Shogun Warriors

Shogun Warriors

Shogun Warriors

The Shogun Warriors toy line was pretty big business back in the late 1970's. This was a line that was brought to the west by Mattel. Many kids who loved to play with these toys were blissfully unaware that they were actually based on Japanese anime and live action shows. But hey kids did not care about things like that. All the cared about were the awesome looking robots that they got to play with.

These were very detailed and well made toys. All kids love robots and this was a great way to really capture their imaginations. The line original started with some very large 24 inch plastic figures. These proved very popular, but due to their size, cost was a bit of an issue and also for many kids storing say five 24 inch action figures is a bit of an issue. Mattel would also release two smaller lines.

One was a more smaller and budget line of 3.5 inch figures that were die cast. These proved very popular and as a result there was a slightly larger 5 inch line of die cast figures as well. The 5 inch line was a great happy medium in that the figures were slightly larger, but they also had better articulation and in general were more highly detailed. There was a line of vehicles that Mattel introduced. These are very interesting and were made to go with the smaller 3.5 inch line of figures. What makes these so interesting is that Mattel made these themselves and they were not just imported over from Japan.

A huge part of the appeal of the Shogun Warriors line apart from the awesome looking robots of course. Was just how much fun they were to play with. A huge feature of the early figures was their spring loaded weapons. They could shoot things like missiles, ninja stars and so on. Some could even launch their fists at the other robots which was really neat. Later in the line the die cast line of figures would get the ability to transform into different things. One of the bet aspects though of the Shogun Warriors line was that a Godzilla and Rodan figure were created to fit in with the line.

Here are two of the most interesting Shogun Warriors toys that you should keep an eye out for.

Rodan

While the Godzilla figure that went with the Shogun Warriors figure we got in the West was lame compared to its Japanese counterpart. Rodan on the other hand got a tremendous figure to battle the Shogun Warriors. What makes this particular Rodan figure so interesting is that this was an American exclusive. As a result this is actually a pretty sought after toy from people in Japan. There have been more than a few Rodan figures made, but this is one of the most interesting ones.

Mazinger Z

This guy gets the credit as the toy that got the ball rolling with the Shogun Warriors line. This was one of those toys that it seemed like every little boy in the neighborhood had. He was a really cool looking robot and at around two feet tall he felt like a genuine giant robot. And to make him even more awesome he could fire his own fists at the other Shogun Warriors if they stepped out of line.