Check out that figure!

With all of the options for wrestling action figures these days, it’s hard to believe that there are greats who still remain without a figure. About three times over the years I’ve taken to this blog to list my top oversights in the world of wrestling figures. Wrestlers, who despite the opportunity, just haven’t made it into figure form. I’m going to go back over those fifteen names, as well as a few others, and see just who is left without a figure amongst the squared circle’s best and/or most colorful. 

For a few reasons among the most shocking to me to never have a figure was The Blue Meanie. Here’s a wrestler who looks like a living cartoon character or action figure yet he did not have one. Add that to the fact that his most active years were during an era where nearly everyone was getting a figure and it becomes more baffling. Finally around five years ago The Meanie received his first figure. It’s been followed by several others with even more on the way. My favorite is the “Hasbro/Retro” styled figure from Chella Toys. While the character wasn’t around during the Hasbro era, the design of those figures completely fits him. 

Magnum T.A. was such a huge territorial star that sometimes his popularity is lost on those who only grew up on wrestling that didn’t include the mustached grappler. He would’ve been a good fit for inclusion in the Remco AWA line where stars from other areas were produced and should have been a must for the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line. After being announced then cancelled for the Mattel WWE line all hope seemed to be lost. Magnum himself even told me that he was hoping to see it produced for his two (then young) sons. Terry Allen finally appeared as a figure in the Mattel WWE “Lost Legends” set, though Magnum was actually the only figure in the set who hadn’t previously been produced. The former NWA star has another figure upcoming which will be mentioned again at the end of the entry. 

Pat Patterson’s wrestling glory days were over by the time of action figures, but there were still a few missed opportunities. Jakks should have included him either during his run as a “stooge” for Vince McMahon in the “Attitude Era” or in the aforementioned Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line. Neither happened despite Patterson being planned for the latter. Mattel finally produced what is thus far the only figure of Patterson. Thanks to the company making the “stooge gear” removable, you get a perfectly good wrestling version of Patterson underneath. I’m glad that the Montreal-born star lived to see his action figure produced. Another accomplishment in a life and career full of them. 

While Tommy Rich still hasn’t seen a poseable action figure, “Wildfire” has joined the ranks of Pint Size All-Stars, a line that also saw the first figure of “Fantastic” Bobby Fulton. The “Pints” are an opposing subscription box company’s answer to Micro Brawlers. While both lines feature legends, the former often seems to include more of the old school stars. The Pint Size All-Star of Rich comes complete with the NWA Title around his waist. Jim Barnett not included, mmmmmyboy. I have a feeling that Rich could see another figure from any of the current boutique companies. 

While my initial lists had rules such as not including women wrestlers and non-wrestlers who hadn’t received figures (love both, but those lists are massive), I must give an honorable mention nod to James J. Dillon. For various reasons most of us felt that we would never see Dillon in figure form. It was hard enough to get the managers with WWF fame produced. Up until recently there weren’t any smaller companies doing figures. JJ himself even said that he was on a short list of names for Jakks NOT to include in the Classic Superstars line. What happened? Mattel shocked us all and produced him as a Build-A-Figure. With as much as JJ has done in the wrestling business, including but not limited to being “The Leader of the Four Horsemen,” it was well deserved. 

Others from my lists are on their way to plastic immortality. Dino Bravo, Gillberg and Mr. Hughes are all set for release in retro-styled boutique lines while Verne Gagne is slated for release in a line to be known as “Power Town.” This line is being produced by Greg Gagne and others from the Remco AWA days. The second Magnum T.A. figure is set for release here as is another legend who’s never seen a figure release: Lou Thesz. This is the type of line that would include names like Tommy Rich should it succeed. It should also be mentioned that soon to be joining the Figures Toy Company Legends line are Dr. Tom Prichard and Dennis Condrey, both names who have long deserved figure recognition. 

Yet there are still others mentioned in my past blog entries on the topic that remain figureless. Those stars would be Buddy Rogers, Dick Murdoch, Ron Garvin, Pedro Morales, Blackjack Mulligan, Chris Adams and Tracy Smothers. Any of those names would be prime candidates (and big sellers) from any of the smaller companies. Hopefully revisiting this topic in another ten years will see us placing these names and more in tiny rings of all sizes.

Remembering The Bad Guy...

When time marches on, those steps often echo with a blunt thud. Scott Hall dead at 63. Wasn’t Razor Ramon an active WWF star in his prime just a few years ago? It was decades ago, but those decades feel like weeks. It’s a grim reminder of our own mortality. Even though Hall was one of the wrestlers often pegged as one who was at high risk for dying young, he found a turnaround in his life. 63 isn’t young, but these days it isn’t exactly old either. My own observations of the man tell me that heart is what kept him going and what allowed him to remain in the hearts of others even in tumultuous times. 

Even when a television program, one of two that are both quite infamous for witch hunts disguised as documentaries, “profiled” Hall a few years ago and pulled out every skeleton that there was in the closet, fans and friends never seemed to give up. Credit should be given to these shows for building audiences with a topic so similar to “shooting fish in a barrel” that they barely have to try. Hunting down and damning bad behavior of professional wrestlers is just about second in ease only to doing the same for NFL stars. My hat is off to those scammers, but that’s another story for another time. What matters is that despite this occurring just several years before his death, Hall is getting the positive posthumous recognition that he truly deserves.

 I often point out the wrestling names of the 1980’s that literally everyone who grew up in that decade would know: Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake fly to mind. Say what you want about any of them, those are the characters and names that stuck out. For the 1990’s, the name Razor Ramon is at the top of the list with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. While he fit the often still cartoonish world of the WWF, he brought a certain mystique and coolness that stood out. Wrestlers have often used a variation on the phrase “the men want to be me and the women want to be with me.” That was the Razor Ramon character to a tee without ever having to utter it. 

It's interesting to think that Hall spent nearly a decade in the business before becoming “The Bad Guy.” Some fans probably didn’t have a clue at first that the cool and cocky Ramon was “Big Scott Hall” of the American Wrestling Association and other territories just several years earlier. He was essentially a Magnum T.A. character who didn’t fit the role like Terry Allen did. Why? Because it wasn’t Scott Hall. It took the WWF’s ways of promotion and character development, with a bit of thanks to WCW’s gimmick for Hall of The Diamond Studd, to bring out the star in the man. 

That WWF promotional and marketing machine is also what leaves us with so many mementos of the man. While Hall did have a great figure in the Remco AWA line and a few program and magazine covers, Razor Ramon’s marketable visage found itself all over the world and continues to be on store shelves to this day. That wave continued when Hall became one of the founding members of the nWo and pretty much adapted the Ramon character to that role. If you don’t own an actual figure of Hall in some form, are you really a collector? From Remco to Hasbro to even a Funko Pop, he’s out there for you to add to your shelf. 

I had the pleasure of meeting the man several times over the years and have nothing but good memories. My favorite would be when, while signing his March 1993 WWF Magazine cover appearance, he told me how he actually signed a few in random visits to 7-11 stores and left them in the stores for fans to find a signed copy. He was that proud of the issue. Honorable mention would be when he stopped me while I was walking through a convention to admire the Dusty Rhodes t-shirt that I was wearing. He went on to praise “The Dream” and talk about how much he owed to the late legend. If you know me, you know that I loved that moment. 

Some of the other stars who’ve fallen pray to personal demons and similar traps of the business will never fully escape the scrutiny that follows them and their legacies. Scott Hall rose above it, I do believe, in part due to the fact that he never said that he was perfect. He was never going to come out and say “I’m 100% perfect and fixed and cured.” It wasn’t reality and it wasn’t the type of person that he was. He owned up to the fact that changing who he was would be something that he dealt with for the rest of his life. He didn’t seem to take it for granted and when he slipped up there was full admission by the man himself. To me, that’s truly what it means to be “oozing machismo.”

Scott Hall -- "Razor Ramon"

1958-2022

Let's Talk WrestleMania...

I really didn’t think that I’d ever see the day where I had zero interest in WrestleMania, but that day has come. This isn’t going to be a giant putdown of the show nor the current WWE product, it just isn’t for me. Plenty of people still enjoy it. Instead, I want to celebrate what brought us to this point of WrestleMania 38. Personally, I feel that there were moments of brilliance in the show through WrestleMania 31. The spectacle is unmatched and that’s only enhanced when combined with a great match, a great story, or even both. The hype of the show has, for the most part, always been very real. There’s a reason that fans travel from around the globe to the event. As much as some fans would like you to think that it’s the piggyback shows and events that go on that weekend that draws those fans, it isn’t. It’s purely the name WrestleMania. 

As I admitted above, I could point to entertaining editions of the show even within the last decade. That being said, the true spirit of WrestleMania lives within the first six. When I first started encountering wrestling discussion on the internet nearly thirty years ago, I was shocked as to the little regard that those “fans” held these shows in. They would take whatever “five star” match from each show that they could and disregard the rest. Honestly, it’s the same kind of toxicity that’s killed wrestling fandom today. Nonetheless, if this is your mindset, stop reading now. My kind of wrestling fan is the type that appreciates The Big Boss Man versus Akeem as much as Steamboat – Savage. This is the fan that loves every second from the opening announcements to the final three count. The look and feel of the arena is as important and defining to you as the individual superstars. That’s you, isn’t it? 

Everything starts somewhere. For the World Wrestling Federation there was no better launching pad for their signature event than Madison Square Garden. While watching today you can sense that even the stars themselves know that something big is happening. When you can still get often-jaded wrestlers to admit that nearly forty years later, it was obviously a big deal even then. The fact that major mainstream stars of the time were involved and that others came out just to watch showed that the boom had begun. This is the “Rock ‘N Wrestling” WrestleMania for sure. While the look may be underwhelming to some, it captures the birth of a phenomenon coupled with the gritty “New York wrestling” feel that the WWF was built on.

WrestleMania 2 is when the “super show” aspect started to appear with the never-again-duplicated factor of having the show emanate from three different venues. The celebrities were tripled to ensure that each location (New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, respectively) would each have their share. Many have doubted the impact of the true main event, Hulk Hogan versus King Kong Bundy, in hindsight. I think it was perfectly adequate for the time, with this being the first “Hogan against a monster” main event to be seen on this grand of a scale. While Roddy Piper was certainly one of, if not Hogan’s greatest villain, the grotesque Bundy brought a different sort of menace to Hulkamania that year. Throwing the company’s biggest villain in Piper against their biggest available celebrity in Mr. T into a boxing match certainly shows that even from the beginning, the spectacle could at times triumph over any other booking decision. The “What The World Has Come To” tag line from the show was a memorable prototype for a similar slogan which would arrive just about two years later and define a generation. 

So much has been said about WrestleMania III, but it truly was the peak of the ‘80s wrestling boom. The surge of a decade later was certainly as big, but it didn’t have anything near the heart and charm of the ‘80s. By this time everyone knew that WrestleMania was something special. I often point to a fun, but often overlooked, little Coliseum Video segment featuring Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes. It’s a simple little scene discussing the advantages of home video, but the two veterans talking about the first two WrestleMania’s and the one about to begin is a lot of fun. It’s small, every day banter like that which is missing from today’s presentation and commentating. Monsoon and Jesse Ventura peppered their commentary with that very flavor, thus cementing them as my favorite WWF team for life.

I’ve often said that if you’re a fan of WrestleMania IV, we’re automatically friends. I still mean that. Of all of the classic WrestleMania events and WWF content that saw hate in the early days of the Internet, it was the 1988 edition that seemed to garner the most hate. It ranks as my second favorite of them all. While I’m not a boxing aficionado, that sport truly knows how to make an event feel special; it’s where “big fight feel” comes from. Maybe it was the Atlantic City setting, but WrestleMania IV had that feel. To this day there are those who are bitter that Savage – Steamboat didn’t happen again here. It’s time to move beyond that. Are some of the matches short? Sure. It’s a tournament. It’s no stretch to think that timed matches in a tournament where the biggest title in the game is up for grabs would cause frantic action. The whole presentation feels different from anything else the WWF has ever done and is honestly refreshing. It also feels like the most “eighties” WrestleMania to me. I don’t know that I can quite put that feeling into words, although this is the show that can be summed up in the company’s slogan at the time, “What The World Is Watching.” In a company that’s had countless catchphrases over the years, to me this was the best. Epic yet simple. Though we were a bit past the peak of the ‘80s wrestling boom, you DID know a ton of people who were watching the World Wrestling Federation at the time. Adding to the fun, I should mention that this is really when the extracurricular activities of WrestleMania truly kicked in, thanks in part to the show being held at Trump Plaza. Superstar appearances, meals and the 5K race were all created to make a big wrestling show into a family event. 

WrestleMania V does have a lot of the uniqueness that it’s predecessor had the year before, but I’ve never been quite as attracted to it for whatever reason. Still, “The Mega Powers Explode!” was enough to excite the many fans who were still fervently following. I will admit that the crowd does seem a bit more into this show than the previous year, but there’s just something missing that keeps V from being as memorable to me as IV. Nevertheless, both of these Atlantic City WrestleMania shows are chalk full of the legends that so many of us grew up with. I've eaten up the many fan recollections of attending these shows that have popped up over the years. There was even a gallery of photos that showed amazing candid shots of many of the stars in and around Trump Plaza on both of the weekends. Sadly, they seem to have vanished. (If anyone has saved those photos or knows where I can view them, please reach out to me.) Accounts from The Blue Meanie and Lance Storm can also be found on their respective sites and social media. While I disagree on a lot of wrestling philosophy with the latter ECW original (though we both loved the Gorilla and Jesse team), his photos from WrestleMania IV are an absolute joy if you love the event as much as I do. 

Finally, we get to what is and will always be my favorite WrestleMania. It has a main event that was an absolute clash of titans. It has Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. It has ring carts. It even has Mary Tyler Moore. WrestleMania VI flows like fine wine. The transition from the crowd cheering Robert Goulet's rendition of “Oh, Canada” to the opening strains of “Do The Bird” as the opening match commences is impeccable. Can I be so bold as to insert a chef’s kiss here? The WWF production was absolutely on fire and this show honestly looked even more polished and glossy than many standard sporting events of the day. It also feels like a transition of the times. Of course Hogan losing was a big deal in that sense, but the list of stars featured spanning from Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Rhodes and Piper but also including the likes of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels is really amazing to think about.

The photos accompanying these Mania memories are what tie this whole thing into the theme of this blog, each picture being a mix of promotional materials. Some of the most inquired about items in my entire collection are the WrestleMania press kits. They are not easy to come by and, like most of my favorite items, are rather undocumented. Keep all the bland prototype figures that you want, give me these pieces of history any day. 

As for this year, I will not watch. I didn’t watch last year and sought out just a few matches in the years prior. Still, I’m very happy that the tradition lives on. Perhaps some day the product will veer back around to the presentation that I enjoy. Again, there is plenty of talent to go around and probably always will be. For those of you who still faithfully watch, I do hope it's an amazing event full of great matches and moments.

And remember, The Iron Sheik is scheduled to make it to the ring this year. If you know, you know.

A Retro Return

As we longtime wrestling collectors continue to be amazed by the unbelievable items making their ways into our hands, Mattel returns to that very game. Perhaps stimulated by the buzz and popularity of the "boutique" figure makers releasing various lines of Hasbro-esque retro figures, Mattel announced last summer that they were indeed returning to that very scene. It's been several years since their last wave of WWE Retro figures, some of which were met with a less than favorable response. Seemingly cleaning up their act to combat the criticism, the line is back and better than ever.

Instead of trying to get the line back into stores, Mattel decided to re-launch the figures through their Mattel Collectors site. Now released in sets of four titled an "Official Retro 4-Pack," the first of these sets was available for roughly five hours on January 28. While that may not seem like a terribly long time, compared to many modern releases it was more than enough time for anyone who wanted one to get a set. With the names of Mean Gene Okerlund, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Cowboy Bob Orton and Mr. T, who WOULDN'T want a set of these?

The sets come packaged in a brown cardboard outer box similar to the cases that figures ship to stores in. Beneath that is a beautifully done and very Hasbro-esque box that may remind you of the packaging for the first Hasbro WWF ring or even the Jake Roberts snake toy. Inside of this box are the four individually carded figures. While not exact Hasbro replicas, there was obvious improvement here over the card backs on the previous Mattel retro releases. Gone are the pointless "game app" ads and the dreadful and useless display stands. 

What may be most notable with the new packaging is that the card stock appears to be nearly identical to that used by Hasbro all those years ago. This is a huge improvement over the thin and flimsy stock used with the previous Mattel waves.

The four figures themselves are well crafted and fit with the original Hasbro figures as many in the Mattel retro line have. All four have heads that are unique to this style and correctly reflect the half-cartoonish visages of Hasbro WWF. I would venture to say that Piper is the weakest if only because I don't care for the "kicking" action feature. It is admittedly very nice to have Piper in wrestling gear in this format after all these years. His buddy "The Ace," Bob Orton has one of my longtime favorite "Real Wrestling Action" features with the clothesline. In true Hasbro fashion, Orton's hat is not removable. 

Mr. T is a fun release as Mattel is obviously looking to get as much out of having his licensing rights as possible. They could've copped out and gave him some sort of punch but instead dug a bit deeper and decided to highlight his use of the airplane spin at the inaugural WrestleMania. My favorite of the four is Mean Gene and I really wish he was around to see and autograph these. The microphone is removable and even he has a fun action feature..."The Hard Hitting Interview."

Personally I would've done as many new characters from the true Hasbro years (1990-1994) as possible before going into other eras. Still, 1985 isn't a bad route to go. One of the biggest mistakes of the original WWE Mattel Retro series was including mostly modern stars as well as some non-stars who never should have been allowed anywhere near the line. Some of them are fun, but the dark and brooding looks of most of today's sports entertainers just doesn't translate to the Hasbro look. I have a feeling that the next four packs will continue to have legends and the inclusion of a non-wrestler such as Okerlund will hopefully become standard. I know that Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan are high on everyone's lists.

If you didn't get these, I don't know what to tell you. They're unlikely to make these particular figures available again. That being said, I see them doing many more waves in the future. While we have plenty of licensed legends coming in this style from the boutique manufacturers, they're all missing a "Real Wrestling Action." It's not the end of the world, but it sure does stick out when we get figures like these that do have the long-time fan favorite feature.

Regardless of who you're rooting for, 2022 is sure to be the biggest year for Hasbro collectors in three decades. They're all so close to the real thing, it's like being in the ring...

Nighttime For WWEternia

Usually novelty wrestling figure lines end without much of a whimper. This one is a tad different. In 2021 Mattel announced that their Masters of the WWE Universe line would be coming to an end. While never easy to find due to being exclusive to Wal Mart, the line was unique in that it appealed to several kinds of collectors. Of course you have the folks that have to get everything, but plenty of Masters of the Universe collectors had trouble resisting these as well. You also had those such as myself who viewed these figures, sans their fantasy gear, as "extensions" to the legendary Remco AWA line. The figures in that line were made using the body types of Remco's fantasy figures which in turn were marketed to play alongside with Masters of the Universe and looked remarkable similar.

While today we're looking at Series 7, it's actually the penultimate wave. I'm not the only one looking at Series 7 as the finale of the series for a few reasons. For starters, Series 8 hit stores before Series 7 for unknown reasons. Series 7 also includes four character who are all new to the line and, most importantly to me, all legends. Our lineup is Bret "The Hitman" Hart ("Excellence of Execution"), Junkyard Dog ("Heroic Grabber of Cakes"), Andre the Giant ("Eighth Wonder of WWEternia") and Sgt. Slaughter ("Heroic Sergeant-At-Arms").

The four come in the traditional Masters of the Universe packaging (still used to this day) garnished with just enough changes to differentiate these from the main line. Sadly, the final couple of series have included a "Collector's Sheet" as opposed to a mini-comic, possibly highlighting Mattel's lack of interest in the line.

All four are solid entries in the line and, as with most of the figures in this line, somewhat resemble actual Masters of the Universe characters. Bret Hart is based off of Tri-Klops, JYD has elements of Spikor and Slaughter is very obviously a take-off of Man-At-Arms. Andre is about the only one who isn't easy to pinpoint. There were giants scheduled for the original MOTU line before it ended, but I'm not sure if Andre is supposed to resemble them. His appearance here actually reminds me of his costume in Cyndi Lauper's "Goonies" music video. You can't argue that Andre would fit into the line best. Who wouldn't want to see He-Man battle a menacing giant? And yes, this figure is large. Upon opening the figure you have to put his boots on yourself in order for the figure to be released in the same size packaging.

For me, Sgt. Slaughter was the most wanted figure for this line. Slaughter and Verne Gagne were the biggest glaring omissions in the Remco AWA line. We finally have a Sarge that fits right in to the AWA world. As with the others in this line that I've picked up, most will probably never wear their gear again. While the figures have been hit (Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior) or miss (Kane, Jake Roberts) as to whether or not you can utilize them as basic wrestling figures, this series pretty much hits the mark aside from Bret missing the singlet top. Slaughter concerned me the most and, again, he came out great. Even the hat and glasses are removable.

So far this series is a hot one. I lucked out and was able to grab a set when an online retailer briefly had them available, but most are probably going to be struggling with Wal Mart on these ones. The line replacing this one is another Wal Mart exclusive called "WWE Superstars" and is a direct homage to the Remco AWA line complete with cloth clothing and accessories. Thus far The Honky Tonk Man is the only one who truly strikes my fancy, but I'm sure we're in for some goodies. That being said, there were more wrestlers that it would have been fun to have had in "WWEternia." I pictured Bam Bam Bigelow as some sort of master of fire and Kerry Von Erich, literally a living embodiment of He-Man in his heyday, would've been amazing in the line.

Regardless, for a couple of years, you and WWE..."HAD THE POWERRRRRR!"

Introducing The 2021 Figure Of The Year...

Isn't it January 2020? As hard as it is to believe, as of press time we're hours away from January 2022. I don't have to list the reasons why time is flying faster than ever. Did we even have Christmas this year? If we did I think I missed it. On the bright side we did have another great year of wrestling figures and a wider variety than in decades. Mattel, Jazwares and all of the boutique companies have brought us a bevy of wrestlers of all shapes and sizes from the past, present and future. My wallet is already cringing at what 2022 will bring. Before we examine the power of the winner, let's check out my runners up.

My criteria is not only based on the figure itself, but also distribution. If there wasn't an easy way for collectors to get their hands on a particular figure, it won't be my Figure of the Year. For example, despite being one of my favorite Mattel WWE figures of all-time, their King Harley Race of several years ago would never have won the award. Had he been in a regularly distributed set I can't see anyone else having won that year. 

Coming close to winning two years in a row was The Ultimate Warrior. Another of my all-time favorite Mattel WWE figures was last the 2020 winner, WWE Legends Ultimate Warrior. That figure famously depicted him in his final WWE appearance just hours before his death. I still can't believe that we have the figure in our collections. Another great Warrior hit our collections this year, this time depicting his WWF return at WrestleMania XII in 1996. A Ringside Exclusive, the figure is still available thus certainly making it obtainable. The detail is absolutely amazing and the paint is second-to-none.

From Jazwares and All Elite Wrestling we have two runners up, both also seeing releases as Ringside Exclusives. The first is the TNT Champion Cody Rhodes. Handsomely packaged in a window box that doubles as a Double Or Nothing entrance stage, this was the first release of the AEW TNT Championship belt. Cody seems to be currently facing a backlash that has plagued more than one top star over the years. In a decade he will be talked about glowingly among most fans. Mark my words. Of course, it could all be an invention of the toxic Twitter twits in their basements.

The second AEW figure on my list is referee Aubrey Edwards. A truly pioneering figure, it's the first time that a female wrestling referee has been immortalized in plastic. The figure also looks like they simply shrunk Miss Edwards down to six inches. It's that spot on. I would've preferred that she had been released on her own as opposed to having to purchase an expensive "real scale" ring in order to get her, but I know that I'm not the only one who took the plunge. I also had the chance to talk about the figure with Miss Edwards shortly before its release. She couldn't hide her happiness.

The smaller "boutique" lines are just getting started and in my opinion we'll have a lot more of these figures showing up as runners up in 2022. My inclusion for 2021 is none other than The Blue Meanie. Perhaps the most "toyetic" wrestler ever, The Meanie has been very underrepresented over the years as far as action figures. He has two more coming in 2022 including a repaint of this one. This release not only captured Meanie but also that slightly cartoonish Hasbro style. Chella Toys is doing a great job with their Wrestling Megastars line and I do predict that they will ultimately end up as the most cherished of all of the "retro" styled figures.

Our winner? The Warlord. Yes, he was part of Mattel's "Collectors Series" program and an exclusive to Wal Mart, but there was ample time to order him from their website even if you never saw him in stores. I was blown away by the detail on him from the face paint to the tights to the entrance gear. Perhaps the only thing that could've made him better to me personally was had he been in the WWE Legends line. Of the packaging from the past several years (since Mattel dropped the rectangle boxes) the Legends colors and design appeal to me the most. Will we ever get The Barbarian from Mattel? Maybe. But this half of The Powers of Pain turned out a real champ.

We're now coming up on the third year where the blog has no longer been weekly. When I began the blog in 2009, and even further back in the '90s when I published my newsletter, very few people were writing about wrestling memorabilia. I hate to declare that the blog is antiquated, but I feel that blogging as a whole is going the way of physical print media. People want podcasts. I've been told by many that I should go the podcasting route. If I were to do so, wrestling memorabilia would not be the topic. It's overexposed. That being said the blog isn't going anywhere. I still have ideas that I would like to explore with more undoubtedly ready to pop up. For those of you who continue to read the blog, I truly appreciate you.

Introducing...The Warlord

Over four years ago here on the blog I predicted that Mattel would "never go the Powers of Pain route." I like to admit when I'm wrong and I was indeed incorrect. In that entry I was reviewing the initial Mattel release of The Warlord which represented his look from 1990-1992. As he and many others had just become involved in a class action lawsuit led by an ambulance-chasing lawyer (the suit was ultimately thrown out), it was said that the figure just escaped cancellation. While the WWE/Mattel stance on those who were involved in the lawsuit is still murky at best, we finally have another version of The Warlord in the line.

This figure of the burly brawler represents his "Powers of Pain" look. The tag team with The Barbarian began in the NWA and lasted until 1990 when the team was split up in the WWF. The figure is an exclusive to Wal Mart and is part of the "Collector's Series" program that I've lamented many times on this blog.

The packaging has never been among my favorite designs, but I don't hate it. It works for the purpose. I'm glad to see some new, very attractive packaging taking its place shortly. With the combination of The Warlord naturally being a larger figure and only one extra pair of hands included, there isn't much floating in the bubble to distract from the figure if you're a carded/boxed collection. I will admit that this is one that I picked up an extra of for autograph purposes. The Warlord is wearing his Powers of Pain entrance gear inside the box and it looks great. Just looking at the box it's hard to fathom that we're getting this figure from Mattel, but it's certainly not the first surprise to come over the years.

There's a ton of detail in this figure from the removable arm band to his name on the back of his entrance vest. There was some initial whining from the peanut gallery as part of "Powers of Pain" is missing from the text on his leg. It was covered in real life as well. You either want realism or you don't. Like a lot of instances in society these days, they want it both ways. In truth there isn't an unrealistic part of this figure. You can argue that it's easier to get a good likeness when face paint is involved, but you still have to some semblance of a good facial scan/sculpt. The torso is the same as used from the first Warlord figure and obviously fits the bill.

Other criticism for the figure, again unfounded in my view, was that there are no known plans for a figure of The Barbarian at this time. Mattel has made it very clear that, in one of their better moves, they are fully on-board with making a half of a tag team should the partner become available for them to make somewhere down the line. The "British Bulldogs" version of Davey Boy Smith is another recent example of this thinking. I damn the company on a lot of things, but this isn't one of them. Give us more unique looks like this. 

A few weeks ago I spoke of a then-upcoming figure review where I'd look at a "Figure of the Year" candidate. This is it. In addition to being a great figure, in my view a "FOTY" must be widely available. While some have come across the figure in brick and mortar Wal Mart stores, it has been available for at least a month on their website. If you wanted this one you have no excuse of not having it. That is how all figures should be, especially cool and unique ones like this. And remember, just because a figure is easily available initially does not mean that it can't gain value in the future.

Now WWE, it's time to widen the legends variety. Bring us The Barbarian!