An Interview With Product Designer Fred Rieber

Fred Rieber was a designer for Hasbro starting back in the ’80s. He was one of the primary product designers that worked on Air Raiders along with Dan Price and he was kind enough to answer some questions on his work. Airlandia: What were your responsibilities? I did a lot of the air-activated concepts, missiles……

Air Raiders Original Art and Map

Over the years I’ve spoken with many of the designers and artists who worked on the Air Raiders toys. The general consensus has been that most or all of the original art for the design, packaging and inserts were probably thrown out. Well, good news, I was contacted by a former employee who had saved……

Air Raiders Licensing Kit, Part 4

Hey folks, long time, no post. Just between the holidays, COVID and work I haven’t had the time or energy to post very often but I will try to get back up to speed. So we’re going with a few more pages from the licensing kit from last year. Here are the earlier posts for……

Tyrants of Wind Scout Patrol Prototype, Part 2

Greetings fellow Air Raiders fans, A while back I posted a picture of the Scout Patrol prototype(see here), a Tyrant of Wind playset that was part of the canceled 1988 line. The set was designed and built by Bill Cooke who was part of the R&D department. Well, I spoke with Mr. Cooke recently and……

Air Raiders T-shirt — the Hawkwind!

Hey all, I figured since I did several shirts for the Command Outpost (see post here) that I’d do one for the bad guys too. The general feeling I get is that people seem to like the Hawkwind the best (for good reason!) so I decided to go in that direction. Check it out here!……

Air Raiders Licensing Kit, Part 3

Last session was about the beautiful folder the kit came in, today is focused on colored line art for the various vehicles! The images were printed nice and sharp by Hasbro and I scanned them in at a good resolution. They all have basics flat colors but what’s interesting is they actually broke down the……

Tecco Toys, Part 5, the Kickstarter!

We last talked about Tecco Toys in January.  Here are the previous installments: Tecco Toys, Part One Tecco Toys, Part Two Tecco Toys, Part Three Tecco Toys, Part Four The company has been working on a line of toys consisting of 2″ figures, same size as Air Raiders, along with some incredible mechs. The plan……

Air Raiders Licensing Kit, Part 2

Hello all, this week I’m just quickly posting some scans from the Licensing kit that was on ebay last year. I realized I had completely forgotten about it. I’m just starting with the cover, back and inside as I had to handle them delicately. One of the things I’m kinda excited by is the cover……

Air Raiders Fan Art — The Wind Talon

In a continuing series on fan art, replicant01 and I have been commissioning art for vehicles and figures from the canceled 1988 toys and also from sketches and other reference we come across. This time around is a vehicle designed by former Hasbro designer, David McDonald (see the interview here). For additional fan art, look here:Power……

Air Raiders Figure art

Well, it’s been a while since I posted here! Sorry, life has been busy and oddly enough, working from home actually leaves me less time to do other stuff. Moving on, I have some great art that Ed Owens, the principle engineer on all of the Air Raiders figures and the Command Outpost, shared on……