PowerTown Arrives: Stan “The Lariat” Hansen

The time has come. PowerTown is here. Some said that it would never happen. Others said that it would be the greatest thing ever to happen for wrestling figures. A line without political restrictions, an impressive roster of legends and a lot of ambition. Have their been hiccups? Sure. They’ve owned them. These aren’t your father’s wrestling figures (though they are his heroes) and this isn’t your rinky dink “boutique” manufacturer. I noticed that as soon as I opened the shipping box. This is something completely different with everything we were promised, a few little surprises and plenty to look forward to. Let’s start the journey to PowerTown Wrestling Ultra Series One figures.

When I wrote the preview article last year I’d fully intended on doing one big blog entry reviewing all six figures at once. Several things changed this. First was a shipping delay with Kerry Von Erich. The company will be shipping that sixth and final series one figure out as soon as it arrives. Without one of the figures I didn’t want to do a massive entry with a hole in it. The second change in my decision came when I actually had these figures in hand. With the obvious care and craftsmanship that these figures were made with, they each deserve a separate review. Just as much as the plusses of each figure need to be highlighted, I know that the company wants to know where improvements are needed, too. I can tell you this much at the beginning: anything that needs fixed is few and far between. I’m not going to hide on any negatives but it’s hard to dwell on them when you come across true pieces of art like this.

Each figure will either get its own review here or two will be coupled up together. A third reason I’m going to do it this way is based on a topic we’ve tackled several times over the past near decade and a half of the blog’s existence: all six of these men have had very few or zero action figures whatsoever. They all deserve an individual look. It wasn’t hard to pick the first. For many of us, he’s the name out of these that we’ve been waiting the longest time to have a modern figure of. He fits into several decades and nearly every promotion that you can think of. He was not only a star on U.S. soil but was an even bigger legend in Japan. I can only be talking about Stan “The Lariat” Hansen.

We all remember his spectacular Remco AWA figure and he’s had several Japanese figures, but there hasn’t been a true modern figure of a man who is very, to use an overused word, toyetic. That is, until now. Upon the initial PowerTown announcement, Ted DiBiase was announced in his look as part of the PWF Tag Team Champions with Hansen. When issues arose with DiBiase’s licensing, Bruiser Brody took his spot. This especially worked out as Hansen also held these belts with Brody. Another underutilized and very “toyetic” legend who’s been underrepresented in the figure world, Brody probably made the Series 1 announcement even more enticing for fans and collectors.

The figures each come individually packaged in sturdy, full color boxes. They’re actually nicer than anything you’d find on the shelves. Why? Loads of photos, a huge bio inside, and a magnetized flap that can be opened to reveal the majority of the figure and its accessories. These boxes are big and are certainly going to take up a lot of real estate for loose collectors, but how you could throw these away? The care is even evident in the packaging. That’s extra effort. I’d like to think that eventually I’ll toss the innards and flatten the boxes for more sensible storage, but I just don’t know if I’ll be able to do it. You may notice a glare on the wrestlers on the boxed photographs. That’s because the figures are held in by an upper plastic tray. This is so much nicer to deal with than those clear plastic bands that everyone else uses.

Even in the boxes you notice the heft on these guys. Get them in your hand and it only doubles. The Lariat was always a burly/beefy guy and it’s well represented here. These likenesses look like wax museum pieces or something. They’re that realistic. What about accessories? You got em. With Stan we have his cowboy hat, vest, chaps, aforementioned belt and bullrope with cowbell. Oh yeah, the rope is soft goods. I was not expecting that at all. You get to tie the bell onto the end yourself. I fully expected this to be another rubberized bullrope. I told you there were surprises here in PowerTown. All of the accessories fit great and are removable to however you see fit. Both hands are removable and Stan includes an extra right hand doing his trademark “horns” sign. The hands aren’t loose but they do come off a tad easier than they should. The peg probably just needs to be a bit longer in future releases.

I don’t use too many comparison shots in my reviews. I’ll report on how figures interact with each other aesthetically, but I feel that the focus should be on the figure being reviewed. Since I know that there’s been much talk about scale, I’ll include a shot here. You'll also note that The Lariat was doing battle with one of his WCW rivals, complete with the PowerTown version of the NWA United States Heavyweight championship. I grabbed a few examples from various recent manufacturers yet I honestly feel that these most closely resemble the few wrestling figures done by Storm Collectibles. I own a few of the Jushin Liger offerings from that company and I just get a similar vibe.

These are just solidly built figures. Of course it will take time to see how well they hold up to the standard use that many of us put our figures through, but so far so good. They settle in well with other figures. The likenesses are amazing as are the accessories. There's room for improvement in a few places, but I don't know a line that's avoided that yet. All of these points will be expanded on as we move along with the Series 1 roster.

I don’t have to tell you that I’m extremely pleased with PowerTown thus far. I don’t want that to discourage you from reading about the other five figures. Verne Gagne, Lou Thesz, Magnum T.A., Bruiser Brody and Kerry Von Erich certainly deserve your attention. There’s plenty more to discuss with all of them and the line itself. If you didn’t pre-order these I don’t have any info on how you may be able to obtain them. I can give no straight answer on whether or not this initial series will be available again. What I can guarantee is that more PowerTown is coming. We only have speculation as to the names involved in the next series, but I’m not the only collector already salivating at the thought. Who knows, maybe we’ll get an exclusive reveal one of these days for an upcoming product. I can think of no better place!