One of the greats, via poseable monster and Scott Crawford.
Archive for the 'Shogun Warriors' Category
Christmas Morning, 1978 and 1979: Mattel’s Shogun Warrior Godzilla
Published December 14, 2015 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Christmas , Christmas Morning , Godzilla , Shogun Warriors Leave a Comment‘Space Toys’ Ads (1978)
Published December 4, 2015 Ads , Battlestar Galactica , Christmas , Kenner Toys , Mattel Toys , Micronauts , Shogun Warriors , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) 1 Comment
The ads are via Roboplastic Apocalypse, the most comprehensive robot toy site on the internet. Notice that Santa is riding the Viper in the first ad, followed by his other outer space reindeer. Very clever.
The last ad features Combatra, the priciest item on the Shogun Warriors menu, selling mostly at high end department stores for $49.99 or more. There’s a great entry on the toy at CollectionDX, where I got the pictures below. Click on the link to see all five vehicles combine into a giant robot, long before Matchbox’s Voltron entered the fray.
Shogun Warriors Colorforms Adventure Set (Colorforms, 1978)
Published May 22, 2015 Colorforms , Shogun Warriors 1 Comment
Child World Newspaper Insert (1978): Shogun Warriors, Star Wars, and More
Published July 18, 2014 Ads , Kenner Toys , Shogun Warriors , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments Leave a Comment
We didn’t have Child World in Southern California, but my mother did put lots of stuff on layaway. Try to explain that concept to Gen Y.
The Flying Finnegan game on the second page looks pretty sweet—for about five minutes.
Here’s a great view of the Cheerios box appearing in the ad, courtesy of Gregg Koenig.
1978 Spiegel Catalog: Star Wars, Shogun Warriors, Star Bird, and More
Published June 11, 2014 Catalogs , G.I. Joe , Kenner Toys , Micronauts , Shogun Warriors , Space Toys/Playsets , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) 10 Comments
Catalog diving never gets old. We were conditioned at an early age, and the sight and smell of these filmy, glossy pages is like the ringing of Pavlov’s buzzer.
I was surprised to see that the Micronauts Battle Cruiser ($19.95) was more expensive than the Death Star ($17.95). Mego just couldn’t recover after rejecting the Star Wars license, although I think the Micronauts line, even in its last throes, is more creative.
I love the Super Joe toys, including Terron, shown at the bottom of the second page. You can see commercials here and here.
The “Sonic Ear” is new to me. It amplifies sound, which is pretty lame, but what a great looking gun to take into a space battle.
Don’t miss the Fonz watch—the strap is denim-colored, naturally—on the last page.
(Images via Yesterday’s Ads/eBay)
Christmas Morning, 1978: Shogun Warriors
Published December 2, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Christmas , Christmas Morning , Shogun Warriors , Six Million Dollar Man, The 6 Comments
Let’s kick off the Christmas season with some giant, exceedingly dangerous robot toys, shall we? John Reese—snug in his Snoopy shirt, maroon cords, and Adidas casuals—is showing off Great Mazinga. Lots of orange shag carpeting. Lots of wood. Bucolic painting hanging over the floral print couch. Possibly an urn filled with somebody’s ashes next to the lamp.
Next: Raydeen. From Shamus Young, who writes the blog Twenty Sided:
On the left is Pat, who got the Shogun that launches a big plastic fist. I got the one that shoots missiles out of his hand. When I say ‘missiles’, I’m not talking about a blinky light, or a sound effect, or a bit of missile-shaped foam. I’m talking about real, pointy bits of plastic that can be aimed at the eyeballs of children for fun and excitement. Good times.
Speaking of missiles, one of them appears to be missing. Better check the dog!
Here Dragun and Mazinga guard Darren Bryant, who’s captaining the forces of good from his inflatable Six Million Dollar Man Mission Control Center. In the background, Commissioner Gordon reaches for the Batphone.
Check out a 1976 – 1978 Shogun Warriors commercial here.
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I’ve got a couple of pretty incredible Christmas morning submissions already. Feel free to send yours to 2warpstoneptune@gmail.com.
The countdown is on…
Toy Display, 1980
Published July 15, 2013 Robots , Shogun Warriors , Space Toys/Playsets , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments 5 Comments
In 1980, toys from the ’50s and ’60s were considered vintage, and transformable robots like the DX Daimos (far right) were the hot new thing.
Today, toys from the ’50s and ’60s are forgotten relics, transformable robots are vintage, and the hot new thing is selling vintage toys (and replicas thereof) to 40-year-olds because kids don’t really play with toys anymore.
The “Thank you, Canada” sign refers to what’s now known as the Canadian Caper, the 1979 rescue of American diplomats in Iran fictionalized in Ben Affleck’s Argo.
(Photos via ed/Flickr)
1977 J.C. Penney Christmas Catalog: Space: 1999, Micronauts, and Shogun Warriors
Published November 16, 2012 Catalogs , Micronauts , Shogun Warriors , Space: 1999 1 Comment
The Eagle 1 has landed yet again. It was the space toy to have pre-Star Wars, clearly, and it’s still one of the coolest spaceships ever. I suspect many of the Eagle kids didn’t even watch Space: 1999, a frigid British series that moved about as fast as an ice shelf, but we dug anything that happened in space, and if we had some imagery and a prop or two, well, that was all we needed to riff on—for days, months, years.
The more I see the Micronauts line, the more I realize how influential and exceptional it was. I’ve talked before about the lack of a back story making them more exotic and attractive. In fact, they’re downright strange, as translucent beings from “the endless frontier” should be. The catalog describes them as “fanciful galactic travelers… fully jointed so they can cope with situations in any dimension.” I love it.
I had the Astro Station. These missiles, and Micronauts missiles in general, were the best (i.e. fastest, truest, heaviest) in the toy universe, and the launchers were detachable, so you could mix and match with other toys.
The Shogun Warriors never did much for me, but they were tall and their fists shot off. I guess that’s something.
(Catalog images via WishbookWeb)
Boy’s Room, Circa 1980
Published September 10, 2012 Electronic Handhelds , Found Photos , Godzilla , Shogun Warriors , What Our Rooms Looked Like 10 Comments
I don’t know the exact year, but the Dukes of Hazzard poster puts us between 1979 and 1985. In the first photo (click to enlarge), there’s not too much I can make out. The Bela Lugosi head, obviously, a weird koala bear pillow, some Matchbox cars. There’s a signed black and white photo on the wall, but I can’t identify the figures.
The second photo is a gold mine. Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, one of those safes with the combination lock that most of us had, a Boba Fett doll. That’s Tomy’s Digital Derby in one of the yellow cubes, and a better shot of the black and white photo. Is it the Three Stooges?
And is that the back of Galaxian 2 on the top shelf of the bookcases?
2 Warps to Neptune 