You may have heard of Mattel's Shogun Warriors line of giant robot toys in the 1970s... you may have even heard of the Godzilla figure in that line... but did you know there was a Rodan figure? I'm not sure what's up with the three holes in Rodan's chest, there.
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That's actually his BACK, and those holes serve as a handle, in the same basic configuration as a bowling ball, allowing one to more effectively fly him around, jiggling him up and down to employ the flapping action (the wings are hinged, with rubber bands giving them some springiness).
ReplyDeleteAh, okay... that makes more sense then. Thanks, Devlin!
ReplyDeletenot shogun warriors, dude, but mattel's worlds greatest monsters.
ReplyDeletestill neat though
Anonymous - Really? Because I've seen the box for it, and it's clearly stated as Shogun Warriors... I've never heard of Mattel's World's Greatest Monsters line -- can you provide a link to any further information or photos of this?
ReplyDeleteok dude peep this-www.clubtokyo.org
ReplyDeletesearch for rodan in their character search bar, on page 2 you will find that of which I speak.
Post back how you get on.
Wow, I never knew that before! Thanks for the information... I'd always heard that was part of the Shogun Warriors line! Too bad there was only one item in that "series."
ReplyDeleteRodan was supposed to be the first in a series of the Worlds Greatest Monsters line. Rodan is highly collectible due to it was only released in the United States. I have made a mold of the wings and am selling reproduction wing sets. Plastic after thirty years becomes very brittle and most of the loose Rodans had cracked wings due to the flapping motion.
ReplyDeleteAlso their were three releases of the Shogun Godzilla. The first release had very vivid paint, weights in the feet and stubbs on the tail. The second release had less garish paint, no weights in the feets and no stubs on the tail. the third release again had less garish paint, no stubs on the tail, no weights in the feet, but it did have a reinforced fire tongue lever, due to it snapping off after minimal play. I also sell reproduction firing fists. Through trial and error i found out the fist had to be a certain weight or it would not stay in the socket. Cool site by the way.
Thanks for the supplemental info, Tim, as well as for the compliments! I hope you've taken the time to check out some of my other blogs, too!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a dream of mine since I was a kid to see more monsters in the "World's Greatest Monsters" line. Does anyone have ANY info about possible releases? I would have loved to have seen Gigan, Ghidorah, King Kong, GAmera, Anguirus, and Mothra released. Has anyone ever attempted customs of these larger toys? My plan is to one day do it myself, creating characters with firing fists, tails, and other projectiles. With that said, the GIJoe Terron toy looks AMAZING next to the Shogun/Popy Godzillas and Rodan. Another toy that looks great is the Zogg figure who was sold as the enemy of Electroman in the 70s.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of anyone doing custom figures for the abortive line... although most of the Toho stuff was done later (and very well) by Trendmasters, certainly nothing in the scale of the Shogun/World's Greatest Monsters.
ReplyDelete