 1934 to 1993, became the most popular of all science-fiction strips.
Gearbox Toys has introduced six new die-cast toy vehicles to commemorate these two fine examples of classic science-fiction history—three from each of the two strips.
Floor Flyers are just over 3 inches in length and roll freely on plastic wheels. The vehicles are designed after actual ships, cars and jet planes from the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips.
Each ship's bubble-card package features classic art from the strips and includes a small reprinted strip featuring that particular vehicle in action.
Each toy is nicely molded in die-cast metal, brightly painted with durable plastic details and add-ons, and captures the look of the original designs.
Classic lines, classic colors
As a series, Gearbox has done an admirable job on the packaging, using iconic artwork of Buck and Flash with a retro-designed "Floor Flyer" logo that invokes both the strips it honors, as well as that archetypal toy, the Radio Flyer wagon. A small version of a strip from the two series is printed just below the logo.
From Buck Rogers we have spaceships from "Meeting the Monguls" (1929), "Sunken City of Atlantis" (1930) and "Martians Invade Jupiter" (1942).
First is a classically designed fighter ship in red, white and orange, with an open-cockpit design with rivets and swept-back crescent-moon-shaped wings and fins, as well as a black rear-mounted swiveling machine gun.
The second is another open-cockpit design, a pale green bullet-nosed flyer with blue front crescent fins and red exhaust pipes and a front-mounted swiveling gun.
The third is an insectlike blue and white "Eagle Squadron" ship, with red plastic fin and rotating laser cannon.
From Flash Gordon we have a space rocket from "The Lonely Voyage" (1953), a space car from "Discovery" (1956) and a car from "The Doll Man" (1957).
The first is a navy blue jet plane with a round black cockpit and sharp wings and tanks and a decal of Flash Gordon on the wings.
The second is a sleek covered car in metallic red and yellow with a tall bladed vertical stabilizer fin, with its wheels hidden underneath the contoured body.
Finally, Flash's car is a pale green number with a red lightning bolt on the hood, an open convertible cab and a large fin jutting up from the rear.
Each of these ships is translated into three dimensions based on the strips, and Gearbox did a great job doing so. The colors and styles are classic and hearken back to science fiction's very roots.
These are intended as toys for kids, to shoot across the floor and have a blast with, but each seems to be a little slice of time from the past and would be a great centerpiece for any science-fiction aficionado. My only wish would be that the miniature strips were packaged in such a way that they could be removed without damage and enjoyed better. As it is, the strips tend to rip when the plastic bubbles are opened to extract the vehicles. — Sean
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