michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 13, 2017 22:49:10 GMT -5
There was a video of LOD going into a Toys R Us with Mean Gene and that particular TRU having pegs and pegs of bendies and Slick and Bob Orton LJNs. I wonder if that was the real stock of TRU or if WWF had just sent a bunch of leftovers for the taping. Around the same time, the local TRUs had LJNs but it was one here and there, never bunches. That's worth some research to try and find
...Did just find a video of LOD with Meme Gen in ToysRUS but I couldn't ID any LJNs. But that could just be me?
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 13, 2017 22:53:08 GMT -5
The only figures I ever got at the time (apart from the aforementioned Bundy bendie) were Hogan about 1985 Christmas, for $11.95 AUD and then a discount store in Smith Street Collingwood (for the Aussie readers) in 88 or 89 had Mene Gene for $2 and the Bendies pack of Albano and Steele for $2.
Ok so Muraco was not so easy to come by and SD not so hard at all! And Kirchner was a staple for every patriotic youngster! Did anyone ever see the Bulldogs singles cards?
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 13, 2017 23:21:12 GMT -5
The only figures I ever got at the time (apart from the aforementioned Bundy bendie) were Hogan about 1985 Christmas, for $11.95 AUD and then a discount store in Smith Street Collingwood (for the Aussie readers) in 88 or 89 had Mene Gene for $2 and the Bendies pack of Albano and Steele for $2. Ok so Muraco was not so easy to come by and SD not so hard at all! And Kirchner was a staple for every patriotic youngster! Did anyone ever see the Bulldogs singles cards? I'd never seen them, the Bees, Strike Force, or the Harts as singles OR a boxed set. A friend of mine had the Bees as I mentioned earlier, but those were the only "true" tag team I ever saw. I'd suspect he got them as singles since I'd never seen a boxed tag set anywhere.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 13, 2017 23:37:53 GMT -5
That's interesting ozz as you would have seen a lot at the time.
I saw the first four tag teams in Super K-mart Northland (once again for Aust readers) in about 86. I was surprised at the size of these and how much shelf space they commanded. Next to them were AWA tag-teams. I remember seeing Road Warriors, a team with Flair and perhaps the Freebirds but can't be sure (also not sure if they were 2packs or 3packs so that could rule the Freebirds out). The AWAs looked diminutive compared to those big blue boxes.
I was also surprised that Hogan and Hillbilly were a set! Although I was a young adult at the time, there was no way I could have afforded these, as I was at uni. And it was definitely not cool to collect action figures unless you were a kid. And in fact people didn't 'collect' them back then, they played with them!
Incidentally a near MIB Dream Team arrived for me from the states yesterday. Only need the Harts now for the tag sets (missed out as the 2nd highest bidder on a Hart Foundaiton set a few months back - I wont tell you the price unless asked!!!!!)
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 13, 2017 23:39:17 GMT -5
How about this from The Animal re; his figure! "GEORGE STEELE: If you look at my action figure and the heels of the boots are worn out, and the butt's got some paint worn off of it, you and I have a problem. If the toes are worn out, we're in good shape. That means if the heels are worn out, you let me get pinned. If the toes are worn out, you let me do the pinning." From www.cbssports.com/general/feature/25275707/wwe-in-1985-an-oral-historyBy Denny Burkholder August 20, 2015
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 14, 2017 16:19:02 GMT -5
There was a video of LOD going into a Toys R Us with Mean Gene and that particular TRU having pegs and pegs of bendies and Slick and Bob Orton LJNs. I wonder if that was the real stock of TRU or if WWF had just sent a bunch of leftovers for the taping. Around the same time, the local TRUs had LJNs but it was one here and there, never bunches. That's worth some research to try and find
...Did just find a video of LOD with Meme Gen in ToysRUS but I couldn't ID any LJNs. But that could just be me?
It may have been a picture or a video. I think it was a video because you had to pause it to notice each particular item. But it was racks of the bendies and the only large LJNs I recall were those two. It was around late 90 or early 1991. I think the only Hasbros seen were the first series.
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 14, 2017 20:38:48 GMT -5
Is it this one? My eyes might be bad but I can't figure anything in there to be LJNs.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 15, 2017 0:57:51 GMT -5
Is it this one? My eyes might be bad but I can't figure anything in there to be LJNs. Yeh I had a few goes but could only ID Hasbros, etc. All blurry images have that later logo. But it is a pretty funny commercial.
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 15, 2017 6:46:55 GMT -5
It may have been just one photo in magazine (though I had all the WWF magazines and don't remember it in there) or may be just a random pic that never made it anywhere but found it's way on the internet. The images were more clear to be a video, I'm remembering. Also, was this a REAL store of Toys R US? I don't remember any section of wrestling as packed as that during the Hasbro time period. Maybe in the late 90s when Jakks did a bunch of series' but never Hasbro.
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 15, 2017 7:36:41 GMT -5
My TRU was pretty darn close to what's shown there. Can't speak on the wrestling buddies because I think they were in a different aisle, or at least a different part of the same one, but the regular figures looks to be a familiar site. Other stores were far less than that, though KB Toys and Child World were close to this as well.
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akawildfire
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Post by akawildfire on Nov 15, 2017 17:52:30 GMT -5
The only figures I ever got at the time (apart from the aforementioned Bundy bendie) were Hogan about 1985 Christmas, for $11.95 AUD and then a discount store in Smith Street Collingwood (for the Aussie readers) in 88 or 89 had Mene Gene for $2 and the Bendies pack of Albano and Steele for $2. Ok so Muraco was not so easy to come by and SD not so hard at all! And Kirchner was a staple for every patriotic youngster! Did anyone ever see the Bulldogs singles cards? I'd never seen them, the Bees, Strike Force, or the Harts as singles OR a boxed set. A friend of mine had the Bees as I mentioned earlier, but those were the only "true" tag team I ever saw. I'd suspect he got them as singles since I'd never seen a boxed tag set anywhere. I never seen tag team ljn sets in stores or tag team bendies (didn't even know the tag team bendies existed until I seen them on ebay many many years ago . My sister ordered my hart foundation set thru a magazine (which was a hassle in the later years of ljns ) My local toy store named Hills always had a bunch of wrestling figures and the bendies were always on clearance. I personally liked the thumb wrestlers over the bendies for some reason . The only place I ever seen the rock n wrestling erasers was at a store called murphys and they always had a crap load of the common ones but I only ever seen Jyd and piper once and never seen Wendi in a store ( piper and snuka were my favorite ones ).
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 15, 2017 21:05:56 GMT -5
I'd never seen them, the Bees, Strike Force, or the Harts as singles OR a boxed set. A friend of mine had the Bees as I mentioned earlier, but those were the only "true" tag team I ever saw. I'd suspect he got them as singles since I'd never seen a boxed tag set anywhere. I never seen tag team ljn sets in stores or tag team bendies (didn't even know the tag team bendies existed until I seen them on ebay many many years ago . My sister ordered my hart foundation set thru a magazine (which was a hassle in the later years of ljns ) My local toy store named Hills always had a bunch of wrestling figures and the bendies were always on clearance. I personally liked the thumb wrestlers over the bendies for some reason . The only place I ever seen the rock n wrestling erasers was at a store called murphys and they always had a crap load of the common ones but I only ever seen Jyd and piper once and never seen Wendi in a store ( piper and snuka were my favorite ones ). Damn, that's cool. For the longest time I never knew what the erasers were. I always had Hulk along w/my bendies, and in the late '90s I did some research and found...nothing. I did find Sheik and Snuka on ebay here and there, and that was it. The others weren't "known", but I knew for sure folks out there had to know of them at the time like you. It just wasn't shared, common knowledge. I don't remember seeing those in stores, so I can only imagine my grandma bought me Hulk since it looked like the bendies. No idea where it came from, but if I had to guess I'd say it was also a dept. store instead of a toy store.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 16, 2017 19:56:20 GMT -5
Yeh I didn't know about the erasers until much later and only about the fullset in recent years. I probably got the info from Ozz in some digital guise.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 16, 2017 20:16:36 GMT -5
So what do you guys, who were actual 'kid' collectors then, think about this. So from my research I put the original release of LJNs about March-April 1985 - that is the first wave of 5-backs. Stands (open to debate) come out with figures a bit later.
How accurate do you think that release timeline was? Can't track an actual release date. We have the article from the WWF magazine referring to the American International Toy Fair in Feb, 1985 and advances on that?
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 16, 2017 21:34:45 GMT -5
I wish I could help. I was so young at the time of their release I can't possibly remember. I'm surprised I can remember scenarios that place me at age 4, which was a year or so after the first set came out. In my earliest memories, I already had Hulk and a couple others and no clue where they came from <3
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 16, 2017 22:16:17 GMT -5
I wish I could help. I was so young at the time of their release I can't possibly remember. I'm surprised I can remember scenarios that place me at age 4, which was a year or so after the first set came out. In my earliest memories, I already had Hulk and a couple others and no clue where they came from <3 That's totally understandable Ozz at age of 4!! I have tracked down a raft of identical articles in US newspapers from Feb 12 and Feb 13, 1985 that are essentially a 1985 Toy fair PR piece that was used as syndicated copy. That's about where I place the 'launch' origin, plus time lag for release and distribution, until proven otherwise, I just want to turn an assumption into a presumption in the absence of primary evidence.
Putting the picture together piece by piece.
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msenger76
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Post by msenger76 on Nov 18, 2017 21:45:35 GMT -5
I got Jesse and Davey Boy at target on clearance. Someone had opened the packages so they were loose in plastic bags
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 19, 2017 23:55:08 GMT -5
I got Jesse and Davey Boy at target on clearance. Someone had opened the packages so they were loose in plastic bags That's interesting. I wonder if Davey Boy was from a singles pack originally - we'll never know!
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Nov 20, 2017 20:23:01 GMT -5
Hi again people. If you have a look on ebay right now there is a Black Card Ultimate Warrior available. Don't worry about the price!!! This item is for sale from NZ . Have a look at the sticker on the pack and you will see Funmaker Products Limited text under the clown head device.
Funmaker is a defunct New Zealand toy and games distributor from the 1980s and 1990s. (In Australia LJNs were distributed through Kidz Biz and Aussie cards will have a Kidz Biz sticker, usually top right.)
Now I bought some loose Black Card figures from NZ around 1999, 2000 including the Warrior and Rude, and saw a few other for sale; semi-regularly, including a number of Warriors. Superstars of Wrestling stayed on TV in NZ well past it's finish in Australia - well into the 90s - and there were exclusive NZ trading cards sets.
I always felt that the Black Cards were likely to have been distributed in NZ due to the disproportionately high number of later series Superstars available in a country so small and remote as NZ with its ongoing interest in the WWF. (I don't accept the proposition that Black Cards were only just sold through mail order but I do of course believe that they didn't get sold through traditional distribution channels of the other LJNS. A longer explanation can support this.)
Anyone from New Zealand on the forum? Also I am happy to start this in a different thread and happy to take advice from forum veterans and mods on this.
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ozz
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Post by ozz on Nov 20, 2017 23:19:29 GMT -5
Hi again people. If you have a look on ebay right now there is a Black Card Ultimate Warrior available. Don't worry about the price!!! This item is for sale from NZ . Have a look at the sticker on the pack and you will see Funmaker Products Limited text under the clown head device. Funmaker is a defunct New Zealand toy and games distributor from the 1980s and 1990s. (In Australia LJNs were distributed through Kidz Biz and Aussie cards will have a Kidz Biz sticker, usually top right.) Now I bought some loose Black Card figures from NZ around 1999, 2000 including the Warrior and Rude, and saw a few other for sale; semi-regularly, including a number of Warriors. Superstars of Wrestling stayed on TV in NZ well past it's finish in Australia - well into the 90s - and there were exclusive NZ trading cards sets. I always felt that the Black Cards were likely to have been distributed in NZ due to the disproportionately high number of later series Superstars available in a country so small and remote as NZ with its ongoing interest in the WWF. (I don't accept the proposition that Black Cards were only just sold through mail order but I do of course believe that they didn't get sold through traditional distribution channels of the other LJNS. A longer explanation can support this.) Anyone from New Zealand on the forum? Also I am happy to start this in a different thread and happy to take advice from forum veterans and mods on this. Interesting you mention that. I've long suspected that was the case at times, specifically with the green card Hasbros. Back in the late '90s into the '00s, I was trading volumes of wrestling tapes to someone in GER for green card Hasbros. It was like he had an endless supply! I figured he was reselling copies of the tapes, and using the proceeds to buy them at fair market value, but still...you'd think they would still be scarce. I had dozens upon dozens of green card figures go through my hands in those days like they were as common as Hulk #1. So considering the short run here in the US, I felt it possible they shipped whatever was manufactured to another country that would still certainly buy them up. Your story sounds like the exact same theory, just a different location.
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