Friday, February 28, 2014

#386 NINJA WARRIORS – KAMIKAZE KID and HARA-KIRI (1986)



These two figures I show today are Spanish exclusive figures from the Hasbro toyline “Ninja Warriors”, which was renamed in Spain as “Guerreros Yakse”. Don’t ask what “Yakse” means, because I have no idea. Probably it was just a name that sounded exotic with a “y” and a “k”, maybe a bit like “Yakuza”. About the names of the figures, some creative mind in Hasbro Spain probably chose the names for them…
Which are the most famous Japanese words? They are used in other languages around the world too, also in Spanish: Harakiri und Kamikaze! That’s probably how they got these names.


As we explained in a previous article, Ninja Warriors had a larger lifespan in Spain as anywhere else, and after the first, well-known 6 characters, in Spain there were two more of them made. I dated them on 1986, although they were probably made around 1989 or 1990, since the figures arrived some years later than their release in the U.S.


They are repaints of two known figures, with new colours and new pieces of cloth.
Kamikaze Kid is a repaint of Dojo Kan (yellow instead of white), while Hara-Kiri is a repaint of Dragon Master (yellow instead of blue). The pieces of cloth have actually the same “cut”, but the colours are also different. I find quite amusing the idea of a ninja dressed in leopard kimono.


Something new that I couldn’t show in that article was the back of the card. Those three figures were packaged in card with an unprinted back. Note the nice illustration of the six figures in action, each one fighting another one. The background story says:
“When the demons of the darkness attack, the masters of shadows use their physical and mental powers to defeat the Evil that hides in the night. They are masters in the art of Ninjutso and they greet us from far horizons. They are our only defense. They are the Yakse Warriors… enemies of Evil”.
FACTS and FIGURES:
  • Name: KAMIKAZE KID and HARA-KIRI
  • Toy Line: Ninja Warriors (English, Int’l) / Ninja I Guerrieri delle Arti Marziali (Italian) / Guerreros Yakse (Spanish)
  • Year: 1986 (Hasbro)
  • Company: Child’s Play (U.S.A.) / Hasbro (U.S.A.)
  • Size of the figure: 12 cm

2 comments:

  1. La verdad es que hoy en día se vería mal que le dieran esos nombres a unas figuras, pero desde luego a mí me encanta. Ese detalle le aporta un plus a nivel de coleccionismo. Yo no colecciono esta línea, pero no me importaría tener estos dos blisters precisamente por ese detalle, más que por las figuras en sí. Buenas piezas Juan. ;-)

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  2. Hola Pablo, gracias por el comentario.

    Estas figuras son pequenas joyas del coleccionismo de figuras. Son, salvando las distancias, las figuras "laser" de Motu, pero como la colección es muy minoritaria, nadie les hace mucho caso... Las compré por el mismo precio que las demás.

    Tengo que mirar otra vez mis Yakse, porque creo que los tengo todos en blister menos dos que los tengo sueltos. Es una colección que merece la pena (y se termina en un momento).

    !Hasta ahora!

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