Galaxy Laser Team

The very fun Secret Fun Spot Blog has an entry about a very unusual gumball-machine toy line called the Galaxy Laser Team. From the looks of it, the team of space people live amongst the STARS and are locked in some kind of WAR against an evil EMPIRE that is STRIKING BACK... I think it's a rip-off of Flash (AHHHHHAH!) Gordon.

Yes, these were the kinds of toys your could get out of gumball machines in those little plastic bubbles, or you could find them in sets at the grocery store, dangling from hooks like irresistible impulse items. From the picture above, I can see Hans Duo and Chuey, Garth Wader, Radiator D2, ...some chick, and Gamora Jr. But what really catches my eyes are the two normal space men. They're not sci-fi or fantasy... they're just a couple astronauts in way over their heads. In fact, I'd like to think that this is what happened to Poole and Bowman at the end of 2001: they got sucked into a cheesy sci-fi flick where laser-wielding apes do battle with Magneto who proudly displays his vibrator while a crab-turtle monster surrenders. And why does the woman come with a blood-pressure monitor? Is she the medic? Is hypertension the biggest problem in the future?

Check out Secret Fun Blog for more and also see panels from the very interesting comic that either spawned these toys or spawned from these toys.