Mattel’s Shogun Warriors – The Super Robots

The Mighty Super Robots – the Shogun Warriors!

The Shogun Warriors are known to most of us in the USA thanks to the toy offerings by Mattel in the late 70s. The lineup featured a variety of robots that were popular in various Japanese anime titles. Mattel’s offering came in 3 distinct sizes- a 24 inch plastic figure, a 3.5 inch die cast figure, as well as a 5 inch die cast figure. Similar toys were released in Japan by Popy under the Jumbo Machinder title.

The Shogun Warrior characters:

Mazinga

One of the first (and probably most well-known) Shogun Warrior figures released was Mazinga (known in Japan as the Great Mazinger, or Mazinger Z). Mazinga was piloted by Kouji Kabuto, and was controlled by a docking station in his cranium. Mazinga was available in all three sizes of figures released in the US.

 

Gaiking

Likely the second most popular Shogun Warrior, Gaiking was also released in all three sizes of action figures. Gaiking was made up primarily from the head of The Great Space Dragon, and was piloted by Aries Astonopolous (also known as Sanshiro Tsuwabuki in Japan).

Dragun / Raider / Poseidon

The three forms of Getter Robo G consisted of Getter Dragon (Dragun), Getter Liger (Raider), and Getter Poseidon (Poseidon). Dragun was available in all three sizes, Poseidon was available in both the 5 inch and 3.5 inch lines, while Raider was available only in the 5 inch offering.

Raydeen

Offered only in the 24 inch and 5 inch (in the 2-in-1 series), Raydeen (sometimes spelled Raideen) was piloted by Akira Hibiki. Raydeen generally utilized a bow as his primary weapon. Raydeen also had the ability to transform into the God-Bird for both travel and fighting.

Combattra

Known as Combattler V in Japan, Combattra was a Super Robot that consisted of 5 unique vehicles combining into one. Combattra was only released as part of the 3.5 inch line in the US.

Dangard

Dangard was featured in both the 5 inch line, as well as the second wave of the 3.5 inch offering. His primary attack was through the use of a Photon Blast from his chest cavity, and similar to Raydeen, had the ability to transform into a vehicle-mode called ‘Dreadnought-Titan.’

Daimos

Maybe the least popular of the original US releases, Daimos tends to be one of the hardest to find today. Daimos, the super robot piloted by karate black belt Kelly Hunter (or Kazuya Ryuuzaki in Japan), mimics the pilot’s actions.

Voltes-V

Voltes-V was introduced as a sequel to the successful Combattler series, and was included in Mattel’s Shogun Warriors offering in both the 5 inch and 3.5 inch lines.

Leopaldon

A personal favorite- Leopaldon was the partner robot of none other than Spider-Man! After adopting Spider-Man to a live action TV show more suited for the Japanese audience, Leopaldon was introduced as the Super Robot of choice for the web-slinger. He can easily be identified by the web-design featured on his chest.

17

Known in Japan as Daitetsujin 17, he was simply released in Mattel’s line as “17.” 17 was only available in the second wave of 3.5 inch figures.

Godzilla

While not technically a Super Robot, Godzilla was an excellent inclusion in Mattel’s Shogun Warriors line. He was only available in the 24 inch offering, the Shogun Godzilla stands out as one of the most recognizable Godzilla figures to date. The figure was able to shoot his hand like a rocket, and also had a tab on the back of his head (which is often broken) that could be pressed to shoot ‘flames’ from his mouth.

Rodan

While not directly released along side the Shogun Warrior offerings, Rodan was included in Mattel’s World’s Greatest Monsters lineup, and coming in with a wingspan over 3 feet, he is in perfect scale for the 24 inch line. Rodan featured cutouts in his back that allowed kids to control his wings and jaw with their fingers. He is very difficult to find loose, and very tough to find with a nice condition box.

Jumbo Shogun Warriors

The 24 inch Mattel Shogun Warriors US Lineup consisted of:

• Mazinga
• Gaiking
• Daimos
• Dragun
• Raydeen
• Godzilla
• Rodan

5 Inch Shogun Warriors

The 5 inch figures offered by Mattel included:

• Mazinga
• Raider
• Dragun
• Poseidon

The 2-in-1 figures (also 5 inch die cast) included:

• Raydeen
• Gaiking
• Danguard
• Daimos
• Voltes-V

Mattel’s Shogun Warriors 3.5 Inch Figure Series

The 3.5 inch figures were released in two waves. The first wave offered:

• Combattra
• Mazinga
• Dragun
• Grandizer
• Gaiking
• Poseidon

The second wave included the original 6 figures released with updated packing, and also introduced:

• Dangard
• Leopaldon
• Voltes V
• 17

Vehicles and more:

Mattel’s Shogun Warrior offering included a number of diecast vehicles, so many so that we’ll dedicate an entire article just to them. Be on the looking in the coming days for the follow up! Make sure you’ve subscribed to be notified when new content is posted!