There are more ninja figures than all other martial arts figures put together, at least that I know of. With one exception, I have only included martial arts figures in this post that are armed and look like they belong in combat instead of a dojo. There are a bunch of unarmed martial arts figures that I have not included. Britians made some karate figures and there are some old olympic judo figures that I have left out because of their look. There is also a very cool Bruce Lee v. Chuck Norris set that I am including by popular demand.
Several of my Chinese figures are based on the boxer rebellion and a few have firearms. However, most are armed with old school Chinese martial arts weapons and fit perfectly in a fantasy setting. I have not included any Asian historical military figures like the Mongol army or samurai even though there are some excellent figures available. This post is just about martial arts. Of course, I understand that soldiers were trained in martial arts, but military figures still seem like a different category to me.
Imperial Ninja/Chinese Monks
Imperial released these figure in tubes with pirates a few years ago. Imperial calls them ninjas, but they look a lot more like Chinese monks to me. The black figures came from a set released by the Orential Trading Company. They are 45mm.
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| These came from the Oriental Trading Company rather than Imperial tubes. |
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| Photo fom an ebay auction. |
Kung Fu Swoppets
I have no idea who made these. I got them in trade with a friend of the site from England. Nice figures but only fair in terms of quality. These are 54mm.
Armies in Plastic Boxer Rebellion
These were released in the late 1990s or early 2000s. 54mm.
Own Boxer Rebellion Figures.
These are marked "Own Figures 2002", but that is all I know about them. 54mm. The arms plug into most of the figures which lets you mix and match to make custom poses. I'll post some pictures if I ever get around to doing that.
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| Photo from an ebay auction. |
Suton Plastics: Kung Fu
I'm not certain when these were made, but I have seen ebay sellers claim they go back as far as the 1960s. These are the only unarmed figures I have included because they are a personal favorite. I cannot explain why I like these guys. They are wrong on so many levels. They are called Kung Fu Action Figures but look like white guys dressed in a Japanes karate gi. About 45mm.
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| Photo from an ebay auction. |
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