Stormtrooper Super Shogun

[Darth Waller]

Children growing up in the 70s and 80s had their lives touched by two pop culture phenomena: the Star Wars saga and Jumbo Machinder toys (marketed in the US as Shogun Warriors). Acclaimed toy design firm Super7 has combined Star Wars characters with the towering Japanese Super Robot aesthetic to create a collectible that could only have been imagined in the past. This marks the first authentic Super Shogun produced in over twenty-five years.

The Star Wars Stormtrooper Super Shogun stands a whopping 24 inches tall, and includes all of the features that you expect from an authentic Jumbo: free rotating wheels on the bottom of his feet, and a spring-loaded Rocket Punch firing fist. Utilizing the same techniques implemented by Japanese toy manufacturers in the 1970s, the Super Shogun is constructed from durable, blow-molded polyethylene with a painted vinyl helmet. The figure is articulated at the neck and shoulders, and includes a removable, highly-detailed BlasTech E-11 laser blaster, which even features a posable stock that unfolds from below the barrel. Collectors of both Japanese and Star Wars memorabilia are sure to be impressed with the care taken to fuse the disparate concepts into one unique entity.

Packaged in a dynamically illustrated gift box, each Stormtrooper is individually serial numbered as part of this one-time limited edition production run. As a special bonus, metallic foil stickers are included to allow fans the option to customize the torso with the character name in English or in Japanese.

https://starwars.super7store.com/

 

[Darth Waller]

My friend had one or two of the big Shogun Warriors as a kid and this looks very similar in style to those. Pretty cool looking in a retro way.

 

[galactiboy]

That's pretty cool... but not $300 cool.

I have a Gaiking, which I love

 

[Lordscum]

Looks like a Stormtrooper on Steroids.

 

[Darth Waller]

The price is pretty high, considering the originals went for $13.88.

 

[galactiboy]

Yeah, but in the 70's $13.88that would get you a gram of coke and 2 hookers

 

[winter]

As a young lad, I had three of these: Godzilla, Mazinga, and Raydeen. I still have fond memories of them and this Stormtrooper piece is really tugging at me. I'd love to have one, but not at that price point.

 

[galactiboy]

I'd love to see Vader... give him one firing fist and a the other hand could shoot red missles (lightsabers) out of the fingers like the old Mazinga figure.

 

[winter]

Yeah that would be very cool. Hopefully, they'll have some other characters coming along soon.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

The price is pretty high, considering the originals went for $13.88.

I got that blue and red dude in the middle for Christmas as a wee lad.

That stormtrooper is ok, but not nearly as cool as the old Japanese robots.

 

[Bamboota]

It's incredible! I'm definitely gonna try to save up my pennies for this one.

 

[thenammagazine]

As ridiculous as this thing is, even moreso when you see the price, I have no doubts it'll sell out.

 

[kirklondon]

I still have my Godzilla. I wouldn't pay $300 for this, but it is cool. Star Wars Action News interviewed one of the guys responsible for this. he said it was expensive to produce these b/c the the way these were made uses an out-dated process and very few manufactures still have machines it requires.

 

[Reefer Shark]

I had a few of those as a kid too (+ Godzilla with a ripped out tongue). Loved those things! Mine got beat to hell

I'm definitely not feeling this Stormtrooper though. Think they should've given him more of a super robot look - give him some missles n sht, y'know? When I read about this, I had envisioned some crazy ass giant robot with stormy style armor. But this seems more like a giant playskool style toy to me

 

[PULP]

The Rodan was pretty cool too.

 

[Valfar]

Any one remember these?, i had one..pretty sure i got it at a flea market when i was 6 or 7.

 

[Darth Waller]

From Wired.com:

SAN FRANCISCO — Brian Flynn is on a mission from the toy gods to create the ultimate collectible: a giant-size plastic mashup of Star Wars cool and retro Japanese cache.

His creation, a 2-foot-tall wonder called the Stormtrooper Super Shogun, is based on the Jumbo Machinder toys that were sold in Japan for a decade or so starting in 1973. The vinyl head, the wheeled feet, the spring-loaded fist — all the nostalgic details that make the so-called Jumbos what Flynn, 38, calls “the ultimate collectible with the toy guys” — are lovingly baked into the DNA of the Stormtrooper Super Shogun.

“We’re trying to make it as authentic to the originals as we can,” said Flynn, pictured above in the window of his San Francisco toy store, Super7. “If we’re going to make it, we’re going to go ahead and be real, real nerdy about it.”

Flynn has been sweating the details of Super7’s Stormtrooper Super Shogun for nearly three years. Now he’s just hours from putting his $300 colossal collectible on sale. (Preorders start at noon PST Friday, with an expected release date of May 29.)

The goal was to tap into a particularly sweet spot in geek culture by creating, essentially, a perfect replica of a dream toy that never existed.

Super7 set out to manufacture the Stormtrooper Super Shogun utilizing the same technology used to create ’70s Japanese toy imports that were known as Shogun Warriors in the United States. From the beginning, the idea was to make the Stormtrooper using blow molding rather than more current technology.

It would have been 10 times easier to make the Stormtrooper Super Shogun using injection molding, Flynn said, “but then it wouldn’t be a Jumbo.”

 

[crasis]

I'm absolutely in love with this figure, but I almost feel the slavish attention to detail in regards to recreating the original manufacturing process (thus dramatically increasing the price) is a bit of a misstep. I get what they are trying to accomplish, but the $300 price tag is a serious deterrent to most buyers. Vinyl fetishists will eat this up like cake, but the average collector will be too scared away to bite. It's a shame, really. I loved my old Shogun Warrior Godzilla toy back in the day, and I can never say no to a good old fashioned ROCKET PUNCH!... but this awesome toy will probably never end up in my collection.

 

[EVILFACE]

Kewl seeing pics of the molds.

 

[jkno]

This looks quite cool, but not for the $300 price. For that price you can get an even cooler PF statue...