Shogun Warriors – Vehicles

Shogun Warriors – Action Vehicles
1978-1980

Mattel’s Shogun Warriors line was released in 1977, with focus on the 24 Inch figures, but other series began releasing in 1978. One of them was the Action Vehicle series, which included several small scale Shogun Warrior themed vehicles. The series was created because Mattel had no accessories directly related to the figures. The only problem was…….the figures couldn’t actually fit inside any of them. There were 19 unique vehicles released in all, plus 6 more called the Combatra “U-Combine” set.

For more information about Mattel’s Shogun Warriors Vehicle Line, please see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Shogun Warriors (1978-1980): Action Vehicles

Mattel released 19 different and unique vehicles as part of their basic Shogun Warrior figures action vehicle series. The vehicles were made of die-cast metal, but the accessories and weapons were made of plastic.

Bazoler

Market Value:
Boxed $250 – $350
Loose $90 – $120

Bazoler
Accessories: Launchable Silver Drill, Silver Missiles x 4, Working Mouth, Storage Hatch
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Bazoler is a small tank that also resembles a Triceratops dinosaur. It has a launchable chrome drill from the center of its face, along with silver missiles that shoot from launchers on its back.

Daimos Truck

Market Value:
Boxed $225 – $325
Loose $60 – $85

Daimos Truck
Accessories: Large Yellow Missile, Launchers, Missiles x 2, Rear Launching Cars, Opening Hatches
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Daimos Truck was a cool predecessor to Optimus Prime. Essentially, it was the vehicle form of the Daimos robot. It shoots a missile from its grill and had 2 fold-down missile-launchers on its side. It also launched mini cars from the back of the trailer.

Dangard Launcher

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Danguard Launcher
Accessories: Mini Pilot, Rockets x 2, Launchers, Opening Cockpit
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Dangard Launcher is actually Dangard’s head, which was re-designed as a plane. It comes with a mini-pilot, and is able to fire the usual red rockets from launchers underneath its wings.

Grand Car

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Grand Car
Accessories: Working Mouth with Teeth, Fenders, Red Missiles x 4, Bird Rocket, Launcher
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Grand Car is a spiffy looking vehicle, complete with a launching bird rocket. It was also able to shoot the regular smaller missiles. Grand car had a working mouth that could open and close.

Grandizer Saucer

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Grandizer Saucer
Accessories: Extending Launch Pods, Launching Grandizer Figure, Missiles x 2, Fists x 2
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Grandizer Saucer was essentially a re-painted version of the Solar Saucer. It came with extending launch pods, launchable fists, and a Grandizer figure that could launch out as well.

Heli-Capter

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Heli-Capter
Accessories: Retractable Car Loader, Flame Shaped Missiles x 2, Tail & Wing Propellers, Mini Jeep
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Heli-Capter is a helicopter that’s loaded for battle, with flame shaped missiles. It comes with a car loader and mini jeep, along with working propellers on the tail and wings.

Jet Car

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Jet Car
Accessories: Working Mouth with Launcher, Missiles x 4, Tilting Wings, Claws
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Jet Car comes with a working mouth that opens and closes. The mouth includes two missile launchers inside of it. Also, the wings are able to tilt and the claws can grip small items.

Kargosaur

Market Value:
Boxed $300 – $400
Loose $90 – $120

Kargosaur
Accessories: Retractable Head, Arms and Legs, Horns, Rockets x 4, Storage Hatch, Mini Beasts
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Kargosaur includes mini versions of Nessar, Bazoler and Skyler, that are kept inside of a storage compartment. He also launches rockets and has a poseable neck and head.

Kondar

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Kondar
Accessories: Working Beak, Missiles x 2, Launchers, Retractable Landing Gear
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Kondar shoots 2 missiles, along with retractable landing gear. He is basically a bird with a bendable neck and a beak that opens and closes. The landing gear is retractable.

Liabe

Market Value:
Boxed $200 – $300
Loose $50 – $75

Liabe
Accessories: Large Rear Rockets x 2, Movable Guns, Extendable Wings, Launching Space Fighters
Years Released: 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Liabe is a chrome space-ship with lots of weapons, including large rear rockets, moving guns and launching space fighters. The wings extend outward revealing the buttons for ejecting the fighters.

Nessaur

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Nessaur
Accessories: Red Missiles x 6, Movable Head and Mouth, Retractable Legs, Wings
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Nessaur is a dino vehicle that can shoot small missiles from its wings and shoulders. The mouth opens and closes with a moving head. It also has retractable legs and wings.

Rydoto

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Rydoto
Accessories: Mini Pilots x 2, Extendable Claws, Working Mouth, Chrome Shuttle, Hatch
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Rydoto comes with two mini-pilots that sit inside the cockpit, which launches like a missile. The forward hatch swings open and it has grippers under the extendable wings.

Shigcon Jet

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Shigcon Jet
Accessories: Launching Nose Cone, Missile x 2, Launchers, Foldable Wings
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Shigcon Jet was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with a launching nose cone (which probably wouldn’t work for a real plane), firing missiles and foldable wings.

Shigcon Tank

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Shigcon Tank
Accessories: Drill Head, Rockets x 2, Launchers, Wheels, Rotating Turret
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Shigcon Tank was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with a funky looking drill and firing rockets. The turret was also able to rotate up and down, and from side to side.

Sky Arrow

Market Value:
Boxed $125 – $200
Loose $25 – $45

Sky Arrow
Accessories: Detachable Parts to Create Two Planes, Yellow Missiles x 2, Launcher
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: The Sky Arrow was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with several detachable parts to allow it to create two separate planes, along with firing yellow missiles.

Sky Jet

Market Value:
Boxed $250 – $325
Loose $50 – $75

Sky Jet
Accessories: Large Red Rocket, Missiles x 4, Landing Gear, Wings
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: The Sky Jet had a really great design to it. It had a large red rocket that would shoot out of the bird shaped front, along with extendable landing gear and wings.

Solar Saucer

Market Value:
Boxed $125 – $200
Loose $25 – $45

Solar Saucer
Accessories: Extending Launch Pods, Launching Grandizer Figure
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: The Solar Saucer was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with extending launch pods and a Grandizer figure that launched out.

Varitank

Market Value:
Boxed $60 – $85
Loose $15 – $25

Varitank
Accessories: Red Missiles x 2, Extendable Arms and Pincer
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: The Varitank was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with extendable arms with pincers at the ends, along with firing missiles.

Verilift

Market Value:
Boxed $60 – $85
Loose $15 – $25

Verilift
Accessories: Fold-Out Wings, Launching Claws, Propellers
Years Released: 1978, 1979, 1980
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: The Verilift was among the first wave of vehicles released in 1978. It came with fold-out wings, working propellers, and launching claws.

Shogun Warriors (1978-1980): Combatra U-Combine Vehicles

Mattel released five different “Battle” vehicles as part of their Shogun Warrior Combatra U-Combine vehicle set. All 5 vehicles could come together and form a giant version of Combatra himself (think Voltron). The vehicles were made of die-cast metal, but the accessories and weapons were made of plastic.

Battle Clasher

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Battle Clasher
Accessories: Tail Section, Removable Wings, Launchable Fists (Drill, Blue Claw, Hand)
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Battle Clasher was vehicle Two of the five different vehicles that would come together and form the giant Combatra. The Clasher would become the chest and arms of the Combatra figure.

Battle Craft

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Battle Craft
Accessories: Engine Pods x 2, Missile Launchers x 2, Chrome Drill Missiles x 2
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Battle Craft was vehicle Five of the five different vehicles that would come together and form the giant Combatra. The Craft would become the feet of the Combatra figure.

Battle Jet

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Battle Jet
Accessories: Engine Pod x 2, Removable Wings, tail Fin, Rockets x 2
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on secondary market
Notes: Battle Jet was vehicle One of the five different vehicles that would come together and form the giant Combatra. The jet would become the head of the Combatra figure.

Battle Marine

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Battle Marine
Accessories: Tail Section, Removable Wings, Launchers, Blue Missiles x 4
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: Battle Marine was vehicle Four of the five different vehicles that would come together and form the giant Combatra. The Marine would become the pelvis and legs of the Combatra figure.

Battle Tank

Market Value:
Boxed $150 – $225
Loose $40 – $65

Battle Tank
Accessories: Chrome Engine, Claws, Rotating Launchers, Missiles x 6
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: Tough to find on the secondary market
Notes: Battle Tank was vehicle Three of the five different vehicles that would come together and form the giant Combatra. The Tank would become the torso and back of the Combatra figure.

Combatra Deluxe Set

Market Value:
Boxed $1,000 – $1,250
Loose $200 – $300

Combatra Deluxe Set
Accessories: Battle Clasher, Battle Craft, Battle Jet, Battle Marine, Battle Tank
Years Released: 1978, 1979
Scarcity Factor: This item is rare and does not come up for sale very often
Notes: Much like the classic Voltron sets, All five of the Battle Vehicles come together to form the giant Combatra. This set includes all five of the vehicles. This set is VERY tough to find on the secondary market.

Shogun Warriors (1978-1980): Action Vehicles Accessories

Mattel did not release any accessories to be used with the Shogun Warrior Action Vehicles.

Shogun Warriors (1978-1980): Action Vehicles Playsets

Mattel did not release any large scale playsets to be used with the Shogun Warrior Action Vehicles.

By the mid 1970’s, the toy industry had changed in a big way. Action Figure lines were dominating toy sales and every company was trying to get the next GI Joe or Six Million Dollar Man line. Mattel Toys was enjoying massive sales and success with their ultra popular Barbie Doll line for girls and Big Jim action figure line for boys. Mattel’s Big Jim line was winding down in the North American market, but it was dominating across the rest of the globe on the International market. This huge success in foreign markets allowed Mattel to take some chances on other foreign properties as well. They saw that Anime and Tokusatu shows were huge in Japan, and across many Asian markets. Many of these shows focused on giant robots that fought giant creatures. That gave Mattel the idea to create a new series of toys based on similar giant robots and creatures for the North American market. Thus, the Shogun Warriors were born. Mattel’s initial Shogun Warriors line was released in 1977, and focused exclusively on the giant 24 Inch figures, but in 1978, they began releasing other lines featuring other sized figures and accessories. One of those lines was the Action Vehicle series, which included several small scale vehicles that essentially had very little to do with the actual Shogun Warriors. These ships were partially inspired by the success of Mego’s Micronauts line, which had released at this time as well.

Mattel created three different sized lines for their Shogun Warriors characters, but no accessories that were directly related to the figures. So the decision was made to create some vehicles or accessories for the figures to use. The only problem was…….the figures couldn’t actually fit inside of these vehicles, which makes it an entirely different and new series. These vehicles and ships were re-paints and re-purposed versions of already existing vehicles released by the Japanese toy giant Popy. The initial wave of six vehicles released in 1978 consisted of Varitank, Solar Saucer, Verilift, Shigcon Tank, Shigcon Jet, and Sky arrow. Several more would follow in later waves bringing the total to 19 different and unique vehicles. Five more vehicles were released in 1978 called the Combatra “U-Combine” set. These 5 vehicles could all come together and create a giant Combatra figure. There were a few different packaging versions of each, but with only minor variations or changes.

The packaging for the Shogun Warriors Action Vehicle line was fairly simple, and saw some minor changes during its run. The basic design used a box format, with an action photo of the vehicle inside. Mattel used three different color schemes for the packaging, so each one was either blue, green or yellow. The modified Shogun Warriors logo sate at the top left of each package, regardless of the color. Underneath the logo was the name of the vehicle and a listing of the various action features the vehicle came with. Interestingly, the classic logo was altered for this line, and basically dropped the “Warriors” from Shogun Warriors. Instead, the logo featured the word Shogun in bright red letters with the words “Action Vehicles” in smaller yellow letters. The Combatra U-Combine vehicle logo was similar, except they replaced the words “Action Vehicles” with “Combatra Vehicle” and then the number of vehicle it corresponded to.

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