Who Is To Blame For The Epic Failure of Skeleton Warriors?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Skeleton Warriors is a 13-episode cartoon series created by Landmark Entertainment Group, which originally aired in 1994 on CBS.
An incredible merchandising rollout followed with Skeleton Warriors appearing on clothes, trading cards, bedsheets, lunchboxes and so much more.
The cartoon also spawned a toyline created by Playmates Toys, a comic book limited series created by Marvel Comics and the Skeleton Warriors video game for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation consoles developed by Neversoft and published by Playmates Interactive.
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There's a Skeleton Warrior in all of us if you look within.
You win.
@@SecretGalaxyTV Awesome! 😀
th-cam.com/video/IU513suJZzY/w-d-xo.html
@@sboinkthelegday3892 Lol. Awesome.
Whoa. o.o
This and Pirates of Dark Water were two shows I loved as a kid. Sadly both ended far too soon.
ooo yeah Pirates of Dark Water was so interesting
At least Skeleton Warriors got a proper finale.
Pirates and.... Swat kats
Probably because the artist went to do X-Men
Pirates of dark water was my favorite I still have some of my figures. I think they did a crowd fund for them and came out with a few of the figures.
As a kid this was the best show I never got to see. I stubbled across the Skeleton Warriors coloring book at the dollar store and convinced my mom to buy it for me. I poured over those images for hours and imagined how awesome the cartoon must be. I was never able to catch an episode. I'm sure it was already cancelled, hence why the merch was at the dollar store. At least I've got the entire toy line now!
😮 That's my story exactly! Except the part about having all the toys now. And I found my coloring book at Pic N Save. But otherwise the same.
I remember watching it in Russia. Intro theme is still with me 25 years later
@@burritoboy2751 Pic n Save, good call! Throwback!
I had a few figures from the dollar store!
@@burritoboy2751 so really nothing is the same
Even though I was only born in '86, when I saw Jason and the Argonauts as a kid the skeleton fight really blew me away, so I totally understand the creator's inspiration.
I love that scene. The film overall seems rather juvenile if you know the mythology, but the special effects are awesome.
I was born in '93 and that scene honestly still blows me away to this day!
It was awesome... inspired so much of my AD&D playing and DM-ing, then we got to see it on film. Well, TV. First with the wights at the cave of the 3-Eyed Raven. That was just the first real hint of it, but even that scene was fantastic. How fast, dangerous, frighting they could be. Then of course a year later with Hardhome.
Tony Jay voicing the Golden Skull really elevated the series. He set the darker tone of the series and he wrapped up each adventure not with a moral so much as the theme, what this week's story dealt with and what it could mean in the future. He was easily one of the most interesting characters despite only appearing at the very start and the very end.
Tony jay is so underrated, he made legacy of Kain.
@@christopherclough559 Not to mention Megabyte!
Pro tip kids: Never partner with a guy named Baron Dark; bad things will happen to you.
Line of the show: "right-side out humans are boring."
My wife's name is Jennifer. Her brothers are Justin and Joshua. She is kind of freaked out. Especially since they were born before the show aired.
You think that's bad? There's a little anime show called Legend of the Four Kings, it's 4 brothers that have the ability to transform into dragons, but the four brothers all look exactly like me and my 3 brothers. Not only did the brothers like like us, but the dragons they turned into were all each of our favourite colours. We personally found that shit hilarious.
The producers faith in this is absolutely refreshing, I wish it had payed off.
According to The Onion, archeologists have found entire skeleton armies buried.
Lmao
Reputable as always
I was one of those kids back then that came across the Skeleton Warriors toys in my local Big Lots and purchased them solely off the awesome look of the figures, not ever seeing any cartoon or comic book. They did their job well on that sculpt.
I remember after this show was cancelled there was a whole bunch of Skeleton Warriors stuff at the dollar store like in 1996 or 1997. My grandma who could not pass up a bargain was going to buy my little cousin Skeleton Warriors clothes, but though the skeletons on it were too scary.
And the Skeleton Warriors were in the 1994 Macys Thanksgiving Parade.
Yes, I got Skeleton Warriors book in the euro shop but the show was still on at the time we get late in Ireland 1 or 2 years after.
The amount of promotion this show got was incredible. I went to the NYCC in the mid-nineties and Skeleton Warriors were all over the place. Like tons of free posters and cards pushing this series. It was a good show too! Well-written
I had no interest in the show, but bought a couple of the figures as they were amazing sculpts.
BTW have you considered Monsters in my Pocket for Halloween at all? Never see anyone mention that now outside of the NES game.
Yeah. We have a small sub-list of stuff that'll work around Halloween. Monsters in My Pocket didn't make it this year
@@SecretGalaxyTV Plus that whole deal with Pocket O'Hare running over your dog.
Lol Larry, you're always commenting on the videos I like...you must have good taste. Also, yes...monsters in my pocket tv series!
I really liked their pilot cartoon. ABC showed Monster in My Pocket cartoon as a Weekend Special for years.
That NES game is so tight though
It's one of those NES games that just is kind of mind-blowing looking back on now. It's still for the most part looks incredibly good. (minus the usual flickering you get with these games)
I like that pumpkin in the back ground. The orange one.
Ah yes its definitely the best looking one.
I prefer the orange 1 over the orange 1.
I like the one with the triangle nose
You people have no taste what-so-ever. Everyone knows the orange one is by far the more pleasing / creative one. The other orange ones, looks like all the other orange ones, and after asking around. Everyone else seems to agree, the orange one is by far the best.
The one with the 2 tetris L block eyes has a lot of character
Seeing this figures on toy shelves back then was the equivalent of seeing hot toys now. These figures were unlike anything I'd seen before.
I was OBSESSED with this as a kid.
Still remains my favorite animated show. Way ahead of its time.
Gotta wonder if it would've done better had it come out in 1997 or '98, when late-'90s edge was more pronounced in pop culture.
nah, this first wave is what brought that about
I remember CBS being very proud of cancelling this in a Fall previews article. A few years later, they were just informercials Saturday morning.
I remember calling my local CBS station in the mid 90s to ask when WildC.A.T.S. was coming on and the guy said he'd never heard of the show. CBS never supported their Saturday Morning Cartoons.
@@ron531 boomers gotta boomer ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯
The only reason I even know this show existed is because of Jim Sterling and Super Best Friends Play. To be fair, I was 1 when it aired.
Hey and at the time Army of Darkness was a big deal so skeleton warriors should have been more popular.
my dad let me watch army of darkness around the same time, then when he saw these toys he brought a few home and I was blown away by the detail!!
Wasn't Army of Darkness a flop that later gained a cult following?
@@scottandrewhutchins Correct. And although I saw AoD in theaters as a kid I don't think it created a huge demand for kids toys.
@@scottandrewhutchins was NEVER a flop. It won an award. The fuck you talking about.
@@anthonyshanaman5637 It didn't stay in the theatres very long. Worldwide theatrical profit was about $20,000,000 more than it cost, so it wasn't a flop by that standard, so you're definitely right in that sense.
Never heard of this, but it is shockingly difficult to imagine how this was not immediately successful!
I re-watched the series a few months ago on TH-cam and it was really good. Like it was well-written and cool. It should have been bigger, youre right
You should see how much they go for on eBay!
For years I've watched Jim Sterling reference this show on his channel, I can say I'm happy to have some context now 😆
I'll definitely add this to my "to watch" list and get around to it eventually 💀👍
Miss the good old days when Saturday mornings showed cartoons 😩
I can't believe that Baron Dark was an evil character. I like it when it seems like you guys have a lot of the fun with the videos like this one.
Lol my dad used to get so mad when I would watch this show. Angrily called it "un-Christian".
yea but he let you watch it ..had to sneak and watch d&d
Bro...my mom threw out all my masters of the universe toys when I was a kid because my Aunt convinced her that the people who made them were Satanists trying to corrupt kids.
My cousins weren't allowed to watch Gremlins because it was to "demonistic." So they made us feel bad when we watched it 😂
Thinking like that is reason why I don't like religious nutcases. They don't understand fiction and entertainment and hate anything that doesn't fit to they own narrow world view.
My stepmom somehow thought that Skylanders and Pokemon were satanist or something, she got so mad she started screaming at me and my brother until we left the house for the next hour or so until she got herself together
It broke my heart a bit years later when KB Toys had new runs of the Skeleton Warriors and Ronin Warriors lines. They did something with the molds in both lines that filled in a lot of the detail. The Skeletons, I believe, also lost those cool metallic accents that really popped from those amazing sculpts.
I might be alone but grim skull was my favorite character. His design was intresting to me.
Me too.
You'd think he was the main character cause he had the most dramatic story. Always liked him.
Back in those days Grimskul and Raistlin from DragonLance were my two favorite characters.
I honestly think Grimskull was everyone's favorite character. Being trapped in a half undead body as a punishment for betraying his brother, yet contantly trying his best to resist Baron Dark's influence and seeking redemption is what made him so memorable, and even relatable in a way. Such well written characters were not terribly common back then, which is why I loved him as a kid.
That skeleton war everyone is talking about was a lot more insane then I initially thought.
The great skeleton war may be the topper for 2020.
Then you initially thought WHAT??
another epic music intro from a classic! Dan you are the ultimate nostalgia factor, the KEY to the chambers of happy memories.
Only know about this from Jim Sterling using this theme song to censor himself whenever he's about to say the c-word
I loved this show, and still have my full collection of the figures (my collection needs a Talon, whom unfortunately was never released). Grimskull was my favorite character on the show, really loved how the character was torn between the light and the dark, and also how he could travel through the shadows. Really wish it would have taken off, better than it did. Was excited to see your channel covering it.
Thank you, i always remembered this series fondly and was deeply disappointed when it was canceled but I could no longer remember the name as a adult. Now thanks to you i can share it with my children.
How I'll miss Tony Jay being our spooky yet awesome narrator- telling us these tales of the Skeleton Warriors!
Would love to see an episode on Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys.
I remember the aliens episode, so good.
Skeletons and fighting toys! I was in that demographic 👻🤘Got Aracula back in the day loved that figure wish I had more of them growing up the sculpts on these were next level after tmnt 👌
hell yea man I got him also he was badass
Skeleton Warriors
a.k.a if Skeletor got top billing
Looking forward to hearing about the behind the scenes on this one because the show always "felt" expensive to me. It wasn't great, but I got the impression they dumped a lot into it and had high hopes for it.
I loved this cartoon because it felt like part comic book, part horror movie.
Title: Whoever decided the skeletons were the villains and a bunch of fleshies the heroes.
I LOVED this series! I remember before the cartoon hit our area, these awesome trading cards came out and that’s when I learned about digital art and propelled me to becoming a digital artist myself as an adult. Still have those cards and a few of the action figures.
I loved this show. It was epic. I would love to see a revival.
The problem with the Skeleton Warriors figures was they never saw a wide release and the second series figure with the humans only got released in test markets in places like Ohio and a few other states from what I remember. I was working for KBTOYS at the time and they came into the stores on serious clearance and I dont think the human characters ever showed up at all. Really sad cuz the toys were excellent for the time and could be stripped down pretty easily and used for other skeleton related projects.
I feel like I was already in High School when the animated series first aired. But I still watched it & enjoyed it a lot. Great video guys
I had a slew of old toys come back to me and this show has slowly helped me to identify all of them. I didn’t know it still could as I found this 2 year old video. Thanks once again to this amazing channel
Another classic franchise brought back thanks to Glyos...awesome.
This and biker mice from mars were my two favourite shows as a kid, damn I wish this show was more successful as it was so good!!!
Grimskull kinda reminds me of the "Nameless one" from Planescape: Torment.
Dude, yes!!
So which one is Morty??
I have the Baron Dark and quite a few Titans from the October Toys line, as well as an original Playmates Baron Dark.
A real shame none of it ever took hold of consumers.
This was one of my most favorite toy lines, and very short-lived toons.
I knew everything talked about in this vid and still loved it.
Great work.
This video needs more jack-o'-lanterns.
Agreed, there's definitely not enough
I remember watching the cartoon for this a lot on TCC back in the day (and being captivated/terrified by the narrator), but never saw any of the merch or tie-ins. I was amazed when I saw The Indian In The Cupboard a couple of years later, in which a Skeleton Warriors toy makes a cameo.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this before, but it sounds badass
It was really good. had a lot of potential.
That guitar riff of Skeleton warriors intro runs chills down my spine to this day, just as intended
coolest concept of my childhood
I’m only going to make a good guess that Monster Force might be an episode.
Thanks! I mentioned in another comment I got sets of Skeleton Warriors, WILD Cats, and a set of these all on one trip to Wal-mart back in the day, but I couldn't remember the name.
Seconded vote for Monster Force.
Hell yeah! Definitely want a Toy Galaxy dive into Monster Force.
I couldn’t have been the only kid who thought this line of toys was just some kind of continuation of Masters of the universe.
Aracula was the inspiration for The Collector from MK11
I remember a local K-Mart closing down and they had just a Crazy amount of Skeleton Warrior and Predator toys for sale. Needless to say, Christmas for this kid was complete!
I bought Grimskull as a decoration piece since I was already a young adult when they came out. Think I still have it packed away somewhere.
One of the episodes ended on a cliffhanger - for the bad guys. They were honestly worried about a new technique the main hero had developed that threatened them on an existential level. Decent writing for stuff like that.
And thank God for Jim.
Don't you mean Matt McMuscles?
As someone who is currently building a bootleg army of skeleton miniatures (for wargaming and DnD), this video is quite timely.
A real shame Skeleton Warriors never got off the ground. It deserved better.
CBS the action zone!!!
I miss the Saturday morning cartoons from the 90s.
Thanks for doing this!
Me too they should bring it back. 😀👍
Jennifer\Talon was a total Super Cartoon Babe! Glad to have the complete DVD set! Glad you covered this! Keep up the great work, Dan!
Can you PLEEEASE do an episode on Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad?? I loved it at the time and had most of the toys, but it seems to have been forgotten to time :-(
If you are interested there is a modern anime of the tokusatsu series Super Human Samurai adapted : Gridman.
I love that show. I had the tapes and my friend I would play it and fight about who got to be Sydney.
Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad was recently rebooted as an anime called SSSS//Gridman. Gridman was the tokutatsu series that SSSS was based on.
I liked that show, and the toys, as well! It was my favorite out of the shows that spawned in the 90's that appeared "similar" to Power Rangers.
Wish fulfilled
Remember watching Skeleton Warriors- like Pirates of Dark Water and Spiral Zone, it was more serious than most cartoons at the time (not counting Batman TAS), but unlike similarly serious shows like Starblazers, Robotech & Thunderbirds 2086, its seriousness wasn't balanced out by some measure of light moments as He-Man or even Conan the Adventurer were.
Jim F. Stering (Thank-God-for-Him) didn't let us forget this show.
Holly crap I haven't thought of this cartoon/toy line in years. Thank you for making this video, It took me back to my childhood.
That was a pretty good year for collecting. I had a complete set of these, a complete set of W.I.L.D. Cats, and a set of ...Monster Squad? Monster Hunters? Some sort of cartoon monster hunters set all on one trip to Wallyworld.
I remember the paint application on the skeletons was really nice, the humans were boring, and the articulation on all three lines wasn't so hot.
I also remember it seemed like they GREW dust when you weren't looking, and it stuck in all the nooks and crannies of the sculpts.
Another plug for the Sgt. Rock Remco line, pretty please?
Edit: Monster FORCE!!! Somebody mentioned it in another comment.
Man, what a video. This is what You Tube is for. To learn the finest of details from such like minded people they could have been drawn from the same womb of The Mother of Interest as yourself. It's funny, I'm playing the ISO for Skeleton Warriors now. I love it.
I can’t help noticing that Baron Dark looks a lot like 90s Wolverine.
My favorite cartoon of all time. I actually just got a complete in box Shriek and a loose Dr. Cyborn. This show deserves a a chance to return!
Ah, the memories. The show was pretty good and I have some of the figures.
I remember watching this show as a kid. Then out of the blue today. I just started humming the theme song out of nowhere. Was wondering if it was something I just made up. Glad to see here on TH-cam this show actually did exist.
Anyone else looking if Jim sterling already commented. I was introduced to this thanks to him.
I Godert was a fan of Conan then he should have know "Steel isn't strong, boy, FLESH is stronger!". How could Skeleton Warriors make sense to him?😛
That was the ultimate moral of Skeleton Warriors, so he learned his lessons well. 😇
I can tell you exactly why the toyline failed. However beautifully sculpted the skeletons were, the figures were incapable of standing upright. Even the figures shown in the commercial segment were filmed against a wall for support.
Huh, I've seen many-a-Skeleton Warrior meme before, but I never knew the titular Skeletons were supposed to be villains. I just assumed it was a Mummies Alive situation.
I’m disappointed to find out it isn’t
Another great gem from Toy Galaxy! I was a teenager when this line came out. I never could watch it steadily due to the schedule changes. I never saw much in my state of VA of merchandise apart from the video game for PlayStation. Fun fact when I got my PS2 it couldn't play it due to it being one of the first generation PS games. And as we all know those 1st gen games were not backward compatible with PS2 when it hit the markets..
I had a “Skeleton Fighter” he was like a bootleg
When i was a dumb little kid, i was terrified of skeletons. I didn't realize they were inside every vertebrate animal. This show did not help that fear at all. But I thought the figures were super cool though.
They don't make cartoons like these anymore.... great storyline, awesome layouts.... damn I miss true cartoons that were worth watching
Whoa, those sculpts looks great! Almost as good as something Four Horsemen or Boss Fight put out
Skeleton Warriors had too much royal nepotism for the hero side. He-Man's allies came from all over Eternia.
Both shows could have used more female heroes. But Skeleton Warriors didn't even put their female hero in the toy line. So the entire line ended up with only 3 heroes.
Just like Sectaurs and Visionaries. I think the "no girls allowed" policy hurt the toy line.
@Oh Yes Yes Equality always leads to solution.
@Oh Yes Yes well the opposite wasn't either...
@Oh Yes Yes watching only dudes is cool? Good for you, I guess.
@Oh Yes Yes In this case: The opposite of "woke" would be closed minded misogyny.
The token girl action figures are always among the lowest selling. It's just as well though, since very few girls would've been interested in a toys called "Skeleton Warriors", and for those who would, they'd rather play with the skeletons (just like the boys).
Wow, that brings me back. I remember getting the baron dark, dr. Cyborn, the skeleton horse and the skull cycle figures for christmas when i was 7
I completely forgot there were non-skeleton characters in this
...I remember this series fondly! A pity it didn't last more than 13 episodes.
I think of Jim Sterling when it comes to Skeleton Warriors.
I'm so glad for this video. Here in Brazil I never had an explanation on the whereabouts of the Skeletons.
It's funny, the only figures I had from this line were Ursak and Prince Lightstar. The joints on the figures were soooo stiff...
Being a Kid in 80s and early 90s was awesome we had all the good cartoons and the toys to go with them
*"Hello There! May the Force be with you always my Friends!"*
I had no idea these existed. I was a little too old and my younger brothers were all TMNT around that time. As a kid though, who loved all things spooky, these look like they would have been right up my alley if they showed up in the late 80s.
At least we got a badass Sega Saturn game out of the franchise.
I think this might have been Sega CD territory!
I really liked the show! The idea of a hero being responsible for the main problem and even scarred by his choices was pretty daring and remains almost unique.
OK this is more than a little strange, for no particular reason I watched the entire series yesterday here on TH-cam, then tonight I find you have a review, coincidence or something else.
Algorithm. XD
those skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts were f*cking amazing. from a kid to an adult, i've always loved them.
Epic failure? I think they outsold any line that was in the shops at the same time as them. Are you sure they failed?
Yes
Well remember it was the 90s, overinvesting led to the failure of many franchises and IPs (though mostly comics), not being able to make the money back even if they did sell well.
I thought they were not as popular as Power Rangers.
One season and one toy line should tell you something.
Sadly, this was one of those that because it didn't do "amazing" in the US, everyone else suffered. Literally every kid in my school loved the show. If not the toys.
4:10 i remember being really little and watching Jason and the Argonauts with my grandad, the most memorable scene is the fight with the skeletons and the bit where he finally gets the golden fleece, i can't remember much else from the film (or story) but i remember those scenes perfectly, i remember loving that film
I remember buying one of the coloring & activity books from the grocery store down the street. To this day I will randomly say "SKELETON WARRIORS" like the theme song in my head...
The way you do the commercials is the coolest thing I've ever seen
I bought this on vhs when I was a kid because the name and art of the cover pulled me in.
My brother thought it was weird that the villains were what the show was named after and i did not care for the humans.
So that kinda explains why the series fell short.
I can't remember any of the episodes, but the opening going "SKEL LE TON WAR RI ORS!" over and over is stuck in my head.