The third line in the Hokuto no Ken catalog from Bandai’s Popy division in 1985, the Sakuretsu Ogi Series (炸裂奥技シリーズ, “explosive arcane techniques series”) does not sell a character but a scene. Each boxed set, offered at 1,600 yen in the original catalog, recreates a Hokuto Shinken technique as a diorama, with Kenshiro and his victim frozen at the fatal moment.
Details
The technique in a box, instructions included
Two installments are documented to date, and the Japanese specialist press was already showing only these two in 2000, when it inventoried the licence’s out-of-print toys. The first (其之一) is dedicated to the Ganzan Ryozan Ha, Kenshiro splitting the skull of a giant, with the slogan “crush the evil demon, the secret technique of the sole successor.” The second (其之二) reproduces the Hokuto Zankai Ken, thumbs driven into the temples, with the box pushing the concept so far as to print the technique’s description in the style of a martial arts manual, specifying that pressure on the vital point leaves the enemy only moments to live.
As the icing on the cardboard, the official warning printed on the back is worth its weight in gold: “never imitate Hokuto no Ken, dangerous games are strictly forbidden.” A reminder that these killing-blow dioramas really were children’s toys, sold while the anime was on the air. A further period detail: the figures were sold in bare flesh-colored vinyl, as the window boxes show, and the box itself admits it in small print: the products photographed on the packaging were “specially colored.” Painted examples in circulation today therefore come from this promotional coloring or from collectors’ brushes. The top flap of the boxes even displays photos of other painted dioramas beyond the two known installments, with no trace of their release ever found.
Details
| Contents | two figures in bare flesh-colored vinyl |
|---|---|
| Slogan | crush the evil demon, the secret technique of the sole successor |
| Price | 1,600 yen |
| Manufacturing | Bandai, Popy division, Japan |
| Release | 1985 |
Details
| Contents | two figures in bare flesh-colored vinyl |
|---|---|
| Manual | technique description printed on the back |
| Price | 1,600 yen |
| JAN code | 4902425036298 |
| Manufacturing | Bandai, Popy division, Japan |
| Release | 1985 |
Finding them today
Like all of Popy’s 1985 output, these boxed sets are scarce and surface sporadically on Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari, a complete box with both figures accounting for most of the value. The full series remains to be documented, and this page will grow as further installments resurface. It complements the Zenshin Kado Kenshiro and the Jigoku no Kenshi sets within the period Popy catalog.
Sources
- Sakuretsu Ogi Series 其之一 and 其之二 boxes, Bandai Popy division, 1985, fronts, backs and flaps.
- Figure Oh No.34, World Photo Press, July 2000, page 22.