Missile Shooters Origins?

[magengar]

Mattel and Popy jumbo machinders, as we all know,
came with accessories.

Among those accessories is the common right-hand
3-Missile Shooter.
Besides the Great Mazinger jumbo having it, I don't know
how many other jumbos had it as well.
And then, on the Popy side, there were many other
gauntlet-type shooters and accessories made in a
variety of weapon forms.

But for now, I wanna study over the 3-Missile Shooter...
...What is it, and where did it originated from?
And who came up with that accessory concept for
the jumbo machinders?
Who came up with that idea first... Popy? or Mattel?

Let's see your take on this topic.







(images courtesy of www.wildtoys.com/Shogun/ShogJumbo/shogjumbo.html)

zozo-mag

[luclin999]

Probably Mattel is the one to decide to pack them with the Shoguns.

Popy seemed to have no trouble selling lots of different jumbos that were loaded up with missiles that came with no means of actually firing them unless the kid managed to talk his parents into going out and also buying a missile launcher accessory pack as well.

Popy probably came up with the XX and the ZZ pack series as both a way of extending the profitability of the line as well as to allow the Mazinger Z and later the Great Mazinger figures a way to simulate some of the abilities that the characters displayed on the anime (ROCKET PUNCH!) without making the initial jumbo purchase prohibitively expensive.

After all, adding even just the XX-1, XX-3 & XX-13 arms (the ones most often featured in the TV series) into the Mazinger Z jumbo package would have potentially doubled the retail cost of the figure, making it far less attractive to potential shoppers.

Mattel on the other hand didn't seem interested in selling the extra XX and ZZ series accessories and so chose to incorporate a missile launcher hand into every jumbo that they sold which came without some other means to use the missiles that the figure shipped with (Great Mazinga, Goldrake/Grendizer) as well as adding an extra fist launcher to Raydeen most probably because they felt that the stock figure had very low play value as it shipped with only one action feature (the delta wing launcher).

Personally I would have preferred if they had also included the original hands as well however they probably felt that the addition would increase the price of the toys too much and belived that they were doing the American children a "favor" by substituting the "value added" accessory arms instead.

Also note, the launcher you have pictured is not the one which shipped with Mazinga and Goldrake. The correct launcher is from the ZZ-2 pack..



.. except in this case it was equipped with the red/white missiles as opposed to the red/black ones.

[willohio]

I think they originated from XX-ZZ Popy JUMBO Accessory line. I have no idea when Popy actually released these sets to retail. But somewhere In that time the execs at Mattel, shopping around for new toys to bring to market, got the idea to just make them as part of the release in the states. I think the move made sense as I ate it up as a kid... But even then I always looked at Raydeen as lopsided... Lol. Even though he is the most distinctive of all he super robots.

It's just too bad the line faded so quick over here...i think retail shelf space was at a premium didn't help these over sized figures any. I think 2 more years on the run might have seen Combattler V & Dangard Ace on our shores ... Bot looking at Daimos & Goldorak I shudder at how stripped down they would have been. Lol

I love the zz-2 (3) missile launcher. And I know at the time of its release on Great Mazinger I was so envious. He was bristling with firepower!

I believe aside from Great Maz & Euro-Goldorak they were also available on the Machine Blaster line as well? (The ba$t*rd cousins of Goldorak, Raydeen & Great Maz accessory. Molded in gaudy green, yellow, red and black. With clowninshly simple head sculpts and screwed on plastic bits..... Love to have them btw. )

Will

[1oldrobot]

yeah, these originated with popy accessories for certain. mattel demanded that all the robots in the shogun warriors line shoot something. same as the horribly mismatched raydeen axe cutter fist. when i was 4 i knew that fist was super ugly.

[lexcars2007]

how many kids , do you think actually had look at the drawing above, to learn how to use their Mazinga ?? I always believed, rip the package apart....use....if you have problems..pray you didnt throw the directions away...I use to buy the Transformers when I was young, and throw away the directions, how to trans form the robot to vehicle..just as a challange, there was a indy car, I remember taken a day to figure it out, since I had no directions left !!!
but I believe POPY had the shooting idea, before mattel did. the ZZ and XX items must be 2 years before Shogun warriors

[mikedeco]

The first Jumbo Machinder release in Japan was in 1973. I think that the first accessories came quite fast after that.
And from what I know Mattel licensed the shogun warriors around 1979, so a long time after Popy. They already had release almost all the line of Jumbo by then.

I guess that Mattel decided to add some play value to those toys as they don't do that much compare to a lot of toys back then. Not sure if the Popy accessories sold really well, as you can still find lots and lots of them today. So maybe they've learn from Popy that it's better to put the accessories with the toy directly and they've sacrifice the original fist.

The early Jumbo Machinder from Popy don't shoot anything or do anything, it's later that a lot of play value was added directly to each toy, like shooting fists, missile launcher and removable parts.

[magengar]

Thanks for the educative replies, I'm learning more new stuff
about these jumbos now.

I remember when I had my first jumbo (Great Mazinga)
the same year they came out in the U.S., got mine for Christmas.
Funny part is: BEFORE my jumbo was gift-wrapped, my dad
had it hidden in the closet..... I went in there and looked
at the box... I noticed on the box art that the Brain Condor
was removable. And so, I took the Condor out of the box
to play with it for a few days, and snuck it back inside before
it was time for my dad to gift-wrap it.
I knew I was in for a biiiiig treat on Christmas day. ;D

Christmas Day: I tore the wrapping off like a fierce dog,
anxious to play with my Great Mazinga jumbo.
I didn't read the illustrated instruction sheet and just
played with my jumbo right away.
By then I had already known how to load the missiles
into the shooter and shoot them, after watching all the TV
commercials for the Mattel jumbos.
I thought it was weird for this Japanese robot to have
"wheels" on its feet, after seeing other robot anime shows
on TV. But I didn't care, all I wanted was to play with
my jumbo and fantasize about its anime TV show origin...
...I'd never even heard of the Mazinger robots until a few years later.

Later on the "larger" version Mattel jumbos hit
the scene, with Voltes V, Gaiking, and Godzilla appearing
in that line. But by then I wasn't interested in that
second toy line, especially after seeing Godzilla shooting a
fist and then that ugly tongue "fire" effect which I thought
was rather wack.........bleeeeh .....lol ;D

I guess it did make sense to add the shooters and removable
parts directly to the jumbos, to make them more playable.
After all, what kid would want a toy that Didn't do anything
but sit there.

zozo-mag

[luclin999]

Mattel actually licensed them in 1976-77. The cominc book series is what launched in 1979.

Here is a page from the JCPenney Christmas catalog from 1977 with Shoguns featured.. for $11 each:

[magengar]

"Shield of Justice"......"Sword of Peace"

so then, Godzilla's would be.... "Tongue of Mockery".

LMAOTF ;D

zozo-mag

[luclin999]

And here is the page featuring them from the 1977 Sears Wishbook:

[mikedeco]

Super cool ads. Seems like my reference source was wrong. Anyway, in 1976/77 Popy had already release a lot of their Jumbos, I don't have my reference book close to me right now, but I'm sure all the accessories were released already back then.
Thanks for sharing those ads, they're really cool.

[magengar]

I love the ads... they bring back fond memories!

zozo-mag

[wrcfan]

I don't remember we had Shogun Warrior jumbos here in Asia, but I did have the Mego Batcave from the ad! Super cool playset, til I crushed and broke most of it with Batman fighting Penguin back then. Lol.. Thanks for the ad, brings back fun memories.

[Deleted]

Damm, a jumbo back then could be bought for less than $11. Those were the days.

[magengar]

Yep. Those were the days alright.
But, even back then the economy was still
in a tight fit after the Gas hike of '75-'77,
the Iran hostage crisis, and then
came the Reaganomics era.

zozo-mag

[goldorak2012]

I remember going to the Mammoth Mart (what a name) and they had a whole aisle of the first three Shogun Warriors for Christmas. I didn't get one that year until Giaking came out and I nagged the crap out of my parents for him. I used to leave the Sears catalog open on the coffee table to give them a hint!