Stone Protectors

Stone Protectors was a 1993 multimedia franchise built around a line of action figures and an animated series, with a video game released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. It was one of several efforts to sell the early-1990s troll doll trend to boys, much like the official Battle Trolls toys. Though it never became a hit, the property followed a formula similar to other contemporary properties such as Toxic Crusaders, Swamp Thing, and the hugely successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The story begins in a crystal-built kingdom attacked by reptilian humanoid troll-like creatures called Saurians, led by Zok, who wanted the powerful crystals guarded by the Empress. Zok broke into the castle and grabbed for the crystals, but they exploded into pieces and scattered to Earth. After being thrown out the back door of a New York City club, a rock band called the Rock Detectors found five magical stones. These stones gave them troll-like appearances and special skills, including the ability to play good music, and they became known as the Protectors. This put them in conflict with the music-hating Zok and his henchman Zink, who called themselves the Predators.

Cornelius, the group's leader, got the green stone, turning him into a samurai with a katana, shuriken, and a pair of nunchaku made from microphones. He was the lead singer and also played guitar. Chester held the red stone, which gave him immense strength and wrestling expertise; he played bass guitar and saxophone. Clifford, called Cliff, held the blue stone, making him an expert rock climber and the band's drummer. Angus held the yellow stone, turning him into a soldier skilled in military combat who could turn ordinary objects into weapons; he played keyboard. Maxwell held the orange stone, becoming an athletic speedster on in-line skates who played guitar.

A short-lived cartoon series debuted in 1993. In it, Empress Opal of Mythrandir splits the legendary Great Crystal into six pieces to keep it from Zok. Zok captures one piece, but the other five bond with the future Stone Protectors, whisking them to Mythrandir to help Opal stop Zok and spread peace and freedom through music. The series ran for one season; eight of thirteen episodes were released on VHS in 1994 by Family Home Entertainment, and the full series came out on VHS in England.

Piko Interactive later acquired the intellectual property rights from former owner Kam Toys. On March 2, 2021, a Kickstarter campaign launched to release all thirteen episodes on DVD, with an initial goal of $30,000 and stretch goals including a comic book, Blu-ray, and a new episode. The Kickstarter met its main goal on March 29, 2021. The series was released on DVD on July 5, 2022, along with a special edition boxset.

In January 2025, Discotek Media announced a Blu-ray release, which came out on October 28, 2025. Notably, while the action figure ads tried to link the Stone Protectors to the troll doll fad, the series itself seemed to avoid the comparison, replacing the commercial theme song line "trolls on a roll" with "Don't you know?" The series also aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom, RTB in Brunei, TV2 in Malaysia, Bop TV in South Africa, ZBC in Zimbabwe, Channel 33 in the United Arab Emirates, and TV2 in New Zealand.

The action figures were made by Ace Novelty Toy Company. Each figure stood about five inches tall and had cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and elbows, plus ball joints at the hips. Their heads were soft rubber with tall synthetic hair sticking straight up. Rotating the right arm ignited a flint module inside the chest, creating a quick bright flash visible through the translucent chest emblem. A second series of sports-themed figures was also released. Princess Opal was never made into a figure, and there were no generic Saurian Guards. The toyline and cartoon were widely seen as poor imitations of the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line and were overlooked.

A Super NES game based on the property came out in November 1994 from Kemco. A Genesis version was developed and finished but not released at the time; it was intended for publication by Vic Tokai. It leaked online in 2010 via Nesplayer.com and finally got an official release from Piko Interactive in March 2022, alongside a re-release of the SNES version. The game has ten levels where the heroes—Clifford, Cornelius, Chester, Maxwell, and Angus—battle the Predators to retrieve Zok's crystal and bring it back to the kingdom.

Weapons can be acquired but only used by certain characters. Depending on the difficulty setting, the ending scene features different music showing the Stone Protectors performing as a band. GamePro gave the game a generally negative review, praising the graphics but criticizing the poor animation and controls that made special attacks and counterattacks difficult, calling it overall "a frustrating journey."

Other merchandise included a board game from Pressman Toy Corp. and a comic book series from Harvey Comics, which debuted with a "Premiere Issue" (effectively issue #0) in late 1993, followed by issues #1 through #3.