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Post by chaz on Sept 23, 2023 15:06:30 GMT -5
With all the orange card releases of recent times, it’s got me thinking - what would have followed had the Hasbro line continued?
Who else would have been made? What card colours would we have gotten?
Working on Jakks taking over the license in mid 1996, I feel like we could have got another 5 sets.
Series 12 (orange card) - late 1994/early 1995:
Mo
Mabel
Diesel
Bastion Booger
Jeff Jarrett
Doink
Lex Luger
Series 13 - early / mid 1995:
Jacques
Pierre
Bob Backlund
Kwang
Sparky Plugg
Bam Bam Bigelow
Randy Savage
Series 14 - mid 1995:
Duke Droese
Jim Neidhart
British Bulldog
King Kong Bundy
Owen Hart
Jerry Lawler
Undertaker
Series 15 - late 1995:
Aldo Montoya
Henry Godwinn
Hakushi
The Roadie
Razor Ramon
Shawn Michaels
1-2-3 Kid
Series 16 - early 1996:
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Goldust
Dean Douglas
Sycho Sid
King Mabel
Diesel
Bret Hart
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walter7paisley
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Post by walter7paisley on Sept 24, 2023 14:26:57 GMT -5
With all the orange card releases of recent times, it’s got me thinking - what would have followed had the Hasbro line continued? Who else would have been made? What card colours would we have gotten? Working on Jakks taking over the license in mid 1996, I feel like we could have got another 5 sets. Series 12 (orange card) - late 1994/early 1995: Mo Mabel Diesel Bastion Booger Jeff Jarrett Doink Lex Luger Series 13 - early / mid 1995: Jacques Pierre Bob Backlund Kwang Sparky Plugg Bam Bam Bigelow Randy Savage Series 14 - mid 1995: Duke Droese Jim Neidhart British Bulldog King Kong Bundy Owen Hart Jerry Lawler Undertaker Series 15 - late 1995: Aldo Montoya Henry Godwinn Hakushi The Roadie Razor Ramon Shawn Michaels 1-2-3 Kid Series 16 - early 1996: Hunter Hearst Helmsley Goldust Dean Douglas Sycho Sid King Mabel Diesel Bret Hart In my opinion, if Hasbro had kept the license into the mid to late 90s, I think they'd have gradually moved into producing different styles of figures than what we've come to regard as the classic "Hasbro" style. With all of the other toy lines around between 1994 and 1997, it'd be natural for Hasbro to want to compete with the competition, and in all fairness, beyond us Hasbro fans, most kids were done with that type of wrestling figure in the mid 90s, and they started popping up everywhere for very low prices. We know that companies like LJN and Galoob were considering and developing different styles of figures, so I imagine Hasbro would have naturally done the same. JusToys and Jakks were the natural progression, imo. It would have been exciting to see what Hasbro came up with, although by the time the line folded, Hasbro weren't really interested in wrestling figures anymore, apparently. |
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Post by newgenandy on Sept 24, 2023 14:57:36 GMT -5
With all the orange card releases of recent times, it’s got me thinking - what would have followed had the Hasbro line continued? Who else would have been made? What card colours would we have gotten? Working on Jakks taking over the license in mid 1996, I feel like we could have got another 5 sets. Series 12 (orange card) - late 1994/early 1995: Mo Mabel Diesel Bastion Booger Jeff Jarrett Doink Lex Luger Series 13 - early / mid 1995: Jacques Pierre Bob Backlund Kwang Sparky Plugg Bam Bam Bigelow Randy Savage Series 14 - mid 1995: Duke Droese Jim Neidhart British Bulldog King Kong Bundy Owen Hart Jerry Lawler Undertaker Series 15 - late 1995: Aldo Montoya Henry Godwinn Hakushi The Roadie Razor Ramon Shawn Michaels 1-2-3 Kid Series 16 - early 1996: Hunter Hearst Helmsley Goldust Dean Douglas Sycho Sid King Mabel Diesel Bret Hart In my opinion, if Hasbro had kept the license into the mid to late 90s, I think they'd have gradually moved into producing different styles of figures than what we've come to regard as the classic "Hasbro" style. With all of the other toy lines around between 1994 and 1997, it'd be natural for Hasbro to want to compete with the competition, and in all fairness, beyond us Hasbro fans, most kids were done with that type of wrestling figure in the mid 90s, and they started popping up everywhere for very low prices. We know that companies like LJN and Galoob were considering and developing different styles of figures, so I imagine Hasbro would have naturally done the same. JusToys and Jakks were the natural progression, imo. It would have been exciting to see what Hasbro came up with, although by the time the line folded, Hasbro weren't really interested in wrestling figures anymore, apparently. I agree I think the form factor would’ve changed and in retrospect I think it’s good the line ended when it did because it’s kept the love and didn’t outstay it’s welcome. I can see them trying to add more articulation - Matt cardona has a ljn proto of hogan articulated showing how ljn were changing form to keep up before losing the license Much like how the young ones, fawlty towers and the uk office retained their magic v the us office which way outstayed it’s welcome Similarly with bands who’s output was short - vast majority of bands are dead by album 3 |
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jamesdean28
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Post by jamesdean28 on Sept 24, 2023 23:06:40 GMT -5
With all the orange card releases of recent times, it’s got me thinking - what would have followed had the Hasbro line continued? Who else would have been made? What card colours would we have gotten? Working on Jakks taking over the license in mid 1996, I feel like we could have got another 5 sets. Series 12 (orange card) - late 1994/early 1995: Mo Mabel Diesel Bastion Booger Jeff Jarrett Doink Lex Luger Series 13 - early / mid 1995: Jacques Pierre Bob Backlund Kwang Sparky Plugg Bam Bam Bigelow Randy Savage Series 14 - mid 1995: Duke Droese Jim Neidhart British Bulldog King Kong Bundy Owen Hart Jerry Lawler Undertaker Series 15 - late 1995: Aldo Montoya Henry Godwinn Hakushi The Roadie Razor Ramon Shawn Michaels 1-2-3 Kid Series 16 - early 1996: Hunter Hearst Helmsley Goldust Dean Douglas Sycho Sid King Mabel Diesel Bret Hart In my opinion, if Hasbro had kept the license into the mid to late 90s, I think they'd have gradually moved into producing different styles of figures than what we've come to regard as the classic "Hasbro" style. With all of the other toy lines around between 1994 and 1997, it'd be natural for Hasbro to want to compete with the competition, and in all fairness, beyond us Hasbro fans, most kids were done with that type of wrestling figure in the mid 90s, and they started popping up everywhere for very low prices. We know that companies like LJN and Galoob were considering and developing different styles of figures, so I imagine Hasbro would have naturally done the same. JusToys and Jakks were the natural progression, imo. It would have been exciting to see what Hasbro came up with, although by the time the line folded, Hasbro weren't really interested in wrestling figures anymore, apparently. Really good point. I think they would have moved away from that style. And nail on the head, they certainly didn’t care about wrestling figures anymore by the time the licence ran out. Wrestling was on a severe downturn as we know, and you only have to look at the green card series to see what Hasbro thought. They threw those figs out, all repaints, Borga and Gunns boots are a travesty and Kid is one of the worst figs in the line. The BCA were a revelation at the time after that. Probably the playable figures of all time |
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Post by hulkjoegan on Sept 25, 2023 2:06:54 GMT -5
With all the orange card releases of recent times, it’s got me thinking - what would have followed had the Hasbro line continued? Who else would have been made? What card colours would we have gotten? Working on Jakks taking over the license in mid 1996, I feel like we could have got another 5 sets. Series 12 (orange card) - late 1994/early 1995: Mo Mabel Diesel Bastion Booger Jeff Jarrett Doink Lex Luger Series 13 - early / mid 1995: Jacques Pierre Bob Backlund Kwang Sparky Plugg Bam Bam Bigelow Randy Savage Series 14 - mid 1995: Duke Droese Jim Neidhart British Bulldog King Kong Bundy Owen Hart Jerry Lawler Undertaker Series 15 - late 1995: Aldo Montoya Henry Godwinn Hakushi The Roadie Razor Ramon Shawn Michaels 1-2-3 Kid Series 16 - early 1996: Hunter Hearst Helmsley Goldust Dean Douglas Sycho Sid King Mabel Diesel Bret Hart This is interesting to speculate, regardless of whether Hasbro would’ve eventually changed style (which I don’t think was really what the original poster was getting at). I think your series 13 is a pretty good list - but I can’t recall exactly what Savage was doing around this time, after the WN10 match with Crush. So not sure if I’d include him. And I don’t recall much happening with Kwang or him being around that long as that character. Whereas Lawler had been around for a while (I had definitely wanted a Lawler figure as a kid!) so I’d include him here. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought to include bam bam, maybe because his Hasbro was flawless for me at the time; but he was becoming a main guy and could’ve had an updated blue attire. Backlund I would push to the following series as he only just won the title in late 94, and I think Owen was due a heel figure by this point. But I would agree with the Quebecers and Sparky Plugg; Quebecers were central to tag scene and whilst only a lower tier guy, Sparky still had a bit of ‘fanfare’ with the vignettes etc on his arrival. And I’d also have an Undertaker without a hat as an anchor in the series. So for 13 I’d say: Jacques Pierre Sparky Plugg Bam Bam Jerry Lawler Owen Hart Undertaker |
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 25, 2023 2:43:01 GMT -5
This is very interesting to think about and I was going to come in here and just rattle off a bunch of names that I think would have been in the series after the green cards.
However, like others have said, Hasbro would probably have to had rebooted their WWF line as by the mid 90s as much as I love the Hasbro figures, they may not have caught the attention on the shelves. Perhaps they would have made a new line to go along side their current style of figures for a little while.
I think that in 1995 if they rebooted their WWF line the first series would have looked like this,
Bret Hart
Shawn Michaels
The Undertaker
Razor Ramon
Diesel
Bam Bam Bigelow
Owen Hart
The British Bulldog
I think that would be a realistic first set of eight figures for a new line based on the end of 1994 going into 1995, if they were to do ten in that first series, I would add Lex Luger and Yokozuna to the list.
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Post by newgenandy on Sept 25, 2023 8:47:40 GMT -5
This is very interesting to think about and I was going to come in here and just rattle off a bunch of names that I think would have been in the series after the green cards. However, like others have said, Hasbro would probably have to had rebooted their WWF line as by the mid 90s as much as I love the Hasbro figures, they may not have caught the attention on the shelves. Perhaps they would have made a new line to go along side their current style of figures for a little while. I think that in 1995 if they rebooted their WWF line the first series would have looked like this, Bret Hart Shawn Michaels The Undertaker Razor Ramon Diesel Bam Bam Bigelow Owen Hart The British Bulldog I think that would be a realistic first set of eight figures for a new line based on the end of 1994 going into 1995, if they were to do ten in that first series, I would add Lex Luger and Yokozuna to the list. Swap yoko and bam bam and it’s pretty hard to argue that line up Towards the end they did phone it in a bit with repaints etc - bad crush being on a kona card etc, if they knew they had the license longer I do wonder if they’d try and get the new line out a bit earlier and try to squeeze in a hogan for name value. I’d guess with predicting timescales etc they prob knew s good 12-18 months out they lost the line? |
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walter7paisley
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Joined on: Jan 9, 2022 17:57:13 GMT -5
Posts: 1,713
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Post by walter7paisley on Sept 25, 2023 8:53:41 GMT -5
Yeah, I definitely think they'd have gone in another direction with the line, which would actually enable them to remake many guys that they'd already done as original Hasbros, so definitely the big guys at the time like HBK, Bret, Diesel, Razor, Undertaker, etc.
As for who they'd have chosen to make had the Hasbro line continued as it was, they were pretty wild in a lot of the figures they chose during the original run, think Bushwhacker repaints etc. They probably wouldn't make the guys you'd expect them to, lol.
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mad2009
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Joined on: Feb 12, 2009 20:10:22 GMT -5
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Post by mad2009 on Sept 25, 2023 10:47:36 GMT -5
Before the internet I heard rumors that the next series would have included alundra blayze but I guess not. They could have used the rude/flair/kid body
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Post by MKSavage on Sept 25, 2023 17:47:24 GMT -5
A few years back, didn't they show a number of new head sculpts for the next wave/series after the orange card series? Was it going to be the black card series? Wasn't it going to be an updated Undertaker (without the hat), Bret Hart, and Macho Man Randy Savage (with just glasses)? EDIT: Here is the rumored Undertaker sculpt, I can't find the others at the moment:  Fount the Macho Man:  |
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@Chair.Shot
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WF 10+ Year Member
Joined on: Jan 31, 2012 4:38:24 GMT -5
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Post by @Chair.Shot on Sept 25, 2023 19:23:15 GMT -5
I think one of the biggest things we lost out on was a King of Hearts Owen. There are great customs out there but I have yet to pull the trigger on any of them.
Backlund would have been great to have. I hated him as a kid but it would have been great to make him job to everyone in my fig fed!
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Post by stc13 on Sept 25, 2023 20:28:53 GMT -5
I think one of the biggest things we lost out on was a King of Hearts Owen. There are great customs out there but I have yet to pull the trigger on any of them. Backlund would have been great to have. I hated him as a kid but it would have been great to make him job to everyone in my fig fed! I think that's the bummer for me - probably another 2-3 series and you'd have a pretty comprehensive roster stretching from the tail end of the Golden Era through peak New Gen. Instead we got a tease of the New Gen and then a pretty sizable gap until Jakks kicked in towards the start of the MNW era. If Hasbro kept the line, they would have more continuity, probably with a new line launching some time in 94 that captured late 94 stars on. It's interesting to daydream what a Hasbro line could have looked like. Something like the GI Joe Extreme figures seems along the line that Hasbro could have gone. |
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Post by MKSavage on Sept 25, 2023 21:01:21 GMT -5
I think one of the biggest things we lost out on was a King of Hearts Owen. There are great customs out there but I have yet to pull the trigger on any of them. Backlund would have been great to have. I hated him as a kid but it would have been great to make him job to everyone in my fig fed! Instead we got a tease of the New Gen and then a pretty sizable gap until Jakks kicked in towards the start of the MNW era. If Hasbro kept the line, they would have more continuity, probably with a new line launching some time in 94 that captured late 94 stars on. It's interesting to daydream what a Hasbro line could have looked like. Something like the GI Joe Extreme figures seems along the line that Hasbro could have gone. Yeah, if they could have gone one more year at least, they could have gotten out a pretty good New Generation roster. If it ran through the end of 1994, I could definitely see a new Bret, Taker (in purple), HBK, and Razor Ramon. Plus, we would have gotten the orange card series of USA Lex, IC title era Diesel, Jarrett, Men on a Mission, and Bastion Booger. I think we also would have seen a new Owen Hart (king of Harts version), another Bam Bam Bigelow, Crush, and Adam Bomb, Bob Backlund, Jerry the King Lawler, the Quebecers, a solo run Jim Neidhart, the Heavenly Bodies, heel Tatanka, Sparky Plugg, New Headshrinkers, and Kwang. Maybe even a new British Bulldog and Rick Martel. It would be cutting it close, but King Kong Bundy returned at the end of 1994, so maybe even a figure of him. |
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Post by Nivro™ on Sept 25, 2023 21:45:54 GMT -5
I think its safe to say you could look at the Bendems lineup and see what figures/talent you would have got from Hasbro had the line continued.
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walter7paisley
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Post by walter7paisley on Sept 26, 2023 0:23:56 GMT -5
Weren't Hasbro supposed to be producing a few dolls, or clothed figures or something. I seem to recall either that Macho head or another was supposed to be from that. I could be remembering wrong, though.
I tend to agree with the comment above that Hasbro might have started putting out more GI Joe style wrestling figures, but who knows.
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walter7paisley
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Post by walter7paisley on Sept 26, 2023 2:06:17 GMT -5
A few years back, didn't they show a number of new head sculpts for the next wave/series after the orange card series? Was it going to be the black card series? Wasn't it going to be an updated Undertaker (without the hat), Bret Hart, and Macho Man Randy Savage (with just glasses)? EDIT: Here is the rumored Undertaker sculpt, I can't find the others at the moment: Fount the Macho Man: After doing a bit of digging, it seems that those head sculpts were intended for the 12" GI Joe style line, featuring Savage, Hogan and the Undertaker. That's probably the line Hasbro would've gone with, IMO, and possibly a smaller 6" more articulated line, but that's pure assumption on my part. |
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Post by hulkjoegan on Sept 26, 2023 3:06:13 GMT -5
A few years back, didn't they show a number of new head sculpts for the next wave/series after the orange card series? Was it going to be the black card series? Wasn't it going to be an updated Undertaker (without the hat), Bret Hart, and Macho Man Randy Savage (with just glasses)? EDIT: Here is the rumored Undertaker sculpt, I can't find the others at the moment: Fount the Macho Man: I love that Undertaker head; it would be really cool if someone could digitally sculpt it so that it could be used for customs. But I think that head may have been better suited to the era of his earlier figures, as by the time he returned at Summerslam to face Faker, his hair was longer. |
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jamesdean28
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Post by jamesdean28 on Sept 26, 2023 21:11:19 GMT -5
Just reading some replies here got me thinking. I don’t think Hasbro lost the licence as much as they let it run out. Wrestling was in the toilet from around 93-late 96. Certainly thru 95. I think that’s why the green card and orange cards featured no new tooling. Booger with painted in straps on n Earthquake body wouldn’t have set the world alight
Another thing is, why were companies so opposed to making Neidhart figures. The Hart Foundation didn’t get Hasbro figs (even as tag champs, long run, heavily featured). Arguably the best tag team of their era (in WWF). Hasbro made Bushwhackers (which I get) and the likes of RnB Hammer considered. Then Neidhart got his fig in his short lived New Foundation gimmick. He returned in a heavily featured angle thru 94 and still wasn’t considered. Odd choices. Then with Jakks BCA he was prominent throughout his run and still no fig. And Jakks made *everyone*, certainly in their first 2 years of th licence. What am I missing here?
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@Chair.Shot
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Post by @Chair.Shot on Sept 26, 2023 22:01:04 GMT -5
Just reading some replies here got me thinking. I don’t think Hasbro lost the licence as much as they let it run out. Wrestling was in the toilet from around 93-late 96. Certainly thru 95. I think that’s why the green card and orange cards featured no new tooling. Booger with painted in straps on n Earthquake body wouldn’t have set the world alight Another thing is, why were companies so opposed to making Neidhart figures. The Hart Foundation didn’t get Hasbro figs (even as tag champs, long run, heavily featured). Arguably the best tag team of their era (in WWF). Hasbro made Bushwhackers (which I get) and the likes of RnB Hammer considered. Then Neidhart got his fig in his short lived New Foundation gimmick. He returned in a heavily featured angle thru 94 and still wasn’t considered. Odd choices. Then with Jakks BCA he was prominent throughout his run and still no fig. And Jakks made *everyone*, certainly in their first 2 years of th licence. What am I missing here? He was horribly unreliable and a mediocre talent. I can see why WWF and Hasbro/Jakks wouldn’t want to push a liability. |
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walter7paisley
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Post by walter7paisley on Sept 27, 2023 5:07:23 GMT -5
Just reading some replies here got me thinking. I don’t think Hasbro lost the licence as much as they let it run out. Wrestling was in the toilet from around 93-late 96. Certainly thru 95. I think that’s why the green card and orange cards featured no new tooling. Booger with painted in straps on n Earthquake body wouldn’t have set the world alight Another thing is, why were companies so opposed to making Neidhart figures. The Hart Foundation didn’t get Hasbro figs (even as tag champs, long run, heavily featured). Arguably the best tag team of their era (in WWF). Hasbro made Bushwhackers (which I get) and the likes of RnB Hammer considered. Then Neidhart got his fig in his short lived New Foundation gimmick. He returned in a heavily featured angle thru 94 and still wasn’t considered. Odd choices. Then with Jakks BCA he was prominent throughout his run and still no fig. And Jakks made *everyone*, certainly in their first 2 years of th licence. What am I missing here? That's why when we have these types of threads and we all post our opinions on who we think Hasbro would have made, it's pretty much all pointless speculation, though fun. Hasbro showed many many times that they weren't really about making the guys we'd have expected them to. So if they did continue, besides the top guys, it's literally anyone's guess who else they might have chosen to make. So then the topic becomes not about who they might have made, but who they should have made, because, truly, they MIGHT have made anyone. |
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