As a kid I had these two figures that were really odd and I could never figure out, they seemed computer inspired but at the same time it was a soccer ball that turned into a space ship. Much later I found out it was a line of toys called Computer Warriors about some super viruses from a top secret government office get out to the real world and computer warriors are created to stop them. While it had no animated series it did have a pilot “movie” called Computer Warriors The Adventure Begins. So let’s take a look back at this forgotten franchise.
The figures themselves were really cool and even though the space ships disguised as every day items is a neat idea, it did clash with the idea that they’re computer themedur heroes and villains. I have to say the playsets and figures were very well designed. The actual characters are hit or miss, most of the villains are rather cool but not the majority of the computer warrior heroes. They’re small so they had plenty of play possibilities and the space ships did camouflage rather well as the everyday items they were meant to be.
I love the idea of entering digital worlds so this show is right up my alley, it came out in 1989/1990 so the writing of the actual episode is a bit weak. It also wasn’t a full season and just a test pilot meant to sell the toys with the possibility of having this special picked up by a network which didn’t happen. For that reason they try to cram the origin as well as how the fights would all end up being in most episodes in one short 22 minute special. The dialog is weak and there’s not much to the episodes. After the viruses escape to real life the computer warriors go to hunt them and use random things from the house to hide and attack until they’re defeated.
The viruses are transformed into discs and a kid takes them to his friend’s house by accident so the computer warriors know where they’re going and will go over to fight them using email to travel there. So yeah that sets up the next episode which never happens. Most of the stories would’ve likely dealt with the Viruses and Computer Warriors fighting in the outside world. It’s a shame since the few scenes inside the computer world were rather cool and Tron inspired using wireframe CGi, so it would’ve been cool to see more of that world as well.
The show was too little too late to become a hit since it’s too 80s for the brand new sets of shows and the figures were not a scale that was poplar at the time, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dominating the shelves this franchise never had a chance. It’d be great to see a revival with technology being not only cool and common place now but as a way to get tech raised kids into toys, it can totally work.
You can watch the Pilot episode of Computer Wars below:
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