The 1980s were a very important era of popular culture. You saw the explosion of video games, the birth of multiple popular film and television franchises, a large variety of music and innovation in places like toys and comic books.

While many popular toylines form the 1980s like He-Man and G.I. Joe are still loved today, there were many who fell off and seemingly disappeared. However, one of those toylines didn’t come from a toy company, it came from the world of Marvel Comics.



At the time Marvel was producing plenty of great super hero content, and would also from time to time work on licensed books based on previously existing IPs. Some examples include Star Wars, Star Trek and Planet of the Apes, but also popular toylines like G.I. Joe and Transformers.

At this point in time, Marvel decided to try something new. Instead of making a comic out of a toyline, they would make a toyline based on one of their comics.



Taking inspiration from stories like John Carter of Mars, Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers, Marvel created The Saga of Crystar with its first issue releasing in May of 1983.

The story follows a war between two brothers. Crystar, Prince of the planet Crystalium and leader of the Crystal Warriors of Order. And Moltar, Crystar’s twin brother and leader of the Magma Men of Chaos. The two battle for throne of Crystalium in a war between Order and Chaos. 



From time to time to try and boost the comic’s sales there would be guest appearance from other Marvel characters like Doctor Strange, Nightcrawler and Alpha Flight. Despite this the comic only lasted 11 issues.



Marvel teamed up with toy company Remco to produce a line of figures and playlets. The figures were 3 – 3/4 inches tall. A few of the figures were made of translucent blue/green plastic.





However the line didn’t last long as people mostly bought the handful of translucent figures while the other characters were left to fill grocery store bargain bins. Similar to the early Indiana Jones action figures from Kenner.

Though his time as the main hero didn’t last long, elements from the series did make it over into the greater Marvel Universe. He even made an appearance in the 2015 version of Marvel’s Secret Wars.



With Marvel looking for new characters to adapt into film this character seems very unique when compared to the rest of their catalogue. Perhaps her could get his own film adaptation, either as part of the MCU or even standalone as the Crystar Saga does seem to take place in its own separate dimension.

Do you remember Crystar? Did you have any of the toys or read the comics? Do you want to see Crystar return? Should he be part of the MCU or be his own separate thing?