Just gonna focus on the figure talk in this recap, although the episode in its entirety is a quality listen. It helps to get to know more about the people responsible for the line. I enjoyed the conversation when it shifted to wrestling video games, backyard wrestling, and attending wrestling shows in Washington state.
Pablo is the interviewer. The designer of the line, Matty Breeze, will be shortened to "MB".
Pablo: It doesn’t necessarily mean that a name that was in one line is necessarily going to get a Bone Crushing Wrestlers [figure]. If it doesn’t make sense for them to, etc. Careful planning goes into who is decided for these lines.
MB: Was super excited when he first found out Meanie was going to be one of their first ones. He was a huge J.O.B. Squad fan back in the day. His bWo ECW days predated him by just a tiny bit. He was all-in on the J.O.B. Squad, so he was really excited to get to do that one – one of the first ones, too. Really stoked.
Pablo: Meanie takes this stuff (action figures) really seriously and it’s an honor for him.
MB: Didn’t really get any direct contact with Meanie. It was all through [Chella]. A few notes were passed back and forth. He started with a different generic bWo shirt that he did as kind of a placeholder. Had a few notes on some things that needed to be changed and tweaked as they were going along. That’s how these things work. He has had to do that a few times for everyone now. “It’s heartwarming what a great response there’s been and to have him retweet the announcement and retweet me and congratulate me on how great it looks in the end – it’s been really great to have him involved as much as he has been and really excited about it.”
Pablo: If you weren’t a BCA collector, you might think The Blue Meanie was an odd choice, but if you were collecting back then, you understand what a gap The Blue Meanie is.
MB: “It’s a big missing piece, that’s for sure.”
Pablo: There’s a lot of possibilities for pairing him with others, and he’ll look perfectly in place in [an original] BCA lineup.
MB: “I wasn’t too concerned with the overall scale because, obviously, they weren’t concerned with scale too much in the original line. They were all over the place. With my customization background, that was basically how I went about designing all of these, to make them look like they fit in the line. So the first thing I did, obviously, since Meanie is a bigger guy and was a bigger guy during that time period...I started off looking at the Mark Henry figure because that was probably back then from the original line the closest kind of build to Meanie at the time...That was kind of my jumping-off point...I used a lot of Mark Henry and looked at how that figure was put together and kind of based it off of that.”
MB: Went with the Series 6 Mark Henry figure because that was the one he had.
Pablo: [Jakks] should’ve made a new head for him [without the hat]. I don’t think we can get away with reused heads anymore.
MB: “I’m pretty sure we’re gonna try to never reuse any heads in the Bone Crushing Wrestlers line. I can’t guarantee it, but I’m pretty sure we’re gonna try.”
Pablo: The other line from Chella has a full bWo lineup. Does that mean there could be more Meanies at least?
MB: “That’s not something I’ve been privy to. I don’t know between Jack and Charles since they’re the producers of the project if they’ve talked about it. You’ve got the molds done and everything. I don’t know how much harder it would be to change the paint schemes. The Wrestling Megastars line...they’ve done a few repaints now. I could see it happening, for sure, and I would definitely be down with that."
Pablo: [This is] all just speculation. Charles [from Chella] might be having a heart attack right now.
Pablo: Is it going to be very much like the BCAs? Rubber [limbs], bodies plastic, and [rubber] heads I’m guessing?
MB: "We’ve all seen the video now of how the action works. Obviously, those were rubber. I’m fairly certain that the bodies themselves will be the hard plastic. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think that’s what I’ve been told is that they will be the hard plastic and the limbs will be rubber just like the originals.”
MB: “That was one thing that always mystified me was on the original figures, on the limbs, they would have those little tiny holes down the arms and legs, and I’m sure that had something to do with the mechanisms for the Crunching Action, but I’ve never been able to figure out exactly what those were for or what.”
Pablo: “I just assumed it was so you could hear the crunching more clearly.”
Pablo: A lot of BCA heads you couldn’t turn around, but do you know if the [BCW] heads are going to be a point of articulation?
MB: “I want to say they are fixed – I can’t remember if it’s on my original turnarounds that they released the artwork of, but I believe the specification says ‘Five points of articulation’ so that would be two arms, two legs, and waist. So, I want to say they’re fixed.”
Pablo: "I totally get it. That’s what we expected of BCAs."
[Pablo recalls the time that Vince McMahon appeared on Conan, both as himself and in Jakks figure form.]
[Regarding Matty's past BCA customizing efforts:]
MB: The Psychosis he made with a removable mask was sculpted out of Model Magic, a kind of foam clay, and he used that because it would air dry. He didn’t want to put figures in the oven. He [may have] tried that one time with Sculpey and it probably melted [in the oven] and that’s when he started using the air dry stuff. He used it to make removable sleeveless nWo and DX shirts, too. He wishes he had more pictures of the old stuff. He made one Sandman where the head was completely sculpted but when he went to put it on the body, it was too big.
MB: He was sculpting BCAs at the time they were being made. There were times when a show would end and a guy would have new gear and he’d go put that together.
[Matty mentions when ToyBiz was making TNA figures for Samoa Joe, he would show to his kids a custom UPW Joe figure he made years earlier]
MB: He was just collecting [BCAs] just to have them. Then, as an idea would hit him, he would go through his collection and figure out who he could part with. He doesn’t know if he ever really went out specifically and bought someone with a custom figure in mind. It was always about what he wanted to make and what he had available to him.
Pablo: Asks how many names there be will per series.
MB: Doesn’t know if he’s allowed to say that. [He's asked if it will be the same as a standard BCA set, meaning, six figures] “I would think that would be a good guess. That’s what [Jakks] used to do, and that’s what we’re trying to emulate. I know I’ve drawn at least six, that’s for sure.”
MB: Mentions the ToyFare article from '99 making the rounds on social media.
This one:
MB: “There’s definitely some other interesting names on that list that might be worth looking at.” “Having now seen the finished product, I can think of a few other people that [we] might be able...[to] probably reuse a few pieces for that they wouldn’t have been able to [be used] back in the day because they might have been in a different company or something, but I can think of a couple.”
Pablo: “That is to be expected as well. Something that looks exactly the same, but if it’s going to be painted differently and stuff like that..it just makes sense for that to happen and...it will probably help move scaling automatically as well.”
MB: “That was one of the first things we talked about, as an extension of that homage to the original line...we want to reuse parts, and we want it to be fairly obvious. I’ve already designed a few that have reused existing parts, so I hope that is, I mean, it’s not just a money-saving thing, but I want it to definitely give that feel of the original line, too, of how much they did it. If a part works, we’re gonna reuse it.”
Pablo: "If there’s an iconic accessory that that wrestler cannot live without, the accessory is probably going to be a part of [this line]. I think that would probably be safe to say."
MB agrees.
Pablo: “From having the pleasure of being let into knowing a lot of the names that are going to be a part of this, no one is going to be disappointed.”
Pablo: Mentions Adam Bomb as the second reveal. "It’s unbelievable. Talk about tickling that sweet spot of 1995 names that need to be made...He went back to that attire in ‘95 as well, so it makes perfect sense. It’s not like it’s out of the timeline or anything like that. There’s so many wrestlers who are in the line that he had matches against that it makes perfect sense that he’s going to look good with, and yeah, I’m very excited about that."
MB: “I can’t remember if he was- he might have been the first one I designed actually. But yeah, I’ve been really excited about that one. Going back to the customization mindsets, I went back to an old favorite and used the Owen Hart Series 6 singlet body as kind of my basis for what I wanted him to look like. Obviously, I didn’t give him the thumbs-up hands or anything. I think I pulled some Billy Gunn arms as reference for that one. I would literally go on the Figure Collections website and...pull that Owen Hart figure, put it in Photoshop, grab the Billy Gunn figure, Photoshop the arms on it, find a good picture of Bryan and Photoshop that on, and just use that as kind of my blueprint of the beginnings of what I want it to look like. Just kind of a mockup, so I think it turned out really great. I’ve, obviously, seen the finished product, and I think it looks better than what my initial drawings even were...Meanie is a great name and one that I definitely was looking forward to from my fan experience, but as far as it goes with that original ’96 series, I think Bryan Clark just fits that perfectly.”
Pablo: Mentions how, even though Jakks' Series 1 was released in 1996, so much of it was based on 1995. "Adam Bomb fits in perfectly. A lot of dream matches, along with a lot of actual matches he had. From speaking with Bryan – I love it when the wrestler is so invested in their memorabilia and merchandise. He takes this very seriously."
[Pablo finishes by talking about the upcoming glow-in-the-dark Chella retro Adam Bomb figure and how he thinks it's one of the most genius ideas for an action figure that he’s ever seen.]
TLDR:
- Pablo said just because Chella makes a name for the Wrestling Megastars or Uncensored lines doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get a BCW.
- Matty said Meanie was one of the first names he got to work on. Bryan Clark may have been the first.
- He didn't have direct contact with Meanie, but notes were passed back and forth, as is often the case with this line.
- He wasn't too concerned with overall scale because Jakks wasn't much either with their BCA line.
- Meanie's body type was inspired by Series 6 Mark Henry.
- He's pretty sure that they're never going to reuse any heads in the Bone Crushing Wrestlers line.
- With the Wrestling Megastars line doing several repaints already, he can see there being another BCW Meanie at some point.
- As far as he's been told, and seen with his own two eyes, the bodies will be hard plastic and the limbs will be rubber, just like the BCAs.
- He wants to say the heads are fixed and that the five points of articulation consist of two arms, two legs, and the waist.
- He doesn't know if he's allowed to say, but he thinks that Series 1 will have six names total. He's drawn at least six, that's for sure.
- Regarding the '99 ToyFare Jakks wishlist article - He says there are definitely some interesting names on there that might be worth looking at.
- One of the first things they talked about was reusing parts. They want to, and they want it to be fairly obvious, similar to Jakks.
- They want to give it that feel of the original Jakks line and how much they would reuse parts. If a part works, they're gonna reuse it.
- Pablo said if there's an iconic accessory that a wrestler cannot live without, it's probably going to be a part of this line.
- Matty said he based Clark on a Series 6 Owen Hart singlet body with Billy Gunn arms.
- He'll look on FC's database and use Photoshop to piece together what he considers figure mockups, and he thinks they've turned out really great.
- The finished product for Clark is said to look better than what his initial drawings even were.
