Stone Protectors is a 1993 multi-media entertainment property consisting primarily of an

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed ...

line and

animated series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

. The series also had a tie-in video game released for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

and the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

. It served as a late attempt to market the

troll doll A Troll Doll (Danish: ''Gjøltrold'') is a type of plastic doll with furry up-combed hair depicting a troll, also known as a Dam doll after their creator Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam. The inspiration came from trolls in old Scandinavian folklore. ...

craze of the early 1990s to young boys. While not particularly successful, nor inspired by a prior medium, Stone Protectors generally followed in the same vein as contemporaries including

Toxic Crusaders ''Toxic Crusaders'' is a 1991 animated series aimed at children, loosely based on '' The Toxic Avenger'' films. It features Toxie, the lead character of the films, leading a group of misfit superheroes who combat pollution. This followed a trend ...

Swamp Thing The Swamp Thing is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. A humanoid/plant elemental creature, created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several humanoid or monster incarnations i ...

, and the highly popular

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

Back-story

A kingdom built of crystals came under attack by the reptilian troll-like Saurians whose leader, Zok, desired the powerful crystals protected by the Empress. Zok broke into the castle and reached for the crystals only to see them explode into pieces and fly to Earth. After being thrown out the back door of a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

club, an awful rock band known as the Rock Detectors found the five magical stones which gave them troll-like appearances and special skills (not the least of which is playing ''good'' music). This put them at odds with the music-hating Zok and his henchman Zink, collectively known as The Protectors. * Cornelius, the group's leader, holds the green stone and became a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

with an assortment of appropriate weaponry (

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

shuriken A ''shuriken'' ( ja, 手裏剣; literally: "hidden hand blade") is a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect. They are also known as throwing stars, or ninja stars, although they we ...

, and a pair of

nunchaku is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person w ...

made of microphones). He is the band's lead singer, but also plays the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

. * Chester holds the red stone, became an expert at

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and received great strength. He plays the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

. * Clifford "Cliff" holds the blue stone and became an expert

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically an ...

. He is the band's

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

. * Angus holds the yellow stone and became a soldier excelling in

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

combat, as well as turning ordinary objects into weapons. He plays the

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. Angus ostensibly built up the Protectors' bizarre attack vehicles from things like barbecues and lawnmowers. * Maxwell holds the orange stone and became an "accelerator" - an athletic speedster who sports in-line skates. He plays the guitar.

Animated series

A short-lived cartoon series based on the characters debuted in 1993. In it, Empress Opal of Mythrandir splits the legendary Great Crystal into six pieces to keep it out of Zok's hands. Zok manages to capture one piece, but the other five bond with the future Stone Protectors, spiriting them away to Mythrandir to help Opal upset Zok's schemes and spread a sentiment of peace and freedom with their music. The series lasted one season; 8 out of 13 episodes were released on VHS in 1994 by

Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California. History The company was foun ...

, the whole series was released on VHS in England. A Texas-based streaming service called Comix.tv has acquired the intellectual property rights to Stone Protectors from former owner Kam Toys. On March 2, 2021, a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

campaign was launched to get the entire 13-episode series released to DVD. The initial goal for the Kickstarter was $30,000 with further stretch goals such as a comic book, Blu-ray and a new episode for the series. The Kickstarter only met its funding goal on March 29, 2021. It is notable that while the advertisements for the action figures attempted to tie the Stone Protectors into the troll doll fad, the cartoon seemed eager to avoid the comparison. For instance, it replaced the line "trolls on a roll" from the theme song in the commercials with "Don't you know?" The series has also been broadcast on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

in England, RTB in Brunei, TV2 in Malaysia,

Bop TV Bop TV was a television station run by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation in the former Republic of Bophuthatswana in South Africa. History Commencing operations in 1984, it primarily transmitted imported programmes in an unedited for ...

in South Africa, ZBC in Zimbabwe, Channel 33 in the United Arab Emirates and TV2 in New Zealand.

Episodes

1. Forged in Fire (written by Martin Isenberg & Robert Skir) 2. Stranded in Mythrandir (written by Peter Lawrence) 3. Levity (written by Matthew Malach) 4. Return of Blackheart (written by J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren) 5. Weaponogs (written by Richard T. Murphy) 6. Fan or Foe (written by Chris Hubbell & Sam Graham) 7. Island Hopping (written by Martin Isenberg & Robert Skir) 8. Digging In (written by Peter Lawrence) 9. Between Zok and the Deep Blue Sea (written by Grant Morgan) 10. The Test (written by J. Larry Carroll & David Bennett Carren) 11. The Crystal Vampire (unaired) (written by Matthew Cartsonis & Peter Lawrence) 12. The Wall of Sound (unaired) (written by Richard T. Murphy) 13. Going Home (unaired) (written by Sam Graham & Chris Hubbell)

Action figures

The Stone Protectors action figures were produced by the Ace Novelty Toy Company. All of the figures were roughly 5" tall and featured cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and elbows as well as ball joints at the hips. Their heads were a soft, rubbery material with tall, synthetic hair sticking straight out the top. In rotating the right arm of a Stone Protectors figure, a

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

module would ignite inside its chest, creating a quick yet bright flash seen through the translucent chest emblem. A second series of sports-themed figures was also released. Princess Opal was never made as a figure, nor were there any generic Saurian Guards. The toyline as well as the cartoon that followed it were seen as poor imitations of the popular

line of toys and

cartoon series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eithe ...

and overlooked by many.

Video game

game based on the property was released in November 1994 by

Kemco Kemco (abbreviated from Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984. It is headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima. One of its best known franchises is the ''Top Gear'' series, ...

. A

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

version was developed and completed, but not released back then. This version, intended to be published by

Vic Tokai Tokai Communications Corporation Inc (known as Vic Tokai Corporation until 2011) is a telecommunications company in Japan providing Digital subscriber line, DSL services and Network Solutions, network solutions. Its headquarters are in the in ...

, was finally leaked to the public in 2010 by Nesplayer.com. It was finally given an official release by Piko Interactive in March 2022, together with a re-release of the SNES version. ''Stone Protectors'' features 10 levels in which the heroes – Clifford, Cornelius, Chester, Maxwell, and Angus – battle The Predators throughout their mission to retrieve Zok's crystal and bring them all back to the kingdom. Weapons can also be acquired but only used by certain characters. Depending on the difficulty setting, the game's ending scene also features different music in which the Stone Protectors are seen performing as a band. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' gave the game a generally negative review, commenting that the graphics are good but the animation is poor, and the controls make it difficult to pull off special attacks or counteract enemy attacks. They concluded that the game, while not without merits, is overall "a frustrating journey."

Other merchandise

Pressman Toy Corp. released a Stone Protectors

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

.Stone Protectors (1993)
BoardGameGeek.com. Retrieved 12-03-08. In late 1993,

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...

debuted ''Stone Protectors'' "Premiere Issue" (effectively an issue #0), followed by issues #1–3.

References

External links

Stone Protectors (action figures)
at Virtual Toy Chest

at Blast from the Past
Stone Protectors (video game)
at

Eurocom Eurocom (formerly Eurocom Entertainment Software) was a British video game developer founded in October 1988 by Mat Sneap, Chris Shrigley, Hugh Binns, Tim Rogers and Neil Baldwin, to specifically develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment S ...

Stone Protectors theme song
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

* {{IMDb title, 0189311, Stone Protectors 1990s toys 1990s American animated television series 1993 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings 1993 comics debuts Mass media franchises introduced in 1993 1994 video games Action figures American children's animated action television series American children's animated superhero television series BBC children's television shows Beat 'em ups Cooperative video games Dam dolls Fictional musical groups Fictional trolls First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Harvey Comics superheroes Harvey Comics titles Sega Genesis games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Superhero teams Superhero video games Television superheroes TVNZ 2 original programming Video games developed in the United Kingdom Mass media franchises Eurocom games Kemco games Side-scrolling video games