Thursday, June 4, 2009

Marvel's license to shill

Flipping through an old comic earlier, I came across this:


It's weird, but along with Marvel's Rom, Micronauts and (arguably) GI Joe, the Shogun Warriors is an example of comic characters that lasted as long — or longer — than the toy lines that inspired them.

I never owned any of the toys or comics myself, but those 5-inch die-cast versions sound pretty sweet. Unfortunately, I must have ignored this ads' urging because I actually did end up missing it.

Anybody remember this comic or the toys they were hawking? If you do, share your Shogun memories in the comments!

5 comments:

snell said...

Diecast 5"? Pshaw, my next door neighbor had the 2' ones that actually shot their firsts, and fired missiles...

The comic was written by Doug Moench, and was basically "guys in huge mecha suits go around fighting monsters," with some crossing over with other Marvel heroes on occasion.

Chad Carter said...

I had the steel figure of the guy in the middle above. I can't say it was a practical toy, or at least I never cared for it. And it could have been used for a murder weapon, heft and sharp points. I didn't really appreciate the "men in giant robot" genre somehow...I was more into Ultraman and BECOMING a giant robot.

rob! said...

I had Mazinga, Raydeen, and Danguard Ace. Man, I loved them!

The very top of Raydeen's head could be removed, and the removable piece looked like a spaceship, so it frequently found itself involved with my Star Wars toy adventures.

Sea-of-Green said...

Oh, Shogun Warriors! My brother and I had the really BIG plastic version that shot ammo, and occadionally fists! I think they were banned in the US after a while -- but not before the toy company in question also released a really cool Godzilla toy (complete with fists that shot off) to go with the Shoguns -- and a giant Rodan with grasping claws!

Wonder if my brother still has his ...?

Maxo said...

Snell: Ha! Yeah, the big ones sound cool, but I've got a thing for die-cast figures and the 2-footers were plastic. Oh man, could you imagine a 2-foot die-cast figure?!? How awesome and lawsuit ready would that have been?

Chad: I think you've hit on the reason why the toys were eventually taken off shelves, because who could resist chunking something heavy and sharp at someone else? And I know what you mean about the mecha genre, but somehow I still got really into Robotech at one point.

Rob: The same thing happened with my Star Wars figures and the Planet of the Apes guys. Did you read the comics, too?

Sea-of-Green: Fist-shooting Godzilla?! Holy crap! That may be the greatest thing I've ever heard.