COMING SOON

Oh boy, this is one the ones that I have been waiting to showcase even before I started this great topic many months ago A long while back I started a great vintage wrestling action figure topic because I have so much of them they needed to be separate plus wrestling always been one of My most cherished passions ever since I was little. I am still updating that topic as I speak and just a heads up, look for a big modern wrestling figure topic starting soon which it's gonna be a wild visual ride to say the least So as I said, this is one that I wanted to showcase a lot because of so many ultra cool reasons  

This is the LJN edition in My great Vintage Action Figure topic. I have decided to split this into 2 parts as both will be really massive showcases and two that are truly classics of the 80s and to collectors & fans alike. Part 1's showcase will consist of the WWF Wrestling Superstars & Part 2's presentation will feature The ThunderCats  I had taken many of these pics long ago but was holding off till I found My 2 LJN wrestling cards as they are extremely important to Me. Without them I felt this section would have been incomplete to show the fantastic memories and the overall greatness of the most classic WWF line of all-time! I do not have any ThunderCats blister cards however.

In the coming paragraphs, I will provide tons of important info to read thus becoming a crucial introduction of LJN'S history and much, much more!

So who or what is LJN LJN was one of the most iconic companies ever that was actually a video game business that made awesome action figures as well. They made many great games for all big systems like the NES, SNES & Sega Genesis including WWF wrestling games but more on that in a bit. They made Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jaws, Friday the 13th, many Marvel, Aliens and Terminators titles to only mention a few. As for their memorabilia & action figure lines, they made the likes of E.T., Gremlins, Rambo, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Photon, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune, Michael Jackson, S.W.A.T. Voltron and much more! I mean they had series galore much like Kenner & REMCO! So what happen to them? Well, MCA of all companies bought their stock and made wonders until a faulty paint-gun incident happened in 1987 and the company never recovered it's grand status. So MCA sold LJN to another video game business but this wasn't any regular game company, this was ACCLAIM in 1990 At the time and pretty much thru the 90s, ACCALIM was the most popular of all. They had some other subsidiaries like Flying Edge, Arena, Sculpted Software, Iguana and Acclaim Sports. So LJN folded in 1995 and Acclaim went under major bankruptcy in 2004 and was gone forever Many gamers tend to forget or ignore all of this history but I am not one them  :!:



So here is a personal note of Mine, when I was little, I always paid attention to the unobvious like companies, which company owned who and what movie & game was made by whom. Lots of kids and people that was older didn't think it was fun or even important but I sure did. I knew a lot including Kenner was owned by Tonka and I knew Acclaimed owned LJN and keep in mind there was no internet in the 80s and very early 90s to the general public like it is now. I paid attention to blister cards, commercials, newspapers and magazines, it was the good old fashion way of learning things outside of school and it was fun too because I learned about My favorite companies that made My favorite things! So with all of that being said, here is the things that has always got Me, if you look at LJN's first parent MCA and look at the merch they made it is a no brainer, however, Acclaim had made WWF Wrestlemania for the NES in 1989, in fact, it was released just before WWF Wrestlemania V! Acclaim didn't purchase LJN till later in 1990. I have always found it really strange that LJN was already into making WWF items and Acclaim had made a WWF video game in 1989...seems like it was destiny for LJN to join them and continue their great WWF journey for a while longer? Some might say oh it's just a coincidence and MCA found a company suitable like them but I beg the differ here and say otherwise

Here is an example of an WWF Acclaim NES game in 1989 & an WWF LJN NES game in 1990

OK, so there is the history about the companies and since that is out the window now, we are going to get to know the first of two series's that LJN made and see the figures...1 series at a time so please bear with Me here.



These are the WWF Wrestling Superstars, the most classic, most iconic and most sought after by wrestling collectors. These are must haves for any major collector IMO, even if you are not a wrestling fan or don't even know the great fun history of this great sport/business as a whole, a big time collector should at least have 1 of anyone of these figures within the entire series not only for it's unbelievable value but for the pure sake of a true 1980s collectible that represents one of the greatest aspects that the 80s and it's toys had to offer!

Here is some great vintage pics of promotional material that I have always loved to show you what grandeur that era really had 

So, not to long after "The Golden Era" had begun, during the start Vince McMahon or as I like to call him Vinnie Mac with his Titan Sports hence at the coliseum just was fresh of making the WWF from his daddy's WWWF, a more pro wrestling fed by the father to a more entertainment show by the son, (now keep in mind the majority of the public didn't know that Vinnie Mac owned the WWF till the early days of the Attitude era but I knew years before thanks to Pro Wrestling Illustrated!) The WWF was becoming larger than life and became part of one of the greatest times of the 80s and by 1984 it really rocked with Hulkmania after he left the AWA. With the WWF's first Wrestlemania and promoting other athletes, celebs & actors such as Mr. T to be a part of the main event, it was big enough right? WRONG! The WWF locked in a deal with LJN to make ultra realistic action figures of many of the main & lower card wrestlers within the roster plus managers and even certain personnel. These figures were rubber and sculpted greatly for the time. Collectors then and even to this very moment backed away from this concept due the lack of any articulation but as a kid and especially now this was never a big deal for Me, I wasn't that hard to please and I am still like that to this very moment! The scale was 8" but would vary depending on the character's size. Though many weren't real scale/real life size with each other as I prefer, the sizes are decent enough. This series ran from 1984 to 1989, from LJN's heyday to their very last day LITERATELY! When they went under, so did the line thus cancelling their entire toy division. Several of the last figures in the series are some of the most expensive and rarest figures of ever, all-time! So what happened after that for WWF figures? Well of course the WWF contracted Hasbro in very late 1989 and released their own great series of WWF figures in 1990 and why wouldn't they? Hasbro already had Sgt. Slaughter a part of their G.I. Joe series so it all made sense right? I have considered Hasbro like Acclaim when I was younger and really still think about it because if you look at their style, the products they made, the companies they took-over and so forth, their a lot alike IMO. More on the Hasbro stuff later on.

Now the thing is, if you had seen & read My LJN debacle in My Vintage Wrestling Figure topic, you'll already know that I have regretted for decades not taking care of My figures and not being more serious about them when I was a little boy. I didn't wise up till I was about 8 in 1989 about how great these figures are not to mention how fun pro wrestling was in general. I loved wrestling since then and never, ever stopped! With with that out the door, I only have a handful of LJN WWF figures. So here they are with My commentary and special galleries!

The Iron Shiek: This legendary wrestler was My FIRST LJN WRESTLER EVER! My Grandma got Me him at Schnucks of all places but more on that later! Oh I loved that place and that neighborhood. I remember I was a foolish, dum@$$ kid then because I wasn't sure if I wanted him or not because of whatever stupid reason it was...I look back at that moment and I'm like, dude, I can't believe I was like that, this is not how I should be and I got change My ways about this stuff and quick too! Ranting over, his sculpting is great and his physique is great as well. This has always been My favorite ring attire for the Iron Sheik, the fact of the matter is, he hardly wore it yet LJN made this version and I'm glad of it! Oh, on his head, is My bite marks when I was really young, yeah, I know, I was a stupid 3/4 year old brat in 1984 The Iron Sheik is still active today!



The Junk Yard Dog: My Mom got Me him at K-B Toys but more on that later. This JYD (R.I.P.) is a great figure. His body and likeness is spot on for the era. He has always been one of My favorite wrestling figures of all from any series & era. Unfortunately I have misplaced his dog collar & chain

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Hulk Hogan vs. Big John Studd Thumb Wrestlers: I believe My Mom got Me them at Toy Chest across the street from Toys''R''Us. I played the heck outta these guys and its a shame I did and didn't take care of them. The bodies' and likenesses are fairly well done.




Now here is this, I had a long hiatus from not getting any LJN figures because of My foolish ways, I wised up as I saw an ad in Pro Wrestling Illustrated with so many great ones to order. So I asked My Grandma to get them for Me, I mean there was Ax of Demolition, Captain Lou Albano, White Shirt version of Hulk Hogan, Ted Arcidi, The Ultimate Warrior, The Warlord, The One Man Gang and Miss Elizabeth among others. Here is the two ads that was in the magazines I digged...look at the fun & coolness, I miss those timeless days and I want them back




So she order Me what she could but we got the mail back and the bad news was they were completely out of stock never to get them back in and that was that, My time of getting more LJN WWF figures was over. Oh but wait, a few years later I say 1992/1993 Me at My Grandma went down the neighborhood looking at yard sales as We used to do because you never know what you'll find! I was like HOLY CRAP! They got WWF LJN!!!!!!! So she got'em for Me and here is whom they had!

Hillbilly Jim: He didn't have his hat but he was in fair condition. LJN made him really nice with a great likeness.



"The Immortal" Hulk Hogan: He was also in good condition but was missing his world championship title belt. I was really lucky that they had him. The likeness is great and every wrestling collections need at least one figure of Hulk Hogan!



"Macho Man" Randy Savage: Another surprise, they had The Macho Man! He was in fair condition. Like Hogan, any wrestling collection needs at least 1 Randy Savage!



Bendable Hillbilly Jim: This was a treat for Me because back then I didn't even know that LJN made bendable figures for the series He is basically the same mold as the much larger regular figure and he is in great condition!

OK, here we go further into the future  :shock:

16" Hulk Hogan: Back in the mid 2000s, I was really heavy thinkin' about how I wanted the old
wrestling days back then so I got to thinkin' about how mad I was at Myself about the LJN era that I didn't do better about it. So, I didn't have a ton of money to start the collection up again so I wanted something from the line that I wanted before that would satisfy My impulse for the time being. So, on eBay, I found a decent version of the giant, 16" tall Hulk Hogan, a figure that eluded Me since I was a little boy. He was in great shape, had his shirt and even his WWF Championship! His paint & title was worn a bit and the shirt was a bit loose but I didn't care, I wanted him. I think he cost Me around $60 bucks, it may have been a bit lower or even a bit higher, whatever the case was he was worth it  So, I asked My Grandma to see if she could touch him up for Me since she was still into hobby stuff (because I'm not good at that sort of thing at all) so she did and she did a terrific job at it. She painted his hair, eyebrows, mustache, head band, wrist tape, trunks, knee-pads and boots. She also painted the WWF title which I just love how she did it! She also put Velcro on his shirt as well. OK, take a look at the pics that I took as he is really special to Me...oh and keep in the mind, the classic book he is next too is about 14" to 15" tall!








Ah, Hogan lookin' at himself in one of My favorite wrestling books of all time. Look for a possible showcase of it in the near future!



I decided to do this, I wasn't going to because I wanted it to be a BIG SURPRISE but I'm gonna spoil it with a rather large hint if you will...here is 1985's 16" LJN Hulkster compared to 1997's 14" Playmates' The Undertaker Yes, this is the same Playmates that makes the fun TMNT, back in 97 the had a very brief series of WWF figures of the last days of the 'New Generation" that were kinda on the strange side to be honest but they became one My faves among all of My wrestling figures. I have the entire collection and will showcase them in time. Oh and by the way, this was the first figure of The Phenom to fully detail his tattoos and he is electronic as well  

SPECIAL GALLERY!

The BLISTER CARDS! These are the babies that halted Me posting these wonderful history making figures for many months! It took Me a long time to find them is putting that very mildly to say the least Their the only two that I have and thank goodness I kept them in good shape. Here is a nice detailed look at their classic beauty from the front!



Here is the back of The Iron Sheiks' card, see his cool bio and the figures in the series! I had always like the Andre the Giant with the Afro style hair but never got him. Looking at the pic has so much meaning and history, its so remarkable!




Here is the JYD's card, he has a really god bio and you can tell he he came out later as there is many more superstars on the back, I would have loved that Jesse "The Body" Ventura & King Kong Bundy! Yes, they had a special point system and mail-aways and look at that year!





The Price tags! Oh yes, I always look at old prices tags. Young collectors today has no clue how cool that was back then. The Iron Sheik was $7.99 @ Schnucks while JYD was only $6.99 at Kay-Bee! These guys were so cheap then, I miss it when you got great figures with decent blister cards and you didn't feel like you were buying the packaging and you felt that you got something special really worth more than what you paid for because it had meaning unlike today's offerings on the market IMO with theses insane prices where you are just basically paying for the packing and figures or even toy lines that has been produced by several different companies over the past 2 decades...I'm sorry but IMO it's just not the same anymore To think that these guys were that cheap, now their nearly worth gold on the secondary & third marketplaces...that's how special this WWF Series is



Copyrights!









My FIRST 2 LJN Wrestlers!



Hogan & Macho!



Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik!



Thumb wrestler Hogan vs. G.I. Joe's Sgt Slaughter (previously seen):



LJN Group Shot!



LJN Size Comparison: Here is Bendable Hillbilly Jim & JYD compared to G.I. Joe's previously presented in My topic The "Fridge" Perry (special appearance @ Wrestlemania 2) and  Sgt. Slaughter (former WWF Champion)!

SPECIAL BONUS SHOWCASE SECTION

Andre the Giant by HG Toys: Here is an interesting story. I was on the hunt for WWF Hasbro figures
at Toy Chest, a big rival of Toys "R" Us at the time as they were right across the street from them! Anyway, this Andre the Giant Zipper Clip was in the wrestling figure isle loose, on the floor!! So I took it! Its the only time I ever saw this kind of figure in person. Well, finder's keepers The odd situation is, this particular figure was during the time of the LJN's meaning since they stopped selling these years prior to when I found him in 1990 As I said previously, I had wanted the Afro-haired Andre and while this isn't that version, he still has all of that bushy hair so at least I got some kind of version like that of him then

NOTE: I do have the recent Super7 "Afro-haired" Andre figure that I will showcase in time



LJN vs. Hasbro!

As had mentioned earlier, after LJN was out of the picture and picked up by Acclaim, the WWF wasted no time at getting another company to make figures of their great talented roster and that was of course Hasbro and it seemed like the most obvious choice cause I had mentioned previously they already had Sgt. Slaughter a part of their G.I. Joe series so why wouldn't you sign them? The series would last from 1990 to 1994/1995 and would consist of most of the wrestling talent from the WWF's "Golden Era" to the early days of the WWF's "New Generation"! These would lack that classic toy feel that LJN had because these were plastic and had action features but they looked very realistic and were still amongst some of the most cherished and talked about action figure lines of the 90s never to be duplicated ever and became as famous & sought after as the WWF Wrestling Superstars series by LJN! Here is LJN Hulk Hogan from 1984 compared to Hasbro's Hulk Hogan version #2 from 1990...take a gander at that difference!



A while back I had greatly showcased My entire WCW/World Championship Wrestling OSTM/Original San Francisco Toymakers collection that I may represent here once I get to the 90s. You can check out that awesome topic that I made as I featured many great vintage wrestling figures including My entire collection of My WCW figures by Galoob!

I have been thinking about it a lot lately and thought that is was really necessary. I decided to get out My LJNs as I felt I couldn't ignore these wonderful pieces of action figure goodness! I wanted to compare the WWF LJN figures with the WCW OSTM. Earlier in My VWFT, I was talking about how I believe that these figures were made and designed as a inspiration of those great classics of the 80s. I mean let's face it, they were the first true realistic wrestling figures in that era and still to this day are regarded as the most desired wrestling figures by collectors of that genre. IMO, any collector should want at least one of them whether or not they're a wrestling fan or even know whom they are simply because of the value point factor and the great classic/vintage history of them as a whole!

Here they are, it's 80s vs 90s, LJN Hulk Hogan & "Macho Man" Randy Savage compared to the OSTM Hulk Hogan & "Macho Man" Randy Savage




The figures compared to one-another from both decades are clearly different scales altogether but now the important aspect for Me as you know is the scale and real heights issue. As realistic as the LJNs were at the time (heck, they still are), some wrestlers were larger than others that were the opposite in real life. Macho is actually bigger than Hogan were it differs significantly with the OSTM versions of these wrestling icons. I am always for accurate sizes over everybody being the same height and size. Another factor is the feel of these guys, these LJNs very rubbery as I have mentioned previously. The OSTM Hulkster is also but of a tighter rubber but still feels good however, the Savage version is really of a much harder materiel. Here they are together!



One thing I have always said to Myself, I would ever win the lottery and be rich, I would get so much action figures that I missed out on decades ago when things were historic and I would try My hardest effort to get the entire collection of WWF LJN Wrestling Superstars including the ring...believe Me, I would do this within an instant

So that is the conclusion of the LJN WWF Wrestling Superstars. that was a lot of work but man-o-man it was a ball to do though I hope you have enjoyed this part learned some history about LJN:)  Comments & questions please. Next up will be part 2 of My LJN showcase and that will be My ThunderCats collection!. Until then I'll see you around

So here is My LJN PART 2: ThunderCats. If you missed My ULTRA DELUXE WWF Wrestling Superstars which was one of My best showcases & write ups EVER you can go back to Part 1 within this great topic of Mine.



The ThunderCats, I loved them but I wasn't as faithful to the cartoon series as I was to He-Man & The Masters of the Universe & She-Ra: Princess of Power however and there was others that I liked as well, some that I have already featured within this topic + others that i have yet to show here.

I wrote the entire history of LJN, if you missed it, then just back to Part 1, it's that simple. The toy series came out in 1985. To save time & effort, if you are unfamiliar with it THEN CLICK HERE FOR THE WIKI PAGE!

Anyway, here is My collection. My Grandparents got Me some of them at Target and lucky enough to get some at a yard sale. They are in 7" scale, not complete and has scuff marks and stuff as usual. I do not have the whole collection. Not much commentary with this one. Here they are.

The ThunderCats

Lion-O: I still have the Power Ring, you put it on his back and his eyes lite up (not featured).




Panthro



Cheetara & Tygra





Snarf & Wilykat



Hachiman & Tuska Warrior




Antagonists: Ancient Spirits of Evil and Mutants

Mumm-Ra




Slithe



Monkian