Rebuilding my collection again....for the Third time

[MonsoonMan]

Happy Figure Friday y'all! wow! its already another figure friday!

ive been slowing down on the in store purchases and thus have been ramping up on ebay purchases 🤣 📈 i dont know what im gonna do with all these figures, maybe start a museum? anyways i ended up turning to ebay for the chase DDP and Sandman figures i had been hunting for; i just wasnt having any luck with those figures locally.
i got my great khali all built up and am somewhat underwhelmed? stay tuned in a few for the review on that guy. gotten a few older CM Punk figures in for a favorable price even though i know mattel is gonna be sprinkling those figures in the GH line(at least they should be??).
got my Dudley Boyz pack in!! very excited about those guys; YES they are tall

however coming in today..........




Elite Series 71
John Cena

Cant Quite Seee who it is today……oh wait yeah its JOHNNNNNNNNNN CEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA That’s right coming in today is mr fruity pebbles himself John Cena. After seeing the main event version of this figure kicking around from store to store I found a great deal on this figure loose but complete on ebay, so I bit. This John is sporting his lime green Never Give Up / HLR gear, but with newer longer parted hairstyle. The headsculpt captures john in that classic Cena smile and the likeness is spot on in the sculpting from every angle. The hat doesn’t REALLY fit on the head too gracefully but I sacrificed a Main event figure and am using it for an interchangebale head on this figure. John was given his signature dog tags and softgoods lime green HLR Respect tee; the shirt looks great, but IMO it fits the figure a little tight, John was never a skintight shirt guy he always seemed to size up by one or two sizes on his tees for a comfy fit. Underneath the entrance gear, they gave John the modern ’cena’ style torso and painted on some lime green wristbands and armband. The wristbands on his right arm feature ‘U cant C Me’ logos while the left arm wristband feature his “ok HLR” logo—which apparently is banned in this day and age due to politics. His left arm armband is also green and features the “Never Give Up” logo. Finishing up this figure are some dark blue jorts with a light blue belt, sculpted kneepads and some blue/white/black sneakers.
All in all this is a pretty great cena figure. My only main complaints are the painted on wristbands, but I can only complain as the modern cena figures now have sculpted wristbands. The hat, as I mentioned doesn’t quite fit the figure with the new hair sculpt, but I guess that was the draw of this figure as it was a drastic aesthetic change for john. I mentioned that I bought and sacrificed a new John cena Main event figure in an effort to sort of upgrade this john by giving him those sculpted wristbands and an interchangeable hat head. It gets the job done im sure that since I put so much effort into this mattel is gonna pop this figure in the greatest hit line now.

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in today with a YOU SUCK Sunday!!⭐🏅





Network Spotlight 3
Kurt Angle

Retiring against Baron Corbin today is the True American Hero, Kurt Angle. Ive had this figure on my radar for the longest time, it just seems like MOC prices for this figure are just over the line of what I would be willing to pay, so I gave up on that and I scooped this figure up in a loose auction but seemingly in mint condition. As mentioned, this Kurt comes to us from Wrestlemania 35 where he faced Baron Corbin in his final match. That being said Kurt comes to the ring wearing a red sleeveless shirt with “You Suck / Thank You” “Farewell Match” logos on the front and back and a star spangled gold medal for entrance gear. I don’t have too much to say about the rubber shirt; by default I hate it but the logos and paint apps look fine. The headsculpt on this figure looks great, it captures Kurt in a positive smiling, smirking expression and the likeness in the sculpting is spot on. Kurt came to the ring wearing a symbolic half black, half American flag decorated singlet. The singlet features a red stripe going down the left side that features a blue “Kurt Angle” logo—the paint apps on my figure got funky and it reads “KURTRT ANGGLE”. Finishing up this figure are some small black kneepads with red detailing and some short dark blue shooter sneakers. For accessories, mattel included interchangeable pointing hands.
All in all this is a great ring gear kurt angle. Im glad that mattel didn’t change his body recipe for his modern figures as this kurt could really pass for a wrestling machine era kurt aswell. This figure looks great with the red wwe title and it really is crazy to think how far Kurt was from the championship at the time compared to Lesnar. Having reviewed a bunch of figures with double jointed arms up to this point, I really wish this figure had been provided them as the poseability is really lacking. Also---does anyone else remember a couple of boxes of this series being found at a random New Jersey toy store recently and they were selling the figures for like $10 a piece? Oh its true its true.

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in today with a Trish Stratus thursday and beginning the reviews of the figures i purchased from Elite Series 111




Elite Series 111
Trish Stratus


Stratusfying in today is the women whose back the division was built upon; TRISH stratus! This figure comes to us depicting Trish in her appearance at Money in the Bank 2023! That being said this figure comes decked out in some really cool entrance gear; Mattel gave Trish her black cowboy hat with silver studded band and a softgoods black lace coat with black fur on the sleeves and collar. The hat only looks a little strange if you look at it from above, but from every other angle it looks great and natural on the figure. The jack also looks really good and and fits the figure great! underneath that gear they also gave a trish a new neadsculpt that sees a modern era trish stratus in a confident—somewhat neutral expression and its pretty good I do like it compared to previous elite trish heads. I think the sculpting is spot on with this figure is just the paint apps need some fine tuning. Going down this figure, trish is wearing a black/silver and mesh style outfit. The top is a sleeveless v cut top with some black and silver shoulder pads and a back “Thank You Trish” logo in white and silver. Trish is coming to the ring wearing some black wristbands with a diamond pattern design. There are some sculpted details for the outfit present on her hips and then the legs have some silver designs and the transition to Mattel’s attempt to produce mesh within the paint apps on the front of her thighs. Finishing up this figure are some (still) basic articulation black kickpads.
All in all this is a great modern era Trish elite figure. Her last Basic figure that was paired with Lita was a great enough modern recreation of her but I think this one tops that. The sculpting details in the headsculpt provide a true portrayal of trish’s likeness and the body recipe and outfit details are pretty spot on. I wish they updated the womens figure legs by now but I guess its still a WIP for them. I cant say that this is my favorite era of trish, I still wish that they could dial in that T&A era Trish, attitude era or raw womens champ trish but atleast we’re steering in the right direction for her likeness. I will say that despite my personal desire for a certain era of Trish’s career in figure form, this is still a SOLID figure and a great offering to have Trish in our collection!

[MonsoonMan]

happy Figure Friday y'all



Elite Series 111
Sandman

EXIT LIGHT!!!! ENTER NIGHT!!!!!! Smashing beer cans against his head and swinging a Singapore cane wildly today is the SANDMAN! I was level 11 hype for this figure I am a huge sandman fan. Back in the day I had commissioned my guy classicdas to make me a sandman from his ladder match against sabu and it turned out amazing, LETS SEE HOW MATTEL DID! This figure comes to us portraying Sandman in a lip rearing defiant, disgusted expression and I do see the likeness to sandman however its not necessarily a photorealistic interpretation of his likeness. This Sandman was loaded up with accessories for entrance gear I will say; he comes with a handful of his classic beer cans for entrance debauchery, barbed wire to wrap around himself and a Singapore cane. Everything looks good and scales well with this figure. The barbed wire is literally just a rubber strand that can be unwrapped from the figure quite easily. Mattel gave sandman a softgoods shirt for gear—this figure was treated to a white shirt that features a black ECW logo—I wish they would have done a cool design from the past but given that they probably have no access to licensing to those designs I completely get it. underneath that they gave this figure the elite ‘sgt slaughter/mick foley’ torso which is wearing a singlet top and has a bit of a barrel belly. Its whatever I guess I don’t know that sandman ever wore a singlet top like that under his gear? But it aids in the beer belly look that he was sporting for the entirety of his career. The chase figure features a red top while the standard figure is white. Finishing up this figure are some patterned sweatpants; the standard figure is sporting some white and black sweatpants with various skull designs placed throughout. The chase figure is wearing some brilliant American flag patterned pants we saw Sandman wear at Ecw’s Three Way Dance. Finally mattel opted to include Sandman’s stylish reebok sneakers.
All in all as I mentioned I was incredibly excited for the mattel Sandman figure and it honestly delivered in my eyes. The headsculpt is good enough to know who it is and how he feels; the body recipe and sculpt is good—I don’t think I have too many complaints with that. I will say that the bogus sneaker mold made the figure hard to pose, but beyond that I really enjoyed this figure and am looking forward to more mattel Sandman figures to fill out the timeline; I already have hardcore hak pre ordered

[MonsoonMan]

Happy Superstar Saturday

this week was full of ADULTING. out on a business trip but literally no figures on the pegs except for hordes of Top Picks Roman Reigns and AEW figures that are 10 years old at this point. what happens to the figure that NEVER sell? do they get clearanced to pennies? sent from warehouse to warehouse until they end up at toys for tots? burned in an incinerator? im genuinely curious.


wrapping up my reviews of Elite 111 today :





Elite Series 111
Cody Rhodes


Conquering the Beast and getting the proverbial torch passed to him today is the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes! This figure comes to us in the attire Cody Rhodes wore at Summerslam 2023 when he emerged victorious in his match against Brock Lesnar. This Cody comes to us with two interchangeable headsculpts, these are ones we have seen before from mattel; one is the straight faced, tight lipped serious Cody sculpt and the other is the open mouthed shouting expressive sculpt. Both headsculpts provide a great likeness to Cody from all angles however the straight faced sculpt sits really low on the figure’s torso giving him no neck syndrome. Also the neck tattoo placement is starting to bug me, I don’t see why mattel feels the need to print it on both the head and the neck, it never lines up gracefully. Same Cody body recipe that we’ve seen and also this figure comes with the clawed interchangeable hands we have been seeing his figures be released with lately. I feel like they may have given this figure bigger upper thighs? Im not sure if it’s the design of the tights but the thighs seem to be thicc’er on this figure. As previously mentioned, this Cody is from Summerslam ’23 so he is wearing some predominantly white tights with a large golden eagle design on the crotch and then some patriotic red and blue accents on the rest of his legs. Kudos to mattel as all of the red designs on his tights features that kindof scaley textured look and they were able to add paint apps to bring that across—there is also a bit of a metallic sheen to the accents aswell remains true to the real attire. Finishing up this figure are some white strapped boots with the American nightmare logo on the outsides.
All in all this is certainly yet another Cody Rhodes figure lol most-if not all ring gear Cody figures have been pretty solid and have turned out looking great. my biggest complaint is that one of the headsculpt sits far too low on the figure to look good, I also wish they would address the neck tattoo placement finally. I like the included multiple headsculpts as it greatly aids in posing this figure accurately for photography purposes of recreating moments from this match. As I mentioned I cant QUITE be sure if mattel updated the legs on this figure, visually to me it looks like they chose a more muscular thigh mold for this figure but I haven’t had time to really dig out my older Cody figures to do an accurate comparison.

[MonsoonMan]

We're Easy like Sunday Morning today y'all 😎





Ultimate Edition
Eric Bischoff


Coming in today from the WCW Nitro Scale Ring is Easy E, Eric Bischoff. With the current influx of new wcw and nwo figures, I felt like Eric was a must have figure for the roster as well as the scale Nitro Ring for photography purposes. This Eric comes to us with two headsculpts; one cheesy Easy smiling and the other a tight lipped, serious sculpt-both feature the Vintage swept back black hair Eric sported in WCW. The likeness is pretty good to eric, I personally feel like the cheeks are a little shallow on the sculpting but the likeness is certainly on point otherwise however. This Ultimate edition Eric comes with interchangeable arms that allow him to either rock a t shirt or his signature leather jacket. The jacket sculpt seems to be the same we saw on the bret hart/roddy piper ultimate figures. Mattel included two softgoods options for Easy E; he can wear either a plain white t shirt or the nWo black and white! The body recipe of this figure is kinda funny to me as he looks like an “everyday normal guy”; T shirt, blue jeans and no ab definition. That being said finishing up this figure are some blue jeans with some light dry brushing detail and black wrestling boot shoes.
All in all I feel like this Eric is a must have for the collection. whether he is ultimate edition or elite styling, we all need an Eric for our WCW roster. I wasn’t too crazy about him being paywalled behind the Nitro Ring, but atleast we haven’t seen mattel try and re-release him just yet although he would be a great member of the Monday Night Wars line..

[MonsoonMan]

COMING IN FROM DOWN UNDER TODAY WITH A BUSHWHACKERS WEDNESDAY and starting the reviews of the Survivor Series Adam Pierce BAF Wave





Survivor Series Adam Pierce BAF
The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch)


Doing that classic Kiwi Strut into the ring today are the ever loved and classic Bushwhackers! These guys come to us in the Survivor Series Adam Pierce BAF wave and were slotted alongside Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. To the dismay of a few people, I unfortunately am not a really a modern era collector and thus did not acquire the K.O and Sami figures for my collection-I was able to source the Adam Pierce parts on ebay. These bushwhacker figures are great, props to mattel on finding an opportunity to re-release these guys this time with interchangeable doink squad heads in the survivor series line. As mentioned, these guys are marching in from Survivor Series 1993 when they joined up with team Doink and thus come with interchangeable heads of them wearing the white clown mask and neon green hair. Butch comes with an open mouthed excited goofy clown headsculpt while luke comes with a grimaced clown headsculpt; one interesting thing to note is that the hair pieces are removable. Underneath the clown getup, we get our classic Kiwi Bushwhacker figures that im fairly certain do not feature anything new or excited, just things spruced up. Luke comes with a grimaced headsculpt that im fairly certain is the same headsculpt all of his other figures have seen just with updated truefx paint apps. Butch comes to us with a sort of bug eyed, goofy face and, similarly to Luke I also feel like this is his original headsculpt from mattel just updated with new paint apps. The rest of the figures are classic bushwhacker garb; we see both guys wearing light grey singlet tops and some baggy green and black urban camouflage pants tucked unto some medium height black boots. As you would also expect, mattel included the guy’s tattoo work on their arms in black ink and the designs seem to have proper placement and they are all printed on crisply and clearly to my figures.
All in all im glad to finally have Bushwhacker figures in my collection! I give kudos to mattel as this was a great way to get these updated figures to us and with a little more purpose than before. i genuinely have no complaints with these figures; the only thing I could really say anything about I guess is that Luke’s mouth looks a little bit weird as mattel added black paint apps in his open mouth area and it just looks a little weird but its really nothing to complain about.

[MonsoonMan]

Wrapping up the reviews for the Survivor Series BAF Wave(Already!)




Survivor Series BAF
Adam Pierce


Piledriving in today is the Scrap Daddy Adam Pierce. It’s a shame that we never got a ring gear adam pierce figure, but this GM BAF is still a great offering to our collections from mattel. This is a pretty straightforward suited BAF that sees a Straight faced, serious Adam in a dark grey suit with a lavender colored undershirt and a purple tie. Would have been cool to get some glasses with this figure, but I will say the likeness in the headsculpt is pretty spot on and I can see Adam in every angle of this figure.
All in all this was a great little Survivor Series wave. although I did not grab Sami and K.O I do know other collectors were looking forward to those attires and it was cool to also see the Bushwhackers make a return to the line with updated tech. as ive mentioned im not necessarily a modern era collector, I am a sucker for authority figures and mattel figures in suits so this figure checks some boxes. I always enjoyed having a number of authority figures on my roster when I was fig fedding, so its cool to have Adam Pierce in the lineup of Suited BAF from mattel.

[MonsoonMan]

Happy figure friday y'all

ive had a slow steady drip of incoming new figures to the collection. most notably today i received my coliseum collection Piper and George Steele that i got for 40% off at mattelcreations.com--very cool and for that price--oh yeah! i have a ringside package coming tomorrow of some new figures in damaged boxes for a reasonable enough price. im officially out of room on my "modern era" figures. i have spaces allotted for "classic era", "attitude era", "wcw", "ruthless aggression era" and "modern era". ive been going ham on CM Punk figures lately as ive been snipping the ones i want one by one on ebay for some pretty great prices. THAT to me is also something that keeps the hunting interesting. like yeah- i could just throw money at a brand new MOC figure, but man finding those older figures, maybe loose but complete in A+ condition for a great price---you can never beat that glory. ill get into it later but i just bought an all stars punk that had been head swapped and had 'marks on it' for $25. ALL the marks came off with alcohol and i headswapped the correct head from an old basic i had laying around. 👏

ANYWAYS today lets do a 4:20 Friday today ☝️😶‍🌫️


🐉☯️




Defining Moments
Rob Van Dam


Van Daminating in today is Mr. Monday Night himself ROB VAN DAM. Im a huge RVD fan, he ranks really high on my list of all time great looks in wrestling so I will ALWAYS buy RVD figures. This figure comes to us celebrating one of his earlier ECW looks; in my research this attire debuted at ECW November to Remember 1997 and he wore it throughout 1998 and maybe once in 1999. So I guess we can kindof dive into this now…unfortunately as much as I love RVD I just don’t see this figure belonging in the Defining Moments line. To my research, when RVD debuted this attire it was in a flag match against tommy dreamer….that went to a no contest. He was not wearing this attire when he won the ECW TV championship against Bam Bam and he was not wearing this attire when he won the ECW Tag Team Championships with Sabu. He was just seen wearing this attire while he was a double champion for ecw….AND TO ANOTHER POINT they aren’t even able to release the proper championship designs with this figure. During the era that RVD held these titles the TV title was still the eagle version and the tag titles still were reminiscent of the old WWF Intercontinental championship belt, so if I can be a real stickler it was a whiff in that aspect. When I think ‘Defining Moments’ and I see the CM Punk pipebomb, I think OK; when I see Cody Rhodes with bruised pec I think OK. When I see RVD in random attire with incorrect era championships I still think ‘RAD RVD!’ lol but you get my point here. So this being an ECW era RVD I think mattel opted to go with their newest headsculpt that debuted on the Monday Night Wars figure that portrays RVD in a bit of a younger age. I don’t hate this headsculpt but I do think the proportions on the nose / forehead / cheeks could be tweaked and it would be much much better. RVD is rolling thunder in a white singlet that features a red dragon and small yin yang on the front, Mr Monday Night in gothic font on his right thigh. The back of the singlet features Mr. Monday Night in large gothic font along the spine alongside some black whispy designs. The legs of the singlet have some black biker shorts peeking out. finishing up this figure are some legsleeve kneepads (please stop, bill) and some black kickpads with white Van Dam logo going down the side.
All in all this is a super rad RVD figure. I honestly love it, as I mentioned ill buy any and all RVD elites mattel wants to throw at me. i think the headsculpt could use a re-visit, its just missing the mark on truly capturing RVDs likeness and also I really REALLY wish mattel would stop giving guys like RVD and CM Punk legsleeve kneepads. I actually spent an hour last weekend swapping all of my RVD figures away from having legsleeve kneepads to having those smaller ones that allow for actual articulation of the figure. Ill throw the design team a bone and say yes----if we’re really looking at things under a microscope, the legsleeve kneepads are somewhat appropriate for these guys. the honest truth as a consumer is that they limit articulation and just don’t look good at all. These guys need to have their lower legs painted black and be given the small kneepads that allow them to actually bend at the knee; example CM Punk needing to be able to pose for a GTS. I distinctly remember around the time before CM Punk left wwe, we were able to get mattel to finally change up and start giving punk the smaller kneepads ala elite 29---please extend that courtesy to guys like RVD please. Also the whole wrong championship design irks me but its only because im a belt nerd. I have the forbiddenfigures ECW TV championship to equip this guy but I don’t have a tag title. I really think that if im on the marketing team for mattel wwe, this figure doesn’t get released in the DM line but maybe an ECW specific line? Or the legends line?

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in today with a Scorching Saturday 🔥





Defining Moments
Kane


Coming in through the fire and brimstone today, bah gawd bah gawd that’s gotta be KANE! I will say right out of the gate I need to bring up the same subject as the RVD figure and say that I really don’t feel like this figure needed a spot in the defining moments line. Im flip flopping in my head about it because frankly is just the accessories that make this figure DM worthy; the attire is nothing new to us as collectors. This Kane comes to us from his Inferno Match against the Undertaker where Kane’s arm was completely immersed in flames at the end of the match. This Kane figure comes to us utilizing the newest (and best) Kane sculpt that we originally saw released on the ultimate edition figure. The rest of this figure is all classic kane attire, he has the single sleeve red and black bodysuit with the laces on the left leg and the shard stripe design on the right. His belt is painted on, I wish it was the sculpted one they had released on the Ultimate figure, but they are still opting to paint on such important attire components in this day and age. A positive improvement that this figure exhibits is that he came with glossy black boots this time…but unfortunately as we all know kane did not wear laces on his boots and mattel chose the laced boot mold for this figure. For accessories we got a number of interchangeable hands, a sleeve of fire to put around his arm and also mattel included 4 large pillars of fire to install on the ring for Kane’s entrance. Im not sure where the miscommunication took place but I was under the impression that the flames were only to be included with the 4 pack box as a bonus, but I only ordered kane, RVD and Punk and Ringside gave me my flames, so that’s rad.
All in all ill be honest and say that at the moment as far as elite figures go this is the best classic elite Kane figure that mattel has out. its not perfect as there are a few paint app details that need fixing and I wish they would sculpt more details for this attire or character particularly, but this is good. I just still do struggle to find its necessity to be in the DM line, but mattel went ham with the accessories and I guess that’ll do. If I can put on my marketing hat again, I could see this getting slid into the legends line or something maybe a Ringside exclusive if it had correct boots? But I really cant hate all too much on this figure it did come out looking good. The double jointed arms, and the arms mattel chose for this figure work out great- they don’t look too much like anchor arms, and frankly the last time we saw an official release of this attire was WAY back in elite 12.

[MonsoonMan]

IT'S MY LIFE IN THE BOX IN FRONT OF ME !!

THEY CAN CHOKE IN MY ARMS IT'S THE SOUL OF ME !!

YOU WALK BY, EYES CAN SEE ME LAYING FACE DOWN....

🎸🔥🎆🎇💥




THAT’S RIGHT WE’RE HERE ON ANOTHER MONDAY NIGHT (really not really) FOR ANOTHER INSTALLMENT OF THE MONDAY NIGHT WARS!!!!!!!!

Coming in today with the FOURTH installment of the MONDAY NIGHT WARS! WHOOOO! My favorite subline that mattel is doing right now and the most frustrating subline that mattel is doing right now. I have to give complete credit to my guy theungreatone as he was able to scoop up ¾ of these figures for me while he was out hunting and I was trapped on the las vegas strip.
SO TO RECAP, were leaving the third series that saw Harlem heat pop out alongside RVD and the Rock to produce a Disciple BAF. A pretty good offering, not really a scorching hot lineup but the Disciple was an amazing product for us collectors. Going into the fourth series we see Stone Cold and Big Bossman representing wwf and DDP and Curt Hennig representing WCW with a Commissioner Shawn Michaels BAF awaiting us at the end of the tunnel. I was really 50/50 going into this series as I already own the original Big Bossman and the classic Commissioner shawn michaels figures from this line, and I ABSOLUTELY HATE the rubber singlet gimmick that mattel used on hennig. That being said lets really dive into this series and see how it all shakes out!


🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🔥🎆🎇🎆🔥🎆🎇🎆💥🎇🎆🔥🎇🎇💥🎆🔥





Monday Night Wars Series 4
Stone Cold Steve Austin


Breaking the glass today is the rattlesnake we all fear and respect; Stone Cold Steve Austin. I will be honest and say that I was fairly hype for this figure, I always look forward to getting classic steve austin figures with those badass shirt designs. This figure comes to us from the segment where Steve delivered a Stunner to Mr. McMahon and was arrested by the local police on the spot. This figure comes to us utilizing the open mouthed, laughing, shouting talking head that we’ve seen mattel release on a few different stone cold figures now. I would’ve liked to have seen them release another serious head along with this figure, but it works for the purpose and the segment the figure is from. Steve comes to the ring wearing a new softgoods shirt with a classic printed design that I believe is terminator inspired as it portrays half of his face and half a chrome skull with the STONE COLD logo in the back. Mattel gave Steve some black Jorts this time around which look great! I wish we saw more black jort steve figures to be honest. Mattel went the extra mile and gave this Steve figure a black wristwatch accessory which is accurate to the segment—steve was actually sporting a black watch. No kneepads or braces included with this figure as they weren’t necessary, so then wrapping up this figure are steve’s longhorn tattoo on his left calf and those short shooter boots.
All in all I was actually hype for this figure. Ive discussed it a few times before but I grew up with a VHS video called ’Cause Stone Cold Said So’ I watched it to death and I remember steve talking about this segment and loving dropping vince like a sack of potatoes. The figure turned out great, I love the softgoods top, the black jorts and the included black wristwatch. I only slightly wish that mattel had gone as far to include some handcuffs with this figure and an extra interchangeable head.

[theungreatone]

Nov 17, 2024 17:43:54 GMT -5 MonsoonMan said:

IT'S MY LIFE IN THE BOX IN FRONT OF ME !!

THEY CAN CHOKE IN MY ARMS IT'S THE SOUL OF ME !!

YOU WALK BY, EYES CAN SEE ME LAYING FACE DOWN....

🎸🔥🎆🎇💥




THAT’S RIGHT WE’RE HERE ON ANOTHER MONDAY NIGHT (really not really) FOR ANOTHER INSTALLMENT OF THE MONDAY NIGHT WARS!!!!!!!!

Coming in today with the FOURTH installment of the MONDAY NIGHT WARS! WHOOOO! My favorite subline that mattel is doing right now and the most frustrating subline that mattel is doing right now. I have to give complete credit to my guy theungreatone as he was able to scoop up ¾ of these figures for me while he was out hunting and I was trapped on the las vegas strip.
SO TO RECAP, were leaving the third series that saw Harlem heat pop out alongside RVD and the Rock to produce a Disciple BAF. A pretty good offering, not really a scorching hot lineup but the Disciple was an amazing product for us collectors. Going into the fourth series we see Stone Cold and Big Bossman representing wwf and DDP and Curt Hennig representing WCW with a Commissioner Shawn Michaels BAF awaiting us at the end of the tunnel. I was really 50/50 going into this series as I already own the original Big Bossman and the classic Commissioner shawn michaels figures from this line, and I ABSOLUTELY HATE the rubber singlet gimmick that mattel used on hennig. That being said lets really dive into this series and see how it all shakes out!


🎇🎆🎇🎆🎇🔥🎆🎇🎆🔥🎆🎇🎆💥🎇🎆🔥🎇🎇💥🎆🔥





Monday Night Wars Series 4
Stone Cold Steve Austin


Breaking the glass today is the rattlesnake we all fear and respect; Stone Cold Steve Austin. I will be honest and say that I was fairly hype for this figure, I always look forward to getting classic steve austin figures with those badass shirt designs. This figure comes to us from the segment where Steve delivered a Stunner to Mr. McMahon and was arrested by the local police on the spot. This figure comes to us utilizing the open mouthed, laughing, shouting talking head that we’ve seen mattel release on a few different stone cold figures now. I would’ve liked to have seen them release another serious head along with this figure, but it works for the purpose and the segment the figure is from. Steve comes to the ring wearing a new softgoods shirt with a classic printed design that I believe is terminator inspired as it portrays half of his face and half a chrome skull with the STONE COLD logo in the back. Mattel gave Steve some black Jorts this time around which look great! I wish we saw more black jort steve figures to be honest. Mattel went the extra mile and gave this Steve figure a black wristwatch accessory which is accurate to the segment—steve was actually sporting a black watch. No kneepads or braces included with this figure as they weren’t necessary, so then wrapping up this figure are steve’s longhorn tattoo on his left calf and those short shooter boots.
All in all I was actually hype for this figure. Ive discussed it a few times before but I grew up with a VHS video called ’Cause Stone Cold Said So’ I watched it to death and I remember steve talking about this segment and loving dropping vince like a sack of potatoes. The figure turned out great, I love the softgoods top, the black jorts and the included black wristwatch. I only slightly wish that mattel had gone as far to include some handcuffs with this figure and an extra interchangeable head.

I used to love that VHS as well, really wish there was somewhere I could stream it these days

[MonsoonMan]

Nov 17, 2024 17:56:09 GMT -5 theungreatone said:

I used to love that VHS as well, really wish there was somewhere I could stream it these days

OH HELL YEAH


its on dailymotion

[theungreatone]

Nov 17, 2024 18:21:46 GMT -5 MonsoonMan said:

Nov 17, 2024 17:56:09 GMT -5 theungreatone said:

I used to love that VHS as well, really wish there was somewhere I could stream it these days

OH HELL YEAH


its on dailymotion

well…I know what I’m watching next time a I get a free hour or so

[MonsoonMan]

We're Serving Hard Times this Saturday





Monday Night Wars Series 4
Big Bossman


Serving up hard times today is the Big Boss Man. The last few Bossman offerings from mattel have been classic versions of him but here we get the attitude era Bossman in the grandfather SHIELD gear. Unfortunately for long haul collectors like myself, this figure is a re-release and was last seen back in elite series 47A; comparing the figures I believe the only difference is that this figure was not given deco for black gloves. This bossman was given a number of accessories as you would expect; he came with his signature nightstick, a pair of handcuffs and a black hood that he was seen wearing upon his return to the wwf. The headsculpt on this figure sees the bossman in a teeth bearing, intimidating expression and the likeness to Bossman is absolutely spot on, the true fx paint apps in conjunction with the factory sculpting produce a great looking attitude era bossman figure. This Bossman is coming to the ring wearing his black riot gear as opposed to his blue officer uniform of days past, that being said mattel opted to sculpt his entire upper body gear in rubber—which looks fine enough I don’t really hate it, its just that they also sculpted his tshirt and I feel like that could’ve been trimmed to expose his torso. He is sporting some sculpted black shirt sleeves whick look great and as mentioned no glove paint apps on this guy. Finishing up this figure are some black cargo pants tucked into some black combat boots.
All in all---this bossman figure 100% deserved to be in this Monday night wars line. he was a big name and a big character during that time period and provided some quality entertainment. I just wish that mattel was able to do something a little more different with this figure other than just omitting paint apps for gloves because its nothing new or improved over the last figure unfortunately----atleast The Rock figure in series 3 was improved over the previous release. Of course when comparing to the previous bossman the double jointed arms assist in posing and the truefx paint apps look much better, but that’s really about it. not that fair of a trade for someone who may already have this figure in their collection but be seeking to complete the Shawn Michaels BAF---that also was very difficult to obtain the first time around. When I was a kid I had a jakks TTL Bossman that had a black vest but a blue undershirt, that was honestly my favorite bossman figure of all time and it looked great, Mattel could’ve gone that route and I would’ve literally cried tears of joy. This one just makes my wallet serve hard times.

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in today with a Stinker Sunday🤢🤮


not a whole lot of new figure news to share, there is a lull in excitement for in store shopping so ive been applying my magic search filters to ebay to get some screaming deals. i got a Jakks Classic Superstars Steve Blackman figure loose but mint shipped for $30 which was SUPER COOL. i completed the Wrestlemania Howards Finkel BAF wave--i was planning on skipping Seth and Bianca but i was having issues finding the howard head loose online so i just scooped a Bianca from amazon.
BEYOND THAT, my CM Punk ultimate should be here in a matter of days which, im about to drive out to meet the postman wherever he may be because i cannot wait!!!
ringside fest was cool, i left my thoughts on the reveals in another thread, i honestly score it a B, i am pretty excited for a number of new things mattel is planning on doing.





Monday Night Wars Series 4
Curt Hennig


……………………………………..i don’t really quite know what direction to take with this figure but I feel very let down and very upset with it. this whole rubber singlet technology is not received well by me at all. It looks stupid, it looks bulky, I simply just freaking hate it. “but curt would often pull down the straps of his singlet during his matches!!” I don’t care it looks like crap. “the sculpted singlet torso they usually choose for curt looks too skinny, this is a much better option!” no it isn’t it looks like crap. This kind of stuff will never get over with me, im open to doing softgoods stuff, but this bulky rubber crap on a $25-30 figure isn’t the move to satisfy me as a collector. THAT BEING SAID this Curt comes with two interchangeable headsculpts; one with his hair down in a teeth bearing, confident positive grinning expression and the other is a straight faced, series expression in a ponytail hairstyle that we originally saw as a BAF head. Both headsculpts look great and hold a true likeness to Curt. This Curt figure is also kinda a dual purpose WCW dealio as it seems like its intended to be both an nWo curt and a west Texas redneck curt as he was given both a Cowboy hat and guitar for West Texas Purposes and a softgoods nWo shirt and black and white gear to rep the new world order.
All in all im just a bit sour on this curt figure. For all intents and purposes it works great in the line and the concept for the figure is clever, but the execution is botched. Please mattel just stop doing this stupid rubber singlet thing. The only two curt hennig figures I own are the legends figure and this one and they both utilize the rubber gimmick and it sucks. The singlet on this MNW figure was not sitting flush on the figure in the packaging and thus the straps got stretched out and they will not shrink back down into place. you can also see in the pictures the rubber singlet on my figure is ALREADY SPLITTING ALONG THE SEAM. The included headsculpts, hat and guitar accessory and the nWo shirt are cool swag for this wcw guy but I just hate everything about the rubber gimmick top enough to say if I didn’t HAVE to buy this figure to complete a BAF I would not have bought it at all.