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knockoffcollector · 7 years ago

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Underworld Warriors Origins, Pt. II: Skeleton Monster Ninja Wrestlers from the Tomb!

As we have seen in my previous article, Underworld Warriors (UW) show all kinds of possible incluences. They were exploiting the 80s MotU craze, and were particularly knocking off MTC’s Nightmare Warriors and Universal Monster figures. So far we have only talked about the UW figures out of their packaging, though. What we haven’t been looking at yet is that weird UW card.

None of the Underworld Warriors figures does really look like that hooded creature in a skeleton suit, that we find on the packaging. It appears that the artwork is contributing something else to the Underworld Warriors origins.

First of all: Packaging art is essential to every toyline, even (or especially) to knock-off action figures. It makes them sell. The artwork plays a major part in the figures’ marketing. The cardback literally is the background, the story telling behind the toys. The question is, what were the UW creators ripping off or cashing in on with their design?

I’d like to point out four genres that Tung Sing, the makers of UW, were mimicking with their packaging art. That’d be cult horror comics, lucha libre, ninjas, and Japanese superheroes.

Indeed, the style of the UW artwork reminds me of old horror comic book covers. This may count for the entire UW figure designs, by the way. During my extended search on the web for vintage pulp cover art, I came across a mindblowing Tales from the Tomb artwork by Bill Alexander from 1973. The “Fleshless Corpse” kinda looks like the UW vamp. But apart from that, if you take a look at those skulls, and bones in the right corner of the piece, the symmetry, how everything is arranged, you probably have to admit that this might be the style of drawing the artist of the UW artwork had in mind. At least when he worked on that coffin and its surroundings.

Tales from the Tomb was one of many cult horror comic books that were popular during the 60s and 70s. There’s loads of other examples, such as Tales of Voodoo, Horror Tales, and Vampire Tales. A pretty good archive of these magazines can be found at https://comicvine.gamespot.com/, or http://comicbookplus.com/. I’m quite sure that the UW artwork is partially mimicking, if not even bootlegging this particular wave of horror art.

Let’s get back to that caped guy on the UW card. He’s not looking like any of the UW figures. He rather looks like a Mexican (or maybe Japanese) wrestler in a Los Hermanos Muerte suit. I guess Underworld Warriors were called Ultra Tumba Luchadores in Spanish speaking countries for a reason! If you ask me, Tung Sing knew exactly what they were doing, and set to exploit wrestling or lucha libre popculture in the best possible way, too. It’s safe to assume that legendary luchador and Mexican folk hero El Santo († 1984), and his legacy of weird monster movies and comics, had some impact on the UW esthetics, as well.

Another thing that strikes me about our apparent UW luchador is his ninja-like chain weapon. It’s not just the weapon, though. It’s the whole body language that looks suspicious. Isn’t our caped guy executing some sort of ninja-move?! A ninja-wrestler in a skeleton suit, what crazy combination is that! Right, the 70s and 80s experienced a massive martial arts hype, reaching a peak in the mid-80s with countless Ninjaploitation movies, video games, and action figures. To list them all would fill an entire book on its own. I’m only naming Remco’s five inch action figure line Secret of the Ninja from 1984, the unbranded Ghost Warriors from 1985, and Select's Ninja Assassin from 1985, to give an idea of what kind of martial arts themed toys were around when UW eventually came out in 1986.

Classic Hong Kong Ninjaploitation VHS cover art, Silver Dragon Ninja (1986).

Ninja / Ninja Mission Video Game (1986).

Advertisement of Remco’s Secret of the Ninja (1984).

I’m particular naming Ghost Warriors and Ninja Assassin because zombies in samurai gear, and monsters in ninja suits certainly share a common theme with our beloved mythic fighters from the underworld. This simply seems to be the kind of stuff that kids were digging back in the days!

Ghost Warriors pic courtesy of Jason Pi.

As a Hong Kong based company, Tung Sing had the sets of many exploitation flicks right at their door step. Hong Kong – the Mekka of 70s and 80s knock-off culture! They knew what was going on. Monsters were an all time classic, wrestling boomed, ninjas boomed, so why not mixing it all up? Last but not least, concerning our silver colored monster ninja luchador on the UW packaging, there’s one iconic Japanese superhero I’d like to mention in particular. It seems like the skull faced, and red caped Golden Bat or Japanese Ogon Bat could have served as a blueprint for the UW artwork! I’d even go this far and call our UW ninja “Silver Bat” a Golden Bat knock-off!

Golden Bat’s first appearances date back to the early 1930s, but it gained wider recognition due to three tokusatsu movies released between 1955 and 1972. It’s often referred to as the first Japanese superhero.

It seems weird that one of the first superheroes of popculture bears a skull face. Anyhow, it’s this very weird idea that Tung Sing were adopting for their creations. As the name suggests, “Underworld Warriors” were supposed to be warriors, not villains. They were supposed to be the good guys!

Let’s draw a conclusion, before we get lost in the depths of contemplation of the relativity of good and evil. With their packaging artwork Tung Sing were extremely smart in adding more popular, and international franchises and genres to their figures. Monsters, wrestlers, ninjas, and Japanese superheroes - it’s all there. Mashed up, knocked off, and exploited in the best possible way. “Skeleton Monster Ninja Wrestlers from the Tomb“ would possibly be the perfect description for an UW figure in its packaging. The best of all worlds combined! I’d buy that for the dollar the Underworld Warriors were retailing at back in the days… or the hundreds of bucks they’re going for today.

#underworld warriors #classic monsters #wrestling #lucha libre #mexican wrestling #santo #exploitation #ninjas #ninjaploitation #knock-off toys #knock off toys #motuko #golden bat #ogon bat #tokusatsu

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