The Failure of Sectaurs: Bug Puppets Couldn't Compete
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2023
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Join us as we take a nostalgic journey through the colorful history of Sectaurs, a unique toy line that combined action figures with insect-inspired creatures and bug puppets. From their memorable TV commercials to the intricate world-building, Sectaurs captured the imaginations of children and collectors alike. However, despite its initial success, the franchise ultimately struggled to compete in an ever-evolving toy market with the likes of He-Man, GI Joe & Transformers.
We delve into the challenges faced by the brand, such as limited distribution, fierce competition from other toy lines, and changing consumer preferences. We also discuss the impact of technological advancements during that era and how they affected Sectaurs' ability to maintain relevance along with the attempts to reboot the line.
So, if you're a fan of retro toys, a collector seeking to understand the rise and fall of Sectaurs, or simply curious about the history of toy franchises, this video is a must-watch. Join us as we uncover the fascinating tale of Sectaurs and discuss why these bug puppets couldn't compete in the ever-changing toy landscape.
SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectaurs
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco
www.entertainmentearth.com/ne...
www.sectaurs.com/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
shorefire.com/releases/entry/...
toy-wizards.com/2020/03/04/to...
www.toonopedia.com/sectaurs.htm
www.imdb.com/title/tt0173597/
www.newspapers.com/image/2533...
www.newspapers.com/image/2673...
www.figurerealm.com/actionfig...
www.virtualtoychest.com/s/sect...
• Sectaurs Warriors Of S...
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Those rainbow colored clear wings still cannot be properly replicated today. I remember the striking beauty of them as a child. The metallic iridescent paint each character had making it sparkle in the light.
The unique materials and excellent build quality of these toys really made this toy line exceptional, there was nothing else like it on the shelves.
@DJChrist2006 I wouldn't say excellent build quality. The wings on the puppets are extremely fragile, and the shoulder and hip joints on the figures are notorious for breaking. If you played too rough with these figures, they were toast.
The 80s were the best! Even gobots transformers & a Voltron I have were made of metal not plastic like now!
It's too bad this franchise didn't take off. The quality of the toys was much higher than most of its peers and it was a very creative concept. But I was a kid at the time this line came out and there was just something about it that didn't quite grab me. I guess I wasn't the only one.
I had all of them when I was a kid. I loved them. The glove concept was awesome, and I remember my friends and I basically wearing those things everywhere. lol
Also helped that I find bugs interesting.
Didn't take off...no pun intended
They looked interesting to me, but I was still more into Transformers, Gobots, GI Joe, and He-Man.
I'm an 80s kid too and had figures from most of the toy lines Secret Galaxy covers; the insect theme was a complete turn-off. Robots, cyborgs, superhumans, magic were all fine, but insects?
Yeah. As a kid, I immediately fell in love with the cool bug guy toys but they vanished from shelves not long afterward.
Seems like every kid had at least one random Sectaurs action figure laying around. I had one before I even discovered that there was a show to go along with it.
My brother and I had The Hive. It was a legendary play set. It didn’t matter what toys you were using with it, it all worked. Especially after GI Joe introduced Cobra-La
Short-lived, but one of the largest, most impressive looking playsets....
Compared to everything else clogging the market, these things were insanely ahead of their time. Cool designs, unheard-of levels of articulation for figures in that size range, unique “vehicles” and more accessories than a kid could lose in a single Christmas morning.
I think I burned through at least one birthday and more than a few allowances completing the set. Usually had ‘em beating up He-man and feeding the Eternians to Skulk’s freaky-ass acromantula mount.
I can't help but to feel like this was the right toy for the wrong decade. Sectuarus would've fit in with the 90s love of gross out humor and Goosebumps kid horror boom.
Agreed, the title could have been : "Sectaurs: Xtreme Mutant Insects"....now that's about as Deep-90's as you can get for a cartoon title.
It would have had to have been modified. Anything even resembling sword and sorcery was Not going to sell to the mainstream. We were all about ninja turtles and x men in those days.
@@Shastavalleyoutdoorsman Pirates of Dark Water would like a word with you...
@@tgdm That ran for a season here...
@@tgdm Also that show does not fall in the sword and sorcery genre. Just because there were swords.
I love Sectaurs, they were just too expensive for the time. Actually still have mine from the 80s that my grandma purchased for me. Rip grandma.
I still remember my Grandma buying me Sectaurs at the Woolworths downtown as a kid. Boy, does this bring me back.
RIP Woolworth.
@@user-rl2jl8zx1c and Grandma
Be ready 💰💰 for the new line made by NACELLE COMPANY
@@phoule76 yeah, boaf of them 🪦
I still have the the three main characters
This unlocked an old memory for me, I remember owning the toys, but they were random purchases my parents made for me. So I had no connection to a show or anything.
Same
My granny got me the main villain and his bug as a Christmas present. Sadly, toy did not survive contact with Labrador!
Many a good toy has lost their lives to overly playful pups.
Ohhh nooo! Hopefully not on the same day at least?!
Fackin' Newfies!
No puppets promised but still want to back them...Damn, we're in a tight spot!
I had a couple of these when I was a kid. I loved how huge they were in comparison to other toys coming out at the time. I liked squishing their heads and making their faces look funny. I had a lot of fun with the "puppet" aspect of them too. Oh, and gluing their antennae back on when they fell off. Good times.
I squished the heads like that too! 😂
I vaguely remember this show. There was a swarm of Sectaur toys in the KAY-BEE clearance section. The puppets were cool.
^THIS. They were in clearance as fast as they were out to stores.
I didn't even know there was a show until today.
I totally missed the show, and I had the toys. Don't remember what happened to it. I managed to catch everything else during that time.
“…a swarm of Sectaur toys?” I see what you did there 🐝👾
My husband and I both had Sectaurs as kids, and neither of us has met anyone else who's heard of them. I liked the puppet part but the wings were too fragile, I took them off and made them spiders.
I had the full set of toys as a kid. As did most of my friends. We loved them.
And yeah, the wings were quite fragile, but we were able to keep them in one piece.
i did the same thing after the wings broke on mine - i didn't call them spiders, though, i made up a word, but i can't remember what it was now - bug-something
i kept getting the bugs taken away from me since i kept scaring my sister with them - i had the glow in the dark Dargon and... hm, can't remember any more
@@AdamBladeTaylor I think the only one I missed was the flapping wing mini-bug & figure. I'll need the check the complete set online but I recognized everything in the commercial.
@@AdamBladeTaylorit was a great line where you didn’t really need them all, but it was great if you could get them. It didn’t feel like you were missing “the team” if you didn’t have them all, like Ninja Turtles.
For the Shining Realm!
I had a Dargon action figure, my cousin severed his antenna with scissors to make him look more "real." I shouldn't be, but I'm still pissed and bitter about it.
I used to work in Salem, NH, thats the next town over from Methuen!
I've never heard of Sectaurs before, but the toys look awesome and that opening sequence for the show looks like awesome kids-grade body horror.
Speaking of being in a tight spot, as a kid I had larger hands and couldn't fit into the gloves of the puppets. That and bugs grossing me out led to this not being a toy line I was interested in.
Dan "Shipwreck" Larson speaking in Destro's voice. Dude has range!
All I remember of the Sectaurs toys was the puppets. A few of my friends had them but never saw any of the figures. We would put other toys in the seats. The puppets were just way cooler than any figure could be.
I got into this franchise very briefly as a kid...that love came and went quickly only to be trumped by my love for GI Joe ❤️
I had the spider. I quickly lost the figure and his associated small bug. But the puppet remained...under the great purge perpetrated by my then Step-Father. Now it exists at the bottom of some landfill :(
I collected this toy line as a kid and just added it to my he-man collection
These were ridiculously cool, and I wanted to collect them, but they were much larger than any other figures I collected, and were also much more expensive, so I regrettably passed on them.
I had one of the Sectaurs with a hand puppet mount back in the day which probably made me the only kid I knew who was aware of their existence. It's too bad that Sectaurs were lost in the deluge of 80's toy properties but it's good to see they are not entirely forgotten. As I've always said, the 80's was a great time to be a kid. We had THE best toys. They may not have all been equally popular but the creativity on display was staggering compared to the utter blandness of today's offerings.
I agree!! By far the best toys and time to be a kid! I had some Sectaurs action figured and the playset. Good times!!
Wow I had one of these and totally had memory holed it. The moment I saw Bitaur it was like "Memory unlocked."
I had all four of the smaller-bug figures and the two non-flyer puppet bugs and also….wait for it….The Hive. This was my second favorite line as a kid after Masters of the Universe.
I did have the hand puppet toy and loved it. To this day I still occasionally pretend my hand is a bug.
I remember this franchise well, I never had the toys but my cousins did, this had so much potential and it's a shame it never took off in a big way,
I had one Sectaur, and my 2nd cousins had the puppets at a family renunion. I was so jealous with the one random Sectaur figure.
Man, so other great toys I wish didn't get lost/ sold over the years. I had Skulk with Trancula along with Mantlor and Raplor. Trancula found its way into just about every play time because, who doesn't want a giant spider monster attacking the heroes?
Always thought this was a great idea, including the idea of the larger creatures as puppets which made the toys far more interactive and giving them more character. Who doesn't love puppets?
I had all the figures that were released in this line. The only thing I didn't have was The Hive. I also had a storybook. I loved this line.
I do not remember the show at all but I absolutely loved my mountable bug puppets
These were some of my favourite toys as a kid. If they ever PROPERLY reissue them, I'll buy them all--and I'm no collector.
I remember the Sectaurs commercials actually told a story, each one with a "to be continued..." teaser
I still have a Commander Waspax figure. Not in the best shape, it got a lot of play time when I was a kid.
My neighbour had all the puppet toys, they were amazing.
Think their parents picked them up cheap.
I'd never seen them before. This was the 80s too.
The most memorable aspect of sectars for me was the toy commercials. I never saw the animated mini series, and for some reason growing up I never wanted action figures outside the 3.75” scale. But as an avid watcher of Saturday morning cartoons it donned on me that this line used their commercials to tell a story. IIRC the commercials were serialized building a story 30 seconds at a time. At some point I realized each month we got a new commercial. I vividly remember waking up on a Saturday morning knowing it was a new month and looking forward not only to the new advent The Transformers and GI Joe but a new half minute entry in the Sectars mythology.
There is an episode of American Dad where the family gets hooked on a game of Simon. Upon realizing this, Klaus, the fish, screams to the sky "Damn you Hasbroooooo!"
Every time we see the 'Hasbro - til all are one' joke, I so badly wish that little clip was included, it'd be perfect. XD
This “Cabbage Patch Incident” was at Zayre in my hometown of Wilkes-Barre PA! My mom was there to get a cabbage patch for my sister. No safe spaces that day… but rainchecks for Star Wars toys EBERY RELEASE DAY!!
Awesome video!! I was actually reading the Marvel comic last night!! Right along with Air Raiders...love this channel!!❤
I remember the comic having excellent artwork, especially for a licensed toy-tie-in-title.
My bought me 2 pupets in a flea market back in the late 80s, and I still have them. THX mom, I will always miss you.
The comics are worth nothing today but are still priceless to me and I still have them. The only thing better than Sectaurs was the Micronauts.
I LOVED these toys as a kid. Made out like a bandit when Mom found them on clearance at a JC Penney. I got Prince Dargon with Dragonflyer (big puppet), General Spidrax with Spiderflyer (another big puppet), and Zak with Bitaur (little bug guy). All on the same holiday. Plus, other non-Sectaur toys to boot. It was the first Christmas after my dad passed, and Mom was keen to make sure us kids were still excited for the holidays instead of just sad. So, she went a little overboard. But still, great toys and great memories playing with them. It's too bad the new lines don't seem to be incorporating the puppets, because those were my favorite aspect of the series.
One Christmas Eve in the mid 80s I was very very sick and spending the holidays in the hospital again. My parents, who had very little money, bought me extra presents to open to cheer me up because I was sad that I’d miss Santa. The presents were a bunch of Sectaurs, no doubt bought on clearance and oddly still on shelves on Christmas Eve. I didn’t care, I loved them. Especially Mantor. All without ever seeing the show or comics.
I was bewildered seeing the commercial ad. Sectaurs had potential to flourish like the Micronauts had but in the 80s toy competition market, already filled. They mirrored what Visionaries began and failed.
I still have my childhood Sectaurs, the Zica figures, and am (patiently?) waiting for the release of the Nacelle figures. SECTAURS will have their day!!!!
The base was so amazing and HUGE.
I was a huge fan of this as a kid. I went all in, begging for every gift to be another from this series. I never got it all, but with some well timed life milestones we did end up with the Hans puppets, the big hive, and a couple of the figures. We played the daylights out of these.
My mother gave them away to someone’s kid when I was in college without me knowing…. There was a lot of grumbling, but I’m glad they got a second life to enthrall a new generation.
This was about 5 years ahead of my time.
I remember that some store near me in Houston (something equivalent to a Dollar General, don't recall the name) had some people come into the store wearing life sized costumes of the Prince and the General doing photo ops with the kids in the store right around the debut of the toyline.
These had the best commercials. There was an actual storyline that ran through them. I wish the video had touched on that aspect.
1 of the GREATEST toy lines from the 80's. Whoever didn't buy these is an idiot! They were much better than most of the other lines offered at the time. I had them all except for the Hyve because I never saw it anywhere.
I had almost all of them, no hive; had all 4 hand puppet figures; my mom is scared of the smallest spider and she still bought them for me. I remember having lots of fun with these.
Oh, man, I loved the Sectaurs. I had no idea there was a new series of toys. I had the original Dargon and Dragonflyer, Zak and Bitaur, Waspax and Wingid, and Skito and Toxcid as a girl. My sister had Mantis/Mantor and Raplor. I still remember the warning for Toxcid ("Do not drink from Toxcid." LOL!) The puppets *were* kind of creepy, but they were also awesome. I had homemade videotapes of the cartoon, I collected the comics, and even had several of the other big picture books. The stories in those big books were below my reading level...but I loved that damned line. What a trip down memory lane this was. Thanks for covering them in more detail!
I was one of the few kids in my area that had Sectaurs figures. I had Spydrax and his hand in puppet mount. I loved that thing. He frequently fought with my Thundercats and Masters of the Universe toys.
Love the 'O Brother Where art Thou' references!
Sectaurs were one of my fav lines from my childhood . I had several figures and the spider and dragonfly hand puppets. I would be super pumped to see it make a come back.
Man, I loved those damn Sectaurs!
Living in Montreal, I was lucky enough, to be best friends who 2 cool dudes, whose Mom (R.I.P.) worked for Coleco.!!
That means we either got our Sectaurs for free, or with a major price drop!
Not sure of the exact year, but near the end of the run, we had a Sectaur Christmas :)
I still remember the feeling of sliding my hand in the satin glove, which let you, "Wear" the dragongfly toy. The see through wings had a rainbow pattern, that would shine through on a sunny day.
The wings also would flap up and down and had a seat for one figure!
If you ever "flew" the Millenium Falcon toy, by holding the bottom of the landing gear, then you know the feeling I am talking about.
You, A Kid, Were in total control of this amazing creature/puppet!
There was never a toy before, or after, that gave the user that feeling of control :)
We also had the castle, which had it's own Tarantula Puppet, which can be seen in the
video. So Cool!
Considering that today, I have borderline arachnaphobia.
It was amazing how much we all loved those bugs. Lol.
As far as new figures, if I can't get that Dragonfly back, no sale.
Without the puppets, you are taking away the special element. The thing that made Sectaurs unique!
Love these videos, those Sectaurs and that crazy decade!
88 Miles per Hour!! Forever :)
"Turbo Teen, Mr T and Rubik the Amazing Cube...can you imagine?" Don't have to, I was there! One of my favorite memories that isn't talked about much is how each network would have a prime time special before the new Saturday morning cartoon season started where they would use the stars of their various shows in a crossover story that was basically a preview of all the upcoming Sat morning goodness! That was Event TV for us kids, and still a fond memory...Anyone else remember these?
When I was 10 we went to one of the bigger cities in my state (we lived way out in the sticks) and I saw General Spidrax and Spider Flyer at a KB Toys for something like $15.00. I spent all the money I had from doing odd jobs to buy them and was amazed at how cool they were. Spidrax had an impressive amount of articulation and the sheer amount of accessories that he had was jaw-dropping. Spider Flyer totally creeped out my mom, which only encouraged me drag the duo out of the toybox at every opportunity. A few months later one of my local variety stores that has long since gone extinct got in one shipment of Sectaurs and I managed to get Skulk & Trancula. I would have tried to collect the entire line, but none of the other local stores ever carried them. Truly one of the great toy lines that deserved far more success.
I had the dragon fly dude and my brother had the tarantula one. Man, this takes me back.
Wow I remember these characters. I had a Sectaurs audiobook on record and I used to look at the pictures of the book all the time when I was like 3 lol
all my bugs ended up with no wings really quick lol
The most obscure cartoon is The Little Dinos almost no information on internet. Would make an interesting show. It's got Aliens, Dinosaurs, blood and guts packed into an innocent kids cartoon.
Man I had no idea there was a cartoon. I thought it was just the toy and comics. This is why I love this show, always discovering I didn't know as much as I thought I did, missed out on, or forgot.
Woo-Hoo! Always wanted these. Scored one via Ebay years ago. And with Sectaurs vid down I sense Air Raiders around the corner… Down the hall… Up the stairs… Etc., Etc.
i forgot all about those toys. never even saw the cartoon.
I was 7 when these were around and was both fascinated and terrified by the Sectaurs line. I got a few by trading kids and a friend had both puppets. They were fantastic and helped me get over my arachnophobia!
I had the whole collection and loved these guys. Fun gloved puppets and flying bugs. They were really high quality jumbo figure toys! The glistening wings would tear however and were so fragile. This was a line that was pretty small like Captain Power, another property I was just in love with as a kid, had the entire line and crushed that another show didn't make it far, and it was such a grimdark setting too.
What I often remember about the toy aisle when I was a kid (and this may be unique to the Canadian experience before NAFTA) is how often the innovative yet "B tier" toylines like Sectaurs would get pushed out in favor of cheap "D tier" wannabe toylines: things with names like "Super Troop Corps.!" or "Gogotransbots!". As a kid in 1987, I had a toy that converted from robot to slot machine and back. What a wonderful world we live in.
The only thing I had from Sectaurs was the Hyve. Thankfully still have it in the box and it's basically been in a closet for the last 35 years.
Prince Dargon on clearance was my intro to this, would have loved at least 1 season of the show. Cool concept and amazing figure line.
A personally amusing anecdote regarding Sectaurs…
One of the ad campaigns for was done as multipart serials. I remember it very well because I have a personal video file, transferred from an old VHS, that contains the entire run of those particular commercials that aired during a presentation of The Muppet Movie in 1985.
So now, knowing the information that the creator of the toy line also worked for the Henson Company, I am very amused those commercials aired during that particular showing of that movie.
7:04 - the world needs more of that dude with the bat yelling at customers.
I *am* a fan of Sectaurs, I never owned any of the toys, and I'm *SO* ready for the new ones.
There's something strangely alluring about MotU knockoffs/bootlegs that used parts from other lines too -- Insect Lords was the Sectaurs one. Thank you, Secret Galaxy!
(Edit: tyepoe)
My Mom took us on a road trip when I was a kid. She let my brother and I buy a toy for the trip. I got a good guy Sectaur and my brother got a bad guy Sectaur. We loved them during the trip. We completely forgot about them as soon as we got home. For one week during the 80's Sectaur's were my favorite toy.
“…like Bitor. Winged flies into the heat of battle.” Those words are burned into my psyche like I just heard them yesterday and not nearly 40 years. Not the rest of the commercial though. Just those words
The puppet gimmick is the real reason why this line never made it into the mainstream. It limited you to only playing with one mount at a time. And I use "playing" in the loosest form possible, it limited you to chomping your puppet's mouth open and closed while the "action" figure sat dead and lifeless like an accessory. And even if that was enough to keep you entertained, good luck working your offhand into a 2nd puppet to make them... I don't know, chomp at each other? Fly side by side? This one was designed to fail.
A+ video!
Fascinating and those toys are very innovative!
I am also one the the zica toys kickstarter backer!!
My mom had a friend who had 2 boys my age and I was forced to play with them. They had like the WHOLE Sectaurs collection, including that weird ass fortress with the monster insect that had a glove you stuck yer hand in so you could grab the other figures... just like those 2 dorks I was forced to play with Sectaurs and I hated every weird minute of it.
Had the 4 "vehicle" figures back in the day. Loved Sectaurs. I was a Collectaur 😜 (certified callback).
I actually remember seeing an old Sectaur action figure once at a flea market. I thought it was a knock-off Thundercats toy. 🤔
Not a very smart kid. Pre thundercats
@Son of Acheon It's called being too young and not paying attention 🙄.
Not a very smart comment.
@@GZP1023Thundercats came out January 1985, Sectaurs September 1985. Sectaurs are post-Thundercats, not real smart of you....
I had one of these puppets as a kid, wish I still had it. I would totally support an effort to bring those back.
Man, I cant believe you guys left out the commercials for the Sectaurs. They were done in a serial cliffhanger style, so you had to wait until the next commercial to see what was going to happen in the play session the kids were doing. It was BRILLIANT, and every boy I knew couldnt wait to see the next one. Sadly, it didnt really translate to sales as only a few kids I knew actually bought them. The commercials were better than the product.
I never heard of this toy line when I was a kid. But at the local book store I shop at currently as an adult, the owner has a few Sectaurs action figures and hand puppets sitting on the display shelf behind the counter.
We need those puppets.
I've never heard of this show before now. Thanks for providing a link to the playlist for it so I can watch it.
I loved the Sectaurs toys and the comics (still have my copies), when I was a kid. I was always a bit disappointed that the line was never continued past the first toys. A fate, sadly, of many great toy concepts in the 80s.
I loved these. I had a few and they were fantastic. As a somewhat-adult, I’ve picked up the ones I had as a kid and they still hold up 35 years later
i watch youtube all day everyday just about and your videos are notably some of the absolute best on here
My parents bought me Spidrax and his mount and my sister got Dagon and his mount and that's all we had for awhile, but...my parents liked shopping at Sears and one day we were there and the Sectaurs were on heavy clearance and I had summer lawn mowing money and was able to walk out with most of the figures with mini bugs and THE HIVE. Whenever I think back and wish I had the Eternia playset or the Matchbox SDF-1 playset I always remember I had the Hive.
I still have most of my childhood toys (Transformers, MOTU, Zoids, M.A.S.K., G.I. Joe, Centurions, Star Wars etc), but to this day one of my biggest regrets is that my Sectaurs somehow went missing. I had all of the figures available in the UK and I loved them. The main figures were really well designed and felt solid, and the puppets were an innovative concept (even if the wings did have a tendency to break off). I'm guessing they went missing during a house move, but I hope they didn't end up in landfill. Such a cool concept that sadly couldn't compete in the overcrowded 80s toy market.
I didn't get any of the toys, but I was fascinated by the puppet gimmick, which is why I was into the Boglin stuff too,
i remember going to a big thing at our local toys r us. i dont remember if it was a grand opening but there was some big event happening and i feel like they were giving like one toy away from this line to a certain number of kids to spark interest i guess as they were coming out but the one toy i got that day was the only one. never really got into them. they couldnt compete with he-man and my super powers in my book lol
I still reminisce with friends about Sectaurs. Thanks for the revisit
6:00 And still one of the greatest video game systems of all time!
I had a few of these. I loved them. The hand puppet bug thing was genius. I wish they would have gotten more popular. Plus, worked well with he man stuff too