Sectaurs: The Warriors of Symbion
Warriors of Symbion! Ok!
Ep. 206 is live!
Heyo, welcome once more to Yesterdaze! It's a brand new month with a brand new theme! Welcome to The Odd & The Obscure month, where we will be reviewing properties that aren't well remembered, or seem a bit strange for a concept. This is a Patron pick-heavy month, so let's get into our first pick by way of our good buddy Nostalgia Nate. Today we're talking Sectaurs: The Warriors of Symbion! Having become obsessed with the nostalgic, and retaining an inordinate amount of pop culture information as it relates to cartoons and the like from the '80s, it's hard for me not to draw some comparisons between Sectaurs and another infamous property (and episode) from the '80s. That of course would be Visionaries. Both had atypical play gimmicks, stood a bit taller than their action figure brethren, had detrimental price points, and managed to lack staying power on TV or in the toy aisle. I would argue, though, that Sectaurs was the superior line. First and foremost, Sectaurs just had more to offer as far as playability. Visionaries, for the most part, were fine mustachioed men in fairly similar armor with odd staffs, and engineering identical to GI Joe, save for the scale. There were vehicles, sure. But they were NOT anything compared to the "vehicles" in Sectaurs. For this innovative line from Coleco, you WORE the vehicles and interacted with them in a fashion unlike any other toy line. The hand puppet Insectoid Bug Mounts, brainchild of creator Tim Clarke, allowed for an interactive play pattern wherein a kid slid their hand in the bug just like with a puppet, mounted their Sectaur character on its back like He-Man on Battlecat...and then let their imagination take the "battle" to new heights. Additionally, Sectaurs also boasted, easily, the third largest playset of the '80s, right after The USS Flagg from GI Joe and MOTU's Eternia, The Hyve!
As you can see from these pictures, Sectaurs was no slouch as far as style and "cool" factor were concerned. Bigger, however, is not always better, and Sectaurs would learn this in the toy aisle. Larger figures mean larger packaging, which means more space taken up on shelves, which is not always attractive to retailers, or advantageous to suppliers. Additionally, larger scale figures meant higher price tags, and that certainly wasn't a draw for parents in the 80's. For the price of one Sectaur, a kid could get 2-3 Joes, or one Joe figure and one MOTU figure. Standing out on toy shelves was not an easy task in 1985, and if you didn't soar then you usually crashed and burned fairly quickly. Unfortunately, that is just what Sectaurs did. That was then, this is now, and now? Now the kids of the 80s are grown up, with folding money and credit lines! That said, Sectaurs has seen 2 revisits in the last few years, the first being by way of Zica Toys in 2021 thanks to the success of their 2018 Kickstarter campaign. This effort gave us six figures for the first and only wave. A second campaign for another Kickstarter for Wave 2 was announced but ultimately failed. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, as well as Zica NOT confirming whether or not they'd produce the Insectoid bug mounts, fans got cold feet. The next attempt would come from The Nacelle Company in 2021 which entered into an exclusive licensing deal with 7 Towns, owner of Sectaurs since day one. This agreement would see Nacelle getting a new cartoon to market (still waiting), as well as new figures. They did make good on the figure part of their deal by delivering the first wave of two figures, consisting of Prince Dargon and the previously unproduced Stellara, in 2023. Wave two is, naturally, highly anticipated.
Sectaurs was a line that, unfortunately, fell victim to being one very aesthetically cool and ingenious toy line among MANY toy lines that also claimed the same. As mentioned, the higher price point did not do this line any favors, the NES hitting the market didn't help matters, and Coleco's decision to buy two board game companies at the onset of Nintendo fever certainly hurt matters even further. Perhaps, if an actual season for Sectaurs was created, as opposed to a miniseries, the line may have had more legs. Speaking of the cartoon, the animation was fairly solid, which isn't surprising seeing as how Ruby Spears really put out some quality toons in the 80s. My only complaints with it were that it was too short, the heroes had this strange battle cry, and the insectoids' "scream" was very jarring. Still, I really liked the animation, and damn if those Ruby Spears outro title cards don't just SEIZE your heart with nostalgia.
Folks, that is going to wrap things up for Yesterdaze this week. Diving into Sectaurs was fairly fun, seeing as how the guys were not familiar with this line at all. Just wait, though! Next week is really going to take them to task as we dive into another obscure pick by way of our dear friend Allison Troy. aka The Retro Toy Princess. Next week, we will be revisiting Galoob's Golden Girl: The Guardians of the Gemstones. Not only was this a great property to revisit, but that episode also sees Jason giving us "a very special episode of Yesterdaze" when he teaches me the value of having fun! Come back for ALL the fun next Monday, we'll see you then! -Derek
