The Story of the Sectaurs - A Toy Documentary

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In 1985 an insect themed toy line appeared in the United States. It featured seven inch action figures with companions and riding mounts that were in actuality puppets that a child could control with their hand. This toy line existed in a fully realized universe on a planet where the people had mutated into half-human, half-insect heroes and villains. The toys were expertly crafted and highly detailed with an ambitious marketing campaign that included an animated mini-series and comics. A year later the toy line vanished. Where did these toys come from? How were they made? Who was responsible for their creation? And what happened to these insect warriors and their faithful steed? The answers to these questions have remained a mystery throughout the years. Until now, this is their story. [00:00:54] Speaker ?: I grew up in the 1980s and toys were a huge part of my childhood. We didn't have mobile devices, [00:01:14] Speaker 1: or even the internet to occupy our time. Kids of that era had toys and imagination. And what a time it was to be a kid. You see, in 1977 a little movie called Star Wars came out. A toy company from Cincinnati, Ohio named Kenner took a chance, creating the toys for the film, not knowing how they would be received. Star Wars toys were a smash hit, selling in the millions. This ushered in a renaissance in the action figure market. Many toy companies wanted to get a slice of the pie and were not afraid to take chances. Dozens of different properties were born. Some were hits, while others did not fare as well. Us kids, however, reaped the rewards no matter how successful they were, because our imaginations took flight. This is where the sectors come in. The sectors were created by puppet and toy designer Tim Clark. They were created by puppet and toy designer Tim Clark. This is where the sectors come in. The sectors were created by puppet and toy designer Tim Clark. The sectors were created by puppet and toy designer Tim Clark. The sectors were created by puppet and toy designer Tim Clark. Tim worked for Sesame Street puppet maker Kermit Love and later Jim Henson and contributed to TV shows Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and the film The Dark Crystal. Tim not only created the sectors, but also the Boglins. Both of these toy lines involved hand puppets. And the idea for the sectors, like most ideas, started small. As small as an insect. A fly, as a matter of fact. [00:02:48] Tim Clark: There was a fly hand puppet that I made while working for Kermit Love, who is the guy who designed Big Bird and Snuffleupagus. He was a college professor of mine and I started working for him right out of college. And when we didn't have projects to do, I would make puppets, you know, of the materials around the studio. I had a Halloween party to go to and I never liked wearing masks, you know, because you go to a Halloween party, you wear a mask and then you can't drink or eat. So I thought, oh, what should I do? And then I thought, oh, you know, I'm like, I started playing around with the idea of making this fly that was used your fingers as its legs as a hand puppet. And I just started playing around with all the different materials around the studio and I made that fly hand puppet. That was back in 78. And I went to the Halloween party and I would be holding my drink with the fly and drinking and people go, oh, that's gross. Or I would just go over to people and sit it on their shoulder and then, you know, like walk it down their arm and put its proboscis into their drink. And the reaction to it was phenomenal. So then years later, when I started working with Seven Towns, they are my representative in licensing several of my toy products. I was sitting in a meeting with Maureen Trotto, who was my business partner at that time, and Larry Mass, who was the agent for Seven Towns in the New York office. And we were talking about different ideas and showing Larry different ideas that Maureen and I had been developing as toy products. And I pulled out the fly and I said, you know, I made this years ago, but, you know, I still think it would be really cool as a kid's toy. And Larry saw it and he said, oh, this is great. This is just brilliant. He said, we should put an action figure on the back of it. So then Maureen started making more prototypes and Larry showed those prototypes to Coleco at Toy Fair of that year, which was probably 82. And Coleco flipped out over it. They just loved the whole idea. And so that's the was the beginnings of sectors. And then once Coleco purchased the concept, we worked for about three months designing and sketching all the different characters for the line. And the people at Coleco in the design division took our concept drawings and created the toy products that came out on the market. [00:05:50] Speaker 1: That brings us to Coleco, the toy company responsible for producing the sectors. In the 1980s, Coleco was the fifth biggest toy company in the United States. Founded in 1932, Coleco wasn't always a toy company, but began life as the Connecticut Leather Company, Coleco. At one point, they started making leather craft kits for kids and realizing the opportunity, expanded into the toy industry. The company eventually ditched the leather works completely and got into plastics, producing products like sleds and kiddie poles before getting into more conventional toys. In the 1970s, Coleco Industries expanded into the lucrative field of electronic gaming, creating the hit ColecoVision video game console in 1982. With the video game crash of 1983 and the decline of electronic gaming consoles of that time, the company attempted to shift into the realm of home computing with their Coleco Atom computer. The Atom failed horribly, costing the company millions in losses. However, Coleco struck gold when they licensed Xavier Roberts' Cabbage Patch Kids doll line. It went on to be the Christmas hit of 1983, generated hundreds of millions in revenue, and brought the company back from the brink of disaster. Realizing the popularity and profits of the Cabbage Patch Kids would not last forever, Coleco expanded into the hot action figure market of the early 1980s. Flying high on success and creativity, Coleco was eager to find the next big thing in the world of toys. Coleco had now secured the rights to the sectors, and it was time to begin the lengthy process of bringing Tim Clark, Marine Trotto, and Larry Mass's toy concepts to life. Coleco would need to find the creative talent to create sketches, sculpt the characters, make molds, prototype, test, market, and produce the figures, their accessories, and the puppet beasts they would be riding. Creating toys is very complicated, so before I go any further, we should probably go over just exactly how a toy is made. The quick version. The first thing, as always, is to come up with an idea. From there, the idea is given to an artist, who will then create some form of sketch or rendering to convey that idea in two dimensions. Once the visual representation is approved, it is then handed off to someone who will take it from two dimensions to three dimensions. This is usually a sculptor who will create a model or sculpture of the sketch in 3D. Back in the 1980s, this was done entirely by hand. There was no 3D software to be employed. Once the sculpture is approved, the sculptor will usually make some molds out of their original piece. This is so they have a few copies, or castings, of the object. The mold is usually some form of rubber or similar material, and the casting is usually made with some type of liquid resin or urethane that will harden when dried. The item may then be painted and handled for testing. This completed first model of the object is called a prototype. As with the previous steps, changes can be made at this point. Perhaps management wants to change some details, or maybe go with a different color. Or change it back. Once the prototype is approved, a final casting called a pattern is created and handed off to the toy factory. At this point, the toy factory creates high quality master molds out of the pattern. These molds are made out of metal and are very expensive to create, as they will be used to mass produce the final toy. The factory will set things up and run off a small quantity of the finished pieces. They will use the actual materials and paint the toys, making them exactly as the final mass produced product will appear. This is called a first shot. The first shots are then sent to the toy company for final approval. It is still possible to make some changes and small tweaks at this point. But this is the last and final step before the toys are run on the assembly line at the toy factory. Once approved, the factory is given the go ahead and the final production of the toy is begun. Eventually ending up on toy shells for the consumer. And that's how a toy is made. The quick version. So the process had begun. Sketches were being made and a team of artists and designers was being assembled. This is when a young sculptor named Jeff Lawrence joins the Sectors team. [00:10:08] Speaker 3: I started in 1982 doing freelance work for Coleco. Then in 1984, a position at Coleco opened up and I accepted it. And they moved me from Long Island right up to Hartford, Connecticut. So as I started there, you know, full time, they had the Sectors project already in progress. So I got plugged right into that immediately. And that's kind of where it started. I was pretty excited about working on the Sectors project. When I saw it, I thought, "Oh, wow, look at this. This is great." And that was basically the attitude of everybody. I mean, I was part of a group. And actually, two of us were pulled to go to a separate area of the building where the Sectors was being worked on. And they set us all up there with all our clay and sculpture tools and all the things that we needed. And the other two-dimensional Sectors designers were in that area also. There was two of us that were doing the sculpture for Dargon and Spydrex. And the other sculptor had started the heads. And then I got the job to do the bodies for both Dargon and Spydrex. That's where I started. I jumped right in on those two bodies and made them. And we made them three times their production size. So they were large figures. But that's a nice way to work. It's easier to make details on a larger figure. And then they panograph them down and all the detail sharpens up and it really turns out nice. I also worked on the dragonflyer, the head for the dragonflyer, and did that one from start to finish. And that would be in what people are calling the first wave. [00:11:53] Speaker 1: For wave one, Kalika produced a total of nine figures, with one being a repaint of main hero Dargon. The heroes and villains are evenly split, with four characters each. The heroes consist of two deluxe figure sets and three basic sets. The first of the basic figure sets is Zack, man of action and close friend of Prince Dargon. His companion insect is named Bytor. And Bytor does exactly that. With a push of the button on his back, his jaws clamp shut in a biting motion. The second basic set's figure is Mantor, the wise Obi-Wan Kenobi type mentor character to Prince Dargon. It has a plan words as Mantor, the mentor, is based on the original sketch, which resembles a mantis. He comes with this insect named Rappler. It has a cool repelling mechanism of a string on a spool, complete with grappling hook. The third basic set for the heroes is a silver repaint of main character Dargon. He's billed as Night Fighting Prince Dargon, as his antenna and night vision goggles glow in the dark. He comes in a basic set, as the only other way to get him is with one of the more expensive deluxe sets. The deluxe sets come with large mount type insects for the characters to ride upon. The rideable mounts are puppets, of course, as the tagline for the Sectors is, "Now the battle is in your hands." Literally, as your hand brings life to the puppet. Dargon's mount is named Dragonflyer. It is huge in size and a lot of fun to play with, looking both majestic and imposing as you control the legs. It has real fur, flapping wings, and snapping jaws. Included with the mount is Prince Dargon. He's the main character, and his blue colored version is even better than his silver counterpart. Dargon is the best designed figure on the side of the heroes, and the most iconic and recognizable sector in the entire toy line. Rounding out the deluxe sets is Pinsor. He's a definite homage to Man-at-Arms from Masters of the Universe, as he's the hero's weapons master, and he rocks a fierce mustache. He comes with the battle beetle mount, which has snapping claws action, and insect legs you control with your hand. All good heroes deserve an even better villain, and the Sectors have one of the best, with General Spydrax. He's the first of the bad guy's deluxe sets, and he's incredibly intimidating with his red eyes and evil fanged grin. He comes with his furry mount, the spider flyer. The only thing scarier than a humanoid spider is one riding a giant hairy arachnid that can fly. It's a shame that kids had to shell out the big bucks to get Spydrax, as he does not come as a basic figure like Dargon. But, Spydrax is hands down the best of the villains, and his mount is no exception. The second villain deluxe set is Skalk and Trancula, another spider riding on a spider. His mount is a cool tarantula puppet. Skalk is the scheming son of Spydrax's boss, the Empress of the Dark Domain. Essentially, Skalk is the Sectors' version of Starscream from the Transformers, or G.I. Joe's Destro, as he's always clashing with the main bad guy for power, instead of working with them to defeat the heroes. The first of the two basic villain sets is Commander Waspax. He's Spydrax's loyal second-in-command, and the most normal-looking of the evil Sectors. His insect companion is named Winged. It's a wasp-type insect, and its action feature is that it has flapping wings. The final basic set is Skeeto, the villain for hire character. Every series has one, and Skeeto fits the bill to a tee. He's ugly, and just plain evil. He comes with Toxid. It's a poison-spitting beetle, and its action feature is that it squirts water. That covers all eight characters, the mounts, and their insect companions. All the figures are roughly seven inches tall, if you count their antennae. And they all have excellent detail, and great articulation, especially for their time period. To top things off, Coleco went one step further, and designed one of the biggest play sets of all time. This is the hive. It has to be large enough to accommodate seven-inch action figures, so it is simply huge. Measuring at 28 inches wide, and an incredible three feet tall. [00:16:24] Speaker 3: A lot of us worked on the hive. It came in from an outside source, and then it needed to have some extra work done to it, so our team jumped in and tightened it up and got it the way we wanted it, and that was quite a project. It was so big that a couple of us could work on it at once, and so we did that, and then we also produced a giant mold for it, and casting, and then the very first shots that were made for that were large vacuum forms that were painted up and decorated. [00:16:51] Speaker 1: The hive is quite impressive, in not only size, but its incredible play features. Story-wise, the good guys and bad guys are always fighting for control of the hive, so it has all sorts of fun traps to prevent entry into this mysterious palace. There are weapons, pitfalls, and even a wrecking ball on top to knock figures off. The real kicker is that the puppet feature is well incorporated into the hive. It has not only a snake finger puppet named Vipex, but also a large spider hand puppet called Gnar. Gnar is definitely the playset's most memorable feature. It's a lot of fun to jump out and snatch enemy figures away. It then disappears back into its lair, as if nothing ever happened. Lurking, and ready to strike again, at any given moment. Wave one of the Sectors line had been completed, and it was now time for Coleco to present the toys to retailers. On February 11th, 1985, the Sectors made their debut at the annual Toy Fair in New York City. [00:18:02] Speaker 3: The first round, as far as I know, everything was fine, they did well. Mattel had He-Man, and Hasbro had G.I. Joe, but it seems like action figures were really just starting to come into their own at that point. We went all out to make sectors like the best action figures that were going to be there. When the buyers went through, it must have been decent what they wrote up and said that they would take. Because, I mean, they made it into all the stores. They were in KB Toys, and the other one was Toys R Us. When they came out, we went down to Toys R Us and looked and saw them in the stores, and we were all excited about that. So, yeah, the first wave, they got them out there. As soon as we were done with the first wave, we started in on the second wave. They always keep you busy, and you're always working ahead for the next year. [00:18:51] Speaker 1: The retail orders were placed, the toys were mass-produced, and the Sectors started to appear on toy shelves across the country. At retail, the Sectors came in large and colorful window boxes, and along with the figures, mounts, and insect companions, the sets included ample accessories. A mini-comic. Along with the toys, Coleco created a multimedia marketing campaign that consisted of commercials, a comic mini-series created by Marvel Comics, and a five-part animated series. The Sectors had their own fan club, newsletter, and even made costume public appearances. They were everywhere, at least for a little while. But, Coleco didn't think long-term. Like their competitors, who had long-running animated series and comics. The Sectors were only mini-series type of events, and didn't continue. Thus, the public's awareness of the Sectors diminished quickly. As did the toy sales. The Sectors just didn't sell. They spent most of the year of 1985 sitting on toy shelves, and not in the hands of the consumers, before ultimately moving to the bargain bin, and disappearing from stores completely. [00:19:59] Speaker 3: The sales for that just wasn't there. They may have been on the expensive side, and that could have been part of the problem. Why Sectors didn't take off like a Masters of the Universe type thing. The kids' parents maybe didn't really want to drop quite that much money. [00:20:14] Speaker 1: Price-wise, in 1985, the basic Sectors figures cost around $8, while the deluxe figures with their mounts cost up to $25. Compared to competitors like Masters of the Universe, which averaged $5 per figure, and GI Joe, which cost just $3 each, there was a considerable price difference. You could almost buy twice as many Masters of the Universe, or three times the amount of Joes, for the price of one basic Sectors figure. The Sectors also came in huge window boxes, which took up a lot of valuable retail shelf space. Stores hate the way shelf space is something that just doesn't seem to be selling. By 1986, the Sectors were finished. Or were they? In February of 1986, the Sectors made an appearance in Coleco's Toy Fair catalog. Along with the regular selection of heroes and villains we all know, there was a mysterious array of strange characters. Remember, Jeff Lawrence and the Sectors team was hard at work on Wave 2, a year ahead of their intended release before the whole project was canned. They had created a whole slew of new characters, and Coleco had already photographed and put them in the catalog. Sadly, these characters would never see the light of day. Over the years, fans of the Toy Liner probably come across online images of the intended new figures, but it was all a mystery, and not much was known beyond those photographs. A total of five new figures were created, one of which was a silver knight fighting repaint of Spy Drax as a basic figure set. It was intended that kids would now be able to get the main villain without purchasing the expensive deluxe set. There was also Body Ball, a yellow pill bug type of hero that could fold up into a ball. And the one and only female figure, Stellara. The villains had a new muscle-bound purple character by the name of Knuckles. He had a large green arm with a punching action feature. And finally, the last of the new figures was villain Bandor. [00:22:11] Speaker 3: Bandor, that was a figure that I did from top to bottom. I did everything, the head, arms, legs, you name it, on him I did it. He's kind of got like a head that looks a little bit Tyrannosaurus Rex-like. I've always liked all kinds of monster things. To work on stuff like this was fun. Once you really get into a project, it almost ceases to be a job. The Bandor figure made it to what they call first shots. That's when the first pieces are being run through the production molds and sent back to Coleco for approval. It never went into full-blown production. They got those first shots and then everything stopped. And it's also like that for Stellara. [00:22:50] Speaker 1: Bandor and Stellara are some of the rarest action figures out there. Once in a blue moon, you may see one in an online auction. These completed first shot figures number in the single digits. And they are actual pieces of toy history. Wave 2 also had new insect companions intended for the characters. It had battle bug catapult type insects that could launch projectiles. And some mid-sized insects that could be bought separately from the figures. A total of three of these were created. And they all had action features. A couple of these insects, called creepers, made it to the first shot phase. But none have been spotted in recent years. Perhaps the samples were discarded or lost over time. Thankfully, Jeff had stored one of the creeper prototypes he worked on. This fellow here is called Gyrofly. All the creepers went along with the puppet theme and had moveable legs that were controlled by your fingers. Gyrofly's action feature is that if you pull one of his legs, it revs a mechanism inside that opens his wings and releases a small red flying disc. It actually works quite well and would have been an incredibly fun toy for kids. Coleco had plans for not only new characters and insect companions for Wave 2, but more accessories. And new rideable mounts. Most never made it past the prototype or even the sculpting phase. The Sectors could have gone on for years and years with all the creative new concepts Coleco and their design team had planned. Sadly, the Sectors line ended. And not long after that, so did Coleco. On July 12th of 1988, Coleco filed for Chapter 11. A year later, the company was bought by Hasbro for $85 million. Coleco never had another hit like the Cabbage Patch Kids and once interest in them waned, so did sales. The Sectors and their other toy lines were just not successful enough to support the company and its growing debt. It's a shame that the Sectors line ended so soon. The toys were incredibly creative and are fondly remembered by fans. Not only that, but they're still recognized today for their uniqueness and exciting play features by people just now discovering these insect adventurers. [00:25:08] Speaker ?: The Sectors and its growing debtors are the same. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. 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The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt. The Sectors and its growing debt.