Wandering Planet Toys has built a reputation for celebrating pop culture’s most unusual and beloved icons, producing collectible figures based on properties ranging from Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Nancy Drew to The Prisoner and Laurel and Hardy. Now, co-founders Gavin Hignight and Chris “Doc” Wyatt are launching an all-new line inspired by one of the strangest corners of vintage toy history, and AIPT can exclusively reveal the first look at Ryot, helmsman of the Planetoid Raiders.
Inspired by both Kenner’s classic Star Wars figures and the cult-favorite Starroid Raiders toys released by Tomland Toys in the late 1970s, Planetoid Raiders pays tribute to the colorful, quirky space adventurers that became unlikely collector favorites decades later. Each figure is designed in a retro 1:18 scale format with five points of articulation while embracing modern toy design sensibilities.
Today’s reveal spotlights Ryot, a former space racer who serves as the team’s helmsman. Hailing from the planet Kaaldor, Ryot carries a secret his fellow Raiders don’t know: he long ago disabled the safety features on the crew’s ship engines.
The Planetoid Raiders line will feature a cast of cosmic oddballs that includes Captain Oton, WarLor the Mysterious Space Traveler, Yogun the trusty robot, and several more characters still to be revealed. According to Wandering Planet Toys, each figure is designed as both a tribute to vintage sci-fi toys and a contemporary collectible.
“Starroid Raiders are great because they’re gloriously ugly space weirdos,” said Chris “Doc” Wyatt. “A combination of wild imagination and nonsensical random strangeness, they were intended as cheap knock offs but managed to be so awesomely unique.”
Wyatt explained that Planetoid Raiders aims to celebrate that spirit while introducing a fresh visual identity.
“Our Planetoid Raiders figures honor the imaginative history of knock off space figures, but push a modern approach, marrying outrageous design with bold colors and a retro space age aesthetic.”
For Hignight, the project is rooted in the joy and imagination that classic toys inspired.
“Starroid Raiders are everything that is magic about toy collecting to me,” Hignight said. “These were and are toys that fire up the imagination. It’s no wonder, decades later, toy collectors like us seek them out, searching for their magic.”
The Kickstarter campaign will also introduce the Arcade Raiders, a companion line packaged in retro arcade cabinet blind boxes. Additional Arcade Raiders will unlock as stretch goals throughout the campaign, giving backers even more cosmic oddities to collect.
Fans interested in following the project can sign up through the Planetoid Raiders pre-launch page ahead of the Kickstarter campaign launch.
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