Invasion Galactica
Invasion Galactica was a mysterious short-lived Argentinian toyline consisting of three <ref>While it's not out of the question that the other remaining Robocars might have been released in Invasion Galactica branding, every carded copy that's been found over the decades has only been of these three molds — thus, it is generally assumed that they are the only ones to have received the Invasion Galactica treatment.</ref> out of Estrela's six Brazilian Robocars, crudely repackaged by unknown parties. These were released in 1985, the same year when Antex was releasing its own Estrela-licensed versions of the Robocars in Argentina, though there are no known links between the two.
The packaging for Invasion Galactica figures consists of a single-sided cardback, featuring the new logo (with an odd red 'V' drawn behind it) and art of a UFO zapping the figure. A red fireball is drawn around the figure, presumably to mask the fact that the bubbles are, in fact; just straight-up cut from the original Estrela cardbacks and pasted into the newer packaging (you can even see remnants of the Generation 1 Autobot grid design if you look closely!).
The cardbacks say nothing about the toys — not even any names — or any manufacturer or distributor involved. The only other text besides the toyline's logo is a small "Industria Argentina" (the regional equivalent of a "made in Argentina") present on the bottom left portion of the card, but this is a lie since the toys themselves are, of course, Brazilian. Collectors from South America have long maintained that these were fashioned together by legitimate Argentinian toy retailers, in an attempt to avoid protectionist tariffs by pretending that the foreign-manufactured toys were actually a domestic product. <ref>Invasion Galactica on toyarchive.com</ref>
Toys
[edit]
- Camaro (Windcharger)
(red/grey or white/black) - Pick-Up (Gears)
(blue/red or orange/red) - Sedan
(white/black or blue/black)
Notes
[edit]- Given the time period, the toyline's name and logo is most likely meant to build on the popularity of V and [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Battlestar Galactica|{{#if:||Battlestar Galactica}}]].
- Another set of Estrela figures — the Bat-Robôs Turbo and Pick-Up — were also released in Argentina under very similar circumstances, packed in mostly plain packaging featuring the title "Robot-Car" and bits photocopied from Estrela's boxes. Similar to the Invasion Galactica assortment, these toys also do not feature any manufacturing or distribution information on the packaging beyond an "Industria Argentina"... But unlike the Invasion Galactica batch, they seem to be entirely new copies of the Bat-Robôs, with a few deco discrepancies such as their alternate mode greenhouses being unpainted giving it away. As such, these toys are most likely bootlegs rather than legitimate Estrela-made or Estrela-licensed figures. <ref>An Ebay listing for an Argentinian Robot-Car Turbo bootleg.</ref>.
- As a funny extra bit of trivia, the bootleg version of Turbo features a new sticker sheet with sponsoring from Albilad Capital, a Saudi company with a very infamous bit of history. <ref>"Not-So-Fun Fact: The Bin Laden Family Used To Sponsor A Formula 1 Team", bosshunting.com.au</ref>.