Owen Hart Stampedes Back To The Figure Universe

Unless you live under a rock you already know that the legendary Owen Hart is finally getting new action figures after twenty-three years. Through Owen’s widow Martha agreeing to a relationship with All Elite Wrestling, Owen’s memory will finally be honored within the realm of professional wrestling and not just by its fans. Much to the happiness of collectors, modern action figures are part of that. As Jazwares began a “legends” series of sorts in their AEW line called “Luminaries,” The King of Harts fits right in. 

It felt obvious from the get go that any WWE incarnations of Owen would be off-limits. That meant that in order for there to be modern figures of a man who spent roughly a decade in WWE, the look of these figures had to predate that. Exclusive to the large online wrestling figure retailer that needs no extra press, the first figure comes in a special window box with several unique accessories. There will be another release down the line in one of the mainline/standard AEW series. The packaging is very attractive with several nice photos of Hart. Initially I thought that there weren’t any plastic bands holding any part of this figure in, but there did end up being two or three. Jazwares isn’t as offensive as Mattel when it comes to those things, but we got along for decades without them. Why do we need them now? 

Included are two different heads, sunglasses, soft goods jacket and a championship belt. The latter is likely supposed to be the Stampede Wrestling North American Championship. It’s missing a lot of detail, but it’s good enough. That last phrase could actually be a theme for this figure. As good enough as the aesthetic design of the belt is, the physics of it are less so. In nearly forty years of attaching title belts to figures I had yet to encounter one that I just couldn't apply. Notice how he's just holding the belt? It's because the pegs simply don't fit into the holes on the belt. The rest of the accessories are also “good enough.” The smiling head is about the only part that I would say is less than good enough. The serious head is a much better likeness, but the headband is part of the sculpt and non-removable. The jacket may go a bit above “good enough.” It looks exactly like a wrestling jacket from the ‘80s and thankfully isn’t rubber like so much wrestling figure entrance gear done today. I have seen some reports of the jacket staining the figure right out of the package, but I didn't encounter that personally.

 

The smiling head has holes for the sunglasses to fit into, but they will stay on the serious head as well. One thing that surprised me when I finished unboxing was the lack of extra hands. No fists? Just open hands? It isn’t like Owen was a huge puncher or anything like that, but for the price of this figure a pair of fists couldn’t have been factored in? Five years ago we would have thought nothing of it, but it’s a different ball game now. I wouldn’t call the body sculpt 100% exactly Owen, but again it’s good enough. And for such a bright wrestler did we really have to go with black and white for the first figure? Why not save that for the mainline release instead of an exclusive which is supposed to stand out?

 

I won’t say that I’m disappointed with this one. Again, it’s good enough. But it could have been so much better. Customizers will have a field day when this goes down in price. My other big gripe lies with the yet-to-be-released mainline figure. The word on that one is that a great looking figure in red gear will be some sort of “chase” version. Jazwares deliberately makes their chase figures impossible to get in order to make them, what I deem, manufactured collectibles. Big thumbs down on that. As far as this figure, you know the retailer. You also know that sales and clearance is the name of their game. I’d wait on this one until it goes cheaper. When I say to wait, you know it’s a safe bet.

 

You should’ve made amends with WWE, Martha. Mattel gets a lot of things wrong, but I have a feeling that they’d have done Owen right.