Back in 1984, Tomy introduced Starriors as a follow up to their popular line of Zoids. (They even used the same pilot figures.) As with the Zoids, the Starriors came with wind-up motors. However, whereas the motors in the Zoids made them walk, the motors in the Starriors activated a variety of chest and arm mounted weaponry. Spin-off merchandise included story books with audio tapes and a line of Marvel comics.

In the first release of these action figures, the Starriors were completely molded in hard plastic (styrene or ABS). This was great for model builders and toy customizers because all the components could be glued, cut, puttied, sanded and painted with the same ease as assembling a regular model kit. However, as toys, the hard rigid plastic didn’t provide a lasting tight fit for the movable arms and legs, which tended to fall off rather quickly. Thus, with the second wave of figures the non-motorized parts were made of more flexible polyethylene, a plastic that cannot be glued and is difficult to paint.

The two models presented here are from the first batch – all hard plastic. These are full customs. I eliminated the motors and some extraneous details. Lots of other small detail was added, especially to cover screw holes and riveted joints. I treated these as new, stand alone models without any intent to retain Tomy’s original look or their established storyline. I even changed the names. Black Dragon was originally the Duo-Laser Protector “Hot Shot”.

Completed in 1984.