Shogun Warriors: Raydeen

   This last week I received one of my childhood toys in the mail. It was the 24″ tall Mattel Shogun Warriors Raydeen. The proper spelling, from the animated show, is Raideen and that is how I’ll be referring to the figure. I couldn’t believe the condition that it was in. There are more than a few example of garbage condition Raideens on ebay that were charging what I paid for this piece. The quality example that you can find, are priced at two to three times what I gladly forked over.

   In Japan these giant robot toys were referred to as “Jumbo Machinders”, and in the late 70’s they were licensed by Mattel Inc. Five of the Super Robots were brought over to America and branded “Shogun Warriors”. Of the five, I had Great Mazinga v1, Gaiking v2, Raideen, and Diamos. The only one that I didn’t have was Dragun, which was my favorite of course.

   Along with the robots, Mattel licensed Godzilla and Rodan. Godzilla was one of the first big purchases I made with my own money, along with a Micronauts Hornetroid (another childhood toy that I reacquired). I can forget about owning Rodan… it’s running above $500 for a nice condition, loose piece.

   So now we come back to Raideen. This is something that I regretted selling, moments after I sold it for $30 in 1991. While I would like to get the other 24″ robots, I had a few of the 3″ and 5″ diecast figures and am not interested in pick those back up, I won’t be actively seeking them out like I did for Raideen.

   Maybe I’ll look for a Godzilla, but that’s it. Honest 😉