STARRIORS!!

Also made by Tomy, these are more "toy-like" than their Zoid cousins. These came either carded (as shown in the back of the pic) or boxed in the case of the larger pieces. All heads, arms and legs are mounted on pins and can be exchanged with other Starriors or even mounted on different positions on the same Starrior (IE- the arms can be mounted on the side of the torso or on top of the shoulders). Starriors were also released in the UK under the moniker "R.A.T.S." and in Japan as well. The other issues aren't quite as -ahem- "colorful" as the US releases!

Most of the Starriors have a pilot that is the exact same molding as the Zoids mindriders. Unlike the Zoids, the canopies are fixed in place and the pilots cannot be removed. The Starriors also have little windup weapons. Wind them up and they do something: spin, move back and forth, etc. There's also a small on/off switch. My favorite is Deadeye, the big dinosaur-looking beast in the left rear of the pic (red and black). He is remote controlled by a simple clicker device. Each click of the device causes him to: move forward, rotate in place, stop, shoot disks from his mouth, repeat. Very cool!

There were small comics that were included with each toy and also a series of 4 larger comics that had a more engaging story line. Richard Miske has the basic story on his site, click HERE.

Richard also has a cool page that is your basic field guide to the names of the different Starriors. Go to his site by clicking HERE.