In November of 2004, toy giant Mezco acquired the rights to Walter Hill’s iconic 1979 film The Warriors. A year later at the San Diego Comic-Con, Mezco debuted six ten-inch versions of the film’s most memorable stars; Swan, Ajax, Cleon and Cochise of The Warriors, as well as Luther (a member of the Rogue), and one of the infamous Baseball Furies. Of the three sets of Warriors action figures Mezco would go on to put out, the 2005 grouping is really pretty special. Here’s why.
Aside from the detailed and rather cinematic look of the figures, it was the fake blood and the tiny weapons they came packing with that made the figures so appealing. Swan came with a lead pipe, spraypaint can (you should always keep one with you when using a public bathroom for the record), a Bowie knife, and switchblade. Cleon had nunchucks, a rumble chain and spraypaint can. Cochise (seen above), is one of the more collectible members of the group. He came complete with a handy Molotov cocktail, nail board, and can of spraypaint. Ajax didn’t come with any weapons except his fists. Because that’s how loners roll, baby.
Of the collection, my favorite (and perhaps yours?) is Luther.
Luther was played by Detroit Rock City native, actor David Patrick Kelly. Cool movie trivia; Kelly actually improvised one of the film’s most memorable lines “Warriors… come out to play-ee-ay!!” So it makes sense that his action figure should come complete with bottles (three in total) that he chimed on his fingers while reciting those famous, game-on words.
The 2005 Baseball Furies figures came in three different variants of face paint (yellow, orange and red/black), and were accessorized with two baseball bats. One of them broken. Nice. Mezco later released one more fully articulated collection based on The Warriors; a nine-inch set of six figures that included rabble rouser Cyrus, and Sully, the leader of The Orphans (who came with a sweet razor blade), as well as a series of just the Baseball Furies. If you are so inclined, it’s pretty easy to track down some of Mezco’s Warriors. However, if you’re wondering, it won’t come cheap in most cases. Especially when it comes to Luther or one of the Furies.
Sothis scene from Warriors (Luther with his bottles going Waaaaarrriorrrrrs come out to plaa-ayyyyy) He originally wanted to do that with two dead pigeons But they decided that wouldn’t work So he improv-ed with the bottles
So far, I only headcanon three of The Warriors keeping their real names, as opposed to using gang names. Cleon, because his name is already cool enough. Swan uses his surname, because he is fantastically uncreative (I imagine his first name to be David, because he sort of reminds me of reminds me of Michelangelo’s “David”). And Cowboy, because I firmly believe his dad pulled a Mr. Curtis, looked into the eyes of his precious baby son and decided to name him Cowboy.
