repodan
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Post by repodan on Jun 2, 2021 23:55:03 GMT -5
Hello everyone, forever lurker here, finally decided to jump into the pool. I've been sorting through old totes of childhood stuff and came across a couple toy wishlist type of scrapbooks I had made. I found a few classic LJN pics from old flyers and catalogs, most of which have been shared here before. I was most excited to find a couple ads for the 1988 LJN series. Here in Canada, these LJN flyer ads were common and I remember seeing ads for even the 89 figures. I'm really interested to find out more about the release history of the new figures for 88. Any idea as to why they never made new cards in the same style as the previous LJN lines? I don't think it was until the black cards that the 88 characters were even pictured on the back of the cards, and even then it was just photos. Were these figures advertised in the US or elsewhere? The Canadian ads are all branded as Grand Toys, but they didn't fully pick up the LJN line until 89, correct? Were they always the Canadian distributor? A couple other questions: - Macho Man and Elizabeth were pictured in all the 87 and 88 ads I found. Did they continuously produce more Macho Man figures as the LJN line progressed?
- Any idea when Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes were released? I seem to remember them hitting stores prior to the release of these 88 figures, and their pictures never made it to the back of any cards.
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100PercentRudos
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Post by 100PercentRudos on Jun 3, 2021 0:25:31 GMT -5
Any chance at all of a clearer scan of this? With the Grand Toys logo on the bottom, my gut says these were supposed to all have black card releases. But I don't recall Slick, Gang, DiBiase, Bigelow, Duggan, Honky Tonk having black cards (or Ax, to be honest)
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ozz
Main Eventer
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Post by ozz on Jun 3, 2021 8:10:37 GMT -5
Any chance at all of a clearer scan of this? With the Grand Toys logo on the bottom, my gut says these were supposed to all have black card releases. But I don't recall Slick, Gang, DiBiase, Bigelow, Duggan, Honky Tonk having black cards (or Ax, to be honest) Ax, Duggan, and DiBiase definitely had black cards. The question about Smash is the easiest: he was planned for the next release wave and LJN/Grand Toys lost the license before they could be produced. Same with all the others from that set (Smash, Bushwhackers, Barbarian, Brother Love, Bad News Brown) |
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Post by LaParka on Jun 3, 2021 10:07:44 GMT -5
Billy Jack was 87, Patera was 88, Strike Force isn't on the picture with the 88 releases. Savage was put back into the rotation in 88 along with Liz.
Brother Love and Bad News Brown were slated to be rotated in mid 88 early 89, then the other 4 would have followed, the Rockers were rumored to be the next tag team.
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jason1980s
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Post by jason1980s on Jun 3, 2021 10:56:32 GMT -5
That does seem like it would be a 1989 centered ad although I know the Wrestling Ring 1988 ads had Macho and Elizabeth in their smaller photo with the previous released guys like Blassie, Hercules, Orton, Arcidi.
I always was fascinated by the 1988 series because I always figured they were mailaway only since 1) I only ever saw pictures in the Apter mag ads and 2) they were extremely difficult to find until the late 1990s. My grandmother found almost all of them at a local Value Village in 1998, loose of course, and I rarely ever saw them again anywhere until the ebay days.
It does stink they didn't do a new card back. It would have been cool seeing those guys and they did do pictures like that for the last 4 guys in 1987 (Haynes, Koko, Harley, Outback) though it was only for the large poster with everyone pictured.
I also wonder if there were initial plans for a Tom Zenk figure. To me it seems like Tito's repaint was done last minute and it's weird they had Martel all alone on the 1987-1988 catalog photo and Tito and Rick on the 1985-1987 catalog photo. But again, so many mysteries about these last few years.
LJN will continue to have so many mysteries I am sorry to say. With most of us being kids when the Hasbros came out, and being babies during the LJN line most our age now focus on the Hasbros although I am an LJN fan more, maybe because I didn't have them growing up.
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repodan
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Post by repodan on Jun 3, 2021 15:58:49 GMT -5
Greatly appreciate all the replies and insight thus far!
I have another small ad from this time which includes Strike Force with these figures. I snapped the above pic with my phone, but will do a proper scan next time I'm in at work.
The Smash thing is strange to me because Strike Force had a tag team poster, and both Tito and Martel had individual posters. You'd think they were planning to do the same with Ax and Smash for this release - a tag team set with a poster, and individual releases with singles posters like the Ax one. And why would Smash not be included in the first wave of black card figures? You'd think a design or prototype of Smash would have been completed around the same time that they designed Ax. Makes no sense to design Ax solo, then Smash two sets later after designing new figures?
Were Billy Jack and Ken Patera released individually into stores, or were they packed with any other re-released figures? I remember getting a new Consumers Distributing catalog - a Canadian chain no longer in existence - featuring those two new figures, which is how I was learned about their release.
I started a super nerdy, yet super fun project of tracking when I got all my LJN figures, using old family photos. I definitely had Patera in early 1988 for example.
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Scotty Flamingo
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Joined on: Mar 7, 2005 16:40:41 GMT -5
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Post by Scotty Flamingo on Jun 3, 2021 19:15:01 GMT -5
They really should have waited to put out Ax until Smash was ready so we would have both. Why Smash wasn’t one of the first figures produced for the Black Series makes no sense. Why they had Warlord ready before Smash didn’t make much sense. It was great that we got Warlord but if they weren’t going to have Barbarian ready for to come out with him they should have waited.
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Kasper.ca
Superstar
Joined on: Apr 6, 2012 13:02:10 GMT -5
Posts: 764
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Post by Kasper.ca on Jun 7, 2021 15:59:15 GMT -5
Hello everyone, forever lurker here, finally decided to jump into the pool. I've been sorting through old totes of childhood stuff and came across a couple toy wishlist type of scrapbooks I had made. I found a few classic LJN pics from old flyers and catalogs, most of which have been shared here before. I was most excited to find a couple ads for the 1988 LJN series. Here in Canada, these LJN flyer ads were common and I remember seeing ads for even the 89 figures. I'm really interested to find out more about the release history of the new figures for 88. Any idea as to why they never made new cards in the same style as the previous LJN lines? I don't think it was until the black cards that the 88 characters were even pictured on the back of the cards, and even then it was just photos. Were these figures advertised in the US or elsewhere? The Canadian ads are all branded as Grand Toys, but they didn't fully pick up the LJN line until 89, correct? Were they always the Canadian distributor? A couple other questions: - Macho Man and Elizabeth were pictured in all the 87 and 88 ads I found. Did they continuously produce more Macho Man figures as the LJN line progressed?
- Any idea when Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes were released? I seem to remember them hitting stores prior to the release of these 88 figures, and their pictures never made it to the back of any cards. Long story short on release questions... From the "stars" becoming crowd favorites or good heels and surging popularity, to concept formation of the LJN figure, to production and release times... there was a small window. A lot of characters with figures either never made it as big as Vince might have thought, or their run was short (Kirschner, Outback Jack, Patera, Haynes, etc...). If it took say roughly a year for a figure to be designed, made and then planned for launch date, the WWF star might have already had his big run. Some guys just didn't pan out or last long. Even huge names like Warrior were flash in the pans. One of the hardest things to do in the WWF is/was to stay relevant for many years. Any chance at all of a clearer scan of this? With the Grand Toys logo on the bottom, my gut says these were supposed to all have black card releases. But I don't recall Slick, Gang, DiBiase, Bigelow, Duggan, Honky Tonk having black cards (or Ax, to be honest) Dibiase, Honky, Ax and Duggan had black cards. Duggan's is actually the most common black card variant I think. I personally bought a new case of 12 from an auction 7 years ago and know another guy who got a case as well. |
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repodan
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Post by repodan on Jun 10, 2021 22:06:55 GMT -5
From a 1998 Consumer's Distributing catalog here in Canada:  |
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Boon
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Joined on: Nov 21, 2011 8:09:33 GMT -5
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Post by Boon on Jun 11, 2021 15:58:42 GMT -5
From a 1998 Consumer's Distributing catalog here in Canada: The ring is pretty cheap next to the Tag team, considering how huge the ring was. |
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Post by mcfclee on Jun 12, 2021 17:55:08 GMT -5
From a 1998 Consumer's Distributing catalog here in Canada: The ring is pretty cheap next to the Tag team, considering how huge the ring was. The shock for me was a tag team costing more than two singles haha. |
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michaelc
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Joined on: Mar 23, 2016 1:27:41 GMT -5
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Post by michaelc on Jun 14, 2021 0:30:21 GMT -5
Great shot!
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michaelc
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Joined on: Mar 23, 2016 1:27:41 GMT -5
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Post by michaelc on Jun 14, 2021 0:42:06 GMT -5
There's a lot of questions about LJNs that people have and some of the answers are muddled, as people have imposed a contemporary Series structure onto the releases based on the mould production code on the figures. All "1984-1988" Series came out in different waves, with 1988 having 3 waves. Trailing re-releases of earlier figures accompanied all waves throughout 1985-1988, and the timing of these can be seen by the different card backs and fronts, with about 40 different blue cards over the time. By mid-late 1988, MCA Universal, (LJN's owner since 1985) were shot of the line and they were heavily discounted to clear stock. They only could carry one tag team into 1988, as the box took up so much real estate in the 1988 toy aisle landscape. 1987 and trailing re-release tag teams were heavily discounted in later 1987, so tag teams were an expensive and slower moving risk by then. Essentially LJN was just seeing out the final year of its 4-year license with the WWF. LJN Toys Ltd. found it easier to get retail buyers interested in other more innovative toy product by then.
Grand Toys was always LJN's distributors into Canada and naturally were "successful" in guiding the line to its end, with all Black Card and Black card re-releases also available at retail in New Zealand.
I have covered this all in depth in 150,000 words and 1200 images in the LJN Wrestling Superstars book. This is not a hard sell...but the readers have been very happy...and it's now in its second (but smaller) print run. Link may or may not work? link |
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ozz
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 1, 2011 16:37:04 GMT -5
Posts: 1,397
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Post by ozz on Jun 14, 2021 8:12:22 GMT -5
There's a lot of questions about LJNs that people have and some of the answers are muddled, as people have imposed a contemporary Series structure onto the releases based on the mould production code on the figures. All "1984-1988" Series came out in different waves, with 1988 having 3 waves. Trailing re-releases of earlier figures accompanied all waves throughout 1985-1988, and the timing of these can be seen by the different card backs and fronts, with about 40 different blue cards over the time. By mid-late 1988, MCA Universal, (LJN's owner since 1985) were shot of the line and they were heavily discounted to clear stock. They only could carry one tag team into 1988, as the box took up so much real estate in the 1988 toy aisle landscape. 1987 and trailing re-release tag teams were heavily discounted in later 1987, so tag teams were an inexpensive and slower moving risk by then. Essentially LJN was just seeing out the final year of its 4-year license with the WWF. LJN Toys Ltd. found it easier to get retail buyers interested in other more innovative toy product by then.
Grand Toys was always LJN's distributors into Canada and naturally were "successful" in guiding the line to its end, with all Black Card and Black card re-releases also available at retail in New Zealand.
I have covered this all in depth in 150,000 words and 1200 images in the LJN Wrestling Superstars book. This is not a hard sell...but the readers have been very happy...and it's now in its second (but smaller) print run. Link may or may not work? link This book tells you more than you ever even thought you wanted to know about the LJN series, its history, factory info, etc. Incredible job, especially considering how long after the LJN days it came to be. |
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Jun 15, 2021 0:00:39 GMT -5
Thanks Ozz, you had a very early glimpse of it some time ago, and contributed some rare pics and a great collecting story!
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bc417win
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Post by bc417win on Jun 15, 2021 18:13:15 GMT -5
Just got my book a few days ago. The detailed info contained along with the pics are truly amazing. Best purchase in awhile and money well spent.
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Mizzle123
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Post by Mizzle123 on Jun 20, 2021 20:11:39 GMT -5
Sweet! Any pics or info in there on the last series? Apparently there was a Bad News Brown prototype at a Toy Fair event, never to be seen again.
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michaelc
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Mar 23, 2016 1:27:41 GMT -5
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Post by michaelc on Jun 27, 2021 2:35:35 GMT -5
Unfortunately no verifiable evidence exists (to this point in history) of any of the cancelled black card releases, including drawings or any sculpts.
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michaelc
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Joined on: Mar 23, 2016 1:27:41 GMT -5
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Post by michaelc on Jun 27, 2021 2:36:17 GMT -5
Just got my book a few days ago. The detailed info contained along with the pics are truly amazing. Best purchase in awhile and money well spent. Thanks for that and great that it has arrived. You have a lot to get through for sure! |
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Post by Prophet of Ash on Jun 27, 2021 7:38:14 GMT -5
I assume Smash didn't get released because of the switch from Randy Culley to Barry Darsow. Yes, Culley was only on TV for a couple of appearances, but who knows how early LJN got reference photos of Bill Eadie & Randy Culley in Demolition gear. if you notice, Ax is VERY early Demolition facepaint. I imagine the switch caused them to have to scrap a planned (and potentially already in development) Culley Smash. they knew they'd have Darsow Smash ready by the next series, but there was no next series.
That's my theory at least. How Warlord slipped in, even with gear he never wore, beats me though.
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