Slammers series 2

[Next Manufactured’s Sweater]

The character selection confuses me... Kane didn't debut until (hours) after Brian Pillman died. How did they come to be in the same series? And when did that series hit retail? I'm wondering if the set was already in production before Badd Blood, Jakks probably saw the Kane costume a while before he debuted.

[Chicago]

Badd Blood: In Your House was held in early October 1997.

As you're well aware, Brian Pillman was found dead before the night began, and Kane made his debut before the night was over.

Slammers Series 2 was released to nearly all stores by August of 1998. Some stores received early shipments in late June and throughout July, or about 9 to 10 months after the PPV had occurred.

It is a very strange timeline, to say the least. Kane was obviously a top priority for Jakks at the time, but his debut 6" figure would not have been possible until post-WrestleMania season at the earliest. I can only imagine delays in production are what caused him to linger until the end of summer.

I know there were rumors on the 'net dating back to December of '97 about Kane's debut Jakks figure. Many reports indicated it would be in Superstars Series 6, but again there were delays throughout the year that pushed several series back into late summer and early fall of 1998.

As a matter of fact, Jakks had plans to phase out the Superstars line entirely in favor of the Slammers Series figures. Unfortunately for them (but fortunately for the rest of us BCA collectors), sales of the Slammers line did not meet expectations and Superstars Series 6 was placed back on the schedule for a September 1998 release.

I think Jakks still had high hopes for the Slammers line at that time, hence why Kane's debut figure was of the Slammers variety (along with debuts of Dude Love, The Patriot, and Taka, as well as new sculpts for Pillman and HBK).  For the record, Slammers Series 3 would have been the exact same line-up as Superstars Series 6, except with those gaudy action features.

The reasoning for Pillman's posthumous release is likely that he signed a contract with Jakks to produce a likeness (or two) of him and, similar to the deals in place for Diesel/Razor Ramon/Bret Hart at the time of their departure, it was to be honored after so much of the work had been done.  Otherwise, I would imagine Titan Sports/WWF would have intervened and had the figures pulled from their respective series.

By the way, Taka debuted at Canadian Stampede in early July 1997. The Patriot first appeared on a mid-July 1997 episode of RAW; coincidentally, this was also the first sighting of Dude Love (or at least as depicted in his first action figure).  

[Next Manufactured’s Sweater]

Thanks for the info, chicago. So it was kind of a perfect storm of holding off certain debut figures (Kane, Patriot, Taka, Dude) to launch the Slammers line strong, the existing deal with Pillman, and HBK as a standard main-eventer to anchor the line. The timing of it fascinates me though, I wonder when they settled on those six. I guess Pillman was involved in one of the main storylines on Raw with Goldust right up until his death so it makes sense that he'd be included in lineups around that time. It just strikes me as so strange that Pillman and Kane ended up in the same set, like if they'd had Mr Kennedy or Bobby Lashley in the same series as Eddie Guerrero in the Ruthless Aggression era.

[Deleted]

I had that entire set.

Good stuff. I was so pumped for Kane to finally get his first figure.

[LaParka]

I think Brakus was rumored to be in the set as well. one of the WWE licensing guys confirmed it but he got pulled after they sent him to ECW.

[Chicago]

Jun 13, 2013 20:43:28 GMT -5 LaParka said:

I think Brakus was rumored to be in the set as well. one of the WWE licensing guys confirmed it but he got pulled after they sent him to ECW.

Brakkus went from being rumored to be in Slammers Series 2 to being outright scrapped and replaced by Taka in the span of about a week in late February 1998. That's quite an achievement lol.

Other names that I've heard mentioned include:

Marc Mero
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Owen Hart
X-Pac

However, I don't think any of those names (including Brakkus) had a realistic shot of being made. Prototypes for Slammers Series 2 were all ready for display in February at Toy Fair 1998, and the only changes made from then to the time of release were to the packaging art (as seen below).

[East Coast]

they made all of DOA and NOD......why didn't they make Los Boriquas?

[mmondrag96]

I kinda miss this line I remember as a kid looking everywhere for Kane and finally found one hiding behind some boxes at KB toys. I found one moc a few years back to remind me of that great figure.

[wrestlingfan2011]

Jun 14, 2013 23:57:02 GMT -5 East Coast said:

they made all of DOA and NOD......why didn't they make Los Boriquas?

Good question