Air Raiders
Hasbro
1987
Finding success with a toy that has no cartoon series to back it up was a difficult challenge for toy companies in the 80's. Many relied on what they called thirty minute commercials to help make the characters a household name, and thus encourage children to beg their parents to buy more toys.
Despite this lack of support, Air Raiders will forever be one of those great toys of the 80's. Developed by Hasbro in 1987, the series of toys focused on the inhabitants of the distant world of Airlandia. The Air Raiders battle against the evil Tyrants of Wind who have taken control of the planet's air supply by force. Despite the odds, the Air Raiders wage a war for freedom of all the people of Airlandia.
Unfortunately beyond that, the individual figures never got any real individuality. The packages referred to them as soldiers, pilots, etc., and simply specified them by group. Unlike a lot of toys, each vehicle came packed with anywhere from two to eight figures helping you to build your army fast. If that still wasn't fast enough for you, there was also a package of Air Raiders and Tyrants of Wind figures which could be purchased. Each came with six figures.
FIGURES
Battle Squad*The Enforcers
The meat of the line leaned heavily on the vehicles. Each one had its own unique look, style and features. The Air Raiders vehicles featured a mostly all orange color, while the Tyrants of Wind were focused mainly on purple. The vehicles ranged in size, with the largerst being the Air Raider's Man-O-War.
SMALL VEHICLES
Storm Dagger*Thunderclaw*Twin Lightning
SMALL VEHICLES
Dragonwind*Wind Razor*Wind Seeker
MEDIUM VEHICLES
Thunderhammer
Hawkwind
LARGE VEHICLES
Man-O-War
The series was rounded out with the single playset, the Air Raider's Command Post. This particular playset featured several movable parts, and even a few projectiles. All and all, it was a great piece.
PLAYSETS
Command Outpost
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I remember my friend having this toyline back in the day. I always thought they looked cool, but never really got into them until here recently when I started looking at boxed sets. I love the box art and I think that is a big seller for this line.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. We have to agree, the packaging is definitely a selling point to these toys - Especially these days.
DeleteAs one of the engineers who developed these, the figures and the command outpost, they were pretty cool. One aspect of the toy was the level of crisp detail. We used jewelry techniques to bring this level to the figures. Remember this was back before high quality manufacturing methods such as CNC machining and EDM. We were still in the middle of master pattern making and pantograph machining.
ReplyDeleteAs to the demise, this was the first shooting toy for Hasbro (not Nerf). Shooting toys were frowned on by Alan so support never really materialized. We were active into the second year when the line was killed.
Wow, an engineer from Hasbro! COOL!
DeleteThanks for sharing all of those details on the line. We love hearing stuff like this.