Back in 1978 Marvel Comics and Mattel joined forces to release “Shogun Warriors”. It seemed like a perfect match to sell toys and comics. I liked the concept of the giant robots being piloted by three young people back when I was eight, so it really spoke to me. As far as consistently good plots, as I read them now, they are still entertaining at the very least. Nostalgia factor aside, giant robots are always awesome. Shogun Warriors are still cool as toys or as comics. I’ve watched the original anime for most of the original Jumbo Machinders, and weirdness aside they are pretty fun, but as far as story goes… make mine the original Gundam.
In the beginning, well not the very beginning, the predecessor to this site was Quantum Multiverse. I used a Kenner Gonk Droid to represent the site in a very small role. The site tage was “Gonk Droid Approved”.
Just before my blogs downfall to a dead phone, and inability to access my two step verification that I had set up, I designed this logo that I was very happy with. I dropped the use of a mascot and went with turning the on/off symbol into the “Q” in Quantum. This is something that I still really dig, but I am happy that that I was forced to move on and rethink my approach.
Before I totally abandoned the Quantum Multiverse I toyed with creating a face for my new blog. Dr. Multiverse came into existence first as a Sam Jackson character, then as a Sentai-esque one. That shorthand version of my QM logo is still fun when I look at it..
Then Doctor Multiverse became a fully formed concept, if not a locked in style. Playing with my Micronaut to make a “real” version of the character. My tag-line was very inspired by Mego’s adaptation of Micro Man.
This one was used for a time, minus the 3D effect. It was something that I had created in Photoshop using shapes.
Now we get to something that I feel was an inspired design. Using toys from my past, I frankensteined together this version of the Doctor. This design consisted of A Kenner Boba Fett body, a Kenner maskatron head, a Hasbro Mike Powers the Atomic Man’s “hair”, Mego’s Captain America’s shield, and Mattel’s/Popy’s Great Mazinga’s fist & sword.
From there I remade the real toy parts using Photoshop shapes. I was very satisfied with how this shape rendered illustration turned out.
My next step was to embrace my comic book roots. While this only lasted four months in 2020, it was a fresh and clean look.
Here is the latest incarnation of Doctor Multiverse. I still am using the base body of that original Boba Fett, but then I went mad with a Kirby style sketch using my own hand as a model. As you can see I went back to a sentai style mask that I also rendered entirely in PS shapes. Ever since I saw Prince wear his stunning three lense shades, I’ve been stuck on that look. Anyhow, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this journey, I know I have.
The beauty of the Doctor Multiverse concept is that he/she/it can constantly change. To utilize a Bruce Lee-ism here, I use the branding of no branding.
In 1997 I wanted to create my own Shogun Warrior on my Windows 95 PC, I only had MS Paint at the time and my dream. Considering the limitations, I was satisfied with my results. I even made a follow-up image then walked away from my concept. All of the changed today. Don’t ask me why, but I felt like revisiting this old project.
I really wanted to create a unique attack move so I then came up with the “Prayer of Horus”. The Robot fires his six arm rockets simultaneously.
The “stars” on the knees are removable and become swords, and the wings come out of the back like a certain mutant’s claws… snikt.
The flying pose was my first attempt at creating this character concept. I named it God Pharaoh.
I put so much time into this robot that I figured it would make a pretty fun t-shirt design.
In 1984, was 14 and almost as big a nerd as I am today. Those were heady days indeed. Comics were coming into the mainstream zeitgeist, video games were about to really explode after a lull, and music just kept on improving. The beautiful thing about progress is that if you choose to stay behind, you are free to do so. I have three feet, one planted firmly in the past, one in the present and one in the future. Today, I am speaking of the past.
Back when I was 14 there was a big push to bring Japanese properties, models, and toys to the west. I was all in. Earlier Bandai-America brought a line of robot toys out called “Godaikin”. Looking back, those toys are all boxy-looking, and had very limited possibility. Compared to “Soul of Chogokin” figures, these are… quaint, but back then they were vibrantly dynamic. They dwarfed Jumbo Machinders, what we knew then as Shogun Warriors, in quality and versatility. There were ads for these in magazines like “Epic”, a Marvel imprint, and I would cut those ads out and drool over them. I would also spend hours drawing from them.
Nowadays, all of these are too expensive to purchase on my dime, or lack-thereof. My favorites were always Voltus V, Combatra, and Daltanias… in that order. Will I ever have one of these guys? Probably not, but nothing can replace my priceless memories of daydreaming about these giant robots and making friends with others who loved them as well.
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 😉
