
What is "Britains"?




Overview of Britains Space Line

The Historical Context of Britains SPACE Toyline
The late 1970s and early 1980s were a time of great change in the United Kingdom with a troubled stormy economic, rollercoaster politics under the leadership of hawkish Thatcher, trouble Northern Ireland, and international turmoil that was topped off by the 1982 Falklands War. Adding to the time period was the rise in popularity of science fiction spurred on by Star Wars, which had a great deal of the UK in its DNA. Great Britain was rich soil for science fiction given it was the home of Dr. Who, Thunderbirds, UFO, and Blake's 7. In addition, the United Kingdom music scene was exploding with post-punk, New Wave, and world music. During this time of change, there was an influx of American toys into the British toy market causing the native toy markers to response, as Britains did with their Space line.
The History of Britains Space toyline

While never confirmed, there is strong evidence to suggest that the new owners saw the bleeding of the Space toyline and decided to give it one last major change with the 1985 redevelopment of Britains Space to Britains Star System. While there were major changes to livery, names, and even new vehicles and figures, it was the same story. Sadly, this were the information trail grows cold and the last two years of Britains Star System existence, 1986-1987, are relatively unknown. At some point in 1987, Britains cut their losses and cancelled their sci-fi toyline. Despite several sales of the company, none of the new owners have ever moved to reissue the 1980s Space or Star System line.
The Toyline:
The Stargards (1981-1984)


The Forcegards (1985-1987)
With the new owners of Britains and an attempt to save the expensive Space toyline, there was renovation and relaunch, christened “the Britains Star System” with the Stargard being replaced by the Forcegard in 1985. Instead of the yellow and red paint job, the Forcegard were white and red with the same laser DE weapons as before. With this new rebranding in 1985, came an expansion of the vehicles, also recolored in red/white livery. A total of six modular vehicles were released under the new “Star Force” human faction line with the “Force Station (9241)” being the largest, and others being reprinted re-releases of Space line vehicles. There was a boxset released of the vehicles and loose Forcegard soldiers (9240) released in 1985.
The Space Aliens (1981-1984)
The main foe of the Britains Space toyline was the “aliens”…seriously, that was their name. These red-helmeted humanoid aliens wore black armored spacesuits and used the same laser weaponry as the Stargard. When the Space line premiered in 1981, the Stargard were released with figures and vehicles, but the aliens were only infantry, no vehicles. That changed in 1982 with the release of three green painted vehicles: the saucer-shaped spacecraft (9120), the odd “space grab” that were robotic arms (9127), and the space cannon (9125). These modular vehicles were packaged in several box sets, or sold separately. In 1982-1983, there was massive boxset of both of Stargard and Alien figures and vehicles (9146). In 1984, the Space Aliens line got a wheeled vehicle that hauled a large space laser cannon artillery piece that featured two specially designed alien vehicle crew members (9128). The original red-helmeted Aliens line would hang around until the relaunch in 1985.
The Star Raiders (1985-1987)
By 1985, it was clear that the Space toyline needed a new infusion to increase sales, and that came with the Britains Star System toyline. As with the new Forcegard, the old Aliens were renamed the “Star Raiders” with a new orange/blue livery and several new vehicles to match the Star Force humans. The Star Raiders had with only repainted vehicle from the original line and one reworked along with four new vehicles, including the massive “Raider Station (9291)”. There was a “Planet Raiders” boxset (9290) that combined the basic vehicles and some loose Raider soldiers released in 1985.
The Stargard Cyborgs (1983-1984)
By 1983, it was clear that the new science fiction line of Britains was in trouble and two new figure lines were added to spice up the line. For the human faction, the Stargard, were given a cybernetic ally, the “Stargard Cyborgs”. These were figures that looked more at home in a classic Dr. Who episode than a military science fiction toyline. They look like some thing the Cybermen experimented on and then rejected. These oddly shaped silver-colored figures were laser-armed Stargard figures retrofitted with rubberized heads and body parts that have not held up over the time due to melting issues.
The Forcecyborgs (1985-1987?)
With the major 1985 reboot of the Britains Space line into the Star System, the Cyborgs were altered in interesting ways. The original 1983-1984 cyborgs were silver in color and armed, the new Forcecyborgs were now purely defensive as mentioned in the 1985 catalog. In the few images I found, the new white and red livery Forcecyborgs are not armed, but some seem to be fitted with ping-pong paddles? These misfits were gifted with an oddball cybernetic dragon-like creator, called “the cybertron”.
The Alien Mutants (1983-1984)
When new figure lines were added in 1983 to boost low sales figures, the Space Aliens line was gifted with an new monstrous ally: the mutants. These rubberized twisted green-and-red humanoid forms were a very 1950’s B-Sci-fi movie enemy topped off by red laser ray-gun blasters. The original look of the Alien Mutants was altered after only one year during the 1985 rebranding and relaunch of the entire Space line after the new owners took over.
The Mutant Raiders (1985-1986)

Britains Space vs. Britains Star System
There is one piece of commonly held knowledge about Britains venture into science fiction toys it is that it failed…but Britains didn’t let it go down easily. From all accounts, the Space line was in trouble within the first years and attempts were made to remedy the situation by the company. In 1983, the Stargards and Space Aliens were both given new (ugly) allies: the Stargard Cyborgs and the Alien Mutants. When this soft interdiction did not work to improve sales, the new owners of Britains, Dodson Park Industries, took improves steps to either bring the line to profitability or cancel it. That renovation gave us new vehicles, new colors, and a new name: “Star System”. Under the new banner of Britains Star System, the human faction was renamed “the Star Force” and their astronaut foot soldiers were “the Forcegards” with a new white and red livery. This renovation was extended to the line of new modularity space vehicles as well with similar coloring. The cybernetic allies of the Star Force were also renamed to the Forcecyborgs and so given the same white/red treatment and their laser weapons were taken away. The red helmeted aliens were altered to “the Star Raiders” with new orange and blue livery and the same was applied to their mutant allies. Added to the evil allies of the Star Raiders, we got the Terror Raiders that were monster-like aliens that remains me of GI Joes’ Star Brigade. It was here, under the new banner of Britains Star System, the line made its last stand from 1985-1987.
Why Did the SPACE Toyline Fail?
The brilliant element often missed by those discussing the power of the Star Wars toyline in the 1970's is that it gives a context to the toys and shared experience via this context. Tie-in toys were nothing new even in science fiction circles, with Buck Rogers beating Lucas and Kenner to the market by four decades. What Star Wars masterfully did, along with Kenner, is that toys lived in a well-known and defined world. This world was created by one of most popular movies of all time. This made playtime easier especially between mates. With this popularity of the films, came the widespread popularity of the toys.
You go over to a friend's house and they would have Star Wars toys allowing for shared play in a fixed universe that everyone understood. Britains SPACE toys did not have this. Not even close. To some limited degree, their toy soldiers did. Every kid knows the purpose behind war toys and engaging in mocking battles with toy soldiers. Once again, Britains SPACE toyline did not have that either, especially in 1981 with no enemy force vehicles to engage the Stargard against or form interesting toy storylines...alien foot soldiers. Lambs for the slaughter, especially when compared to the Kenner SW toylines.
By 1987, Britains abandoned its baldy failing outer space toyline, a rare failure for the company...so why did this toyline fail given the popularity of science fiction toys and the company itself? Part of lays in the fact that Britains SPACE line did not have any tie-in product to sell the concept further nor add any more advertisement exposure to the market…but that doesn’t always help as we saw with the similar STARCOM toyline in 1987. Not helping the case of these space toys was that while Britains did have a recognizable name in the UK as well as aboard, these space toys were outside their core business model and this caused the company to invest heavily into their Space line. That decision would lead to the end of the company as we knew it.

Toy soldiers are a staple of toys-aimed-at-boys since ancient times and Britain's was a historic manufacture of toy soldiers. My brother and I both had Britain's toy soldiers and when I spied these space soldiers, I bought them due to the name. While I enjoyed the regular toy soldiers from Britain's in a limited fashion, I was mystified what to do with these fishbowl space helmet wearing space soldiers. I cannot remember playing with them in any way and they rested at the bottom of an action figure plastic bin for over two decade. As with the Hasbro’s Air Raiders and Coleco’s STARCOM toylines, the figures of the Space line were about the size of a AA battery and they could not be used with your other 3 ¾ figure lines, and this limited play and interest.
The Legacy and Impact of the SPACE Toyline

This informs us of the part of the impact at the time of release. Ian also told me that most of his mates were discussing Star Wars toys at school and not Britain's Space toys, which is the demographic Britain's was seeking. Once again, not a good sign for the sales department. According to ever source I can find all conclude that the impact of the toyline was far less than hoped and it was a failure in the UK and overseas. This was a hard blow for the historic British toy company due to the time, effort, energy, and money that had been invested into this new venture. Some sites cite the failure of the Space toyline as a major result for Britains being in financial difficult in the 1980's. The fact was that by 1984 the company being sold to Dobson Park Industries Ltd when no one in the family wanted to take over the toy company...was that due to the failure of the Space toyline? Despite being debated, some have accepted that the Space line helped end the original company and this become part of the story of the Space line to this very day. Currently, Britains still existed and is back to its core business under a small Ohio-based toy soldier company called The Good Soldier LLC.
Could Britains Space Toys Been a Success?
Maybe. That’s a big maybe. There is no way that Britains could have or would have invested into developing a 3 ¾ action toyline similar to dominate lines of G.I. Joe or Star Wars. Britains could only developed the toyline in a similar nature to the rest of their ranges. That being said, Britains should have placed more attention to developing the space combat angle of the line and created some more akin to a giant army in space than the astronauts-with-rayguns. In addition, Britains should have created more military-type space vehicles that appeared to be proper warships and futuristic armed ground vehicles. Some of these suggestions were undertaken for the 1985 “Star Systems” mid-run revamp with more modular vehicles, new figure lines, and recolors of the older figures.

Next Time on FWS...
There is once in a blue moon that FWS goes a single blogpost without mentioning Starship Troopers in some form or another. The 1959 novel continues to be a major influence on military science fiction both in the west as well as the east even to this day. While FWS has discussed the various adaptations of SST throughout the years, especially in the west, we've barely discussed one made in 1988 in Japan: Uchu no Senshi. This Bandai Visual/Sunrise OVA production was released in 1988 on several LaserDiscs, but was never released in the west. In the next installment of the new Future Wars Stories of the East: FWS will be FINALLY devoting a whole blog article on the 1988 Starship Troopers OVA after many comments and emails.
Great article, very well researched and written. I was a huge collector of Britains toy soldiers as a kid and remember seeing these guys at my local toy store. Despite being a huge fan of Star Wars and toy soldiers this line held no interest for me. The main reason I remember passing on this fare was that the figures did not have a "cool" factor. The weapons they had seemed terribly designed and outdated by the 80's. Had they made the figures look more like Boba Feet or Stormtroopers I would have bought loads of them despite no cartoon or comic tie in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and I thought that could have been a reason behinds the slow sales. While "retro" may be cool, it is not to most kids, especially those of us in the 80s. Pity they did not look more like STARCOM or Boba...damn that would have been cool!
ReplyDeleteYes poor design seems to me one of the main reason this line failed. I would have been the key demographic for this sort of thing. I had hundreds of 1/32 scale toy soldiers ( Marx, Airfix, Britians) and having grown up in the 70's was a Star Wars addict. By the time this line came out I had more spending money and would have easily bought lots of these guys. By the way I just discovered your blog and have been going through it. Superb stuff keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I cant wait for the review on that wierdly accurate /unfaithful version of starship troopers.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, a friend of mine and I had several of these between us, including the green ships. I ended up swapping all mine with him for something else. The Britains soldiers line were always the soldiers that the richer kids had at our school, because as they came painted and were die cast, they were always more expensive than say a box of Airfix, which were affordable. I have the whole range of those now. Great article.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very professional and rigorous, depicting the evolution of British military science fiction toys in detail.
ReplyDeleteI had a few of the original's as a kid, I bought them from a seaside toy shop one summer with all of my "holiday money savings". Many years later I saw a picture in a magazine that looked like a still from live action movie or TV show. The people were wearing the same yellow suites with glass dome helmets. They were against a grey rockface background and seem to remember some green plants dotted around. I often wondered if the "retro design" of the toy's ray guns etc was because the design was licensed from some 1960's si-fi movie, the colour made me think it was 1960 colour film. Maybe one of the many Italian one's that were churned out. Over the year's I've revisited the internet several times to try and find out what the movie was (I've just ended up here), if, it was a movie or TV show, what was it?
ReplyDeleteMy brother was given the Alien Cannon for his birthday by a friend in the early 0 mid 1980s. Quite fun to play with but the red bullets were easy to lose!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing the odd other item from the range around but almost everyone my age at the time were into Star Wars, so it was always hard for Britains to gain traction in the marketplace away from their established Farm & Soldier niches.
Until I started searching online a few days ago I didn't realise the range had a later update, with the ships recoloured white.