One of the greatest of all Star Wars knock-off toy lines came from Milton Bradley in the late 1970s. The Electronic Star Bird (Milton Bradley) came first, and later the The Star Bird Avenger and The Star Bird Intruder. The designs for these plastic, interactive starships were fantastic, and the vessels could even come apart and re-form in new combinations, not entirely unlike the Micronaut Hornetroid or the Mattel Eagle One that I covered here last week.
My (now-deceased) grandfather drove me all over New Jersey in 1979 in an effort to find a Star Bird. We finally found both at Willowbrook Mall in what I believe was a Radio Shack. He purchased the ship for me at a price of thirty dollars, and then took me to lunch at Roy Rogers. It was a day I'll never forget, and which means a lot to me, especially now.
From the same Milton Bradley set comes the Star Bird Command Base, a huge "action control center" for the Electronic Star Bird.
Requiring assembly, the Star Bird Command Base is absolutely huge at a height of over 25". I had one of these for the longest time, but then in a fit of over-generosity gave mine away to a friend's child in 1997. I've regretted being so nice ever since. What was I thinking?
I recently got my hands on the very Command Base you see pictured in this post, and Joel and I assembled it together last week. He promptly manned the control tower with Zama, Horta, Dard, Brack and other rubber Diener "robots" from the same era. All the orange, plastic astronauts that actually go with the set, however, have been termed "Under Men" by Joel and can only work under the base, not on the actual tower. Don't ask me why.
Best toy ever! Or almost one of the best toys I've ever had!