Shogun Warriors

In my mom’s attic, recently, I found one of my old coloring books: Shogun Warriors: Starring the Great Mazinga. The copyright date is 1978, so I was around 11 years old when it was new.

Looking through the book, I remember it in a general sense — I remembered the images, but I didn’t remember the story. About half the pages are colored to some extent, and I’m impressed with how neat a colorer I was. I don’t know if I could do as well now.

The story in the book is so very hokey that it makes me wonder just who writes coloring books. The names and plot read like something a 6 year old would make up: “Planet Ultima,” “Emperor Supremo.” “The Cosmic Spider Spins a Web Between the Planets.” Books I read to my 3 year old, now days, are more imaginative and make more sense.

The art is simple, but it’s clean and shows the artist had at least some basic skills. The faces and bodies remind me of old Scooby Doo characters. I’ve seen some coloring books that look like the publisher let his 10-year-old nephew draw it. (Maybe that’s who wrote this one.)

My brother and I had a few Shogun Warriors when we were kids — I had Mazinga and Dragun, and my brother had Raydeen and Godzilla. I remember playing with these toys a lot, for a long time, and those memories are wonderful. The last time I was in my dad’s attic, over 5 or so years ago, we still had the warriors. Some parts were missing, but the main toy was there.

Toys today are so much more intricate, and the stories to go with them are much more detailed — and that’s totally cool. I like the modern toys. I wonder how my 6 year old would play with something like an old Shogun Warrior? Thinking, now, of how I’ve seen him play with a mixture of toys, from small Playmobil figures, with just a couple of movable parts, to advanced figures, with “42 points of articulation,” I bet he’d get as much fun out of the old stuff.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com