The Mouths That Roared…And Chewed Turnbuckles

I may complain a lot, but I do try to be fair about it and admit when that complaining is unfounded. Initially, I complained about The Coliseum Collection. I don’t recall how public my complaining was, but I definitely groused a bit. “Here we go again.” “More expensive remakes of figures that we already have.” “The SAME Jake The Snake that we just got in the Legends line?” Well, I was wrong. Between the figures themselves, the packaging and the overall presentation I’ve really taken to the line. That’s why I was actually sad that the latest entry, Rowdy Roddy Piper vs George “The Animal” Steele, was met with a delay. In a few ways, which we’ll get to, these were actually the most anticipated Coliseum Collection entries to date for me, personally. No, we’re not seeing never before made names here. That’s not what The Coliseum Collection is about. We’re seeing top quality modern representations of the characters that made up the beloved LJN Wrestling Superstars line. It’s a true testament to that line that both of “the biggies” (Mattel WWE and Jazwares AEW) are paying homage in their own way at the same time. Let’s see the latest that Mattel brings to the table…and to the turnbuckle!

For as many Piper figures as have been produced I still feel that the longer haired look has been better represented than the short hair style. As far as Mattel goes, the short haired look was long due an upgrade. We were given a taste several years ago with the absolutely great “boxing” Piper figure and, thankfully, the head sculpt from that set is included here, as well. Steele is returning to the Mattel lineup for the first time in years altogether. Both of his previous releases were the same base figure. It was a nice figure but the torso was just a tad too thin for the bulky brawler. I always said that for your shirtless George Steele needs you’d go with the Jakks Classic Superstars version. Since the first Mattel release had a shirt, he was your “go to” for pre-match Animal. Now we’re hopefully getting definitive versions of both.

The packaging on these is grand. There’s no other way to put it. The sturdy and immense outer box featuring spectacular art of these legends opens up to house individual carded versions of the figures in packaging directly paying homage to LJN Wrestling Superstars. It’s a fun touch that the figures are even posed inside of the boxes the way that the old LJN figures were sculpted. The accessories are housed in the boxes below each figure which is were the old LJN posters would’ve been packaged. The Coliseum Collection is certainly growing, as evidenced by the back of the cards! Though he was shown on the back of the debut Coliseum Collection set, the SDCC exclusive Ultimate Edition Sgt. Slaughter is no longer shown on the back. It’s up to you to decide if he’s part of The Coliseum Collection or not, just as it is with the Hasbro LJN-styled figure on which this Slaughter is based. We know that The Hitman and The Anvil will be joining this card back next year. It should be noted that, unlike that SDCC Slaughter, the packaging since has not been 100% “collector friendly.” While you can certainly return these figures to look exactly the way that they came, several of those useless plastic restraints hold them into their individual bubbles.

You get plenty of accessories with these figures including a total of three heads for each and multiple hands. Piper has his shirt, microphone, belt and kilt while Steele includes his own shirt, turnbuckle and Mine. You don’t have to ask who Mine is, do you? Mine has long been a beloved (and pretty) face here on this blog and if you follow the blog on social media you just saw the real deal in an “ad” for this entry. Mattel was the first to bring Mine to the figure world (Jakks showed a bendy-styled prototype at a preview event, does ANYONE have that picture saved???) and it’s good to see him making his return here. The turnbuckle is from the Mattel New Generation Arena set but this one is cut at the top and includes removable “stuffing” for George to gnaw on. You’ll note the lack of red trim on Piper’s shirt and that is due to it being missing in the Piper LJN release. Prototypes of that figure showed the infamous Piper “panther face” shirt which will ultimately never be released. That shirt was white with no trim and LJN likely just replaced the panther with the “Hot Rod” logo thus bringing us what we got in the ‘80s and now on this tribute figure. Other figures in the Mattel line have had the on-screen Hot Rod shirt with trim included if you don’t already have it.

I like the array of heads and hands included. Since the two really aren’t far off in skin tone ultimately any hand here can be used on either figure. The hands that come attached to Steele in the package have only been released once before to my knowledge, with the NXT Cameron Grimes figure. For him they were used to grasp money. Here they’re perfect for George to clutch the turnbuckle. I love the new more pensive George Steele head sculpt, though I think we could’ve had our first no-tongue-showing head in the history of figures of “The Animal” had it been done a little different. Piper’s heads are great, too, especially the aforementioned one originally used in the boxing two-pack with Mr. T. This is exactly the face that you remember any time that Hot Rod was going off on a rant in Piper’s Pit.

I think we have the perfect George Steele here. It’s absolutely everything you’d want in “The Animal” and the body type is exactly right this time around. Does it make the original Steele releases useless? Not in my book. That one can represent ‘60s-‘70s Steele when he was making Bruno’s life a nightmare. As far as ‘80s “boom era” Steele ready to chew turnbuckles on Saturday Night’s Main Event and/or attempt to rescue Elizabeth from “The Not-so-Macho Man,” this is your Animal. Piper is great, too, and fits right in with the inaugural WrestleMania figures that we’ve seen over the past few years such as Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. As with most Piper figures I think it’s a tad too muscular, but with most wrestling figures your eyes will just overlook it. Picture Roddy running his mouth as only he could and a few extra bulges really don’t make much of a difference.

The Coliseum Collection has really become a highpoint of modern wrestling figure collecting for me. It isn’t so much the “Ultimate” body type. It’s the packaging presentation to the accessories to the availability. You know that with the latter I am a huge champion. Everyone should have a fair shot at getting everything introduced in a figure line. Even if it’s a short twenty-four hour window, in 2023 that’s enough time for anyone to pause and place an order on their phone. All three of the Coliseum Collection sets released thus far are available to purchase and that’s a great thing. If someone is just getting started with the line they should absolutely be able to go back from the beginning. With The Hart Foundation joining the ranks in 2024 it’s definitely a growing line. I would not even poo poo the idea of Mattel branching out to “What If’s” by including names who weren’t necessarily in the original Wrestling Superstars line but maybe could’ve been.

I also want a new Hillbilly Jim. Was there anyone more iconic in the original LJNs? Don’t go messin’ with my figure wants!