In the late 1970s, after a rough financial decade, Mattel decided to take a chance and license several toys from Japan to create the Shogun Warriors. Since the beginning of the 1970s, Popy had made a name for itself by producing several popular robot toy lines in Japan. Most of these toys were based on popular mecha anime and manga of the time. Thus, they had a large selection of Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, and other robot brands to pick from. They even produced a line of toys that specialized in the die-cast robots, Chokogin.
After securing the rights to several of Popy’s toys, Mattel decided to merge them all into a singular toy line. Thus, they repackaged these new toys as the Shogun Warriors. The first wave of these toys appeared on store shelves in 1977, with the 24” Jumbo Machinders taking center stage. In America, these toys included Great Mazinger, Gaiking, Daimos, Dragun, and Raydeen.
The Shogun Warriors toys had multiple versions that came out over the years. The first edition of these toys directly copied the molds from the Japanese toys. Unfortunately, these toys had multiple safety concerns that caused Mattel to return to the drawing board and make several revisions. As they rereleased the toys, multiple features were stripped away. For instance, the stickers and bending knees disappeared. Mattel also tempered projectile weapons over time.
As they introduced Shogun Warriors to the European region, they decided to add one more robot to the roster. Grendizer earned two different names depending on which country he appeared in. In France, he was known as Goldorak. Meanwhile, his Italian version was named Goldrake. As a European exclusive, this toy has become rare. Still, like the other toys in the line, Mattel released him five times until 1982.
The line also featured several 5” and 3” die-cast robots as well as the impressive Combatra Deluxe Set. Unlike the rest of the line-up, Combatra’s set included five vehicles (Battle Jet, Battle Clasher, Battle Tank, Battle Marine, and Battle Craft) that combined to become the mighty Combatra. There were also a small series of Shogun Action Vehicles including Cargosaur, Dangard Launcher, Sky Jet, Vertilift, and many more.
Mattel also released two monsters from Toho’s catalog as special additions to the Shogun Warriors line-up. When they obtained the rights to create Godzilla toys, they sought help from Popy to design the perfect toy for the line. After several revisions, both companies found a Godzilla toy that they agreed on. However, Mattel made one final set of revisions before releasing it to the US. They toned down the toy to make it more friendly to Western audiences.
Meanwhile, Mattel also designed a brand new toy for the line: one of The World’s Greatest Monsters, Rodan. This giant toy sported a 3-foot-long wingspan. While the toy never officially had the Shogun Warriors logo, it is considered part of the brand. It also was only released in the US, so it has become one of the most sought-after toys in the line.
Over the years, Mattel realized that they could use additional media to promote the Shogun Warriors. Since most Americans only knew them as part of the toy line, they barely knew the characters. Thus, Mattel sought out assistance from Marvel Comics to help advertise these new toys to the public.
The Shogun Warriors comic books launched on February 1979, two years after the toy line appeared. Writer Doug Moench drafted the story for the comics while Herb Trimble created the art. While there were five significant machines in the toy line, the comics only featured three machines: Combatra, Dangard Ace, and Raydeen. According to rumor, they did not have the proper copywrites to include either Great Mazinger or Daimos. These robots gained brand new pilots in these comics, with Combatra only having one pilot instead of five. Richard Carson was the pilot of Radeen, Combatra’s pilot was Genji Odashu, and Dangard Ace’s pilot was Ilongo Savage.
In many ways, the comics became the most successful part of the brand, for it ran for 20 issues. It concluded within the same year that they came out. Along with the comics, Mattel’s toy line also came to a close.
In 2010, the Shogun Warriors returned. However, a new company created these toys: Toynami. This toy focused on the 24-inch Jumbo Machinders. Toynami also released a re-run of the 19-inch Godzilla from the Shogun Warriors toy line in 2015.
Recently, Super7 has been releasing small-scale tributes to the original Shogun Warriors toys. For instance, they have created multiple scaled-down versions of the Shogun Warriors Godzilla figures in various colors. Their line also includes various toys that never were part of the original line, like Voltron, but are now recreated in the Shogun Warriors style.
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