Wrestling Toys (Mattel WWE, Jazwares AEW, etc.)

The body and gear look quite nice, for sure. Definitely not as big a fan of the head.
 
I could live with it. We getting a DX Hunter anytime soon?
Closest we've come recently was one in the Monday Night Wars line a couple years back, but it was an update of a 2018 figure with a head that...well, let's just say that it's not up to their 2026 scanning quality. They keep coming close to the era these days but doing stuff just before and after it. We had the Curtain Call and Summerslam 2002 HHHs last year, the Summerslam 1999 one just hit, and I think the next one in the Legends line is a 2003ish one with the blue trunks and the World Heavyweight Championship belt.
 
Target put up their WWE preorders around 3am eastern. I missed Austin's LJN. I've been up since 4:30, but who knew 🤷

Do you know how many whiny complaints I've heard over the years from west coasters because Target preorders are up at 6 am in their time zone?

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Just thought of something, this was almost like a Tokyo time preorder drop than St. Paul, MN
 
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I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but I really did not know the LJN-style stuff was that popular.
 
There's just too many other figures, WWE or otherwise. Had to pass on the SF.
I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but I really did not know the LJN-style stuff was that popular.

They got me when I saw them on the pegs. Jakks and Jazwares have done some LJN, but I don't think they were as well received. They were okay, but had the disadvantage of being a smaller scale than the original LJNs.

The first two or three waves of LJN were a big deal when I was a kid. There wasn't much you could do with them play wise, other than bash them together. There were two things I used to hate. Some poses were difficult to work with. I preferred guys like Andre, Studd, or Tito. They had a better grappler or ready to fight pose. Then LJN would put shirts on guys that didn't necessarily need them, like Don Muraco or Nikolai. The paint started to rub off on my Piper's shirt, so I figured I might as well go all the way and peel it completely off.
 
The first two or three waves of LJN were a big deal when I was a kid.
I had a few LJNs as a kid, but I quickly transitioned to the Hasbro figures. And I can't say I -really- cared about wrestling toys until BONE CRUNCHING ACTION! happened.
 
I had a few LJNs as a kid, but I quickly transitioned to the Hasbro figures. And I can't say I -really- cared about wrestling toys until BONE CRUNCHING ACTION! happened.
My brother had a few Hasbro figures, but those were released in the gap when I wasn't collecting figures. I was in high school at the time. I have a nice little loose collection of them now. The Bone Crunchers started up about a year or two after I got back into figures and seemed to appear out of nowhere. I didn't know about them until I saw them on the pegs.
 
The Bone Crunchers started up about a year or two after I got back into figures and seemed to appear out of nowhere. I didn't know about them until I saw them on the pegs.
I was in my early teens when those first came out and I have no problem admitting I went to town having battles between British Bulldog and Shawn Michaels. Despite really not being great action figures, and no real sense of scale whatsoever, and odd choices in general, I have a massive soft spot for that line.
 
I think LJN style having kind of an ecosystem among boutique wrestling figure companies has been massive for the format. I'm not super interested in LJNs, they're before my time (although I have the old ring! Got it at a garage sale as a kid), but I get the appeal. I could see myself getting one of a women's roster name, like it wouldn't surprise me if they made a Rhea in that style.

What's most interesting is that seemingly every wrestling figure era's defining style has an ecosystem now, too. Bone Crunchers coming back is wild.

I saw the WWE Street Fighter Reyu and WarBlanka at Walmart a couple days ago. Cool figures! WWE mashup figures generally work pretty well, the MOTUs were crazy fun. I'm picking up the Cammy Belair whenever she shows up, I think.
 
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