We are lucky to grow up in the Hasbro & LJN era

True, I just wish LJNs were poseable; after all LJN had the super awesome Dungeons & Dragons toyline!

Loved LJNs as a kid born in '82, loved Hasbros as well. HATED Jakks upon first sight. Never bought a single one. As far as the Mattels, they're impressive figures but when you stand most of them side by side it's like they all have the same body. I like the less poseable figures that allowed them to look a bit more unique (despite re-using body parts, obviously).

1. LJN
2. HASBRO
3. WHO CARES!!!! LOL

Actually didnt mind justoys bendems either

born in 78 and still have every figure i had as a kid. Nothing will ever beat the LJNS................ever

The first figures I ever got were the Hasbro WWF figures, I think they're probably my favorite toy line ever. I still have probably 90% of the ones I had when I was a kid, save for when I got ripped off big time in a trade on AFR back in 2001 or so, right before AFR closed down. Traded a guy 20-25 Hasbros in really good (some near mint) condition for his Royal Rumble ring. Only problem is he never had the ring and all my figures ended up on eBay. Nothing sucked worse than coming home from bowling and getting an email from the guy pretty much saying, "I have your figures, nothing you can do about it,"

I have a lot of LJN figures that I got when I was little, but being born in 91 I can't say I have the same nostalgia for them as some of you guys do. I can, however, say that I have that same kind of nostalgia for my Hasbro figures. I actually dug my Hasbro crate out the other night and combed through them. The molds are largely cartoony but those figures are so friggin' good.

Collecting seemed so much easier in the LJN era. Of course, it helped that mom and dad paid for most everything. I was in a unique situation where I was hospitalized a lot as a kid, with three (ultimately four) open heart surgeries. What cheered me up was when mom or dad would bring me a new LJN wrestler to play with. More to my point, as I got healthier and into collecting LJNs seriously, all I cared about was having one of each wrestler, manager, etc, they came out with, no matter if I loved or hated them. My main concern was having them to play with in my LJN ring.

Hasbros were different. They came around at a time where I was starting middle school, toys weren't 'cool' anymore, and a lot of us (myself included) were becoming more interested in the opposite sex. So I had very few Hasbros, and I opened them up. Now, as an adult with access to the internet, I acquired my three favorite wrestlers in Hasbro form, MOC. They can be seen in my signature.

Nowadays, I keep everything MOC, and cherry-pick who I really want, depending on if I'm a fan of the wrestler/character. I can't imagine being a completeist and investing all the time and money. If only we had the insider info of today, in the eras when we were kids and wanted new wrestling toys to only play with.

Totally agree about LJN's and Hasbros. I was born in 1979. My first glimpse of wrestling came with the Hogan / Bundy Main Event at Wrestlemania 2 and I was hooked. Quickly jumped into LJN's and never looked back.

Looking back on it, the lack of information about these figures at the time really added to their mystique. You were at the mercy of a magazine ad or whispers at a toy show to get any idea of what was coming next. Although the internet is a great tool for today's collectors and makes it easy to preorder upcoming figures, it does spoil some of the excitement. In the LJN era, every walk into Toys R Us or Children's Palace had the potential to be huge. I'll never forget the day I walked in to find a new series was released, or the cage for the LJN ring.

I still have most of my figures. Was robbed by an older collector when I was 12 for a few pieces. I've actually worked on some LJN customs in my free time recently as well. It has been a cool way to reconnect with some of my memories from the collecting days.