This is a dream come true to see Shogun warriors back in my hands after so long.
Let’s take a second and get some history. I fell in love with the Shogun Warriors all the way back of Christmas 1980. That very important Christmas I got my Great Mazinger, the giant Jumbo Machinder version by Mattel. I can say this was the moment that started my decent into robotdom.
I have been a huge fan of giant robots ever since.
Decades have passed since that moment and we are here again. Now, we have action figures and even smaller shoguns in our hands again. The main figures are from Super 7’s ReAction toy line. This means they are the classic Fisher Price toy presented in Star Wars style and size. Not to mention, they have the classic retro sculpt. I like this type of style and it works great with the Shoguns on this line.
You would have loved using these guys with your adventure space people right alongside Boba Fett. It would have been fantastic. The basic line consists of Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger with some of their villains the main bad guys Garuda K7, Doublas M2, and the crazy three headed Rokuron Q9.
Many people will demand other Shogun Warriors like Raydeen / Raideen, Gaiking , Danguard Ace. I would point out the crazy license issues with Japanese creators. All of the characters made here are Dynamic Planning so these are actually owned by their creator Go Nagai. Also, the toy line is Shogun Figures not Shogun Warriors. We wont see any of the other Super Robots you simply can’t get the myriad of company’s and creators to play nice anymore in Japan. Getting them to do that over in the USA would be even harder. We got a crazy incredible break here that will probably never see again, so enjoy them now while you can kids.
As the figure sculpts go, they are classic retro and I love it. On the paint, they are ok. Not superb, but at the price point they are good for what you get. What I see beyond the classic robots is the ability to use some nice body parts later for figure bashing and bootleg customs galore if you can get some before they sell out.
I myself can’t wait to make a RTF Robo action figure out of the Great Mazinger body. The Rokuron body is crying out for space suit customs. So, we get lots of potential play with these figures, but looks like they will be very limited. I was told that the demand and limits by the licensees are very unbalanced so this is a once and done line. We “Giant Robot lovers” got love letter from Super7 and we should thank them for that.
Not only did we get action figure Shoguns we got a line of M.U.S.C.L.E. Shogun Figures. Again all from the Mazinger series from Go Nagai. This extended line has four packs with three figures in each. Looking at the sculpts on these figures and the reaction line all are marked 2016 makes sense we saw them premiered some time ago. This shows on the Sculpts. They don’t look as good as some of the other figures we have got from Super7. The details look washed out and the color is off much more yellow orange than the normal M.U.S.C.L.E. pink.
With the Super7 M.U.S.C.L.E. line we have seen quite a bit of varying on the pink flesh tone. These are no exception. I see them dated compared to some of the more modern sculpts. She-Ra and Transformers keshi are good examples of much better sculpts. Those picky exceptions aside, they are nice to have Keshi scaled Mazinger heroes and villains not from Japan.
Mazinger has a lot great villain designs and we get a couple of note in the four available packs. Full M.U.S.C.L.E. line has Mazinger Z, Doublas M2, Aphrodite A, Rokuron Q9, Garada K7, Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Minerva X, General of Darkness, Great Mazinger, Count Brocken, and Archduke Gorgon.
Again as noted with the Reaction figures this is a limited release and will be gone quickly. You can get the line of Shogun Figures and M.U.S.C.L.E. Shoguns at Super7.com and their two stores in San Francisco and San Diego, but don’t wait.
I give the Shogun Figures ReAction Figures 5/5 shooting robot fists
The Shogun Figures M.U.S.C.L.E. figures 3/5 shooting robot fists