mesteve
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Joined on: Apr 10, 2011 22:45:19 GMT -5
Posts: 220
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Post by mesteve on Feb 2, 2014 9:40:20 GMT -5
I remember a year or so ago, the "original" Sgt. Slaughter 8" near-bendy figure showed up. The story was that it was the original Sarge that was shelved, and I guess 2 hit the auction site: 1 in non-painted fleshtone and another that was painted. Someone here bought the painted one and posted photos but a few don't believe its authenticity. The owner said that it was just like a giant bendy figure, unlike the stiff normal LJNs. That was pretty awesome either way. I like to believe it's the real thing. Thanks for the info. I'll have to do a search of Big Boys Toy Museum. Speaking of the Sarge though, it was the unpainted flesh colored one that was the 8 inch bendy. There was another unpainted version, but instead of a soft vinyl bendy figure it was hard like resin; so I've seen three versions total. I bought the vinyl unpainted bendy but will probably be selling my small collection real soon, to include that figure.
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mesteve
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Joined on: Apr 10, 2011 22:45:19 GMT -5
Posts: 220
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Post by mesteve on Feb 2, 2014 9:54:53 GMT -5
Funny sidenote that I KNOW nobody else but you guys could appreciate. My fiancee told me of a time, many years ago, when Vince McMahon showed up at her gym while she was working out. She didn't talk to him but had it been me, I would have done my damndest to kick up a conversation. Anyway, the first thing that popped into my head at that time was that if I had the opportunity I would've asked about the final series of LJN figures and if he had any memories about them. Ridiculous, I know! Has anyone here actually tried to reach out to Vince or other WWE reps via a well put together, and very sincere (not desperate), letter, to see if he could provide any insight into the series 6 LJN? Or better yet, if he had any photos that he could list for his devoted, long time fans? Not sure if it would ever reach his desk, but you never know. Just wondering if anyone's ever made the attempt. I remember I used to drive by the HQ building in Stamford every once and a while and the thought crossed my mind, why don't I just go poking around, haha. Good thing I never did; probably would've gotten myself arrested. WWE Corporate Headquarters Attention: (please include Department) 1241 East Main Street Stamford, CT 06902
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hawkwarrior
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Post by hawkwarrior on Feb 2, 2014 12:55:26 GMT -5
I think if there was anybody associated with WWE to ask about the LJN line it would be Howard Finkel and not Vince McMahon. Finkel is known as an encyclopedia of knowledge on all things WWF/WWE. On top of that, Howard makes convention appearances so he is more easily accessible.
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yeetman13
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Post by yeetman13 on Feb 2, 2014 13:05:36 GMT -5
^ a lot of those look like re-glues to me.. especially the steamboat..
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Feb 2, 2014 15:42:49 GMT -5
I would think WWE.com would be an ideal place to contact. They generally have retrospectives on past stars or pay per views.
Perhaps they just don't feel the need for an LJN retrospective but probably because they don't know the demand for info.
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Feb 2, 2014 16:02:20 GMT -5
Off into another direction...
I saw an episode of "Toy Hunter" where he visited an LJN (design engineer?) who ended up having the Thundercats Mad Bubbler prototype that never made it into production. I would imagine a guy like that is likely to have something we wrestling fans would about die over. Really ought to be easy enough to look up his name and figure out how to contact him if one were so inclined...
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lamby23
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Post by lamby23 on Feb 2, 2014 17:09:43 GMT -5
Im thinking anyone who was involved with the WWF at the time of series 6 would be interesting to talk to.
Brother Love (Bruce Pritchard) bought a custom LJN I made of him about 6yrs ago off me on Ebay. I had no idea it was him until I received his shipping info. When I asked him if he was indeed the Brother Love he admitted he was. He said he saw this item and after the disappointment of not having his 89 figure be released he wanted to grab this one. Great guy to talk to. I told him how great his era in the WWF was and he thanked me and told me it was nice to be remembered. Total class act. He sent me an autograph for my cousin too.
This led me to believe that they never made the proto stage as you gotta think someone with the company as long as him would've had access to acquire it if it was locked up at WWE headquarters.
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Feb 2, 2014 18:52:48 GMT -5
Im thinking anyone who was involved with the WWF at the time of series 6 would be interesting to talk to. Brother Love (Bruce Pritchard) bought a custom LJN I made of him about 6yrs ago off me on Ebay. I had no idea it was him until I received his shipping info. When I asked him if he was indeed the Brother Love he admitted he was. He said he saw this item and after the disappointment of not having his 89 figure be released he wanted to grab this one. Great guy to talk to. I told him how great his era in the WWF was and he thanked me and told me it was nice to be remembered. Total class act. He sent me an autograph for my cousin too. This led me to believe that they never made the proto stage as you gotta think someone with the company as long as him would've had access to acquire it if it was locked up at WWE headquarters. That's awesome. Have you got a picture of your custom? I would have loved to have all my figures beat the crap out of Brother Love back in the day! LOL
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Feb 2, 2014 19:32:03 GMT -5
Members should find the unproduced wrestlers at conventions and ask them if they have any info. Bruce Prichard just did a show in New Jersey, Barbarian does shows on occasion as does Barry Darsow, Luke is scheduled for one in Indiana in mid March though Butch is ill from what I've heard.
I think Bruce would have had known if a prototype existed but perhaps if it was made, it never even made it past LJN HQ.
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@WWERetroStars
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Post by @WWERetroStars on Feb 2, 2014 22:36:31 GMT -5
It breaks my heart to think about the abrupt end of the LJN line. Taking all lines into consideration, in my mind the LJN's were the quintessential wrestling toy. Their size, their look, the packaging... The ring size, the cage... All of it was awesome.
It is frustrating to think about how much more could have been done with the line, especially when you take into consideration how far reaching the Mattel and Jakks lines have been. Imagine an LJN Pipers Pit set. Or Barber Shop.
Some of the figure omissions were also brutal. It is fun to see some modern day wrestlers recreated as customs with LJN's but the fact is so many 1985-1990 guys were overlooked. If the line lasted into the early nineties the possibilities would have been endless.
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@WWERetroStars
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Post by @WWERetroStars on Feb 2, 2014 22:59:39 GMT -5
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Feb 2, 2014 23:12:43 GMT -5
Cool read
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lamby23
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Post by lamby23 on Feb 2, 2014 23:55:37 GMT -5
Sorry Ozz......pic of Brother Love custom is on an old hd that crashed. Never got around to pulling it off.
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romafan87
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Post by romafan87 on Feb 3, 2014 9:46:48 GMT -5
Great read! It seems like he recalls the Bushwackers maybe getting to the closest stage of pre-production of all of the 1989 line but that's it. Great explanation to the variants and interesting info on how the conventions and things like that worked. I would say this is the final nail in the coffin as to whether or not a Sgt. Slaughter was planned. Edited to add: it is interesting that he says they put out the Warlord first/solo because they received a change notice that his character was changing. I know that he briefly went solo in April 1989. I wonder if there was supposed to be more to his push than what happened (Warlord goes solo for a month, PoP reunite really quickly for another year before disbanding before WMVI)?
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romafan87
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Joined on: Dec 21, 2008 22:24:31 GMT -5
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Post by romafan87 on Feb 3, 2014 9:56:58 GMT -5
Im thinking anyone who was involved with the WWF at the time of series 6 would be interesting to talk to. Brother Love (Bruce Pritchard) bought a custom LJN I made of him about 6yrs ago off me on Ebay. I had no idea it was him until I received his shipping info. When I asked him if he was indeed the Brother Love he admitted he was. He said he saw this item and after the disappointment of not having his 89 figure be released he wanted to grab this one. Great guy to talk to. I told him how great his era in the WWF was and he thanked me and told me it was nice to be remembered. Total class act. He sent me an autograph for my cousin too. This led me to believe that they never made the proto stage as you gotta think someone with the company as long as him would've had access to acquire it if it was locked up at WWE headquarters. Bad News Brown said in his first (?) shoot that he believed he didn't get his action figure because of racism. Never mind the toy company that was supposed to make it ended up going out of business... Racism was and is very real, no doubt, but I doubt that was the reason he didn't get his figure.
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ozz
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Joined on: Aug 1, 2011 16:37:04 GMT -5
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Post by ozz on Feb 3, 2014 10:52:30 GMT -5
Based on the stories you read, if you ask BNB he will say everything is due to racism.
JYD, SD Jones, Koko, Kamala, and Slick got their figures after all.
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mesteve
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Joined on: Apr 10, 2011 22:45:19 GMT -5
Posts: 220
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Post by mesteve on Feb 3, 2014 11:11:16 GMT -5
Great read! It seems like he recalls the Bushwackers maybe getting to the closest stage of pre-production of all of the 1989 line but that's it. Great explanation to the variants and interesting info on how the conventions and things like that worked. I would say this is the final nail in the coffin as to whether or not a Sgt. Slaughter was planned. Edited to add: it is interesting that he says they put out the Warlord first/solo because they received a change notice that his character was changing. I know that he briefly went solo in April 1989. I wonder if there was supposed to be more to his push than what happened (Warlord goes solo for a month, PoP reunite really quickly for another year before disbanding before WMVI)? When you say "final nail in the coffin" it sounds like you're saying Sgt. Slaughter wasn't planned. Or did you mean final nail in the coffin on the debate of whether or not one was planned? In the interview it sounds like the former LJN employee recalls that a prototype of the Sarge was made, but he's just not sure how many and if they were sent to stores or destroyed.
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yeetman13
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Post by yeetman13 on Feb 3, 2014 11:24:15 GMT -5
that interview seems like the interviewer is really guiding the questions far too much and baiting the interviewee to respond the way he wants...and if steamboat red was actually distributed to stores, we would see a pretty large number of them loose.. yet i never see them..
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Feb 3, 2014 11:30:25 GMT -5
that interview seems like the interviewer is really guiding the questions far too much and baiting the interviewee to respond the way he wants...and if steamboat red was actually distributed to stores, we would see a pretty large number of them loose.. yet i never see them.. Yeah, to me the interview seems much like the Hasbro employee interview about a year or two ago and the employee believed a red Honkytonk Man was planned. Turned out the interview was fake. No way a red Steamboat was planned and a lot of the stuff the LJN employee says seems so surreal, like no employee would know some of the things he would say. Not that they didn't see it but that 25+ years later it would be stuff they probably don't care about now and didn't care enough to remember.
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yeetman13
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Post by yeetman13 on Feb 3, 2014 11:42:09 GMT -5
^agreed.. not hard at all to fake an interview like that.. even if there was video or audio of the interview, how do we know its not just two random people doing it...
this guy said the red steamboat actually went to stores for a while... ya right lol
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