Post by WalterF on Dec 11, 2007 23:12:18 GMT -5
Hey guys. I used to write a column called The Chairshot back for Pearson back in the AFR days and I loved writing reviews so now and then I'll put some figure reviews here. I have a vast collection of figures, many old TTL's, BCA's and so on and I will pull out a pack or two a now and again "From The Vault" to show pics of and review.
KING OF THE IRON RUNGS Jakks 4-pack featuring Stone Cold, Bret Hart, Ahmed Johnson and a WWF referee
Review: I used to love these packs. Jakks released quite a few packs in late 96 and 97 in uniform silver packaging with limited edition written on them. There was a similarly packaged RAW is WAR pack, Triple Threat pack and Survivor Series pack. I believe I bought this from a scalper in late 1997, shortly after it was released. The figures were some of the best and most wanted for the time period.
Stone Cold: This was one of the first Austin's released w/ the 3:16 shirt (I believe the other was Sig Series 1). It was very cool and a lot of people were wanting Austin in this attire at the time since he wore it performing a lot of memorable stunts on RAW. The headsculpt was the same sculpt from Superstars Series 5 (his first ever WWE fig) and was a good sculpt. For the attire, this fig was pretty perfect.
Bret Hart: I loved this Bret figure. It is definitely the most detailed BCA version of him released. He had a new headmold w/o sunglasses and never before released ring attire (based on WWF Final Four: IYH) which they did a great job on. Great all around figure for a BCA and my favorite they did of Bret. I still wish they would release Bret in this attire for a CS release.
Ahmed Johnson: This was the only kind of uneventful fig in the set. It was the same Ahmed BCA that had been previously released a few times. Ring attire, he had his own parts which was awesome.. Back in these days, JAKKS did a lot more of giving specific wrestlers their own molds from head-to-toe.
WWF ref: This was a cool figure. This came out around the same time as the WWF Ringside Series which also featured a single-packed version of this same figure. Even though it had another release, it was still cool to get another ref because at the time, this is when JAKKS first started to make figures of non-wrestlers and it was a big deal. A WWE Ringside series is something I wish JAKKS would re-do today.
The pack also featured the first ever JAKKS ladder. It was kind of strange. It was very short and had an odd platform in the middle, but was awesome. At this point, weapons were unheard of w/ wrestling figures. I believe this was the first weapon JAKKS ever released and if its not it would be close to the first (around this period JAKKS first started giving some figs steel chairs).
BADD BLOOD Jakks 4-pack w/ Undertaker, Kane, Paul Bearer and Stone Cold
Review: This 4-pack was pretty cool and unique for the time. Kane had debuted a few months before its release so his feud w/ Taker was hot and Austin was hot so it was a popular release. All of the four packs were super hard to find back in these days.
Kane: Great figure. Basic figure of his debut attire with custom-made just for Kane figure parts head to toe. I miss this alot. Everything was made just for the Kane figure and it looked great.
Undertaker: Very unique figure and the only one of Taker made this way. The figure was the same BCA Taker fig that had been released several times prior except with a bunch of extra detail. The prior figures of this Taker mold had no tatoos and this had very detailed tats. Also, they did some crazy paint job on his face that made him look like a zombie. It didn't neccessarily make sense, but was awesome and a one-of-a-kind Taker fig.
Paul Bearer: Another one of a kind fig. This the only Paul Bearer fig to my knowledge that was released w/o make-up and his natural hair color. A repaint if the Ringside series, but very cool.
SCSA: Pretty near figure. It's one of the first JAKKS released with the soft plastic vests and logo's, etc on it are pretty spot on for Austin during that time. The rest of the figure was a typical BCA Austin fig that had been released several times except they used the Ken Shamrock leg mold which to me detracted from it. I wish they would have just taken the Superstars Series 5 Austin mold and put the vest on it.
Anyway, guys ... hope you dug it and got some little tidbits of info about figures most of you never heard of before or figs you forgot about. These figs I got when I was a little kid and some of my favorite memories are getting these figs. Let me know what ya think and if I should keep this up every week or every other week or so.
KING OF THE IRON RUNGS Jakks 4-pack featuring Stone Cold, Bret Hart, Ahmed Johnson and a WWF referee
Review: I used to love these packs. Jakks released quite a few packs in late 96 and 97 in uniform silver packaging with limited edition written on them. There was a similarly packaged RAW is WAR pack, Triple Threat pack and Survivor Series pack. I believe I bought this from a scalper in late 1997, shortly after it was released. The figures were some of the best and most wanted for the time period.
Stone Cold: This was one of the first Austin's released w/ the 3:16 shirt (I believe the other was Sig Series 1). It was very cool and a lot of people were wanting Austin in this attire at the time since he wore it performing a lot of memorable stunts on RAW. The headsculpt was the same sculpt from Superstars Series 5 (his first ever WWE fig) and was a good sculpt. For the attire, this fig was pretty perfect.
Bret Hart: I loved this Bret figure. It is definitely the most detailed BCA version of him released. He had a new headmold w/o sunglasses and never before released ring attire (based on WWF Final Four: IYH) which they did a great job on. Great all around figure for a BCA and my favorite they did of Bret. I still wish they would release Bret in this attire for a CS release.
Ahmed Johnson: This was the only kind of uneventful fig in the set. It was the same Ahmed BCA that had been previously released a few times. Ring attire, he had his own parts which was awesome.. Back in these days, JAKKS did a lot more of giving specific wrestlers their own molds from head-to-toe.
WWF ref: This was a cool figure. This came out around the same time as the WWF Ringside Series which also featured a single-packed version of this same figure. Even though it had another release, it was still cool to get another ref because at the time, this is when JAKKS first started to make figures of non-wrestlers and it was a big deal. A WWE Ringside series is something I wish JAKKS would re-do today.
The pack also featured the first ever JAKKS ladder. It was kind of strange. It was very short and had an odd platform in the middle, but was awesome. At this point, weapons were unheard of w/ wrestling figures. I believe this was the first weapon JAKKS ever released and if its not it would be close to the first (around this period JAKKS first started giving some figs steel chairs).
BADD BLOOD Jakks 4-pack w/ Undertaker, Kane, Paul Bearer and Stone Cold
Review: This 4-pack was pretty cool and unique for the time. Kane had debuted a few months before its release so his feud w/ Taker was hot and Austin was hot so it was a popular release. All of the four packs were super hard to find back in these days.
Kane: Great figure. Basic figure of his debut attire with custom-made just for Kane figure parts head to toe. I miss this alot. Everything was made just for the Kane figure and it looked great.
Undertaker: Very unique figure and the only one of Taker made this way. The figure was the same BCA Taker fig that had been released several times prior except with a bunch of extra detail. The prior figures of this Taker mold had no tatoos and this had very detailed tats. Also, they did some crazy paint job on his face that made him look like a zombie. It didn't neccessarily make sense, but was awesome and a one-of-a-kind Taker fig.
Paul Bearer: Another one of a kind fig. This the only Paul Bearer fig to my knowledge that was released w/o make-up and his natural hair color. A repaint if the Ringside series, but very cool.
SCSA: Pretty near figure. It's one of the first JAKKS released with the soft plastic vests and logo's, etc on it are pretty spot on for Austin during that time. The rest of the figure was a typical BCA Austin fig that had been released several times except they used the Ken Shamrock leg mold which to me detracted from it. I wish they would have just taken the Superstars Series 5 Austin mold and put the vest on it.
Anyway, guys ... hope you dug it and got some little tidbits of info about figures most of you never heard of before or figs you forgot about. These figs I got when I was a little kid and some of my favorite memories are getting these figs. Let me know what ya think and if I should keep this up every week or every other week or so.