VertiBird
The Mattel VertiBird helicopter flies around a central base containing an electric motor, spring lift assist, pitch control, batteries, and a throttle.
This included ground effects for low-level hovering, plus altitude gains and losses when changing direction.
Overall the VertiBird is easy to learn how to pilot for basic flight, but precision flying will require some patience and time on the controls as in a real helicopter.
This design has resulted in a toy that has survived over 38 years and remains as fun today as it was when VertiBird first came on the market back in 1971.
The Space: 1999 version was the one playset that (more or less) abandoned the VertiBird concept in favor of a look and feels to match television series.
On July 31, 2006, a "mint in box" Vertibird sold for $500 on eBay, with 4 individual bidders bidding at least $400.
In 2005, a complete, near-mint condition set of the German "Libelle 12 Polizeihubschrauber" (considered by some collectors to be the second-rarest worldwide VertiBird variant after the "Space: 1999" model, although other internationally issued sets - in particular the Canadian "Okanagan Logging 'Copter" - appear to be much less common than the "Libelle") changed hands for $850 in a private sale.
Mattel produced international versions of the VertiBird playset for various markets including Canada, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Mexico.
Most recently, a rarely seen 1973 Japanese version of the U.S. "Air Police" set (whose existence most collectors had been previously unaware of) surfaced on eBay in early 2024.
Original 16mm film reels of the vintage 1973 VertiBird Air Police spot (which also can be viewed on YouTube) were offered for sale on eBay on a few occasions in the past.
Although there are occasional claims that Eric Forman can be seen playing a vintage VertiBird in a Christmas-themed episode of That '70s Show ("Winter", S7 E11), the helicopter featured in said episode was in fact one of the modern-day "Chopper Patrol" knock-offs (see dedicated listing below); thus marking an anachronism.
In addition to the VertiBird itself, there are several other pre-VertiBird and post-VertiBird units covering various eras, global regions and business lines.
In February 2015, an American eBay seller with immaculate feedback offered several pieces of supposedly original conceptual art by former Mattel designer Tom Hodges, which featured graphic layouts for a number of unproduced VertiBird variants from the mid-to-late 1970s.
These included a "Spacehawk X7" intergalactic probe model (undated), a "Medivac" military-themed set (1975), a "Disaster Air Rescue" version (1975), a "Space War" sci-fi model (1978), and a 1979 M*A*S*H -themed set that was obviously meant to tie in with the successful TV series.
