Post by naparo01 on Oct 2, 2012 8:15:58 GMT -5
Classic Superstars Legends: A Thirst for Nostalgia
I have seen quite a few threads lately talking about the demise of the Mattel Legends line, theorizing why it happened and making it well heard that there is a thrust for these classic figures to be produced. Many of you have proposed a number of great points on why the line sputtered at retail and could not reproduce the huge success that Jakks had with the Classic Superstars line. I have my own ideas about why the line didn't live up to Mattel's expectations as well but that isn't the purpose of this thread. The purpose is to look at the history of the nostalgic wrestling figures.
Lets take a little trip back through time to look at where Legends/Classic Superstars style figures all began. The first retrospective wrestling figures i remember seeing was in the small line done by figures ink in the Late 90s called the Legends of Professional Wrestling. They actually did a fair number of characters but they were only targeted towards really hardcore fans as they were never released at retail and did not have the backing of WWF or WCW.
The way i remember things, references to wrestling's past were few and far between once the attitude era and the Monday Night Wars were underway. I don't have an official reason why but I assume dit was because of the fact that the most famous people from the WWF's past were on top of WCW. If you think about it there wasn't a hall of fame like there is today. There was the initial hall of fame started at WrestleMania X but it was never expanded much after that to my knowledge until its reboot at Wrestlemania XX. Despite this fact Jakks still must have seen some value in marketing the rich history of wrestling to action figure collectors. That was when, in 1998, they released there Legends series. The line had Andre the Giant, Classy Freddy Blassie, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, and Captain Lou Albano. Keep in mind that these surfaced during the BCA early TTL era and was all pre real scan technology. The figures were larger than the basic line of figures of that day and were not really compatible for play or display and were meant to be displayed on a shelf in there boxes. IF you did have these figures and took them out for play or posing you were probably quite disappointed. Needless to say this line never made it past series 1 though it did spawn a line with similar style bodies featuring current stars.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=165
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=167
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=168
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=166
The next look at the past that I remember seeing came from Toy Biz with their release of the Evolution of Sting boxed set. A cool set that during the age of the darker Crow Sting they looked back to his roots as a blond haired colorful surfer. Now one would think a similar idea could have took off on the WWF side of things with the Undertaker but he was in the midst of his Biker days and a look back at the man in black and grey, the original zombie wrestler didn't happen and WWF moved forward.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=2344
Fast forward to 2002. The Monday Night Wars were over and so was WCW. The WWE was now allowed to look to the past and promote it again without fear of promoting their competition. It was an ear of nostalgia. Hulk Hogan was back on TV and he was wearing red and yellow just like the good old days. WWE programming would go on to feature past WWF stars such as Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton and old school wrestling fans were salivating at the taste of nostalgia. It was then in 2002 that we got the Hulk Still Rules 3 pack looking at the carear of the hulkster in R3 style.
www.actiontoys.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/WWFJBOXHULK.jpg
Later in the year once the roll over to the RA line we got the Main Event Hulk Hogan exclusive figure. It was a weird mix between classic and current featuring the classic red and yellow. He had the current head scan with the Hulk still rules bandanna and no longer the black stubble. He had a oddly painted on tank top with the current Hulkamania black lined logo. He came with his yellow trunks and yellow pads (instead of his popular red ones). It wasn't quite a classic Hogan but wasn't quite a Hollywood Hogan either but that classic hunger was fed with this appetizer to the Classic Superstar Line.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=60
Then a couple years later at Toy Fair Jakks showed us these gems. A classic style Hulk Hogan and Diesel. Unfortuanlty thes figures did not see the light of day and were mearly a teaser but Jakks would soon do what i called the Classic Superstars Experiment.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=3948&type=loose
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=3949&type=loose
I believe it was 2004 when the Classic Superstars line finally hit the shelves. Or as i like to put it the Classic Superstars Experiment. It seems that Jakks still wasn't 100% convinced that legends could pull the dollars for a major line. There are many interviews with Jakks employee Jeremy that were taken near the end of the classic line where he discloses that he never dreamed that the line would have become as popular as it did and never expected it to make it to almost 30 series. So it seems that the line was meant to be a few figures highlighting some of the major players of the past. So why do i call this the Classic Superstars Experiment? Well simply look at series 1. I think we often look at the past with rose lenses but when i look back to cs 1 i see a lot of crap. First off 50 % of the figures were current superstars that were repainted in a sense. And two of the figures were not even in the RA style (which was pretty much the main style released. We got a WM12 era HBK which had the current style head scan. The next current star to be released was Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a head that i am pretty sure that was released with previous HHH figs but he had a cool cloth riding coat and was in his debut style. And then there was the undertaker. He featured the purple look but had no coat, no hat, and was in TTL body style. What utter crap? I mean I loved the idea of taking a look to the past with the CS line but going back to the TTL style was too much for me. Not to mention that he had whit boot covers instead of the purple ones to match his gloves. I don't even think he came with an urn. There were non current WWE stars in the Experiment as well. Like Andre the Giant. Now there was no past figure like Andre that could be re-hashed like the previous figures had so they would have to start from scratch right? Wrong. They sued a R3 big show body for Andre. Oh it was horrendous. Now the head was fine, good even but the body, oh the body. First off it took a step back to the short lived R3 style. He had a singlet that had 2 straps unlike the famous single strapped singlet that Andre wore around WM3. And he had molded on knee pads. Oh crap crapidy crap crap! That makes this the only Jakks release series that i know of that featured RA, R3, and TTL figures in it. But the line wasn't all rehashed. Jakks did put the time, and money into signing two marque superstars in the Ultimate Warior and Bret Hart. Both had been estranged from the WWE for a number of years and it was a shock to see them in the line which gave it some real punch. That's why i call it the CS Experiment. Jakks didn't put all their power behind the line. They put some big players in, but mostly put fluff in the original line with current stars, re used heads, and older body styles. But some how it took off. It became wildly popular and spawned a second, 3rd, 4th, even a 28th series!
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=559
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=558
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=438
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=437
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=439
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=560
Are you still with me? If so good and thank you. The point is the awesome monster that was Classic Superstars didn't come all at once. It took a few tries. A few experiments and a few failures. But once Jakks got it right they went to the moon. Mattel took a stab at Legends. The tried to cater to what they thought were hardcore collectors who had been collecting the CS line for years. They didn't have many fresh faces in the original legends line which was headlined by the collector craved Ricky Steamboat. But instead of giving us figures that Jakks had already nailed Matty decided to give us unreleased versions like the Shiek in his pants, snuka in long tights and boots, and slaughter in a early style blue and white outfit. As a long term cs collector i loved this direction but it didn't fetch the numbers that the huge Juggernaut company Mattel expected and was dubbed a disappointment and lets not even get into legends 2 packs. But it was just an early error. Look back to the past to see the many blips and attempts at a Classic Legends themed line.
Why did the Legends line fail? A lot of theories have been discussed but I think it's a combination of reasons. I think a good number of Jakks collectors were not 100% willing to embrace a new company. Matty did some figure attires that were less desirable by the masses and released figures that were not blockbusters and didn't put much new blood into into the line (and largely re released guys that Jakks had already done). There also the idea of nostalgia. When the CS line started nostalgia was new it was fresh and it was craved. The WWF recently acquired WCW and the old WWF was whole once again. Like a family reunited. Like a couple that got back together. It was new to talk about the past and not too WWF's rich history. Now days nostalgia is more common. We often see flashbacks on RAW not as novel of an idea (don't get me wrong i love nostalgia and pop when ever legend is featured or mentioned but i'm just saying it just doesn't have the fresh pop that it did when it started). And lastly we also need to look at the economy. When matty took the reigns prices on figures were much higher and people had less disposable income. I think a combination of those reasons can explain why the legends line ended like it did.
So Legends are now gone and replaced with "Flashbacks." Kinda reminds me of some of the classic blips of Jakks past. And what happened with them? I still have hope that we haven't seen the end of Legends. They may have a different name but if sales numbers show a push towards the flashbacks i think we may still have a chance to see the line relaunched in some form down the line.
Until then, here's to hope and enjoy the flashbacks.
So whats your take on things? I look forward to reading each and every reply.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. Nate
I have seen quite a few threads lately talking about the demise of the Mattel Legends line, theorizing why it happened and making it well heard that there is a thrust for these classic figures to be produced. Many of you have proposed a number of great points on why the line sputtered at retail and could not reproduce the huge success that Jakks had with the Classic Superstars line. I have my own ideas about why the line didn't live up to Mattel's expectations as well but that isn't the purpose of this thread. The purpose is to look at the history of the nostalgic wrestling figures.
Lets take a little trip back through time to look at where Legends/Classic Superstars style figures all began. The first retrospective wrestling figures i remember seeing was in the small line done by figures ink in the Late 90s called the Legends of Professional Wrestling. They actually did a fair number of characters but they were only targeted towards really hardcore fans as they were never released at retail and did not have the backing of WWF or WCW.
The way i remember things, references to wrestling's past were few and far between once the attitude era and the Monday Night Wars were underway. I don't have an official reason why but I assume dit was because of the fact that the most famous people from the WWF's past were on top of WCW. If you think about it there wasn't a hall of fame like there is today. There was the initial hall of fame started at WrestleMania X but it was never expanded much after that to my knowledge until its reboot at Wrestlemania XX. Despite this fact Jakks still must have seen some value in marketing the rich history of wrestling to action figure collectors. That was when, in 1998, they released there Legends series. The line had Andre the Giant, Classy Freddy Blassie, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, and Captain Lou Albano. Keep in mind that these surfaced during the BCA early TTL era and was all pre real scan technology. The figures were larger than the basic line of figures of that day and were not really compatible for play or display and were meant to be displayed on a shelf in there boxes. IF you did have these figures and took them out for play or posing you were probably quite disappointed. Needless to say this line never made it past series 1 though it did spawn a line with similar style bodies featuring current stars.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=165
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=167
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=168
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=166
The next look at the past that I remember seeing came from Toy Biz with their release of the Evolution of Sting boxed set. A cool set that during the age of the darker Crow Sting they looked back to his roots as a blond haired colorful surfer. Now one would think a similar idea could have took off on the WWF side of things with the Undertaker but he was in the midst of his Biker days and a look back at the man in black and grey, the original zombie wrestler didn't happen and WWF moved forward.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=2344
Fast forward to 2002. The Monday Night Wars were over and so was WCW. The WWE was now allowed to look to the past and promote it again without fear of promoting their competition. It was an ear of nostalgia. Hulk Hogan was back on TV and he was wearing red and yellow just like the good old days. WWE programming would go on to feature past WWF stars such as Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton and old school wrestling fans were salivating at the taste of nostalgia. It was then in 2002 that we got the Hulk Still Rules 3 pack looking at the carear of the hulkster in R3 style.
www.actiontoys.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/WWFJBOXHULK.jpg
Later in the year once the roll over to the RA line we got the Main Event Hulk Hogan exclusive figure. It was a weird mix between classic and current featuring the classic red and yellow. He had the current head scan with the Hulk still rules bandanna and no longer the black stubble. He had a oddly painted on tank top with the current Hulkamania black lined logo. He came with his yellow trunks and yellow pads (instead of his popular red ones). It wasn't quite a classic Hogan but wasn't quite a Hollywood Hogan either but that classic hunger was fed with this appetizer to the Classic Superstar Line.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=60
Then a couple years later at Toy Fair Jakks showed us these gems. A classic style Hulk Hogan and Diesel. Unfortuanlty thes figures did not see the light of day and were mearly a teaser but Jakks would soon do what i called the Classic Superstars Experiment.
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=3948&type=loose
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=3949&type=loose
I believe it was 2004 when the Classic Superstars line finally hit the shelves. Or as i like to put it the Classic Superstars Experiment. It seems that Jakks still wasn't 100% convinced that legends could pull the dollars for a major line. There are many interviews with Jakks employee Jeremy that were taken near the end of the classic line where he discloses that he never dreamed that the line would have become as popular as it did and never expected it to make it to almost 30 series. So it seems that the line was meant to be a few figures highlighting some of the major players of the past. So why do i call this the Classic Superstars Experiment? Well simply look at series 1. I think we often look at the past with rose lenses but when i look back to cs 1 i see a lot of crap. First off 50 % of the figures were current superstars that were repainted in a sense. And two of the figures were not even in the RA style (which was pretty much the main style released. We got a WM12 era HBK which had the current style head scan. The next current star to be released was Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a head that i am pretty sure that was released with previous HHH figs but he had a cool cloth riding coat and was in his debut style. And then there was the undertaker. He featured the purple look but had no coat, no hat, and was in TTL body style. What utter crap? I mean I loved the idea of taking a look to the past with the CS line but going back to the TTL style was too much for me. Not to mention that he had whit boot covers instead of the purple ones to match his gloves. I don't even think he came with an urn. There were non current WWE stars in the Experiment as well. Like Andre the Giant. Now there was no past figure like Andre that could be re-hashed like the previous figures had so they would have to start from scratch right? Wrong. They sued a R3 big show body for Andre. Oh it was horrendous. Now the head was fine, good even but the body, oh the body. First off it took a step back to the short lived R3 style. He had a singlet that had 2 straps unlike the famous single strapped singlet that Andre wore around WM3. And he had molded on knee pads. Oh crap crapidy crap crap! That makes this the only Jakks release series that i know of that featured RA, R3, and TTL figures in it. But the line wasn't all rehashed. Jakks did put the time, and money into signing two marque superstars in the Ultimate Warior and Bret Hart. Both had been estranged from the WWE for a number of years and it was a shock to see them in the line which gave it some real punch. That's why i call it the CS Experiment. Jakks didn't put all their power behind the line. They put some big players in, but mostly put fluff in the original line with current stars, re used heads, and older body styles. But some how it took off. It became wildly popular and spawned a second, 3rd, 4th, even a 28th series!
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=559
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=558
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=438
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=437
wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=439
www.wrestlingfigs.com/figure.php?id=560
Are you still with me? If so good and thank you. The point is the awesome monster that was Classic Superstars didn't come all at once. It took a few tries. A few experiments and a few failures. But once Jakks got it right they went to the moon. Mattel took a stab at Legends. The tried to cater to what they thought were hardcore collectors who had been collecting the CS line for years. They didn't have many fresh faces in the original legends line which was headlined by the collector craved Ricky Steamboat. But instead of giving us figures that Jakks had already nailed Matty decided to give us unreleased versions like the Shiek in his pants, snuka in long tights and boots, and slaughter in a early style blue and white outfit. As a long term cs collector i loved this direction but it didn't fetch the numbers that the huge Juggernaut company Mattel expected and was dubbed a disappointment and lets not even get into legends 2 packs. But it was just an early error. Look back to the past to see the many blips and attempts at a Classic Legends themed line.
Why did the Legends line fail? A lot of theories have been discussed but I think it's a combination of reasons. I think a good number of Jakks collectors were not 100% willing to embrace a new company. Matty did some figure attires that were less desirable by the masses and released figures that were not blockbusters and didn't put much new blood into into the line (and largely re released guys that Jakks had already done). There also the idea of nostalgia. When the CS line started nostalgia was new it was fresh and it was craved. The WWF recently acquired WCW and the old WWF was whole once again. Like a family reunited. Like a couple that got back together. It was new to talk about the past and not too WWF's rich history. Now days nostalgia is more common. We often see flashbacks on RAW not as novel of an idea (don't get me wrong i love nostalgia and pop when ever legend is featured or mentioned but i'm just saying it just doesn't have the fresh pop that it did when it started). And lastly we also need to look at the economy. When matty took the reigns prices on figures were much higher and people had less disposable income. I think a combination of those reasons can explain why the legends line ended like it did.
So Legends are now gone and replaced with "Flashbacks." Kinda reminds me of some of the classic blips of Jakks past. And what happened with them? I still have hope that we haven't seen the end of Legends. They may have a different name but if sales numbers show a push towards the flashbacks i think we may still have a chance to see the line relaunched in some form down the line.
Until then, here's to hope and enjoy the flashbacks.
So whats your take on things? I look forward to reading each and every reply.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. Nate
