BraveStarr
That horse is pissed!
Ep. 002 is live!
I’ll never forget where I was, what I was doing, or even what I was wearing the first time I watched an episode of Bravestarr. I was 5 years old and sitting at a bowling alley bar, no joke. It was an early fall day, slightly brisk, as I needed my black zip-up hoodie over my orange and white Thundercats baseball-sleeve shirt. My reason for being at a bar was that my mother had only recently gotten a new side job as a midday bartender at the local bowling alley, and she didn’t have a sitter. The owner didn’t mind, and in 1987 there were very few qualms about a kindergartener enjoying a Shirley Temple five feet from an old timer enjoying a Schlitz. This also raises the question of how the hell I managed to get cartoons on at a bar; thankfully there was more than one TV, and the regulars thought I was a good kid. My introduction to Bravestarr was purely happenstance; there wasn’t much in the way of selection for kids’ daytime programming yet, cable was still in its infancy. But at the right time of day, on the right channels, you could hit gold. As my mom flipped through the channels, a brightly colored lawman caught my eye. There in all his glory, on Chicago’s Own WGN Channel 9, stood Marshall John Bravestarr, and I was amazed. After that day, afternoons on playgrounds, or in the open lot next to our apartment, were spent reenacting battles while shouting eyes of the hawk, ears of the wolf, strength of the bear, or speed of the puma. Sadly, my fascination wouldn’t be fueled for long, as Bravestarr’s presence in the toy aisle and on TV wouldn’t last incredibly long. This is a tale of one man’s excitement over a fresh idea, one company's hubris in regard to their market research, and one little boy who found refuge in a simple story about a lawman with secret powers. This is the very quick rise and fall of Bravestarr.
Bravestarr owes its existence to Filmation’s Ghostbusters; the one with the fedora-wearing gorilla. During the production of Ghostbusters in 1986, a ghoulish cowboy caught the eye of one Lou Scheimer. Inspired to use the character elsewhere, Lou had the character pulled aside with the purpose of a western/sci-fi-themed show being built around him. This cowboy from Hell would go on to become Tex Hex, leader of the Carrion Gang and servant to the evil Stampede…all antagonists for Marshall John Bravestarr and his band of heroes on the planet of New Texas. In that same year, Mattel began to experience a decrease in sales for their popular Masters of the Universe line. Looking for a new property to develop, Mattel approached Scheimer and Filmation, as they had for MOTU, and the two companies started a new collaboration. Sadly, it wouldn’t take long for this second outing for the pair to fall apart.
Filmation began work on the new series, and the target for release was in the fall of 1987. Meanwhile, Mattel set out to not only put all their market research from MOTU to work for this new line, they also conducted further research. The goal was to not just create the next big thing; the goal was to blow previous crazes out of the water. To Mattel’s credit, every bit of research, every little change and compromise, and every scrap of information all pointed to one thing: success. All the data supported Mattel’s prediction for this to be a great toy line that kids would go nuts for, Filmation had a proven track record of producing great cartoons that performed well. So what happened? Mattel’s hubris is what happened. The confidence in their own research was so high that Mattel, arguably the creators of the show/toy/comic trifecta formula, bypassed the proven methodology for a toy/property launch. They chose to make a huge push for the toy line to be in stores ready to go for Christmas 1986…nearly a full year before the show was even going to debut.
The toys hit the shelves in what research showed to be high-end window boxes with a premium look. The figures themselves looked great, by 1986 standards. They even incorporated the recently developed laser light/photon technology that was being put to good use with Laser Tag, and in Mattel’s MOTU line for figures such as Laser Light He-Man. Christmas came, Christmas went…and Bravestarr and the gang languished on the shelves. Mattel soon developed cold feet for the line. Plans for the second wave, plans that had been made before wave one even hit the shelves, were canceled. To make matters worse, by the time the show debuted parents assumed it was a show about a toy instead of the other way around. Bravestarr ran its 65 episodes from September ‘87 to February ‘88, March saw the release of Bravestarr The Movie…and that was it. There were plenty of products outside of the toy line’s original release; coloring books, Colorforms, View Masters, a fairly well-done side-scrolling video game for the Zx Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64. The series would see itself repackaged and reused over the years in syndication as part of programming blocks. Qubo ran the series as part of its Night Owl programming block, and the digital broadcast station Retro ran it as well. Outside of these efforts, there has been no real movement with the license. In regards to unlicensed fare, however…
At the time of writing this, Ramen Toy has put their latest creation up for Pre-Order that pays an amazing homage to John Bravestarr. Their 1/12 scale Marshall figure not only captures the spirit of the original character but also comes with an amazing amount of additional accessories and pack-ins. Additionally, while at Power-Con 2023 in Ohio, Ace Lee from Ramen Toy was very excited and proud to reveal a prototype for Thirty/Thirty. Simply put, he looks amazing. Truly, Ace and the team are doing incredible work keeping some of these overlooked properties alive, and part of the conversation.
Ramen Toy’s efforts aside, I feel there is a very obvious way to bring this toy line back. Bravestarr is a Mattel property. Mattel also owns Masters of the Universe. Mattel slid the character from Olmec’s Sun Man line of figures into MOTU. Master’s has a Western-themed hero named Rio Blast. What would be so hard about bringing Bravestarr into the line, as well? Who knows, maybe if enough people speak up on desiring a revival, or the fan reaction to Ramen’s Marshall is strong enough, the powers that be will decide to give this futuristic lawman another shot at succeeding. A special thank you to Ace Lee of Ramen Toy for his permission to use images of The Marshall. If you have the means, I highly recommend snatching this figure up. Just follow this link to go directly to the pre-order page! Thanks, and we’ll see you next time! - Derek
