Origin of 80s Ninja Action Figures!

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[@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.

[@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

[@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)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@srod349]

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

[@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!” 😂)

[@godofzombi]

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

[@RandomAmerican3000]

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

[@robertlduncan12]

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

[@godofzombi]

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

[@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!

[@rubenlopez7142]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@yesterlandtoys1138]

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

[@hitmanhatton]

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

[@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.

[@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!!!

[@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.

[@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!

[@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

[@SamuelAna4Ever]

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

[@impossiblepie]

Awesome video Tony , love Storm Shadow and Jinx!

[@jeremyp7013]

The Rambo bit had me rolling. Great shit man.

[@SwiftJustice718]

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

[@aworldmadeofcardboard3692]

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

[@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.

[@Plokman040]

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

[@mixmix1487]

Awesome vid Tony! Took me back!

[@mrbosh0115]

Love Your content Tony ,Keep it up .

[@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!

[@jamesnicholls8116]

The Rambo bit was hilarious 😂 😃

[@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. 👍👍

[@javiermorales2860]

It was great hearing about ninja action figures.

[@gavalar7485]

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

[@TimHayes]

Excellent video Tony!

[@CoffeePhilosophy]

Brilliant!

[@Djkold]

As a ninja, I approve of this :)

[@katanapop]

Another beautiful video. Greetings from Argentina.

[@superbubsymariobobcat1097]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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".

[@Diles46]

LMAO.... good stuff sir

[@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

[@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.

[@saiyanninjawarriorz]

Legendary intro 😂

[@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.

[@badape3620]

Chuck Norris mows through whole Ninja clans before breakfast

[@JeffreyPiatt]

Power Rangers is keeping the magic ninja alive Japan loves the concept and we have had 3 Ninja Sentai teams already. We just did our 4th dinosaur team.

[@grimacemusically]

Just gonna assume Melinda enjoyed the Rambo portion of this video...

[@neiltemple123]

The word "Ninja" wasn't allowed on kids toys in the U.K. and probably Australia too. They were the Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles!

[@AnalogToys]

They were Ninja Turtles in Australia

[@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.

[@Hard11Bravo]

Hasagawa! Cole is a ninja!

[@skullninjaraptor]

The MOTU Classics Ninjor is the best version of the character

[@darrenmckeown990]

Ninjas will always be cool 🥷

[@dinomonzon7493]

Snake-Eyes got upgraded action figures in 1989 (my personal favorite version), 1991, and 1994. Ditto Storm Shadow in 1993. Didn't care much for the 1985 SE given Hasbro etched lips on the figure. The G. I. Joe Ninja Force line should've been mentioned as well.

[@AnalogToys]

Why should the Ninja Force line be mentioned when they are 90s toys and the title of this video is Origin of 80s Ninja Figures?

[@marklaurenzi1609]

Turtle toys were not designed to stand without help

[@ProductionsFromBeyon]

As a kid of the 2000s, I would disagree about ninja’s not being cool: Naruto. But it’s approach to ninjitsu is quite removed from the Stormshadow and Sho Kasugi

[@nomrugged29]

Revenge of the Ninja was the best!

[@talkingtoyswithmagic762]

💯❤💯

[@SGD_ToysDownUnder]

The Ninja fad survived through to the early 00s through TMNT twice over, Power Rangers twice over, Naruto and Ninja Scroll. It's only after the Naruto fad went too far that it became a source of mockery.

[@white-dragon4424]

Like Kawasaki's font, do we? 😉

[@brendenesguerra8488]

You know, seeing this video and how groundbreaking ninjas were, it was a fucking missed opportunity for ninjas not being included in the Knotts Scary Farm maze, Shadowlands, I mean the was Japanese themed, and it's called Shadowland, so why weren't there any ninjas there, ninjas are not only a big part of 80s pop culture, but a part of traditional japanese culture as well, so they should've added in ninjas in Shadowlands, it would've also things make more sense in that maze as well, they should've, I don't understand why there are no ninjas in Shadowlands, even though it's japanese themed and it's called Shadowlands, why? #knottsscaryfarm2023 #shadowlands #halloweenhaunt #livebythesworddiebythesword #knottsscaryfarmshadowlands #ksf #halloweenhaunt2023 #thechillingchambers #ksf2023 #gory20s #knottshalloweenhaunt #thehanging

[@movieforge01]

Rambo thing was good.

[@TheDuke013]

American ninja was so good when I was a kid, watched it recently, and the stunt men are so bad.

[@kevinschmith9379]

Why do we have to put on eyeliner? Is that an English thing?

[@timothyward8695]

An 80s thing

[@ToonLogicStudios]

Mortal Kombat is one of the few current franchises that still heavily pushes ninjas.

[@28Vandals]

Ninjas Ninjas Ninjas! Been a forever Shinobi weeb since a wee lad! Great video my guy! 🥷🏿💨🥷🏿💨🥷🏿💨

[@yoshimitsu1971]

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

[@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.

[@jonboldrey5339]

👍🍺🇺🇸💥👍 good ol Tony 80s video

[@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?

[@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.

[@jessecowled5764]

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

[@JONNYSORENSEN_AU]

Someone needs to make the Australian Ninja movie nobody asked for 🤫

[@jonboldrey5339]

Japanese c white as good guy.... makes u thank about snake eyes an storm shadow

[@lesliepark728]

Personally I enjoy and absolutely recommend the which ninja series done by gaijin goombah here on KZbin. He talks about the historical origins of ninja tropes as well as how accurate to real world ninja, certain characters from pop culture actually are.

[@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.

[@clobberonline6812]

Ninja stars !!!

[@patlauron]

The curved sword reminds me of an Egyptian kopesh

[@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.

[@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)

[@kieronball8962]

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

[@JOK3RSON]

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

[@happiaxxident]

💥💨🥷🏻💪

[@georgeaitken2719]

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

[@dsanchez9703]

I remember this in the 80s

[@ianbrewster8934]

That was very comprehensive

[@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.

[@Clay3613]

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

[@CineSalvaje]

This is your best video by far!

[@johnvader4584]

Great video buddy

[@johnvader4584]

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