In 1990 (about a half a decade too late) The Franklin Mint produced this rather striking 12″ porcelain statue entitled “The Shadow Warrior” sculpted by Sum Nakamura. It is rare as hell now and sells for unreasonable prices on the seldom occasions it does surface on evil-Bay.
I got mine relatively cheap due to the broken hand, missing the pinky. I like to think of him as a moonlighting Yakuza with one strike against him…
The design here was clearly inspired by costuming from Revenge of the Ninja and American Ninja, but still embodies a certain Japanese sensibility.
The Franklin Mint also produced this obscenely expensive garish ninja sword.
This thing was ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT the cheeeesiest shinobi-oriented collectible EVER produced. Period. You too could be the envy of every late-night knife show host on QVC!
Retro-styled like a kid’s vinyl toy from the 60′s, this 10″ figure of Sonny Chiba as Hattori Hanzo from Kage No Gundan (aka Shadow Warriors) is absolutely BOSS! I’m not a big fan of boutique vinyl and the high-end collector market, but when I saw this Marusan limited piece on eBay a couple years ago I had to jump.
I’m blown away by how the Marusan sculptors skirt the fence between fealty of portrait and the sensibilities of children’s toy design. The anatomy is cartoonish, but the accuracy to the property is dead on.
Japanese toy companies like Marusan, Marmit and Bulmark have produced these weird kiddie-styled figures of obscure or adult-oriented properties over the past decade. Guess the idea is to produce the toy you would have had as a toddler if the licensing mentality of today existed back then. No one in their right mind would have licensed Zombie Michael Jackson or Angry Red Planet or myriad R-rated action properties to a vinyl toy line back in the day, but now we can enjoy the ‘what-if’ figures that never were. Limited edition runs mean they can hone in on some beloved cult properties never viable for mass-produced merch, like Matango or the scuba-creature from Atragon, or, yes… Hanzo from the decidedly un-toddler-friendly Shadow Warriors.
Ninja could be found via myriad big-name properties in the 80′s, but it is the generic, no-brand ninja merch I love most from that era. This 15″ plastic kids’ bank is a personal fave.
Intrigued by the TM placed beside the NINJA logo. Were they trying to protect that typography? Might be from a whole line of generic merch. Manufacturer seems to be “Child’s Play,” with a 1986 release date, and a model “No. 25″ designation.
No one kept cheap crap like this, no one geekily followed their manufacture, distribution patterns or variants. So while supposedly “rare” action figures turn up perfectly preserved on unopened cards all the time on eBay, it is these at one time ubiquitous but now all but forgotten pieces that are truly the hardest to find stuff out there.
I have a real pet peeve – when it comes to RED NINJA I’m a total hater.
I understand why comic book and toy companies use the color, I get the appeal of the aggressive hue, etc. and so forth, whatever… But regardless, I’m annoyed as hell by red ninja suits in movies and comics and especially toy lines.
However, this upcoming 1:6 Scale Cobra Red Ninja Viper from Sideshow Toys is pretty damned incredible!
I like the hood options, love the forearm armor, and the kusarigama is BOSS!
Sun hat... STUPID! Yari... awesome.
The extra feet are phenomenal - limitless posing for stealthy walking or front kicks.
Hasbro invented the 1:6 format with the original GI Joe in the 60′s, then produced the best-selling ninja figures of all time in the 80′s with the redefined GI Joe: A Real American Hero line. However in the decades since, they’ve really failed to deliver a good 12″ product, so now they license their characters out to their competitors, who routinely kick their ass in the collectible markets. Sideshow has already sold out of a limited variant edition of the above figure in pre-orders at a whopping $130! Guess they’re doing something right. Shit, if the costume what black or grey on this, I might have jumped at it myself…
So, if you’re going to own a stupid red ninja figure, I guess this in the one. I myself would rather own one of the other ‘red ninja‘ below.
Ukido Ninja Warriors is a nice new line of well-researched and superbly executed ninja collectibles distributed out of Australia. Pictured here is the assortment of 3.5″ figures, but the same designs are available as keychains, and imprinted on wallets, journals and bags.
The figures are halfway between vinyl boutique fare and ancient Japanese wooden folkdolls. GREAT paint jobs and designs allow a simple mold to represent all sorts of different personalities and costume styles. Love these…
There are a couple of sellers on eBay with these right now, starting around $15 AUD. Really hoping they get distro in North America somewhere…
South America has a long history of lucha libre programs aimed at kids – less violent, driven by comic-booky characters and storylines, and full of super heroes, evil wizards, rasslin’ monsters and yes, martial artists. Here’s some cheapo He-Man knock-off ninja figs from the 80′s, crudely repurposed for a 100% Lucha or Titanes en el Ring tie-in.
The much-missed masters of cheap toy lines Remco released a He-Man-sized line of martial arts action figures from 1984-86 called Secret of the Ninja. Three sets were done in ’86 that included VHS tapes to ‘play along to’ – and man are these tapes some historical oddities!
Yeah… Kaiketsu Lion Maru… the pilot episode… on domestic VHS… DUBBED IN ENGLISH! What the hell? Did the soon-to-be-defunct toy company bring in a cast of voice-over actors to do this up? Was there a dubbed pilot floating around public domain after a long-forgotten failed pitch to film or TV markets? Is this the only surviving remnant of a whole season of the tokusatsu classic re-purposed for the American market that never saw the light of day?
Now the dubbed version of Kamui I can understand a bit more – the series ran for years in Latin American markets, was dubbed for Italian TV, and more. An English version was probably done in hopes of similar syndication, but the nature of the knife-wielding youngster killing ninja in the trees may have been a bit much for American corporate sensibilities.
Regardless of the origins of the programs on these tapes, the box art was certainly new and a product of Remco. They’re signed “S. Paracio” or “Sparacio.”
Someday I’ll get around to photographing my modest collection of these figures. It’s a weird line with all-over-the-place designs, and head sculpts that look a lot like 70′s high-school math teachers.
I’m of two minds about the classic Kaiketsu Lion Maru tokusatsu series. I basically love everything about it… except for the heroes. The character designs of the lead and his rival Tiger Joe sort of creep me out. Tiger I find creepier than Lion, because whereas Lion Maru is at least fully clothed, Tiger Joe is walking around PANTLESS! Seriously, look at the above image in anthropomorphic terms – if he’s human, he’s wearing a cape, a chestplate, cowboy boots with spurs, and a smile. Ew…
This one is probably late 80′s, but you still see generic wind-up and battery-op toys like this, crudely shinobi-fied, at Southern California swap meets, Florida flea markets, dirt mall dealers and curbside vendors in NYC all the time.
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