Apparently the Mazinger Z anime was gaining a following in Italy sometime in the 80's and the Italian Mattel group decided to support the dubbed cartoon with this Shogun Warriors release. It's pretty interesting as it gloms together bits from the Mattel Goldorak with Mattel Great Mazinga (3rd release Mattel Mazinga or modded Great Mazinger) to produce this figure. It's a bit strange as the box shows a Mattel Great Mazinga but the contents uses the body, lower legs and arms of Goldorak and the head and thighs from Mazinga - even weirder, the Condor is molded from a single piece of hard rubber (instead of the two-piece blow-molded design) from a first issue Great Mazinger condor - I'm thinking they probably molded this directly from an existing vintage condor.
Mazinga "Z Box Front
Mazinga "Z Box Left Side
Mazinga "Z Box Right Side
Mazinga "Z Box Ends
The box essentially uses the same graphic treatment as the other Shogun Warrior boxes - as far as I know this was only marketed in Italy but it also includes English, German and French languages so it may have been released there too - it's quite rare. I'm still not sure why it's ** Mazinga "Z ** - the use of a double quote in front of the letter Z is just weird.
The box reads in English:
Mattel No. 9860
Gauntlet Fist * Two Swords
Arms Raise and Lower * Triggers
Leg Rollers
Head Turns * Rockets
Fist Launches Rockets
No Batteries! No Electricity! Fully Assembled!
Sword and rockets not for use with all SHOGUN warriors
Also:
Copyright TOEI ANIMATION PRODUCTION 1970 * Per concessione SACIS * Roma.
Distributed by Mattel, Inc. Hawthorne, CA 90250. MADE AND PRINTED IN ITALY SHOGUN is a U.S registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. used under license.
I've been writing about stuff that interests me for many years, initially with some free web space provided by my ISP back in the 90's and continuing with various blogs and websites today, separated by interest. Many I haven't touched in a few years due to time constraints but the subjects are still on my mind.
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