Retro Toy Rodeo: Milton Bradley's Electronic Star Bird (1978)

 Since Christmas is almost upon us I thought it would be nice to revisit some great toys from days gone by.

In 1979 the Milton Bradley decided to capitalize on the Star Wars craze by producing a line of space adventure toys. The coolest of these was the electronic Star Bird space transport with electronic sound effects that were cutting edge for the time. If you turned the toy on it would make flying sounds that changed when you lifted it and turned it side to side or pointed it downward. When you pushed a button behind the cockpit the laser cannons in front glowed red and the ship emitted laser sounds. Pretty cool stuff!

  They big draw for the Star Bird, beyond the cool electronic effects, was that the ship was the same size as Kenner's Star Wars toys and they could be played with together. It also didn't hurt that the Star Bird vaguely resembled the rebel Y-Wing fighter from the first Star Wars movie, something I'm certain the designers at Milton Bradley took into consideration when drawing up the look of the toy. The only thing that would have made the toy cooler would have been a cockpit that opened up so that a Star Wars action figure could be placed inside. This was impossible however due to the amount of electronic hardware placed in the front section to make it work.

With the success of the Star Bird Milton Bradley would continue the line in 1979 with a Command Base playset, the all black Star Bird Intruder, and the Star Bird Avenger which was almost an identical toy to the original with different decals including one on the nose that resembled the Firebird hood decoration from the Pontiac Trans Am sports car. 

History:

Star Bird is a plastic-bodied, electronic handheld toy that was produced by MB Electronics from 1978 until ca. 1981. It was developed by Bing McCoy who designed a number of successful toys in the late 1970s including Electronic Battleship and ROM the Spaceknight.

The Star Bird manual describes it as "THE AMAZING SPACESHIP with realistic engine sounds and flashing laser blasts". The toy was constructed in three main pieces: the front inner hull which held the electronics and front lasers, the front outer hull (a thin plastic shell over the inner hull), the main body consisting of the center stalk like section and wings. A molded plastic engine piece fit into the rear of the main body and was removable. The toy is only used in three configurations: the Star Bird which consists of all available pieces, the Star Bird Fighter which is mostly only the front hull attached to the bare engine piece, and the Star Bird Orbiter which is the main body without the front outer hull. When turned on the Star Bird mimics an engine sound. If the toy is pointed upwards the sound would be altered by a ball bearing switch to imply a doppler effect acceleration or taking-off, while a nose down orientation gives the sound of decelerating engines. A button at the rear of the cockpit activates the LEDs at the front of the toy, along with a blast noise, to simulate the firing of its lasers. The button was designed to be pressed by the thumb while the ship was held by the main body or engine piece (in "dragster" configuration). Two simple, detachable drone-like "Interceptors" are provided at the end of each wing. Star Bird also had a rotating laser turret which doubled as an escape-pod/orbiter-type ship. Very much to the dismay of current-day collectors the twin lasers from the turret are often missing in today's offerings of the play set. 

 Along with the original Star Bird. A Japanese exclusive was also released. Unlike the other models, this version came in one piece, was available in two paint schemes (Red and White, and Silvery-Gray and Black), and sported foldout wheels and plastic missile projectiles. This version is unofficially known as "the Bandai Star Bird." This version is rare and hard to come by. Follow-up toys to the Star Bird, called the Star Bird Space Avenger and the Star Bird Command Base, arrived on the market in 1979. 

 A spin-off from the original Star Bird was the Star Bird Intruder. This model was issued with a black hull and consisted of the cockpit and Interceptor section only. It featured a pistol grip and feature that, when used along with the Space Avenger, could be used to simulate outer-space dogfighting. The Intruder hit the market in 1980 (mainly in the USA and UK).

Check Out:

The Micronauts: They Came From Inner Space

Toys By Roy - Winrock Center Mall, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1961-88)