Initially I was just going to do a wrap up of the Mattel WWE Flashback Toy Fair offerings, but with Mattel having a big showing at the Las Vegas Super ToyCon I figured it made more sense to wait. And boy was that the correct decision.
Let’s start off with the Toy Fair reveals:
Flashback Build a Heartbreak Hotel Set
This set was an interesting one as it sticks with major players from the New Generation Era with some curious attire choices. The Build-A-SummerSlam set was pretty much a bonus as Syxx, Mean Gean Okerlund, and at least USA Ultimate Warrior were highly demanded figures.
For this set, Mattel seems to be banking on the set selling the figures. The Razor Ramon is an interesting choice as Mattel hasn’t done a lot of promo/vignette style figures. It’s a novelty choice set even before he appeared in WWF rings. That decision is even odder considering the Wrestlemania X Shawn Michaels figure that’s also in this set.
This is Michaels look from the match that made him a superstar so I get its importance, but this seemed like a great opportunity for a different portrayal of HBK like his white tiger-striped attire and bearded look from late ’94. Mattel’s latest Diesel figure would complement that version well and that was when the New Generation was really getting good.
Alundra Blaze was a figure that seemed to just be waiting a placement. This is a good enough figure although there’s not a lot of ’90s NG females to match her up against. Like a lot of ’90s WCW fans, I’m planning to quickly convert this to a Dangerous Alliance Medusa.
Doink the Clown fills that Yokozuna needless variant slot. Another 123 Kid, Lex Luger or New Generation long haired British Bulldog would have made for more necessary variants than Doink. He comes with the Christmas Story style lamp shade, which is too cheesy to skip, but he’s the least exciting member of this set for sure.
Mattel continued its odd fascination with Andre the Giant with a new yellow tights Wrestlemania 2 version that also includes a Giant Machine mask and singlet. I liked the Machines enough, but not at the expense of messing up the yellow tights look. And I really hope Mattel has worked through all of its Andre wish list. At least this one has new throttling hands, which would be perfect if we had a Bob Uecker figure.
Next up is the latest Epic Moments set featuring Milk-A-Mania. Originally announced as a two-pack, it now appears it will include Kurt Angle, Stephanie McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The WCW cloth shirt is cool if not a cruel reminder of how badly WWE handled the greatest storyline ever.
Mattel has since said the Angle had an incorrect shirt on. I like the spraying milk cans a la Stone Cold. I don’t remember them ever doing that with Stone Cold, which seems like an obvious excuse for a new Stone Cold figure.
The Stephanie head sculpt looks great and makes me think she was done using Mattel’s new head sculpt technique. The shorts don’t look as good though as her thighs are wider than the painted shorts area. I’m glad Mattel hasn’t been shy about cranking out the Kurt Angle figures and with different head sculpts. This yelling one will be great for Ankle Lock poses.
The package is great too as it actually makes up a milk truck. None of these figures are essential, but it’s the kind of wacky thing I want to support so Mattel can get creative with other big packs.
Speaking of Angle, Mattel is also releasing a new one in Elite 59. This is based on his WrestleMania 19 match against Brock Lesnar. Mattel seemed to learn its lesson from Hulk Hogan and quickly got Angle’s two major looks in his first two Elite releases. Now they can go nuts with any other kind of wacky variant they want. See, Mattel? It’s not that hard to make us happy.
The other big reveals were the Retrofest figures. These look to be another variant line if the Rockers Shawn Michaels and Macho Man figure are any indication.
With Marty Jannetty not being on good terms with the WWE for the moment this Shawn figure is likely going to get scooped up twice by folks who already have the first Marty figure. I like the top portion, but Mattel hasn’t managed to get fringes on costumes right besides the Diesel figures. And the boot cuffs look really weird here.
I’m hoping we see a lot more of these RetroFest figures. This seems a great avenue to get more Flashbacks who just need a quick palette swap like Jake the Snake, Ricky Steamboat, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Mr. Perfect.
Super ToyCon had some nice surprises as well. The major shocker was the Red Rooster figure. It was an awful gimmick for poor Terry Taylor, but this is an essential figure to further flesh out multiple Survivor Series teams. And I’m never gonna complain about adding more members of the Heenan Family. Now let’s bring on The Brooklyn Brawler. Rooster is going to be a Toys R Us exclusive, which is encouraging in that both Hasbro and Mattel are continuing to crank out exclusives for TRU despite their challenging financial status.
We also got a look at WCW champ version Ron Simmons and a new Edge, which still needs a better head sculpt. Simmons uses a small buck, which hopefully can get fixed before it arrives in stores as part of the next Hall of Champions series at Target.
https://twitter.com/BillMiekina/status/967623794423574528
Mattel also revealed that they’re now going to start doing more multiple heads and hands with figures, which we saw with the Matt Hardy V1 figure, which comes with two shirts and hands. Mattel has been a lot slower than other companies with multiple heads, etc, but I’m glad we’re finally getting them.
With all these new avenues to crank out figures, Mattel really is setting us up for a nice 2018. I’m sure they’ll be a few more surprises — hopefully involving more 80s to mid 90s stars from both WWF and NWA/WCW. Which star were you really hoping to see but didn’t and which reveal surprised you the most?
