A nifty collection of 80s era action figures closes this weekend on HiBid! One gem of that session comes from Remco’s 1982 The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior line. The lot features the Crystal Castle playset, villains Zardath and Moltar, and Crystar himself! Like so many 80s toy lines, Crystar had a Marvel Comics tie-in. However, unbeknownst to most comic fans at the time, Crystar was actually a Marvel creation! Let us tell you how that all happened.
Marvel Starts Adapting Toys
The Crystar Lot in this Saturday’s auction!
In the late 1970s, FCC rules largely prevented TV shows from being based on toys. As such, toys didn’t put nearly as much thought into story as they do today. Marvel Comics was a driving force in changing that. 1979 saw Marvel team-up with toymakers to create comic books that were, in essence, extended toy advertisements. Rom: Spaceknight, Shogun Warriors, and The Micronauts were all cool looking toys with no backstory licensed by the House of Ideas. Marvel writers developed the story of who these characters were, how they interacted, and what their foes were after from the ground up.
Rom and The Micronauts proved much, much more successful as comic books than as toys. The characters would remain in print as part of the Marvel Universe for years after their toys left shelves. That led to Marvel’s next logical step: helping to design a toyline from the ground up! Marvel Comics, specifically writer/editor Larry Hama, teamed up with Hasbro to revive their dormant G.I. Joe brand in 1982. Hama supplied names and backstories for every toy in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero for its entire twelve-year run (many of which can also be found in Saturday’s auction). He also wrote all 155 issues of the tie-in comic for Marvel. It’s still the dominant version of G.I. Joe in pop culture today.
Marvel Tries Creating Toys
The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior #1 hit stands a month after the toys debuted.
Marvel’s ability to develop a world around a toyline was well established. Unfortunately, they didn’t own any of the worlds they were creating. They profited off the comics, sure, but they still paid licensing fees and didn’t see a cut of the toy sales. Crystar was Marvel’s attempt to change that status quo. Marvel developed the deliberately toyetic concept in-house and then licensed it out to toymaker Remco.
The premise was simple: in a fantasy world of rock people, the heroic Crystar leads his Crystal Warriors of Order against the evil wizard Zardeth and his army of Magma Men. Remco went all out for the toyline, producing a whole range of basic figures, creatures, vehicles, accessory packs, and even a giant castle playset. Unfortunately, the line didn’t sell. It ended after just one wave of toys. The comic was on newsstands longer than the toys were on shelves, running for eleven issues. Most comic readers just assumed it was just another of Marvel’s licensed properties.
Crystar In The Marvel Universe
Marvel lost interest in Crystar after the toyline folded. They didn’t touch the character for 30 years after his comic wrapped up. Then, writer Jason Aaron incorporated the world of Crystar into the swords-and-sorcery “Weird World” setting of the Secret Wars crossover in 2015. Since then, Crystar has made sporadic appearances whenever heroes like Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Deadpool, and others have visited the barbarian fantasy land. That was enough to earn him a spot in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends action figure line in 2023.
This all helped spark a revival of Crystar as a cult-favorite, renewing interest in the classic Remco line. It’s often these oddball toys, the lines didn’t go very far or the figures from the end of an era, that are worth the most. They’re the subject of fond childhood memories but didn’t sell well enough to be common. If you’ve got a collection of toys that you’d like to sale, put away those garage sale stickers and drop us a line! We’ll tell you if they should go to auction or if the stickers need to come back out. And if you’re collecting, follow us on social media @b2pcollect to keep up on all the cool collections we’re bringing in!
