Shogun Warriors Failed So Transformers Could Succeed: From Godzilla to Force Five & Beyond
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
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The Shogun Warriors were the main characters of a line of toys licensed by Mattel Inc. during the late 1970s. They were a series of imported Japanese toys based on several anime and tokusatsu shows featuring giant robots such as Gaiking, Mazinger, Combattra, Raideen and Godzilla.
The Shogun Warriors were also the stars of a Marvel comic that ran until 1980 and were also kinda the stars of a cartoon called Force Five. Kinda.
But for all they did right Shogun Warriors got a lot wrong but they did lay the groundwork for properties like Transformers and Masters of the Universe to succeed just a few years later.
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"Rocket-firing rockets!"
Yo dog, I heard you like rockets...
Actually one of the weapons that Combatler V had was the Big Blast divider, which was a giant rocket that opened up to shoot a bunch of small ones, so....
I got that Godzilla Shogun Warrior for Christmas in 1978. It remains the greatest toy Santa ever brought me.
I had mazinger, so much fun, I miss the late seventies and early eighties.
I remember getting Transformers Blaster for my 6th birthday and never being so excited or happy with a gift in my life!
I remember that for months prior I had been seeing Transformers in my local stores, especially the grocery store as my mom took me grocery shopping at least once a week.
My local Super Stop & Shop had some of the Seeker jets and autobot cars like Jazz in their toy section. I kept asking for Thundercracker, but my mom said he was too expensive.
I'd only got into Ghostbusters up until I open up that magical packaging there was Blaster-- not really a character that I was overly fond of, but he was a transformer, and he was the first one I ever got.
Unfortunately I too young when Transformers came out and missed some of the best ones-- like Soundwave and Megatron and Starscream --but I did end up getting an Optimus Prime.
Mostly, I ended up having the toys that came from the movie and the third season, like Rodimus Prime and Galvatron. But none of them held as special a place in my heart as that Blaster did! 🙂
That same Christmas '78 I got giant Gaiking (but my 7 year old self pronounced it GAR-KING). That toy became my favorite, bring-everywhere with me teddy bear for the next 2 years! Even after every detachable part was missing or broken that object was dear to me.....until I discovered skateboarding.
I had Godzilla as a kid. Even then, I wondered why his fist launched like a missle.
And I love these videos, Dan!
Same here, but with his flying Fists and mighty tongue he ruled the other toys.
@@earnestbrown6524 , yeah. Godzilla made life rough for Luke and the rebel gang while stomping their forts made from my dad's 8 tracks.
I have friends who still have theirs.
@@SwiftTrooper5 I also had the 2ft Mazinga that if they got lucky other toys could drive Godzilla back to the sea(under my bed) for the weekend.
I wanted one of those sooo badly as a kid. That Christmas, there was a shogun warriors sized box under the tree. It turned out to be a Super Jock field goal kicker. Talk about your all time let downs.
When I was in kindergarten in 1985, I had made Tranzor Z out of Bristle Blocks.
Looking back on it, those were the safest toys we had in my kindergarten.
We had tiny hammers and nails and wood blocks, magnetic bearings that would later be known as buckyballs, and at Christmas time we used real needles and thread to string up popcorn for the tree.
Makes me feel like I was one of Santa's sweatshop elves.
As a transformers fan, I salute you shogun warriors for your sacrifice.
I feel like Bandai's Godaiken series should be noted they were brought over to the West and probably also inspired Transformers to come over. Also Armitron
Brave and Shogun/Machinder are so much cooler than Transformers to me. Honestly we got nothing but the dregs over here in the USA. No Eldran, Go-Saurer, Ganbaruger, or Brave releases over here...just fugly little car robots (Sorry but G1 and G2 transformers are hideous, and that comes from a brick-lover). I'll keep my 97 Gaogaigar and 90 Great Exkizer over any transformer no matter how cool or wild or expensive. Star Saber and the Victory line is the only TF stuff I personally like anymore
Shogun warriors are better than transformer ok 👌😡
Transformer a cheap stupid little robot that sounds like the bootleg of mazinger z
cool giant robot shogun warriors who can throw their fists
meanwhile in japan and the rest of the world...
Shogun Warriors: we're good bruh
I grew up kinda poor, never got the Shogun Warrior Mazinger toy that I wished for. Now I have several shelves with hundreds of Gundam, Macross and Transformer figures.
Growing up can be good, some times.
I feel you man. As Mejin Kawaguchi would say: "Im just enjoying my second childhood!"
Kinda same here. Never did get any of the _Shogun Warriors_ or _Buck Rogers in the 25th Century_ toys that were the first that got me interested. I was very lucky that the G1 Transformer "Jet Fire" (Macross VF - 1S "Hikaru Ichigo custom") came out just as my mom's... financial situation was improving (1985). At that time in the 1980's I was almost a little too old for "cartoons" (anime), but my local Orlando "independent" TV station was airing _Robotech_ just a little before I would have to get up for school. It was my first year of Junior High School, and due to... problems after moving back here after spending the previous early spring to late summer back in my hometown of Chicago, I was a real "latchkey kid" (well actually... I was pretty much "on my own" several days at a time, as mom worked as a "live-in" nurses aide to pay for the dual moves). It took awhile before I learned that _Robotech_ was three different Japanese anime series re-edited and combined. Super Dimension Fortress Macross (the "Macross Saga" in Robotech) took me the whole year after the show was first run to find out about, but I have a fan ever since 1985 / 86. I got my first job late fall of 1986 and was lucky that Toys "R" Us was still clearancing the Matchbox toys from Robotech. Lucky to find the Matchbox VF - 1S airplane (non- transforming, stupidly) and a couple of Destroids at Toys "R" Us, then Scott Bernard and his motorcycle at Kay Bee Toys. ahh, the simple youthful joys of digging around toy stores - hunting down my favorite toys at prices even my "thrifty" Mom could afford (and sometimes me with my "allowance" or eventually pay check money.). good times man, good times
Now I get to collect the actual _Macross_ toys of any type I can afford. I picked up the VF - 25 "Worldwide Anniversary" (40th !), and the black and gold 25th Anniversary VF-1S by Yamato in 1/48 scale (great toys, out of print now, but worth getting on the resale market) I have come to "collect" a few of the Valkyries in black and gold paint schemes, including the 1st version VF-1S from KitzConcept (Not to be a salesman, but... KitzConcept is having a sale on their web place. Up to 40 percent off of their (very good, and "improved") 2nd version VF - 1 "Veritech" / Valkyrie and other toys, online - go get 'em, they have some really nice "limited edition" paint schemes, still in stock, iirc).
I had Mazinga and then got Godzilla. Even though it wasn't the Godzilla from the movies exactly, it didn't matter. These were such a part of my childhood :-)
Lol holy crap, watching this was a total flashback. I knew I had a mazinga (or er?) toy, but not much else. Until I saw the rocket fist thing.
Sad part is, I didn't even have a name for it till ready player one came out and I looked it up. It was just a random toy I liked and had almost forgotten.
I had a giant Gaiking when I was 7 years old, but somehow I pronounced his name as GAR-KING.
I was friends with two brothers who lived across the street from me and each had a Shogun Warrior. One had Mazinger (For some reason I loved the little red spaceship that docked in his head) and his brother had Raydeen. They also had micronauts and the micronaut play sets that you could take apart and mix and match to make new vehicles. Those were great toys.
how old were you when you learned that 'Mazinger' was actually Great Mazinger'... :-D
@@migovas1483 when I googled him to make sure that was the one my friend had. Growing up I never knew their names. I never saw the box they came from or any advertisements naming them. I read comics and remember the Shogun Warriors comic but never read it. (I did read micronauts!)
@@MrJimJam I think Great Mazinger was the only Toy figure they release, because maybe had more visual appeal , but they kept the name mazinger (his predecessor ) to avoid confusion, or perhaps the ones dealing with the products had no idea, is like Megaman and Megaman X.
I had Mazinger, but his spaceship crown wasn’t removable like my neighbor’s was. Same size toy, I don’t know what’s up with that. 🤷♀️
Shogun Warriors was a very popular toy line back in the 70's as a kid EVERY BODY WANTED ONE!! I really liked the Force Five series those video clips you played, brought back such GOOD MEMORIES! These animated shows were the talk around the neighborhood alongside Star Blazers❤ Thank You SO MUCH for this video I learned a lot👍⭐⭐⭐💖
my middle school art teacher had one in her art class. Gaiking. One time I asked her for it and she paused and said no
i was born in 1973, and did not want one. i didn't like how they use so many primary colors on the figures, like red, yellow, and blue all together don't look good to me, especially when you toss in black and white too. you could get like 15 Hot Wheels cars for the price of one of these, and that is what i did.
Loved these so much. I had the Mazinger and the Daimos jumbos… I loved both from the beginning but it wasn’t until I saw “Tranzor Z” and “Fighting King Daimos” on American TV that they became two of my very favourite toys. Context matters to a young mind.
:::EDIT:::
Reading further down, it’s astounding how many people remember these as their favourite toys.
i'm NYC born and raised. my dad picked up a Great Mazinga for me in Chinatown back in '77. I loved it so much he went back and got me Dragun and got my brother the one with the the Viking horns. we eventually got a bunch of them in the different sizes. all of them came in boxes with japanese writing. we even made our own movie with them fighting our neighbor's TOBOR with a super 8 camera lol! (anyone remember TOBOR?!?!)
i gave them all to my kids a few years ago. of course most of the missiles and weapons are long gone. i didn't even know about the comics and cartoons until very recently!
I believe the Viking horns refer to Gaiking
Really, a toy or TV show is as "successful" as the child, now grown up, remembers it, i.e. not as the adults at the time remember it. :) So many of my favourite toys and shows were "unsuccessful" based on longevity of sales or period of popularity, but I don't remember them that way. A single TV series or a single toy season of popularity can seem a lifetime in a child's mind. :D So no toy or TV show producer should feel bad about "failing". Brands like Transformers are an anomaly, really. A product might have been fleeting, but they live forever in a lot of children's (and adults') imaginations.
For real. My most cherished action figures as a kid were somehow the generic like "Action Man" set, who were somehow more powerful than even G.I. Joe or Transformers. I will say the M.A.S.H. figures my parents bought me were definitely the weakest though
This! 💯👍
As someone who's old enough to have played with those, I agree
Loved them
Exo-Squad for life on this one
I get what you're saying, but we're talking about peoples jobs here. Do you really think noone got fired after flops like this?
Born in 1971, I was the perfect age for the veritable deluge of Japan's imports of toys. I had a ton of these Shogun Warrors in the 5" line that is. This was after Mirconauts had invaded my toychest. And the comics. And a lifelong love.
Only ever had Rodan, one of my favorite toys as a kid. Wanted Godzilla badly but it wasn’t in the cards.
I remember seeing Rodan on clearance at a toy store. I ended up buying a bunch of GIJOEs. I regret that decision. Lol
I had Godzilla but didn't know Rodan existed until this video 😲
I've never clicked on a notification so fast. Shogun Warriors were my all-time favorite toy growing up.
I still remember when I was about maybe 9 or 10 years old. My mother had won a small amount of money in the lottery, so she brought me to Child World so I could pick out any toy wanted.
I walked away that day with 2-feet tall Gaiking. ^^
My brothers and I beat the HELL out of that thing, and it still held up for 15 years!
Tranzor Z, aka Mazinger Z, circa 1982-83 in Vermont on our NBC affiliate after school, remains my first taste of Japanese culture, not counting the Rankin Bass Hobbit animation.
Wrong year, it's from 1985.
It's hard to express how magic these things were to me at 6 years old. I have a giant red guy in the corner of my room to this day, As a kid they stood out as so differnt from everything available, so cool. Also around the time they released Inframan in theaters in the US, the perfect movie to my kid's eyes.
It’s great to see where Super Robots have come since the 70s, Nagai was seriously was a massive part of even why Mecha, Post apocalyptic, and even horror to an extent with his Demon Lord Dante. We literally have him starting our childhood along with Ken Ishikawa for making Getter Robo into an actual series that Go had with machines combining into one giant mecha.
We scored Mazinga and Godzilla at a yard-sale or something back in 1978-9-ish. I also had a couple of the smaller Shogun Warrior toys I found at a drug store toy aisle. I always wondered where to find other toys like them, but, as much as I looked, I couldn't find them. My cousins (who introduced us to Star Blazers when we visited their home in Seattle) claimed there were cartoons of these giant robots, but this was the days before even videotapes, so I had no idea why he thought that. The closest thing to a cartoon like that was Herculoids or Space Ghost back then.
Exactly! Didn't air anywhere 'round here. @ least you got to play...
I drooled on my S&R.
(Closest I got was the Go-Bot Command Center.)
We didn't get the cartoons in AR, but I remember the force five movies on showtime vividly. I remember my mom picking me up early from school several times so I could watch them.( pre vcr). I have all of them on vhs tapes that I purchased on the internet somewhere about 10 yrs ago. Have a vhs player still set up just for them. I never knew that those movies were just cut up episodes of a Japanese tv series until i was searching on the net for the movies. Had several shogun warrior toys including a huge star dragon from scavengers, it was awesome. Sad that some "Special" kids along with terrible parents is the reason why they disappeared. Never knew that until today, just sad. Glad those Karens never sued fish or chicken distributers or we'd be eating fish and chicken paste as a result. Sad that personnel responsibility and accidents were forgotten facts back then sometimes also. Its the reason we have to have warning labels on everything telling us not to do things that only the biggest idiots wouldn't already know. Not sure why humans work so hard to protect the stupid.
Unless he was able to get access to a Japanese TV channel. In Hawaii, we had a special arrangement. We would get the episodes a week later and then local translators would translate the dialogue into English. Our local station would then create subtitles for the various shows. Kids shows, dramas, Japanese police shows, samurai shows.
My first experience with the Shogun Warriors was through the shows aired on Showtime. The Starvengers were my favorite.
Getter Robo!
Starvengers were the best.
I remember seeing these on there too. I came across the first one by chance. And then I was hooked.
Shogun Warriors: Fails
Super Robot Wars: "You'll always be my little Pogchamp. Come here."
Glad Getter Robo and Mazinger Z still live on to this day in SRW games.
Playing through SRW 30 currently. I love those games.
@@brandonandcharlene9527 Same here.
@@brandonandcharlene9527 same! It was my first official SRW I pre-ordered (through Play-Asia though, since I bought the Switch version), and also the first import SRW I played, before that it was an emulation of SRWJ for the GBA.
@@christiandacanay3086 Cool. My first was SRW 3 and 4 on a SFC emulator. I've modified PS1 and PS2 to play many of those games. Skipped PS3 era, but got back in with PS4 since they had official English translation.
It's so wild that Mattel and Marvel managed to create a brand where the likes of Mazinger, Getter Robo, Reideen (Raydeen), Combattler (Combatra) and Gaiking came together for a big team-up before Bandai did - it was Super Robot Wars before Super Robot Wars.
Well strictly speaking Toei beat both of them to the punch with their own dynapro crossover movies.
The 2 kids which decided to fire plastic missiles into their mouths weren't the only things that suffered grim fates. How many toys with spring fire mechanisms around that time also perished?
Darwin awards: kids edition.
Toy makers quickly changed their stand on not making toys that have projectiles.😁
As an 80’s baby, every action toy available had spring firing projectiles, tiny to huge.😄
I remember having these toys that would hurt if not used properly, even kinder surprise eggs.
I had the little Poseiden and the big Godzilla, whom I would match up with on a regular basis vs. my neighbor's Raiden, good times.
Fun fact, the die cast Poseiden fired the exact same deadly plastic missiles that the Battlestar Galactica toys did. I know because they were different colors and I liked to change them up. How in the world did I survive?
My parents pried the springs out of mine when I wasn't around. When I asked what happened to the springs in Mazinga's hands, they were like "Dunno. Did you look around for them?"
Latinoamerican here, that Shogun Warriors as you called, were well known specially Mazinger; the Force five were know as El Festival de los Robots, with the dubbing and music were modified with Latinamerican expressions... They still to this day are remembered... But the only thing we didn't have were those toys... And the Lucky ones who had one of those was because ur parents were rich
I had Raydeen, Dragun, and Godzilla. My toddler cousin yanked Godzilla's "fire tongue" out not five minutes after I unwrapped it on Christmas morning. I haven't had any use for my cousin ever since.
Sir - you have truly hit my sweet spot. I remember watching all of these goofy shows as kid in the early 80's.
I remember being in love with Transor-Z, and my parents bringing me Mazinger with missile firing action for Christmas though I didn't watch that show until much later. And my cousin who was 3 at the time chewing the finger missiles until they didn't work anymore but I got blamed even though I was forced to, "Let him play too". The nostalgia is real!
I absolutely loved Tranzor Z
If only they had shown the Actual Anime at the same time as the Shogun Warriors were released
The outcome might change
Totally... I had one of these and remember wondering wtf it was. But did love "Battle of the Planets" (re-edited Gatchaman) when it came out on American TV around the same time.
That toy, that my parents probably threw out when I got bored of it, is worth $800 now in good condition according to eBay.
I loved this episode as I was on the playground as when a fellow classmate introduced us to these when I was a kid. That moment defined 'epic' for us. Then the fist shot off and hit another kid in the head. No one was hurt, we just laughed and kept playing. Such good memories.
Interesting to see Herb Trimpe did the art for comic, growing up with his Hulk and invention of Wolverine. Then in the 80s drawing so many comics of the toys and cartoons of our time
I know you hear this all the time, but I love your channel and every video you make. I was born in 1977 and lived every single video. It’s amazing how much these folks shaped our childhood in pursuit of the mighty dollar. I’m not mad at them though, happy that there is something that I can look back to and remember what it felt like to be a child. Thank you for all you do
One of those weird memories that sticks with me was of playing with my diecast Getter figure in my parents living room whike Johnny Rivers' "Slow Dancing" was on the radio. Slow dancing, playing to the music. Slow dancing, just me and my Getter...
Late '70s - early '80s was such a weird time in the Marvel Universe, when licensed characters were running amok through the 616. SHIELD fighting Godzilla? ROM teaming up with Power Man and Iron Fist? X-Men and the Micronauts?? Sure, why the hell not.
Rom and Kitty Pride was interesting as well. I caught the ending of the Rom comics series.
If you think about it, Shogun Warriors was like a proto Super Robot Wars, even have Godzilla, crazy.
I had a 3" Mazinger die cast that I got at the grocery store in about 84 or so. It was on on one of the shelf strips they hang cheap things on. I remember it being on a blank back card, so I doubt it was official, but it could have been dead stock from the 70s. I loved that toy, and had no idea what it was beyond a cool ass robot.
I truly believe that, if every kid had their own _Cool Ass Robut™️_
even if they were found on the same aisle as the cat food & school supplies,
it would indeed be a *Mo' Ro'Better World!*
@@favoritemustard3542 agreed. Cheap toys aren't as cool as they used to be, and that's a detriment to the future. But, if Dollar Tree can profit on those Final Faction figures, then there's no real reason others can't.
@@JohnKelly2 Heyㅡ○°!Ị!
I was about to direct ye to yer local 💲🌳 for some _F/F_ fun。
When 💲Gen tries to sell you 4" -Plastic- IronMan with 5 poa for $1Ø+... well, there's still a surprise out there now & again.
"Two in one means double the fun!"
Why did I get a weird little flashback to an advert for a certain interesting-looking marital aid I saw in an Adult Magazine once?
I remember seeing Goldorak comicbooks in France when I was a kid. Great looking robot design. Pretty sure he had rocket fists - always good 👍
Screwcrusher punch!!! A friend of mine actually had a Goldorak book in italian. He was awesome in any language
I really enjoyed this episode; thank you so much for making it! I had the 5" die-cast Go Nagai Great Mazinga as a kid. As a kid, I didn't know the lore behind him; so, I just thought he was a large sentient robot [I had no idea he was a mecha piloted by a human]. It's still my favourite character design 'til this very day. After years of hunting, I managed to find a MIB one on eBay a few years ago for an incredible price from a seller who obviously didn't know what they were or what they were worth. I, also, found a great bootleg Jumbo Machinder by a Taiwanese company called "Boby" [Popy parody] based on the 5" die-cast design version of him on eBay a few years ago. Anyway, thank you again, and... *ROCKET PUNCH!*
I won the massive 'Dragun' (Red and Blue guy), at an auction at school nearly 40 years ago. I never knew what he was called, as all the items up for auction were kid's old toys, without original packaging.
My mom surprised me for my birthday when I was 7 or 8 with a Dragun even though she had no idea what it was. All she knew was that I liked comic books and Star Wars stuff, so she saw a 'giant robot' & got it for me. To this day I have NO idea where she even found it but needless to say, good times were had.
You blew my mind, for some reason I never realized that the large scale Voltron (I only saw in Sears catalogs as a kid) was a Shogun Warrior version! I WANTED ONE SO BAD! I never associated the two, but now that you say it...it makes complete sense.
Was that your only "in" for Voltron?
It wasn't syndicated around me, but he was def Large & In Charge in the SR catalog!
Thank you for the name Starvengers. 35 years later I had forgotten what it was called in the US... it was my favorite show because they assembled in 3 different ways rather than always the same. Tempted to buy some really expensive toys to make sure I don't forget them again.
The best toy line made. No modern toys even come close!
Man, Shogun Warriors were my jam back in the day. I had all the figures. If I had a time machine to do only ONE thing it would be to convince my parents to buy two of every toy (Star Wars, Robotech, GI Joe, Shogun Warriors, etc) they ever bought me and my brother; one to keep in packaging, one to play with.
Great video , thanks !! Grew up watching Force Five on Boston 25, anyone remember the commercials for Mr Big Toyland on Moody Street in Waltham ? It was the absolute Mecca for Japanese mecha toys at the time in the Boston area !
Grandizer on Thursdays, was my favorite. Also don’t forget the Creature Double Feature on Saturdays that would show Godzilla films.
@@gus4u2c yessss mine as well, with Gaiking on fridays a close second … Creature Double Feature on WLVI56 , a Saturday tradition here in Boston !
Combattler, Danguard Ace, Raideen, Great Mazinger, Gaiking and freaking Godzilla?
Best crossover ever!
Edit: Oh wait, Getter Dragon, Getter Liger, Getter Poseidon, Grendizer and Voltes V? ITS SUPER ROBOT WARS MAN!!!
I remember watching those commercials and being puzzled as to what, exactly, the Shogun Warriors were supposed to fight. There were only the three main characters (plus Godzilla), they were too large to use with figures from other toy lines, and there was no backstory (I was unaware of the comics). The Micronauts had no backstory either, but there were enough toys in the lineup that you could make up your own.
As a kid in 70's England, Shogun Warriors Marvel comics was my 'entry point'. I was always more a Star Wars head, but the MIcronauts toys were on sale here too. I always remember looking a the toy ads in Marvel comics, getting so jealous of all the toys the yanks got, compared to what was available in my small south west town. The Marvel Micronauts comics were an obvious re-hash of Star Wars, but the initial comic run drawn by Mike Golden was actually quite cinematic in it's stylings compared to the general Marvel drivel of the time (bar X-Men).
I grew up watching Force Five in the Boston area, in the early ‘80s. Great times. Grandizer was my favorite
Channel 56 UHF, right ?
@@miahconnell23Force 5 was on Channel 25. Channel 56 was the home of the Creature Double Feature
I remember getting Shogun Warriors when I was a kid, when I first saw them I thought they were called Shotgun Warriors! I had Poseidon, and he shot missiles (before shooting missiles got lawyered out of toys).
God seeing Mazinger having that much of a western influence in the 70's really puts you on uncanny valley. Not to mention the Comic too. Wow. Wow.
Mazinger was huge in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. USA, not so much.
When I was 5, I got Gaiking and my brother got Radeen. A year later, he got Godzilla, and, near the end of my toy days, I got the coveted Rodan, obviously from a bargain shelf. All are resting in my basement with Rodan being in the best condition by far. These toys had a HUGE impact on me as a kid, I loved them and continue to love the properties they came from today.
A childhood filled with Star Wars & Force Five made for an amazing time to be alive.
My brother and I had the 6 inch diecast Gaiking and the Jumbo Machinder Gaiking as well, both were given to us by the son of our grandparents' next door neighbors. Had those for a while, but our Mom decided that we didn't need the 2 foot tall Gaiking anymore and gave it to Goodwill. I have no idea what happened to our original diecast Gaiking. As of just a few years ago, we finally got both back as well as a bunch more. Force Five was also a staple growing up as friends introduced my bro and I to the characters via home video rentals of the FHE movie edits, and later rentals of Robo Formers (a repackaged Starvengers). Needless to say, my bro and I are huge fans of the Super Robot anime genre. Thanks for the awesome video, Dan and the Toy Galaxy crew!!
Those giant Shogun Warriors on the Toy aisles in the 70s were my introduction into a love of giant robots that has never died! I even had Godzilla and Rodan! But Great Mazinger was my first, and still my favorite!
I remember making sure I was sitting in front of the TV every weekday at 4:30 for Force Five. It was these cartoons that sparked my love for giant robots. I remember every single comic you had on screen. I even went so far as to go on ebay years ago to get copies of all of the force five episodes. Good times! Thanks for the great work!!!
Shogun Warriors didn’t fail. They were wildly successful for a toy line at the time. When most successful toy lines had a shelf life of 2-3 years. They had no tooling costs. Import and licensing fees were reasonable, and they sold like wildfire.
I imagine there's still people out there that will get their minds blown that the toys they had as a kid were all from different series, some of which are Japanese pop culture icons, with their own stories, and in some cases still going today.
I remember seeing Force Five in 1982/1983 when I was 3/4 years old. Memories!
Watching this I’m reminded there are some top shelf openings to these anime!
GAI GAI GAI DAIKU MARYU GAIKING!
I had Mazinga as a kid. My parents got it for me for Christmas. Love You Mom&Dad!
I remember when I was in Kindergarten (1976) a kid brought his Shogun Warrior to school! I believe it was Great Mazinga. It was so amazing to me to see that giant robot! I begged my folks to get me one and Santa brought me Raydeen that Christmas. One of those toy memories that is still so vivid in my mind!😊
Imagine if giant mecha were introduced into the MCU. It would be crazy.
Depending on the type of giant mecha, I could be all in for that
They still can. Red Ronin, the mecha designed by Tony Stark & SHIELD to deal with Godzilla is part of the Marvel Universe; Pepper Potts’ Stark Industries in the MCU can still create him for the films.
Another option is the Leopoldron mecha from the Japanese Spider-Man series; all the moreso if the 2nd Into the Spider-Verse film includes Spidey’s Japanese counterpart which is licensed from Marvel.
Japan did with Spider-Man in the 70s. He had a awesome motorcycle, a giant much. Hell it predated the Sentai series by a few years even.
oh my god no, disney would corrupt them with a bunch of woke shit In addition, the shogun warriors already have their own shared multiverse in Japan, it is called super robot wars
I remember being a kid and being captivated with the 'Force Five' series, I made it a point to never miss an episode. I still remember these more fondly than Transformers.
Grendizer/Grandizer was always my favourite of the bunch.
My best friend had the yellow one with horns and the godzilla. I was always soooo jealous!
I was a Toddler when Mazinger was a part of the Shogun toyline, later in 1985 Mazinger was renamed Tranzor Z but they NEVER had a Tranzor Z action Figure!
5:01 "Two in one means double fun"...ah yes, words to live by 😂😂😂🤣
Oh man, I remember my Shogun Warrior, and how I made him fight the Godzilla with the flick Out tongue Flame! Good Times...☺
Man, I had one of those missle firing Cylon raiders when I was a kid. Little did I know that my life was in danger the whole time! 😂
The imperious leader demanded that they were about human civilization
Force Five will forever live in my most treasured childhood memories. Thank you for your efforts on this episode and all others you produce.
Child: Mom, can I have Super Robot Wars?
Mom: No, we have that at home.
Super Robot Wars at home:
I still have 4 of those shogun worries toys standing in my living room right now haha... Love this channel, it takes me back to when I was a kid.. Keep up the good work guys..
Force Five made it to San Francisco through two avenues in the late 70's/early 80's.
The first was Japanese toys brought over unofficially to add to the strength of American-released versions. A lot of rich cousins from the Philippines (when Marcos started cracking down on everything) immigrated over with their actual transforming/combining toys. They also had access to Japan which opened up the market.
So cousins would have these incredible versions of the same toy line, whereas we had to use our imagination with the clunky, crude, Duplo-like "robots."
It's as if we loved and watched Battle of the Planets...and then someone showed us a bootleg Gatchaman episode. Eff that 7-Zark-7 crap...!
The second avenue was cable TV. Come 1980-81, Force Five finally made it to SF, but through Viacom (cable) on Showtime. And that added to the perception that these cartoons were superior to the stuff broadcast on UHF (KBHK TV-44, KTSF TV-26)--the only way I could actually watch it was at my grandma's house in the city. No cable in the suburbs in '81.
After that ended in '82, we'd get occasional stuff like Starbirds (Daimos) or Thunderbirds 2086, until Star Blazers stepped up. Again only on cable, to watch stations outside of SF (KTXL TV-40, KICU TV-36.) And again it was gone like a flash.
That's Japanese cartoons, Bay Area style! It only left us wanting it more than the lucky kids back East. But I dare say we were more zealous about it because of the forbidden-fruit nature of its release to us.
Thank you for unlocking why I remembered "Spaceketeers" as a kid, but couldn't put the pieces together. Another great video.
I think Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger was one of the anime I watched on Italian broadcast TV back in the early 1980s. All I remember is two guys riding small space ships chariot style fighting endless hordes of enemies in space.
I had Godzilla and Mazinga! I loved them so much. My brother inherited them when I got older, now my nephews have them.
Thanks for this one! Had the figures for Combattler V, Getter Poseidon & Danguard Ace, and I still have Marvel Comics’ Shogun Warriors #s 1-3. Wish the series had gone longer.
Speaking of Godzilla, who, ironically was part of the line, a missed opportunity was to have the Shoguns in the comic (Raydeen, Combatra & Danguard Ace) cross paths with the King of the Monsters. Another missed chance was to have had the Shoguns meet Red Ronin, the mecha jointly designed by Tony Stark & SHIELD to combat Godzilla in his own Marvel series.
In French speaking Québec, Goldorak (Grendizer) was the king. In fact, that was the only super robot we got on TV in the late 70's/early 80's. No Shogun Warriors/Force Five here. Unless you count the mashup movie where we saw Goldorak's buddies Getta Robo G (yeah, we never saw the original), Mazinger/Great Mazinger and the girl robots Venus A and Minerva along with non-super robot but still Go Nagai stalwart Devilman.
Goldorak merch was a HUGE thing in Québec. I'm sure I recall seeing a jumbo Grendizer/Goldorak as a kid along with a Mazinger (which confused the heck out of me as I had no idea where this robot was from) and I've seen one (from the 80's) here and there at shops here in Japan fetching hundreds of dollars on average depending on the condition.
I got to play with one briefly as a kid and was always fascinated by these guys.
Would love to see an episode about GUYVER Bio-Booster Armor!!!
The Godzilla one is beyond amazing
Had Godzilla and Rodan as a kid and they were awesome. I loved the play mechanics of Rodan to simulate flight.
As a kid, I had a used giant shogun warrior with fist shooting rockets in late 70s and I had a number of the comics too. Same with Micronauts toys and comics. Best stuff ever.
I had the big Shogun Warriors and some of the smaller ones. However Rodan was my favorite. I saw it an xmas catalog and asked for it, and actually started playing with my Fisher Price toys about the coming of Rodan... and then the toy arrived with a broken wing. My grandfather glued up that one but got me a new one as well. As I played Rodan was the master of an island lost in time and all the Fisher Price toys were a caravan trying to escape.
I loved Force Five when I was a kid! The series aired on WLVI-56 here in NH and had that awesome “Mr. Big’s Toyland” ad play during commercial breaks! “Mummy! It’s in Waltham! They’re made of DIE-CAST METAL! Can we go there?!”
I am glad to see someone finally acknowledging Goldorak (even if in passing).. He wasn't only popular just in France.
If you grew up in Quebec (Canada) back in the late 70's , early 80's, He was king. (And the toy every kid wanted )
Keep up the Great work!
Indeed. I remember seeing the Goldorak toy (UFO Robot Grendizer) in kids magazines from France in the late 70s-early 80s. I don't remember ever seeing it in store in Quebec though.
@@martingelinas1721 They all went to Plattsburgh to buy it lol...
I had the red Shogun Warrior that shot axes and Godzilla and even at 4 years old I remember my dad asking "Why does his fist fly off?". That Godzilla got a lot of millage throughout the 80s and frequently did battle with He Man, Transformers and Gi Joe and even stood in as a Super Rancor against my Star Wars figures.
I had ALL of the 2 foot tall toys when I was a kid. Including Godzilla and Rodan. I asked my father years ago why he got those particular toys for my brother and I but he couldn't remember. We grew up in New England and Force Five was part of our regular cartoon line up. Along with Starblazers which was a stand alone show. We didn't realize that was 'anime' but it was obviously in a different art style and it was very serious and a continuous story unlike most episodic kids' cartoons like Scooby Doo.
I was a kid in Vancouver at the end of the 1970s, and these were THE cool thing (with all due respect to Star Wars, but Empire hadn't come out yet). I only had a tiny little 3" diecast Goldorak and some colouring books, but a kid I stayed with owned a bunch of these - Godzilla, Great Mazinga, "Dragun". I also coveted them whenever I would find strange new ones on toy store shelves (ones I would recognize in later life through vintage anime and stuff).
Later, as a teen, I found a strange Jumbo at a flea market for my little brother (which seemed smaller than my childhood memories). It would be many years later that I'd be able to identify that figure as Boss Palder from Machine Blaster.
The thing that always drove me crazy as a kid was how Jumbo Great Mazinga clearly had some kind of spaceship lodged in his head, but it didn't come out. I couldn't figure out why they would design something like that, but not have it removable!
I was born in ‘74, and remember seeing animated movies like Grendizer, my favorite was the StarVengers movie featuring Star Dragon, Star Arrow, and Star Poseidon. This sparked my obsession with giant robots which led to… Transformers ❤
I too had the large Mazinger robot and it still remains as one of my favorite toys as a kid
This video just brought back a ton of memories about how me and one of me friends used to play with these things. We used to play a game called “War”. We would combine all our action figures, plastic army men, matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, and of course, our Shogun Warriors, both the big giant ones, and the small metal ones, into a big collection. Then, we would do a draft. Each of us taking turns selecting one figure/car, or robot. The plastic army men were divided evenly between us. We would do this until we each had this mish-mash of an army. We explained away the differences in scales and such by saying that these were all different sized alien species and fighting robots. Even the Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars were “Car robots”. And EVERYTHING was armed. We would then go to opposite sides of the room, or spots in the yard, and build bases. The objective was to completely eradicate the opposing side. But there were problems we ran into that bugged us. We had the problem of “Who shoots who, and who gets killed when shot.”. We needed a rule for that. So we reasoned that anything hit by a Shogun Warrior launched ANYTHING, would logically be dead except for another Shogun Warrior of equal size. But then had the problem of, “If Shogun Warriors fight, who wins?”. We needed rules for that. Things evolved very slowly over time with us just.. adding a rule every time we saw some flaw. We had NO idea at the time that we were doing this, but we were actually designing some type of strange, role playing, action figure filled, miniature war game. We had to figure out how far figures could shoot. So we set up rules for that, using a ruler. Then we discovered the beauty of tape measures which allowed weapons that fired long distances, and allowed for determination of line of sight. We needed to figure out who had what weapons, and what damage they did, and how much damage a robot, action figure, car, or Shogun Warrior could take before being killed. We added dice that we raided from our board games to determine if a shot hit or not (The only exception to this was the stuff the Shogun Warriors could shoot). We used dice to determine weapon damage. We ended up with a couple notebooks with pages of lists of the different figures, how far they could shoot, how many dice you rolled fir damage, and how many “life points” each figure had. The only thing the game didn’t have was movement rules. You would just pick up a figure or one in each hand and just.. walk them, or fly them if they had that ability. Then when one figure got in range of an enemy one, one or the other of us would say, “Shooting!”. Action would freeze in place, and we would break out the dice and tape measure. We even had a way to do fall damage. We just created a new rule on the spot every time we found a situation not covered by our rules. It was this strange, and most likely, horrible, insanity, of random rules. We were young kids. But we somehow made it work, and I have so many memories of us playing this crazy game that was like this strange combination of real-time strategy and miniature war game. Given how our minds worked, back then, it’s probably not at all a surprise that at age 11 or 12, that we took to Dungeons & Dragons like fish to water. There’s also been so many times over the years where I’ve thought about just, trying to write down the rules we made for this game from memory, but there’s a lot of specifics that I’m never going to remember. This was back in the late 70’s. But man. The memories. It was one of our favorite games that evolved into this complex mess of a game simply due to us having the standard kid-game problem of “who shoots who? Who shot first? Who kills who?”. We git fed up with these issues and did something about it in our typical, completely overboard ways. Did any of you do anything similar with your toys? I’m curious to see if there were any other kids out there who came up with stuff like this. We can’t be the only ones.
TRANZOR Z is my first introduction to Go Nagai awesome creations 😊
I grew up with force five watching it on that very station as a kid in the 80's in Boston. The show always had the commercial for this wonderful toy store in Waltham, Mass
Wow. This was a blast from the past. I used to own the Mazinga and the Godzilla one. Played them for years.
Love this channel outside of the obvious nostalgia factor; I get to learn about a lot of things I missed living overseas for a chunk of my childhood.
My dad still has his collection. I recently got him an all white boba fett shogun for Christmas. These things are so cool!
Back in the 70's I had the Godzilla! I also had one of the 3" ones. I think it was Mazinga. I had a friend who had one of the others. I really wanted the Rhodan but my father wouldn't buy it for me. When I was in Japan a few years ago I went to a used and vintage toy store called Mandrake in Shibuya. They had the same Godzilla! I was tempted to buy it but I wasn't sure how to get it home in my luggage. Such nostalgia. Thanks for making this video! I love your work.
"No, your uncle didn't bring one home from Kenner back in the 80's. You can stop typing."
I was particularly tickled to see your "Force Five" at from Channel 25 in Boston, as I grew up in the early 80s watching that show. It was the first step in a long marathon of Japanese pop culture obsession.
Well that was surreal. I grew up in the Boston market, saw that exact commercial. Used to literally run home from school to watch Force Five, followed by Starblazers. Heck, I even made Gaiking out of Legos since I never saw the toy in stores. All that changed when Fox started up and bought that UHF channel, changing the call letters to WFXT.
Dude, are you my clone or something?