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Milton Bradley

The Milton Bradley Game Company began in 1860 as a lithography business in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. In 1880, Mr. Milton Bradley expanded his business and began to make jigsaw puzzles.

Today, Milton Bradley is a subsidiary of Hasbro, a top producer of games and puzzles worldwide.

Star Trek releases[]

Electronic USS Enterprise[]

In 1979, the "Electronic USS Enterprise" was produced by the company's South Bend Electronics division, named for its location in South Bend, Indiana. The toy was a depiction of the refit USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and its key selling point was its modular construction that allowed the ship's hull components to be rearranged into different configurations.

Star Trek Belt, Buckle and Insignia[]

The "Star Trek Belt, Buckle and Insignia" product was a set of role-playing toys released by Milton Bradley and were based on crew equipment seen in The Motion Picture. Although Milton Bradley marketed this playset under its South Bend Electronics brand, there is nothing electronic in the set.

The set contained a pin-on plastic Star Trek: The Motion Picture Starfleet insignia in Command Division white. It also included a replica of the "life support monitor" belt and buckle that had a temperature-sensitive color-change strip ("Thermal Sensor") on the front of the buckle. The buckle also flipped open to reveal a small storage compartment with an "Authentic Starfleet Identification Card".

Star Trek Electronic Phaser Guns[]

The "Star Trek Electronic Phaser Guns" product was a two-piece role-playing set released under the South Bend Electronics brand. The toys are modeled after the Type-2 phaser pistols seen in The Motion Picture.

These toys were among the first to use the light-detecting technology that later came into prominence with the laser tag craze of the 1980s. (Incidentally, an older and similar toy, Mego's Super Phaser II Target Game, used similar light-reflection and sensing technology.) The toys also had sound chips in them that gave off phaser blast, ricochet, and explosion sound effects (similar to the simpler "sonic buzzer device" from the Mego Phaser).

The set was released in two packaging variants: the full-color box seen in the accompanying photos, and a simpler white cardboard box with line artwork duplicating the photos on the color box. The latter was used for mail-order catalog sales as it was made of thicker cardboard than the color version.

Other releases[]

See also[]

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