Shogun Warriors (toys)

The Shogun Warriors were the main characters of a line of toys licensed by Mattel Inc. during the late 1970s. They were a series of imported Japanese robots based on several anime and tokusatsu shows featuring giant robots. They were originally manufactured in three sizes: 24-inch (610 mm) plastic versions, 3.5-inch (89 mm) die-cast metal versions, and slightly taller but much more detailed 5-inch (127 mm) die-cast versions. Several vehicles were also offered, as well as a set that could be put together to form the super robot Combattra. Toward the end of production, Mattel proposed the inclusion of plastic toy vehicles for the 3.5" figures to ride in exclusively in the United States, however, these toys were not released for purchase.

These toys featured spring-loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, shuriken, and battle axes. Some were able to launch their fists while the later die-cast versions also had the ability to transform into different shapes. Raydeen, for example, could become a birdlike spaceship. These "convertible" versions were the precursors to the Transformers line of toy robots, but unlike Transformers, minor disassembling was usually required to transform the robots. There was even a robot named Megatron in issue #18 of the Shogun Warriors comic book series, a name subsequently used multiple times for the leader of the evil Decepticons from Transformers. Sometimes the toys were unable to transform into their second form, one example being Gaiking's "giant skull," which was the head for Daiku Maryu, a space dragon toy not released in the United States.

Several of the anime-based toys from this line of toys reappeared in the 1980s in Jim Terry's Force Five series. A single movie version was edited from each series and sold on home video. These features aired on the cable network Showtime in 1981 under the name "Shogun Warriors".

The Shogun Warriors name was revived by Toynami in 2010 as an all-new toy line.

Giant robot characters that featured in the original toy line were:

In addition, two giant movie monsters from Toho were added to the line:

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