Is there a market for a custom wrestling figure line?

[Scotty T. Ritz]

Hi all, 

The other day I was thinking about all the different 3rd Party Wrestling Figure companies out there creating product, and it suddenly occurred to me whether a custom created, fictional wrestling figure line had a place amongst this collectors world. Initially I dismissed the idea as who would want to necessarily collect an imaginary product in this field - yet that's exactly what the likes of, for example, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, or in my daughters case now, Fisher Price Little People started off as, and fundamentally are.

I found the idea intriguing as if it was well planned out in advance, the line could feature all sorts of backstory/lore, sum up the importance of the character through stats, elude to future characters/releases through bio sections, and also feature chase/alternative editions based on the characters development over the series. The audience might receive a "Tom Smith" in Series 1, an all round babyface, and find in Series 6, another version of "Tom Smith" is announced or released, but the character has turned heel or joined a group and his bio, stats and overall look/attire etc all reflect this. We could literally watch the progression and career of individuals take all sorts of twists and turns throughout their "wrestling life".
And this is all before the thought of accessories such as belts or wrestling rings etc are even on the cards too...

I should mention that in my mind's eye, I tended to see these as more stand alone style figures, rather than necessarily the WWE Elite/AEW Jazwares....not sure whether that improves or detracts from a collectors point of view.  

So I open it up to the forum, any thoughts or initial observations?

Thanks gang  




 

[drankadranka]

Lol I like it
You could make a whole roster of created animated or drawn up wrestlers, you could do an animated series to go along w it too

[casanova]

I always liked the old Sega games with (not) Hulk Hogan on the cover. The wrestlers in the game were more or less creative. A line loosely taking inspiration of real wrestlers might work. Eg a Native American doesn’t need to look like Tatanka but could always make a nice action figure.

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

As a kid i couldnt get my hands on enough generic and or other lines that would scale figures to do battle with my main lines. I was a huge fan of the mattel create a wrestler line. Nowadays im not sure. I guess it would depend on the gimmick or how toyetic the made up figure would be to include it in my collection. Id love to see figures of the create s superstars i make in my video games!

[casanova]

Feb 1, 2023 21:56:53 GMT -5 Midnight: Dark Knight said:

As a kid i couldnt get my hands on enough generic and or other lines that would scale figures to do battle with my main lines. I was a huge fan of the mattel create a wrestler line. Nowadays im not sure. I guess it would depend on the gimmick or how toyetic the made up figure would be to include it in my collection. Id love to see figures of the create s superstars i make in my video games!

MattelS create a wrestler line? When were you a kid? 😂

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

Feb 2, 2023 2:02:55 GMT -5 casanova said:

Feb 1, 2023 21:56:53 GMT -5 Midnight: Dark Knight said:

As a kid i couldnt get my hands on enough generic and or other lines that would scale figures to do battle with my main lines. I was a huge fan of the mattel create a wrestler line. Nowadays im not sure. I guess it would depend on the gimmick or how toyetic the made up figure would be to include it in my collection. Id love to see figures of the create s superstars i make in my video games!

MattelS create a wrestler line? When were you a kid? 😂

Didn’t say i was a kid when i enjoyed those. The previous sentence was when i was a kid. I was in my early 30s when mattel came out with those. My son and i enjoyed them together and I customized several of them. Now in my 40’s im much more selective. A generic figure line would have to be very new generation gimmick like to find a spot on one of my shelves, especially if they could be customized into someone real!

[casanova]

Feb 2, 2023 13:26:06 GMT -5 Midnight: Dark Knight said:

Feb 2, 2023 2:02:55 GMT -5 casanova said:

MattelS create a wrestler line? When were you a kid? 😂

Didn’t say i was a kid when i enjoyed those. The previous sentence was when i was a kid. I was in my early 30s when mattel came out with those. My son and i enjoyed them together and I customized several of them. Now in my 40’s im much more selective. A generic figure line would have to be very new generation gimmick like to find a spot on one of my shelves, especially if they could be customized into someone real!

Sorry if it came along the wrong way. I am pretty happy being a kid of the 80s. Watching BTTF in the correct time was even more specail. Saturday morning cartoons was something I celebrated. Add the WWF around WM IX (look at it through the eyes of a kid) and you might have the best decade in history for a kid being a kid.
Yet I would love to be 10 years younger today. 😂
Enjoying toys with your kids is a great experience. My daughters and I are currently totally into Lego City + Lego trains (and a little bit of Friends). Best moments of my life. 🍻

[micco]

There was a kickstarter for generic refs, security, ring crew type guys designed by Brian baity and it failed miserably. This idea reminds me of that.

[newgenandy]

Wrestling fans seem to be too hung up on ‘accuracy’ imo

In say the Batman line when I was a kid they brought out an ice suit Batman, an ‘ultimate grapple’ Batman, parachute Batman, jet pack Batman etc

I don’t remember people picking holes in “what comic issue was ice suit in” and if it just so happened to be in an issue pick apart every little detail on the attire

So I’m a word no, wrestling fans wouldn’t be into that

[walter7paisley]

Feb 12, 2023 13:48:49 GMT -5 newgenandy said:

Wrestling fans seem to be too hung up on ‘accuracy’ imo

In say the Batman line when I was a kid they brought out an ice suit Batman, an ‘ultimate grapple’ Batman, parachute Batman, jet pack Batman etc

I don’t remember people picking holes in “what comic issue was ice suit in” and if it just so happened to be in an issue pick apart every little detail on the attire

So I’m a word no, wrestling fans wouldn’t be into that

The yellow scuba Batman was one of my favourite toys as a kid. I'm pretty sure I even had him wrestle with my Hasbro/Galoob lines.

[newgenandy]

Feb 12, 2023 18:55:00 GMT -5 walter7paisley said:

Feb 12, 2023 13:48:49 GMT -5 newgenandy said:

Wrestling fans seem to be too hung up on ‘accuracy’ imo

In say the Batman line when I was a kid they brought out an ice suit Batman, an ‘ultimate grapple’ Batman, parachute Batman, jet pack Batman etc

I don’t remember people picking holes in “what comic issue was ice suit in” and if it just so happened to be in an issue pick apart every little detail on the attire

So I’m a word no, wrestling fans wouldn’t be into that

The yellow scuba Batman was one of my favourite toys as a kid. I'm pretty sure I even had him wrestle with my Hasbro/Galoob lines.

And I’ll bet you never scoured comics for that version snd if you didn’t find it kick off about it

[newgenandy]

What I think there is a market for are unaffiliated wrestlers in a legends line

Not far off what TNA did with the legends of the ring doing a surfer sting, Japan hogan etc

Something like that done by say hasbro in a style similar to the Star Wars black series

Obviously they’d have to navigate trademarks etc but can be done with japan interpretations or nwa style.

I guess as I’m typing this what I’m saying is like powertown but more recent, from 80s and 90s rather than 60s to 80s

[CookPassBabtridge]

When I was a kid playing with Hasbros, eventually I got bored of the same old guys going over all the time. So I gave big pushes to people like Warlord and Demolition Smash. Then I started to incorporate figures from other lines, like the terminator who became Ted DiBiase’s killer henchman. Then I’d turn to painting the figs (and ruining them) giving them new gimmicks, and Brian Knobbs of all people got a push due to this.

My point being, I would’ve loved some generic rando figs in the same scale I could create gimmicks for to give the roster a freshen up. Especially some luchadors.

[newgenandy]

Feb 14, 2023 8:26:36 GMT -5 CookPassBabtridge said:

When I was a kid playing with Hasbros, eventually I got bored of the same old guys going over all the time. So I gave big pushes to people like Warlord and Demolition Smash. Then I started to incorporate figures from other lines, like the terminator who became Ted DiBiase’s killer henchman. Then I’d turn to painting the figs (and ruining them) giving them new gimmicks, and Brian Knobbs of all people got a push due to this.

My point being, I would’ve loved some generic rando figs in the same scale I could create gimmicks for to give the roster a freshen up. Especially some luchadors.

I wish I had access to the simba hasbro bootlegs back in the day to have newbies

[Midnight: Dark Knight]

Feb 12, 2023 12:48:48 GMT -5 micco said:

There was a kickstarter for generic refs, security, ring crew type guys designed by Brian baity and it failed miserably. This idea reminds me of that.

Shame, because those looked really good too

[@Chair.Shot]

They looked cheap and were incredibly overpriced/had too high of goals. If someone had stuff available for purchase, they would do a lot better…but that takes considerable capital to get off the ground. Say what you will about these retro companies: they all invested a large amount to make it all happen.

[newgenandy]

Feb 18, 2023 14:53:19 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

They looked cheap and were incredibly overpriced/had too high of goals. If someone had stuff available for purchase, they would do a lot better…but that takes considerable capital to get off the ground. Say what you will about these retro companies: they all invested a large amount to make it all happen.

I agree they needed a bit more pizazz- they looked very plain and generic, no real facial details etc. I think they’d have been better off just going for say refs first, a classic snd modern, then maybe the tv crew then finally security. 3 separate findings and the profit from the refs (which you’d think would’ve most popular) could offset the more niche security etc. To try and do all in one go was always going to be a hard sell.

[DonDaBomb13]

Every once in a while, I think about how cool it would be to have a wrestling figure line made of fictional characters that scaled with AEW/WWE figures & maybe also had custom figure packs where you could also create wrestlers as well. Until then, I will still be creating my own custom wrestlers using fodder parts from my WWE/AEW figures mixed with some Jakks, Neca, McFarlane, Marvel etc. Good times!

[newgenandy]

Feb 18, 2023 15:38:14 GMT -5 DonDaBomb13 said:

Every once in a while, I think about how cool it would be to have a wrestling figure line made of fictional characters that scaled with AEW/WWE figures & maybe also had custom figure packs where you could also create wrestlers as well. Until then, I will still be creating my own custom wrestlers using fodder parts from my WWE/AEW figures mixed with some Jakks, Neca, McFarlane, Marvel etc. Good times!

Mattel did kind of try one when they did hhh, warrior, taker etc and had loads of accessories to mix and match snd build your own superstar - obviously it was limited but a nice try

[@Chair.Shot]

Feb 18, 2023 15:50:35 GMT -5 newgenandy said:

Feb 18, 2023 15:38:14 GMT -5 DonDaBomb13 said:

Every once in a while, I think about how cool it would be to have a wrestling figure line made of fictional characters that scaled with AEW/WWE figures & maybe also had custom figure packs where you could also create wrestlers as well. Until then, I will still be creating my own custom wrestlers using fodder parts from my WWE/AEW figures mixed with some Jakks, Neca, McFarlane, Marvel etc. Good times!

Mattel did kind of try one when they did hhh, warrior, taker etc and had loads of accessories to mix and match snd build your own superstar - obviously it was limited but a nice try

I think the problem with a lot of that is that it felt far too cartoonish. It leaned in the direction of super heroes and historical characters more than wrestlers.