#174 YOLANDA – SAINT SEIYA FIGURES (1992)

Because Hugh from Small Scale World was so enthusiastic about my previous entry on plastic figures, I decided to quickly write another entry about plastic figures. I guess these are not so interesting or rare than the previous ones, but, well, here it goes…

“Saint Seiya” are Japanese cartoons I used to watch as a kid in 1992. Everyday, after I came home from school I watched it alone because it was quite violent. It still surprises me that it was shown in the afternoon in children’s programme. Maybe for this reason was so popular. The “real” figures were also released by Bandai at the time, and they were extremely expensive. I never got to have one of them, but enjoyed playing with the figures from other people.

Among the hierarchy of the “Saints” these four are Bronze knights. I just know a bit about them, a few facts I remember from the cartoons. The five bronze knights (missing is Pegasus) had to fight against the golden knights, whose names were the signs of the zodiac and were the guardians of different houses in a greek sanctuary. Some of them were good, and others evil. Aries for example helped the bronze knights hardening their armours (“clothes” if we use the right word), Taurus fought against Pegasus, Gemini had two faces and two personalities, and so on. I guess fans who are reading this would disagree with what I have written, but this is only what I remember after 20 years.

The figures themselves have the same size than the Super-Monstruos, that’s around 9 or 10 cms.and are hand-painted. Most of that entry is also valid here. These figures were sold loose in kiosk, newsagent’s, bakeries, and so on. As far as I am concerned, these were not sold in monochromatic versions, only these painted ones you’re seeing here. 

The figures are (left to right):

• Cygnus Hyoga (Knight of the Swan) – Silver/blue
• Andromeda Shun (Knight of Andromeda) – Pink
• Dragon Shiryu (Knight of the Dragon) – Green
• Phoenix Ikki (Knight of the Phoenix) – Bronze/orange

I have been researching and I never found the figure of Pegasus. I don’t know if it was ever made… if not, it was a great failure by Yolanda, because Pegasus was the leader of the Bronze Knights, or at least the most important.

Note that some figures have painted eyes, while the others have only the pupil

Andromeda in pink (correct) and green (error)

Although the original colours are these, some were produced in other colours and painted with improper colours. Since the figures with wings are very similar, and the two figures without wings too, there are many “factory errors”, like this ones I am showing here. These are not super-rarities, although “rarer” than the figures with the correct colour schemes.

Dragon in green (correct) and pink (error)

All figures are labelled: © 1987 TOEI SHUEISHA TPI YOLANDA CE, although sometimes it is easier to read than others.

(C) 1987 TOEI SHUEISHA TPI

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Names: CYGNUS HYOGA (KNIGHT OF THE SWAN), ANDROMEDA SHUN (KNIGHT OF ANDROMEDA), DRAGON SHIRYU (KNIGHT OF THE DRAGON), PHOENIX IKKI (KNIGHT OF THE PHOENIX)
• Toy Line: Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac/ Caballeros del Zodiaco)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 10 cms