What LJN WWF Superstars Did You Have In The 80s?

[Zincdust]

Here's a question for us old timers, who were around when LJN's WWF Superstars line was new and in stores: Which Superstars did you own at the time?

I only had four: Randy Savage, George Steele, Don Muraco and the One Man Gang.

[@Chair.Shot]

Sorry for the non-answer. I didn’t really get my hands on an LJN figure until just a few years ago (Andre the Giant). Thought I would share the first time I remember even learning about LJN: there was an article in WWF Magazine during the mid 90’s. Some wrestling store in New York was featured and they showed all kinds of figures including an LJN King King Bundy. It blew my mind that there wrestling figures prior to Hasbros! Learning about all of these characters I knew nothing about was fun…but I’ve never really had the urge to collect LJN’s They look good MOC but it seems impossible to have a spotless loose collection.

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

I had a full set as a kid, between finding them in stores and ordering them. The hardest ones for me to obtain were the killer bees. I could never find them. I was only ever able to get brian blair on a single card. I didnt get brunzell until ebay came along.

[oldschoolfool]

Its easier for me to list who i didnt have since I had all of them from '84-'86. '87 was when I started having holes in my collection...adonis,vince,out back jack,patera...and stopped collecting after that.

[mcfclee]

I only had the bendies and for many years thought that was what LJN figures actually were.

I had Nikolai, Corporal Kirschner, George Steele, Hillbilky Jim, JYD and a couple of others. Not until I was an adult did I realize they were smaller versions.

[dixol]

Piper & JYD were the 1st wrestling figures I ever got.
In no particular order:
Steele
Jimmy Hart
Hercules
Fuji
Savage
Hogan
Tito
Sheik
Brutus
Valentine
Sammartino
And maybe SD Jones.

Hogan & Orndorff bendies.
Savage & somebody, maybe Hillbilly thumb wrestlers.

And I still have 16” Piper MIB.

[jason1980s]

I didn't have LJNs until at least 1990 or 1991 but I loved them from the minute I saw them. First buys were Hulk and Sheik from series 1 at a local yard sale. Hasbro was just coming out so I had all of them as they came out.
From 1991 to 1992 I got, carded in stores, Jesse, Arcidi, Blassie, Fuji, Bob Orton, Mean Gene which was really cool. I was so fascinated by the card backs since you saw the actual real life figures and not drawings like Hasbro. Those carded onese were either from TRU or Rite Aid type stores.

From say March 1992 to April 1994 I never got another LJN until my father picked up like 40 of them from a flea market. It was the commons from the early series and then from there every free moment we tried to get the rest from flea markets, collector shows, collector catalogs. I can't believe catalogs were selling carded Vince McMahons and others for like $25. I was able to get carded George Steele, SD, Outback for around those prices in the mid 1990s. My grandmother even found guys from 1987 and 1988 at a thrift store in 1998. 1989s were the toughest but I found a horrible condition Warrior for $5 at a collector store a few towns over.

I always loved seeing those PWI ads. That WWF magazine 1995 article was about I think Mark Spitz or something like that. He did an article in 1994 for Lee's Toy Review and the WWF magazine photo has a picture of the colorful Rick Rude which was different from the prototype. My mind was blown! I called that company asking for quotes on carded guys and thought $40 for Slick and $80 for Gang was nuts. LOL.

I always give props to Mansonozz, of this site as he gave us a lot of the best information on his site, especially for the 1989 series. I sold all the LJNs I had on ebay, like 10 years ago and probably could have sold them for much more now. The only ones I never had, the best of my knowledge, are the red shirt Hulk and bearded Kirchner. I never got into all the bendies and other extras.

[PJ]

These are the ones I remember having…
Andre the Giant
Big John Studd
Hillbilly Jim
Hulk Hogan
Iron Sheik
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
Junkyard Dog
Nikolai Volkoff
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
George "The Animal" Steele
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
King Kong Bundy
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Captain Lou Albano
Jesse "The Body" Ventura
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
Special Delivery Jones
Tito Santana

I had filled out the order form for the Hart Foundation and Bulldogs box sets and my wife (girlfriend at the time) was supposed to have mailed it out. It never came and about 10 years ago going through the closet she found and old purse that had the envelope with check and order form in it. Grrr!!! lol

[ozz]

Far too many to name.

[razorsedge]

Had most of them up until '87 or so, then kind of got out of collecting for a few years. Still remember how heavy that Bundy was, made a heckuva weapon when my brother chucked it at me!

[DonDaBomb13]

I have them all except Warlord, Haku, Bossman, Vince, Elizabeth & the ref (not including different Hogan's & re-releases)

[Grenouille]

Apr 25, 2022 10:12:46 GMT -5 razorsedge said:

Had most of them up until '87 or so, then kind of got out of collecting for a few years. Still remember how heavy that Bundy was, made a heckuva weapon when my brother chucked it at me!

You aren’t kidding, Bundy was a dangerous weapon.

As for my collection; I had most of series 1 and 2 thanks to my cousin when he got “too old” for toys. My parents got me Big Boss Man and Haku from that ad in wrestling magazines for Christmas 1990. Over the course of ‘91-‘92 most of my pickups happened during trips to Quebec visiting family. On these I got Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, British Bulldogs, Mean Gene, Slick and Vince. During on trip another cousin was going to give me his collection which would have given me a near complete collection including black cards, but he changed his mind right before we left to go back to the States.

[100PercentRudos]

Born in 74, so the LJN's are my childhood. Literally had all of them but the black card ones

[hulkjoegan]

The first wrestling figure I was ever bought was a Brutus Beefcake bendie - although my brother already had a Hulk & Sheik thumb wrestlers 2-pack.
I then went on to get more bendies - Steamboat, Bundy, Volkoff, Hillbilly Jim, Albano, Steel & Kirchner.
I’m on the south coast of England, and at the time they were the first wrestling figures I’d ever seen - I had no idea about the main ljn line.

I remember trying to work out who each of the figures on the back of the card were (from the picture of them posed in a ring)….and wondering why I never saw several of them.

And it wasn’t long after that I saw & got my first Hasbro - Akeem!
(That’s a story in and of itself).
And the rest, as they say is history…..as Hasbro became (and still is) my wrestling obsession.

But I still have a soft spot for the bendies, and since I started adding a few bits as an adult I’ve added Macho Man, Mr Wonderful, JYD & a Studd thumb wrestler.

[@Chair.Shot]

I didn’t think this called for its own thread so I figured I would share this image here:

[newgenandy]

That makes me think of the strange part in wrestling with shadows where bret has his hasbro figure in his fish tank - why? Lol

[blitzcraigoc]

My aunt asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I guess it was 1985/6, I said JYD, she got me Hogan and Big John Stud, happy to of had a pair for matches, but unhappy I didn’t get JYD…Never had another LJN…

[Kasper.ca]

I couldn't pinpoint which ones exactly, but about 14 years ago I went and cleared out some old stuff at my grandparents place when they died and found 42 of them in a box from when I was a kid.
That's what sparked my collection. Figured I'd try to get the remaining 35 or so figures I needed.

I started off just getting the entire loose collection and then that snowballed into tens of thousands of dollars invested. lol
Now it's like 75 MOC (including tags and thumbs), all loose and a variety of posters, magazines, glasses, belts, etc... from the 80s.