Does the lack of new FTITL Legends/Alumni bother you?

[Biff Slamkovich™]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm aware not everyone here collects Legends or alumni so feel free to move on from this topic if you like.

But for anyone other than myself, how much does the lack of new Legends or alumni figures negatively effect your opinion on collecting this line?

For those who collect Legends/alumni, I think we have all noticed over the last few years the repeating of the same few names over and over. Although getting different attires of some people is nice, I find that often times there are very minor differences between some releases (ex: Hogan), or in some cases, poor part selection can ruin a figure too. I understand that Mattel has to weigh out releasing as much as they can of someone while they have them under contract, but my concern is mainly the lack of new talent to use. I also understand that they aren't in control when it comes to signing people to merchandise deals, but you'd have to think that they themselves are frustrated to a certain point in not being able to produce figures of who they know need one.

I don't need to post the entire list as I'm sure we're all more than aware of the glaring omissions from the Elite line, but as a collector who has been supporting Mattel's WWE line from day one (literally, I used to work at Toys R Us and merched the first waves of each product lines out for our store), it does get frustrating knowing that some people may never get released.

As I don't really collect modern WWE roster figures, I'm now finding myself in spot where I've basically got practically all of the attires for particular superstars that I need and that the only thing that's left is to get those Grand Master Sexay's, Spike Dudley's, Test's, Patriot's, Ahmed Johnson's, etc., etc.

Alright, off of my soapbox now =)

I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

- Biff

[Warriah']

Just give me more Macho Man and Warrior

[ImJoeGrizzlyBitch]

It’s always been this way with mattel. I only collect legends, or use to. Lack of legends over the years finally got to me so I quit collecting.

[Rocky Balboa]

Honestly there are so few legends I still want. And it's mostly ECW guys like Sabu, Raven and Sandman that I want in Mattel form. And I think the chances of those happening are quite slim.

[ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝]

I'm someone who hardly collects current stuff at all. So, YES! I have absolutley been buying less figures than ever because most of the Flashbacks, Legends and other lines that featue classic characters just keep rereleasing the same stuff.

Especially at the quality Mattel delivers, I'm not willing to spend $25 so many times when I already have one good figure of a character. It would be one thing if they were firing on all cyllinders and trying to give us fresh, accurate looks. But they are typically just the same exact molds or very boring, uninspired attire choices. I also have more and more figures break out of the box or have really poor quality paint/real FX applications. 

And then we of course have the nightmare that is Walmart inventory. We can beat that up all day but it obviously lends to the problem. If all I want is classic characters and Mattel keeps making the nostalgia lines exclusive to Walmart, I simply cannot buy them most of the time because this retailer doesn't care about fixing issues for a small trace of its customers. 

I am probably down to buying 2-3 new Mattel figures a month, if that.

[Da Handsome 1]

I would love new legends. Golden era,New Gen & RA

[PJ]

It doesn’t. At this point there’s really only a handful of unsigned “FTItL” Legends I would buy. (And most are pre-Mid 80’s which I doubt are high on Mattel’s list) So I just buy the Legends/FB’s I want. Regardless of if they are repeats or FTitL figures.

[Fighter Hayabusa]

Outside an ECW line there’s really nobody that I really care to have that’s not already in my collection. Would I buy a Jarrett, Venis, Rad Radford, Hardcore Holly, Rosie, Savio, Missing Link, Marc Mero, Oliver Humperdink, Moondog Spot, Lord Littlebrook, Zip, Thrasher, Bodacious Bart, Frankie the bird, Hand Henry, or Linda McMahon if they made em? Sure, but it’s not like they’d be glaring holes in my collection if they never come out.

[CM Tusk]

Nope. I’d love an Ultimate Sable but I know that’s not happening so I’m ok with it. Since I only collect UE figures, I just want first time Ultimates of the people they can already make.

[Back to the Codyverse]

Yes and no. There’s a lot of FTITL figures I’d like but I know most of them are highly unlikely so it is what it is.

Everyone is different. I’m just as happy seeing a cool FTITL figure as I am seeing the 78th Undertaker

[jacobl18]

Yes it's actually pretty embarrassing too. A no name toy company has sold 2000 Baston Booger retros for $40 a pop. If Mattel had the licesnse they could sell a retro and an Elite of not only Booger but also the monk. There is no way that ZST is paying Shaw's family very much in royalties. Think how unique a figure Booger would make in the legends line. People act like it would cost 100k to get all these smaller legends under a deal when in fact it's prob something very small. ZST is making 80k On 1 Booger figure....Mattel has a much bigger foot print and could easily sell 3 or 4 times that much.

Luna's son on IG a few years ago wrote someone back in the comment asking about a Luna fig and his response was WWE has never contacted him about getting her merch. He said he would love to have a fig of his mom.....Well he has one now by another no name toy company. 

[zen411]

Yes it does. I still buy figures but I'm getting over the 500th bret hart or Hogan with a slightly different look. It's nice at sdcc or wrestlemania to see newly signed guys. Surprises like Chyna, Brother Love and Zeus were nice but far and few in between. This year we didn't even see Headbangers. There are so many signees that can produce multiple figures.

Adorable Adrian
Repo Man
Crush (all variations)
Adam Bomb
Marc Mero/Johnny b badd
Ahmed Johnson
Luna
Marlena
Slick
Mr Fuji (all variations)
Mantaur
Max Moon
Val Venis
Jim Cornette
Haku (all variations)
Hercules
Bertha faye
Kimchee/Brooklyn brawler/abe knuckleball
Duke the Dumpster
Sable
Gangrel
Grandmaster Sexay
Sunny
Raven
Hardcore Holly/ Sparky Plugg
Henry Godwinn
Taskmaster
Phineas Godwinn/mideon
Johnny polo
Mountie/Quebecers/Fabulous Rougeaus
One Man Gang
Savio Vega
Giant Gonzales
The Genius
BARBARIAN
Bad News Brown

[AttitudeLegendCollector]

Definitely bothers me, I collect Mania 1 through to summer 2002 guys and it’s starting to get to the stage where I’m simply buying re-releases/upgrades or multiple attires for the same guy which is frustrating and a little boring.

Im sure Steve and the team are doing what they can and I know we’ve had a couple trickle through last couple of years but not really enough to keep excitement levels at a high.

Im lucky to have a fair amount of real estate, effectively a room dedicated to my collection but I am starting to run out and don’t just want it full of the same faces.

My preference will always be for Mattel but I think our only real hope is that the various other guys like Zombie, Chella/Epic and whoever else sign the guys Mattel can’t and fill the gaps

[mrh]

I hate to be "that guy," but this questions gets asked so often. Why do we need another thread on ti....

[DZ: WF Legacy]

It's really showing with what we've seen of the MNW line so far, but it's early, so we'll see how that goes (or if we can even find them at Walmart...).

I'm glad they have guys like D'lo signed and Shamrock again, I'd love to see more of that kind of thing. We need a Patriot, a Taka, Too Much/Cool, Gangrel, etc. Some of these guys seem like they'd be easy gets, it's just a matter of WWE cutting the deal. I'm glad we have alternatives now to get some people like Ultimo Dragon and Juvi, I know some of the lucha rights are complicated so that isn't helping the situation. We're getting The Headbangers probably next year, so that's pretty exciting. They'd be a good choice for the MNW line. As far as Legends go, guys like Haku and Mr. Fuji would be great first timers. Mattel have done a lot of the big hitters, so it's a situation of smart inclusion with some of the B and C-level stars. I feel like they've been pretty successful lately with the smaller names selling decently.

[AxelSmackdown]

the lack of current talent bothers me

[kinnikuman]

I only collect FTIL (no matter the era) as I only buy one of each wrestler (and am pretty much caught up). So yeah, I'm all for new anything.

[J-MANN]

Aug 10, 2023 16:03:30 GMT -5 AxelSmackdown said:

the lack of current talent bothers me

[stc13]

Honestly, not really. It is what it is - we get half a dozen or so FTIL legends a year, and have steadily seen new names added across all eras. While I'd love a figure of someone like Raven or the Patriot or 2 Cold Scorpio, it doesn't feel like there are any glaring holes in my collection. Hopefully we get classic tag team Steiners, and I'm hoping we eventually see some sort of Jeff Jarrett and more Owen Hart from Jazwares.

Mattel has done a good job working with what is available to them. We finally got a WCW red/yellow Hogan. While not FTIL, figures like the recent Faarooq, Acolytes, and Chainsaw Charlie were longtime wants. You could argue sometimes they go *too* deep, like the Fake Diesel figure. But overall I'm pleased with what they're putting out. I buy a lot of the re-releases or new decos of top stars. But it's also nice not to feel like I'm constantly chasing new releases. If I miss one...I most likely already have that wrestler in my collection.

[azraelms]

So what people seem to either forget or not realize, is that Mattel can only make what WWE has signed. This is the primary block to most of these alumni. (side note - IMO Legends is too overused as a phrase - just because they are a former talent does not make them Legends, they are just alumni).

When Jakk's had the license, their deal allowed them to sign individuals and make figures based on them, which is why we saw such a diverse line back in the day. I few could get that character selection with the current Mattel process, we would have the greatest line ever.

That said, based on the current contract with WWE, Mattel can only abide by that. And from the WWE side, names like Spike Dudley, Ahmed Johnson, and Bad News Brown are not big enough names to warrant them signing to a contract. Action Figures are not the only reason that WWE signs former talents to Legends contracts.

Now, the intriguing part to me was the announcement a few months back that the Headbangers signed a "WWE 2023 Nostalgia Agreement". This seems to be different than the Legends contract, so I would be very curious to see what is different about this new Nostalgia Agreement. This almost seems like it is designed to be a bit stricter, and may be a lower dollar value which could make WWE more likely to sign these alumni that have fallen through the cracks. Without knowing numbers, I would not be able to guess any further, but offhand a lot of these older former alumni would most likely settle for a smaller amount of compensation - I mean something is better than nothing.