Another Shot At Royalty

Welcome to the New Year! I’ve never liked repeating myself too often (aside from topics that I can’t write enough about such as Memphis Wrestling, WWWF Wrestling Action Magazine & The American Dream), but this is one topic that I can almost guarantee we’ll be revisiting later in the year. It’s a simultaneous look back and look forward at Mattel’s King Harley Race figure. This figure became my all-time favorite Mattel WWE release far before he became a “grail” as it were. As soon as we saw photos of the prototype I knew that one of my top five all-time favorite wrestlers was going to be well represented in the Mattel WWE line. As we now know, that didn’t quite work out like that. Not yet, anyway.

The King was released as part of the Mattel WWE Elite Flashback line exclusive to Wal Mart. Also in the 2018 set were Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jake “The Snake” Roberts from his 1996 return. Pieces for “Build A Figure” Commissioner Shawn Michaels were also included. Based on previous sets there was no reason to think that it would take more than a couple of trips to Wal Mart to complete the set. Boy were we wrong. While cases did show up, by and large the distribution was awful. I still feel that cases of this set must be sitting somewhere. I would venture to say that many Wal Mart stores never saw a single case. Compact that issue with the fact that Harley, the most desirable in the set, was packed one per case and you have an instant collectible for all the wrong reasons.

Shortly after the debacle it became clear that Mattel no longer had the rights to produce Harley Race. No re-release for The King? No future NWA versions? WCW manager? Nothing? No, nothing at all. For an amazing figure and all-time legend it was a sad state of affairs for collectors. The few that I did have from the set remained unopened. In fact, I left them in their original Wal Mart bag and tucked them away. I didn’t want to deal with it. Action figures are unimportant in the grand scheme of life, but it still stung. By mid-2019 it was clear that the issue was done.

Fast forward to early Spring of 2020. It came to my attention that a liquidator on eBay had acquired the Canadian cases of this set. A seemingly endless supply. Again, these were the Canadian versions with slight variations to the packaging, so my theory of unopened American cases may ring true. Prices and listing style (auctions, Buy It Nows, single figures, sets) varied, but ultimately I ended up pulling the trigger on a case. I figured that I could keep one of each figure for myself to open and help friends out with the remainder of the case. It wasn’t cheap, but it worked. I documented the experience over the course of two blog entries here.

It wasn’t ideal, but it solved the issue for me personally. I now had my favorite Mattel WWE figure in my collection, much-requested variants of two popular legends and a fun Build A Figure. Oh yeah, I had a new Steve Austin, too. Almost forgot that thrilling bit. Nevertheless, I was pleased. I had no qualms about opening the figure and displaying it, posing it, even, gasp, playing with it. Unless they’re being signed, in my view toys should usually be opened. Unfortunately, Mr. Race had since passed away thus nullifying any chance of getting it signed, so opening was indeed the way.

My own Mattel Harley Race adventure didn’t end there. Signed examples do exist, though I was sure that I wouldn’t ever own one. The final time that I got to meet with Mr. Race was at New Jersey’s Legends of the Ring in October 2018. The figure had just been released and there were at least two figures being shown off in line by fans who had found them at a Wal Mart the night before. Again, that early on there really was no inkling that the figure would be difficult to find, though it was known that Mr. Race was battling health issues. I had very much accepted that I would never own an autographed one until mid-2021 when I was lucky enough to obtain one signed by Mr. Race in November 2018 at North Carolina’s WrestleCade convention.

Between purchases of both figures I spent a lot more than I normally would. I’ve taken pride over the years by amassing my collection by spending the least amount possible. Sometimes you just have to spend a little more and these were two of those times. The good news is that if you’re still looking for the figure itself, in 2023 you may not have to spend more than retail price. It was just announced that King Harley Race will indeed return to the Mattel WWE line as part of the Greatest Hits set later this year. This is the series that, in 2002, included a re-release of the aforementioned 1996 Jake Roberts. While the Build A Figure parts won’t be there, Harley will be complete with removable hands and, likely, a slightly updated facial likeness.

Do I regret my purchases now that there’s a re-release coming? Absolutely not. I’ve been hoping for a re-release. Not only do I have several collector friends who still wanted the figure, but I’ve long championed the idea that everyone should have a reasonable amount of time to obtain whatever item that they want. No “manufactured collectibles” (I’m looking at you, Jazwares. Happy Chinese New Year, by the way) or distribution idiocy. I will say that I was hoping that Harley would show up in an upcoming PowerTown series, but Mattel can still follow up. An NWA Harley should most certainly be included in an upcoming Legends series (how about alternate heads, one including mutton chops? Chase tights?) and a Build A Figure of manager Harley would be ideal.

Me? Despite cutting down greatly on pre-orders this year for a multitude of reasons, sign me up for two of these on the spot. The first Greatest Hits series doesn’t look like it will ever have the chance to hit clearance, so reserve a Harley while the gettin’s good. And come on back here, hopefully before the end of the year, so that we can revisit The King once again…