important Q about 1980s toy nostalgia

There was a video game called captain skyhawk based on it; quite good IIRC. I think the toys were "captain skyhawk and the solidiers of the future". *Maybe* there was a TV that had the damage encoding too?

*best 13th birthday party ever

I very clearly have many vague memories of whatever it is we are talking about.

the best were those return of the jedi speedbikes that exploded at the press of a button

OMG and it was on TELEVISION!

ONE GAME I REMEMBER WAS F-16 PILOTS IN A VERY POST-TOP GUN WORLD

the animated portins of the tapes had these light patches on some of the
characters/enemies/whatev!

do u guys remember STARCOM? They had magnetic connectors and cargo crates that could fit the mini fighters!

They did this on the tv show! I kind of hate how clearly I can remember blasting the tv screen from point-blank (ie tip of gunship touching screen Duck Hunt style).

starcom was great. my fave one was the little cargo loader. space longshoremen of the future UNITE!

and don't forget Starriors!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NnQ_f9Mbq0I

it's some '60s show called Winky Dink where you would draw on the screen

never seen it personally, there was an interview with Ice-T in Rolling Stone years ago where he was like, "Winky Dink mang!! Winky Dink was some o.g. shit!" Can't find the interview on th' web right now.

for some reason that's what I thought of for "interactive TV"

-- roc u like a § (jo...), November 6th, 2006.

Haha. I probably would, but I don't know where that video is at. I think my dad probably has it now.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NnQ_f9Mbq0I

-- ^@^ (^@^), November 6th, 2006.

Damn! Captain Power couldn't even make me go as nuts as those crazy kids! Hahaha!

^ lol sub robotech

^ wow and this is a sad sad terminator rip

there's a gay joke in here somewhere but it's not really funny or something because it's true

80s Cartoon Intros.

Major Matthew "Hawk" Masterson, fighter in the sky. Lt. Michael "Tank" Ellis, ground assault unit. Sgt. Robert "Scout" Baker, espionage and communications. And Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase, tactical systems expert. Together, they form the most powerful fighting force in Earth's history. Their creed: to protect all life. Their promise: to end Lord Dread's rule. Their name? Captain Power and the Soliders of the Future!"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092329/usercomments

http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/6213/usenet.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ1x2oOsIIo

-- am0n (vv...), November 7th, 2006.

rofl @ centurions: "Doc Terror, and his 'Cyborg Companion' Hacker"

[/X-Entertainment]

In the near future, an evil genius, the cyborg Doc Terror, seeks to conquer the earth; he is assisted by Hacker, the cyborg sidekick and an army of Doom Drones. There were two types of drones: Traumatizers, the most commonly seen drones, were walking robots with several guns, while the Doom Drone was a flying robot with a phallic main gun, and multiple other guns. Dr Terror and Hacker were able to fly by swapping their purely robot half for a Doom Drone missing one set of wings. They were joined on many occasions, starting with the first episode, by Doc Terror's daughter Amber.

At each turn their evil plans are thwarted by the heroic Centurions. The Centurions are a team of men dressed in specially created exo-frames that allow them (upon shouting "Power Extreme") to fuse with 'incredible' assault weapon systems, becoming what the show calls man and machine, Power Xtreme! The end result is a weapons platform somewhere between a hard-suit and a mecha. Originally there were three Centurions:

* Max Ray - 'Brilliant' Sea Operations Commander
* Jake Rockwell - 'Rugged' Land Operations Specialist
* Ace McCloud - 'Daring' Air Operations Expert

The Centurions are based on an orbiting space station called Sky Vault where the token (but very smart) female, Crystal Kane, uses a transporter (similar to the transporters in Star Trek) to send the Centurions, and the requested weapon systems, to where they were needed. To stop Crystal from getting lonely, she is kept company by Shadow the dog and Lucy the orangutan. Crystal plays a similar part in the Centurions' adventures to the operators of the Matrix, suggesting tactics and sending equipment as required.

Later in the series, two more Centurions were added to break the monotony and perhaps add some racial diversity. These were: Rex Charger, the energy expert, and John Thunder, the Apache infiltration expert.

[edit] Assault weapon systems

Each of the Centurions was specialised for a particular domain, originally land, sea or air/space. They all had multiple weapon systems that could be 'charged' to their exoframes. Typically each started out with the basic system and later in an episode would upgrade to a larger and more powerful system. The exoframes must act as a kind of exoskeleton, because no matter how large the system got, the Centurions never seemed to get weighed down by the equipment. They also never seem to take the suits off.

* Ace McCloud (Aerospace)
o Sky Knight – the basic air system; small, lightly armed jet pack like air assault system with arm missiles, a chest mounted bomb and lasers
o Orbital Interceptor – non-atmospheric craft and featured several missiles and guns; usually used for space missions, but was used underwater on at least one episode.
o Sky Bolt – a heavily armed fighter-jet, and carried missiles, bombs and guns.
o Strato Strike
o Air Assault
* Max Ray (Sea)
o Cruiser – the basic sea system; a SCUBA system with a gun and missile.
o Tidal Blast – a larger undersea system with two large torpedoes and shoulder mounted grappling line
o Depth Charger – a self contained submersible with torpedoes, periscope and depth-charge/mine
o Sea Bat – a surface system with guns and missiles, similar to a manta ray in appearance.
o Aqua-Blazer
o Fathom Fan
* Jake Rockwell (Land)
o Fireforce – the basic system; a gattling gun and shoulder-mounted bazooka
o Detonator – a larger walker, with freeze-rays and missiles
o Wild Weasel – a gun equipped human-motorcycle that could move in a prone or standing position
o Hornet – a helicopter with guns and missiles
o Swingshot – a tracked gun platform.
o Awesome Auger- a drill like weapons system, rarely used.
o Land Laser
* Rex Charger (Energy)
o Electro-Charger
o Gatling Guard
* John Thunder (Infiltration)
o Silent Arrow
o Thunder Knife

On rare occasions, one of the Centurions might use another's weapon system. The results were usually comical as they were unfamiliar with controlling the weapon system.

The three main Centurions and all their weapon systems, along with Dr Terror, Hacker, Strafer and Traumatizer were available as toys. There was also a wind-up power pack meant to add "power to all centurions heroes and hero assault weapons systems."

[edit] Themes

As well as the adventure side of the show, the series considered various science-fiction themes. In particular, the fusion or relationship between humans and technology was a focus throughout the show's run. A number of episodes also revolved around ecological themes, mainly involving Dr Terror's attempts to extort money from the governments of the world by threatening to destroy some aspect of the environment. Many of the plots were also genre parodies, including "Zone-Dancer's" take on film noir/Blade Runner, and "An Alien Affair's" take on Alien. Even the subject of magic was explored when Ace became involved with a woman named Cassandra Cross, who was a practitioner of white magic. Her evil twin sister, Lilith joined forces with Doc Terror in "Return of Cassandra". Both characters were voiced by B.J. Ward.

http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/images-da/silverhawks.jpg