Origin of 80s Ninja Action Figures!

[@MichaelJShaffer]

Ninja are like medieval knights, they're of a specific time. You're so right on the mark about '80s era Ninja. Loved the guest star voice acting.

[@BrickMantooth]

I am Ninja obsessed, I was a teen in the 80s. I mainly collect the Mego Knock Off Ninja figures, there are a lot of them.

[@Plokman040]

Check out Gaijingoomba he tests pop culture Ninja against the real Japanese philosophy and lifestyle. Funny enough the character Ninjor (not MOTU) from power rangers gets one trope right. Real ninja wear blue as it stands out less in the night. Black is much easier to see. But who cares, Ninja are awesome.

[@tracyrunyan3329]

The first ninjas I was introduced to was The Science Ninja Team: Gatchman. Under the title of Battle of The Planets, this aired after school on local station KBMA 41 back in the mid-1970s.

[@jasonstimecapsule641]

I really enjoyed this trip down ninja memory lane. Your video was pretty inclusive of most 80’s ninjas but one of the first exposures to the 80’s ninja was Ninja Gaiden the arcade game. I loved finding this game and other beat ‘em ups like Final Fight and 2d fighters like Street Fighter II at my local arcade.

[@oscargonzalez8156]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this video! Very well made! Much thanks! I myself was a HUGE fan of the Ninja craze of the 80's. In fact, my first VHS cassette tape was Enter the Ninja (watched 100 times) that I bought in a Mom&POP video store in Hoboken,NJ. My favorite comic in the 80's was Gi Joe #27 (read 100 times) where they fought on top of a speeding subway! I remember watching American Ninja in the theatre (one reason why I joined the Army). Revenge of the Ninja and Pray for Death were my favorites. I never like Ninja Turtles and always felt it was the beginning of the end (maybe cuz I was 13 by 1987 and moved on). You know, I've been teaching kids now for 23 years and my Ninja interest never dwindled. On my desk I have a bumper sticker that reads "Teacher By Day/Ninja By Night!" And my students always ask me Are you a Ninja? :O)

[@gerainthorton8980]

I didn't have any ninja figures or have access to the GI Joe comics when I was young so I'm not as fatigued on them. The GI Joe comics (80s and modern) are all new to me and getting the figures is a bit of scratching an itch from something I missed from childhood. I didn't get (character wise) Storm Shadow v2 when I was young. Now after reading the comics that is my favourite version due to his cool arc. Good to see Shinobi getting a mention. There were quite a few ninja games in the 80s an old favourite I liked was Ninja Mission.

[@Lio_Convoy]

6:20 That's a Kopesh. It's an Egyptian weapon often made of bronze. Not sure why a ninja would have one.

[@WyldstaarStudios]

Because these weren't just ninjas. They were Eighties Ninjas!

[@godofzombi]

I was looking for this comment. Maybe he's a ninja possessing the mystic arts of ancient Egypt. Ooooohooo.

[@JOK3RSON]

Rambo needs to show up in more reviews lol.. "Nothing is over!! Nothing!"

[@Brian_is_Not_Sus]

Enjoyed the video Tony! There was another obscure Ninja Action figure line that came out around 1985/86 called Ninja Assassins by Select Merchandise. I had the figure named Pincer. They were around Thundercats (LJN) sized.

[@oliverbelmonte7077]

Tony, I’m glad you brought the 80’s vintage, ninja toys to let us recall the moment of what ninja toys came out. At least I helped my college buddy Stephen acquire both Coleco Rambo ninja figures White and Black Dragon with complete accessories.

[@DcFelixxx]

Great video! as far as ninjas in the movies and TV, there where mentioned even before the 80s! 007 Thubderball, had a whole army of ninjas to help him. Also the Octagon with Chuck Norris is a ninja movie, and during the 80s there was a tv show with Lee Van Cleef and Cho Cosugi!

[@damien5748]

Fun fact...the proffesional wrestler "C.M. Punk" has a tattoo of the Cobra Command eblem on his right shoulder and the Arasikage tattoo on his lower right arm.

[@beaker126]

Awesome Tony! Those are some of my favorite G.I. Joe Comics, and illustrate my long standing point that a kid oriented tie-in comic didn't have to dumbed down.

[@daniel79tj]

There was a 1980 film by Chuck Norris called the Octagon were he faced a Ninja in a arena (guess thats were UFC got the idea)

[@colt5189]

I was really into the Ninja craze back in the 80's, which fizzled out in the 90's.

[@soundandvision77]

Wow, this is awesome. I forgot about those Rambo figures, but I had both of those ninjas and a few more figures from that toy line. They were great and I loved all the accessories. And they were so huge compared to GI Joe! The 2nd Storm Shadow figure was also a personal favourite of mine, along with the Cobra Commander that wore silver armor. Thanks for this video!

[@largolore]

Interesting video 👍Is it my imagination, or does Rambo sound a bit like Michael French? 🤣 '70s Kung Fu & '80s Ninjas gave us lots of great entertainment.

[@skyfall9124]

I believe it is Micheal. Quite funny to hear him doing Rambo. Cheers

[@gavinhammond1778]

Toy companies (hasbro) certainly deserve the odd kicking, but sir this is where you excel. They aren't just toys, but a piece of genuine and important cultural history, and you do their significance justice. Thanks as ever.

[@Its.Chad.]

That Rambo bit made my day 😂 “Nothing is over! Nothing!”

[@ronfroehlich4697]

I literally laughed out loud

[@digipure]

Great video! I really was into the ninja thing when I was a kid! The '80s ninja were like a pop (pulp?) culture interpretation of the original Japanese ninja and I think it has its own value.

[@kieronball8962]

Thankfully, this excellent video by Analog Toys can be seen by all, unlike the Ninja! :)

[@fightincodenames481]

Awesome video!! I remember all those movies. My father would bring them home and we would watch them together.

[@citadelli]

You forgot the smash hit M-Force! The Rambo, MOTU 7.5” knock off line Lol. They had black and white ninjas too…good times.

[@robertlduncan12]

Good idea for a video, great job on the timeline of both movies and figures. Well done!

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

I want to see a crossover between Broken Vader and The Desert Rat who are talking about nonsensical things in the toy industry.

[@Clay3613]

I love my ML Hand Ninjas, they went to clearance fast so I could army build them. Still want that Classified Storm Shadow.

[@godofzombi]

Stormshadow was my first G.I.JOE figure. (Thanks grandma!)

[@KasumiKenshirou]

Another Daredevil / TMNT connection is that the canister of mutagen hits Matt Murdock before it goes into the sewer and mutates the Turtles and Splinter. He's not specifically named as such in the comic, but the TMNT creators have stated that it is supposed to be him.

[@godofzombi]

If you like the idea of brightly colored red and blue cobra ninjas; go check out Five Elements Ninjas, a 1982 Shaw Bros movie.

[@scubapete9500]

So interesting seeing the Ninja zeitgeist we lived through, distilled down into our favorite toys. Thanks Tony! (Now to figure out why my brother always played as Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes! “No I don’t want to be Cover Girl!” 😂)

[@PabEsco77]

Man I'm glad I came across this video. I was a huge American Ninja fan, always wanted an action figure that looks just like Joe with the red belt & weapons. Maybe one day someone will make one? 🤞

[@georgeaitken2719]

Great research great video can imagine in some toy companies board room asking the question what sells ninjas

[@godofzombi]

Revenge of the ninja is awesome. Besides Stormshadow my first exposure to ninja's was the Rode Rideer (the Red Knight) album "Ninja!".

[@srod349]

I think “The Miami Connection” is the best Ninja movie & the soundtrack too. Even Far Cry used the music from the film.

[@Chasing80sToys]

Excellent video on a great topic. Got to meet Michael Dudikoff once. Still my favo 80's ninja movie, the first two American Ninja movies.

[@PaleHorseShabuShabu]

Shoutout to "The Master" co-starring the director of the first episode of Game of Thrones, Timothy Van Patten! I loved that show when it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Also, one of my first exposures to ninja was Ninja Gaiden on NES. I didn't play the first one too much or the third one at all, but I owned and played the crap out of the second one.

[@SpacedCobraIII]

I think the first 10 minutes of Ninja III The Domination are some of my favorite in cinema, even if for a lot of the wrong reasons. ; ) Although movies and toys have been tapped, ninjas at least remain a staple in videogames to this day.

[@raymondloya175]

Yes 💯 💪🏻

[@oscargonzalez8156]

YES!!! I totally agree! The beginning action scene of Ninja 3 was awesome! When I had the VHS back in the day, I would pop in the tape just to watch that scene over and and over again.

[@KensToys74]

Another great video Tony! When I was a kid back in the 80's there was a drugstore chain called K&B. here in the southern United States. They sold a ninja toy with cloth goods. One in black the other in white. It had ankle, knee, hip, waist; wrist, elbow, shoulder and neck. articulation. It was amazing to my nine year old self. The only weapon that came with it was a Katana. The figures werr at least six to seven inches in height. Damn I loved those two figures. I wish I could find them now.

[@rubenlopez7142]

Great video Tony!... Lots of nostalgia attached to it... BTW, Storm Shadow V2 was my personal favorite as well... Greetings from 🇵🇦 👊

[@darthandy6438]

Really enjoyed this one. Top video. Thank you for all the time and effort that goes into researching

[@jessecowled5764]

9:04 In my house we wound up calling him 'Tomato head' thanks to an elderly, short sighted relative who misread the packaging

[@RandomAmerican3000]

I think The Tick comic had the best depiction of 80s ninjas. They were everywhere and obvious to everyone (except the Tick himself).

[@yesterlandtoys1138]

What a fun video Tony. Love it. Loved going down Ninja memory lane. ❤

[@MiKeMiDNiTe-77]

This is an awesome clip Tony I love how you've wrapped the basic ninja elements of 80s ninjas in this neat episode. We didn't have Storm Shadow v1 in NZ but we did have V2 and he more than enough compensated and the ninja elements of Storm Shadow as a figure and in the comics would become a fantasy for us kids when we were "Ninjas" at school and around the neighborhood. Would've been cool if Ninjor from Motu was released earlier at least 84 85.

[@johnvader4584]

Dude I still totally have my Rambo white ninja he’s missing an arm and has no accessories… and i still love him.

[@Diles46]

LMAO.... good stuff sir

[@joemartin5669]

One thing about the rambo ninjas they were also the classic trope"the evil twin"which is a kinda clever way to use the same mold and repaint it to get two original characters.

[@SamuelAna4Ever]

Fantastic video!!! You are quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. You cover topics very thoroughly.

[@Gijoeandstarwarsguy]

Hey Tony! Great video man! Lots of cool stuff! Revenge of the ninja is also my favorite from back then! The story, the scenes, the characters had a big impact on my child self back then! I even watch it periodically now! It was my first official ninja movie that I saw and I recorded it from cable TV and used to watch it multiple times per day! Unfortunately, when I got to see the other sho kosugi movies I thought "wtf man?" And nothing could top revenge of the ninja! I also love American ninja! And that African American "Rambo" character was my favorite! Thanks for the video!

[@godofzombi]

Over in Europe the TMNT were called Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles instead because the UK tought ninjas were to violent.

[@Shishkebarbarian]

Such an interesting video! I was born in the mid 80s and grew up consuming and loving everything Ninja! really cool learning the history of the "fad" and that we're the same age, haha.

[@Chibason]

I watched the old kung fu and ninja movies with my dad in the early 80s and have always loved the ninja figures from various toy lines One thing to add is that ninjas have remained in popularity due to video games, pop culture, and anime

[@yoshimitsu1971]

This is REALLY well put together!, very enjoyable dude, thank you!👍🏻

[@impossiblepie]

Awesome video Tony , love Storm Shadow and Jinx!

[@Slamgod]

"Ninjas aint been cool for 30 years." Gotta love it! LOL!! Another great one for the books. Leaned quite a bit, as always, Tony. I be sharing the hell out of this one. Till the next one, my friend!!!

[@ianbrewster8934]

That was very comprehensive

[@a_world_made_of_cardboard]

Great video. Great review and synopsis of 80's Ninja madness.

[@godofzombi]

I had hoped you'd mention G.I.JOE going completly overboard with the brightly colored Ninja Force.

[@AnalogToys]

That was in the 90s

[@godofzombi]

@@AnalogToys So where the Street fighter JOEs!

[@ingloriousmax]

Great retrospective.

[@newwavepop]

the "Back At You Sugar Mama" made me laugh way....WAY! harder than it should have. i was 10 in 82 and was all over the Ninja craze, Sho Kosugi was right up there with Bruce Lee for me and my friends. Revenge Of The Ninja id probably also my favorite Ninja movie but i was also really partial to Chock Norris;s film The Octagon which had some Ninja villains in it and i think came out in 80.actualy Lee Van Cleef is also in it and it is about Chuck fighting Ninjas that were trained by his Japanese half brother. sounds a little similar to something.

[@superbubsymariobobcat1097]

Ninjas are awesome. one of my favorite ninja action figures was Ninja Shadow from Kenner's The Shadow line

[@loganholmberg2295]

Wow this was cool. I never even heard of some of these figs. This is a great mini doc on the history of Ninja action figures in the west. 👍👍

[@raymondloya175]

Hot topic 💥💥 Ninja's 💥💥 Recently started my quest for Ninja action features from all lines vary cool out look Of the ninja origins we'll done 👍🏼

[@shinobi-Wan]

I'm still a big fan of 🥷being a kid of the late 80s early 90s, just their mysterious costume designs, ninja weapons and them being the exact opposite of a samurai. I love collecting ninja figures and the classified gi joe line is dream come true for me sense I mostly love the ninja storylines in the hama comics. Scott Adkins movie from 2009 Ninja is pretty cool modern ninja movie.

[@javiermorales2860]

It was great hearing about ninja action figures.

[@phillipstory2523]

'NOTHING IS OVER!!!' Ah, Michael, you nut! I was never into ninjas in the 80s, so this was a very enjoyable and informative video.. Thanks for pointing out that 'You Only Live Twice' featured ninjas in the 60s (if you've never read the book, it has the absolute, undisputed biggest cringe moment I've ever seen. I ain't kidding; it's not for the faint-hearted). Thanks as always, for a great feature; always enjoyable!

[@JerryGattz]

Great video and as a child of the late 80's/early 90's, ninjas were a quentissential cornerstone of pop culture. Even if not Ninja's, Karate, Kung Fu, and other Martial Arts was featured in just about everything. Every sitcom had at least one episode with a Martial Arts fight. Any given group of characters in a show or movie had that one guy who knew Kung Fu or what have you. Then we got G.I.Joe Ninja Force. That was my introduction to Storm Shadow. You mentioned The CORPS toyline, and it got me thinking... When are going to get the G.I.Joe Classified equivalent of The CORPS? Also, of you have not seen it already, I highly suggest watching "Miami Connection" not going to lie, it's a terrible movie, but one of those so bad it's great kind of movies.

[@gavalar7485]

Back atcha sugar momma!! That gave me a real chuckle. Thank you Tony!

[@CineSalvaje]

This is your best video by far!

[@mixmix1487]

Awesome vid Tony! Took me back!

[@Taraka1]

6:16 that looks like an Egyptian Kopesh, kinda. Weird choice of sword for a ninja.

[@jeremyp7013]

The Rambo bit had me rolling. Great shit man.

[@BriansActionFigureReviews]

American Ninja Movies were on repeat on my house , think there was like 5 different ones if im right ? every weekend my dad would rent out one from the local video store and we'd watch it saturday evening ,(id' watch it again sunday morning) toy wise it was Storm Shadow for me and is to this day

[@hitmanhatton]

even though Ninjas Never actually existed, they will always have a place in my heart because of the 80s flims

[@katanapop]

Another beautiful video. Greetings from Argentina.

[@CoffeePhilosophy]

Brilliant!

[@dsanchez9703]

I remember this in the 80s

[@SwiftBrooklyn718]

I love this video, Tony. Very well researched and explained. It was a great time to live when ninja 🥷 were ALL the rage.

[@mrbosh0115]

Love Your content Tony ,Keep it up .

[@Qenobie]

Awesome video Tony... I remember the whole Ninja/Martial arts craze... It was a good time and a solid concept. BUT NOW... Any serious Ninja movie wanting to be successful would have to be so unrealistically good to make people forget years of parody and tropiness.... The only Ninjas that can do that... are TMNT... but only because of their comical nature.

[@erickavery1]

I always wanted Revenge of the Ninja to be titled Reveninja...That's what I called it growing up lol.

[@erickavery1]

Also that other sword from the remco ninja is a Kopesh I think?

[@TimHayes]

Excellent video Tony!

[@derekdalzell2501]

I loved the Chuck Norris cartoon.

[@jamesnicholls8116]

The Rambo bit was hilarious 😂 😃

[@johnvader4584]

Great video buddy

[@ivane5110]

As both a '70s and early '80s kid, the only thing that could've made this video any better would have been to find out there had been a Bigfoot/Ninja battle in some media. Sigh. Oh well, we can only hope.

[@johnr1457]

I miss Ninjas.

[@saiyanninjawarriorz]

Legendary intro 😂

[@Djkold]

As a ninja, I approve of this :)

[@JCOwens-zq6fd]

After doing more research into this topic I was able to find out that Henry Kissinger & the Intel agencies were instrumental in introducing these ideas to the West. Kissinger himself stated that he got the idea while traveling in Asia. Interesting stuff, especially when one gets into why. Check out the book "these bricks hit back".

[@Plokman040]

Not many people realize, to be a true ninja you gotta wear blue. 😂 Gaijingoomba has done the examination thoroughly.

[@malignantool132]

I got a hunch we're not gonna see that purple MOTU guy show up in any of the new lines 😆

[@Gangstor]

Don't be so sure. I hear things.

[@patlauron]

The curved sword reminds me of an Egyptian kopesh

[@perfectallycromulent]

if i had know Savitar was the first ninja action figure, i would have treated him better. but i wouldn't be surprised if Storm Shadow had already made his appearance by the time Eagle Force made its way to being discounted enough for my mother to buy them for me. i think these were down to 25 cents at the end where i was.

[@badape3620]

Chuck Norris mows through whole Ninja clans before breakfast

[@lesliepark728]

6:19 why does a ninja have a khopesh? It's an Egyptian sword that has more in common with a battle axe than a typical sword. At least, it looks like a khopesh.

[@jonboldrey5339]

👍🍺🇺🇸💥👍 good ol Tony 80s video

[@skullninjaraptor]

The MOTU Classics Ninjor is the best version of the character

[@11BravoGrunt]

Hasagawa! Cole is a ninja!

[@rossapolis]

6:19 That looks like a Khopesh (an Egyptian sickle-shaped sword). It was used in Egypt until around 1300 BC. Why a Japanese ninja would have an ancient Egyptian weapon, I have no idea.