#555 JIRAIYA/GIRAYA NINJA - BARON OWL and DOKUSAI (1988)

This series by Bandai was very advertised in 1992 when Bandai arrived to Spain. The Japanese company brought a lot of new toylines, each of it with its own TV ad. Most of them were very small lines (just a few references, like this one) and didn´t have much success. The most successful line was Saint Seiya, while almost all the other toylines are today forgotten (in Spain at least, in Japan most of them are very popular even today). The toys however were manufactured a few years earlier, and introduced earlier as well in other markets, like France in 1989.

I bought two figures the summer of 1992 as some kind of cheap replacement of a real Saint Seiya. The figures are made of a jelly-like sticky plastic, that could be stretched, launched against the wall or the ceiling (where it would stick to), but that is not what caught my attention in the first place... it was the armour, which was, in a way, similar to Saint Seiya´s. The figure also came with some accesories, like swords, bows, knifes, and a figure stand. Even with the armor, it would be difficult to place them in standing position without the stand. The drawback of the armour, is that you cannot really play with the stetch feature... which in the end is the cool thing.

Blistercard Images taken from todocoleccion.net

The collection comprises 5 characters, all of them are actually the same figure with different heads. The main character is Giraya, the hero. Giraya fights together with two other characters: Baron Owl, the "brain" of the organisation and Wild, the young apprentice. On the other side, there is some evil organisation, whose leader is Dokusai. The baddies are only two, being the second one Habrun. As in most good vs. evil stories, the bad guys want to rule the world, and the good guys have a hell of a lot of work stopping them.

Pic: todocoleccion.net

Despite being a nice toy, they are not collectable, because the figures won´t withstand the test of time, and will degradate at some point. So my advice would be not to spend much money on these figures.

In Spain they were sold in blíster cards, like those in the pictures, but in other countries, they were sold boxed.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DOKUSAI and BARON OWL
• Toy Line: Jiraiya/Giraya Ninja
• Year: 1988
• Company: Bandai (Japan)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm