[RETRO] Wrestling's Heels and Faces by Zombie Sailor Toys

[Roy Alrumblay]

All “1776” Sandman’s have been sold!

Hopefully that cash releases P&G from JFK.

[kiphouse]

Wow. Never thought on that. Thats what it is too. Jeez.

[Glorydaysofwrestling]

I wanted to collect all of the ZST ecw figs, but I’m pausing on his line. Gonna give BRG a chance. Just seems like the likeness and proportions have taken a downward turn on the Heels & Faces line.

[mrh]

Jul 5, 2024 15:18:45 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

All “1776” Sandman’s have been sold!

Hopefully that cash releases P&G from JFK.

Anyone ordering these to be "collectible" or for the hype, should watch the Beanie Baby documentary.

Also - does anyone put it above Zombie to manufacture a lower number -- claim 1,776 -- and then when say 1,000 sell, claim it was all 1776?

I would not put it past him (just speculation on my part, obviously)

[3poajamie]

Jul 5, 2024 20:46:35 GMT -5 mrh said:

Jul 5, 2024 15:18:45 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

All “1776” Sandman’s have been sold!

Hopefully that cash releases P&G from JFK.

Anyone ordering these to be "collectible" or for the hype, should watch the Beanie Baby documentary.

Also - does anyone put it above Zombie to manufacture a lower number -- claim 1,776 -- and then when say 1,000 sell, claim it was all 1776?

I would not put it past him (just speculation on my part, obviously)

It would be a weird tactic for an item at this stage, the excuse used by toy makers when it came to pre-orders was that the pre-order model was used to “gage how many figures to make so they do not over stock” doesn’t make sense when there’s a pre-order for a numbered run.

Also, more chance of Torrie Wilson messaging me back than there is almost 1,800 of these being sold in under 2 days

#beaniebabies4life

[britishbrickfan]

Jul 5, 2024 20:46:35 GMT -5 mrh said:

Jul 5, 2024 15:18:45 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

All “1776” Sandman’s have been sold!

Hopefully that cash releases P&G from JFK.

Anyone ordering these to be "collectible" or for the hype, should watch the Beanie Baby documentary.

Also - does anyone put it above Zombie to manufacture a lower number -- claim 1,776 -- and then when say 1,000 sell, claim it was all 1776?

I would not put it past him (just speculation on my part, obviously)

the guy can't even "sell out" of his limited run figures like Tunney, Slick etc

how does he suddenly develop a market of 1776 buyers who have been desperately clinging to the hope of getting a "retro scale" Sandman?

look at it this way - Mattel struggled to get just over 3500 people interested enough in buying a WCW Nitro arena. the Retro scale market is a significantly smaller market than the Elite scale market, and the volume of people buying from "independent" retro companies is even an smaller niche still. so no, he hasn't sold out of 1776 figures to a burgeoning market, he's probably sold like 500-800 (and I reckon a few of those will be people buying to flip a few) but his hype machine is on overdrive

don't worry though, anyone who did miss out will definitely have at least 2 more opportunities to order one before Christmas 2024. he always seems to manage to find a few crates of unsold stock when he needs some more money....

[misterfigi]

Figures that come out 1 of 1250 do not sell out in a week, but some how the Sandman of all people can sell almost 1800 in a day? Not likely. Zombie even already said that the preorder will be the only time you can buy it for $35 after that it will go up. I fully expect these to go back for sale on his site at a later date at a higher price. Sold out and In stock mean something different to him.

IF we are all wrong and he did sell 1,776 Sandmans then we can expect to see about 1000 eBay listings for him come Spring time.

[eddiep]

Just looking at page 1, what’s the deal with an official ring? When was this announced/rumoured?

Also, anyone know if there will be a non bloody Ric Flair?

[@Chair.Shot]

Jul 6, 2024 4:12:21 GMT -5 eddiep said:

Just looking at page 1, what’s the deal with an official ring? When was this announced/rumoured?

Also, anyone know if there will be a non bloody Ric Flair?

Zombie mentioned a ring in an interview with Smart Mark Sterling back in either 2020 or 2021. He teased a couple of photos on his Instagram as well in late 21/early 22:




No word on a different Ric Flair but most think it is inevitable.

[CM Tusk]

Honestly, I’ll probably buy the bloody Flair once people have it in hand.

[misterfigi]

I think the bloody Flair is great. One of the very few figures to get his weird body style accurate.

[xwmikey]

Jul 4, 2024 19:08:48 GMT -5 kojikanemoto said:

Jul 4, 2024 18:28:54 GMT -5 Scotty T. Ritz said:

Living in Australia, went over to Zombie's website to place an order for the USA Sandman Retro.... not available to purchase for Aus. Only USA, Canada, Japan and Germany?!!? Given his track record, I'm sure I'll get an opportunity to purchase through him at a later date or through another retailer... just seems bizarre that you could have had my money right now for the pre-order, but due to region specific options neither of us got what we wanted - I can't place my pre-order to ensure I get my Retro and you don't have my monies transferred??

I get that it sucks for you but the hassle probably isn’t worth what he makes per figure. Shipping costs have sky rocketed all around.

I wound up getting 2x Sandman’s (Sandmen?) via the Australian distributor (one for a friend in order to get free shipping) at $80 AUD each ($55 USD each), which is the cheapest price tag I’ve been able to get one of ZST’s figures at launch by a pretty good margin (between $20-30 USD), considering any others I’ve had to pay international shipping buying from him direct.

There hasn’t been much else that I’ve been interested in lately (in part because I’m saving for a Europe holiday and our dollar sucks), and I’m hoping the wait times start being reduced on these as well, but the process is actually becoming a little easier and more affordable for me as an Australian consumer too.

Not sure if that means the ZST line is selling well or not domestically, but maybe that’s just me being cynical

[parrish]

Jul 6, 2024 13:46:33 GMT -5 misterfigi said:

I think the bloody Flair is great. One of the very few figures to get his weird body style accurate.

 . . . . . . if you ignore the arms. 

[CM Tusk]

Jul 6, 2024 19:27:01 GMT -5 parrish said:

Jul 6, 2024 13:46:33 GMT -5 misterfigi said:

I think the bloody Flair is great. One of the very few figures to get his weird body style accurate.

 . . . . . . if you ignore the arms. 

If you aren’t comparing them to Hasbro, which I think he put himself in a corner with making that his gimmick, I don’t think the super long arms take away from the figures. It’s just a different style. Plenty of toy lines have figures that aren’t in perfect scale. But these are supposed to “fit in with your Hasbro collection!” so then it becomes a problem.

[@Chair.Shot]

Maybe Im alone with this but can we stop giving Heels and Faces a pass for not making these look like Hasbros? I myself have said in the past that it’s his company and he can do what he wants…but I’m pretty over the whole “it’s his own style.” That seems to be regurgitated effortlessly now which is such a low standard to keep. The narrative keeps changing. It went from a mission statement that these would be a “continuation of the Hasbros,” to “these are what Hasbros would be like if they existed in the modern age,” to “its his own style.” It makes Rudat drawings and that packaging style completely meaningless. Like if he wants to make them in the style he has been…why keep pretending? Calling everything else bootleg is laughable considering literally every one of his competitors is doing a better job at making it feel like a continuation of Hasbro.

[misterfigi]

Jul 6, 2024 19:27:01 GMT -5 parrish said:

Jul 6, 2024 13:46:33 GMT -5 misterfigi said:

I think the bloody Flair is great. One of the very few figures to get his weird body style accurate.

 . . . . . . if you ignore the arms. 

True. I do not think Flairs arms are as bad as Mike Awesome, Brian Meyers, Candido and a few others though.

[britishbrickfan]

Jul 7, 2024 1:47:35 GMT -5 jasont said:

I get the arm issues but I still love these figures. I’m less concerned with the hasbro link now that he’s released so many figures already. I don’t actually think it’s the arm length that’s the problem. I think it’s the lack of arm poses.

for the prices he's charging, he still can't fix the arms and still deserves a pass??

Chair Shot is right, this is very odd to just give one manufacturer a pass over all others, despite obvious and continual problems with the product - the arms have been wrong since day one. the move from Hasbro styled poses to a generic stance for all figures is not "a continuation of the line"

ZST's doing it to reuse molds, that's fine, it's business, but all of his figures from Series 2 have moved to a generic format, and the detail makes the miniature statues rather than Hasbro-esque figures. at least Dino Bravo and Jarrett fit in with the Hasbro style, but figures like Earl/Sabu were too detailed, and the gulf between the styles has grown ever since

the recent changes from G+G make them much closer to Hasbros, ZST's just making more detail figures of wrestling personalities in a 4.5" scale at this point, which is fine to have a separate line/style, but why waste time with the marketing around Rudat if he never intended to keep running with that style?

[misterfigi]

Jul 7, 2024 2:35:22 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Jul 7, 2024 1:47:35 GMT -5 jasont said:

I get the arm issues but I still love these figures. I’m less concerned with the hasbro link now that he’s released so many figures already. I don’t actually think it’s the arm length that’s the problem. I think it’s the lack of arm poses.

for the prices he's charging, he still can't fix the arms and still deserves a pass??

Chair Shot is right, this is very odd to just give one manufacturer a pass over all others, despite obvious and continual problems with the product - the arms have been wrong since day one. the move from Hasbro styled poses to a generic stance for all figures is not "a continuation of the line"

ZST's doing it to reuse molds, that's fine, it's business, but all of his figures from Series 2 have moved to a generic format, and the detail makes the miniature statues rather than Hasbro-esque figures. at least Dino Bravo and Jarrett fit in with the Hasbro style, but figures like Earl/Sabu were too detailed, and the gulf between the styles has grown ever since

the recent changes from G+G make them much closer to Hasbros, ZST's just making more detail figures of wrestling personalities in a 4.5" scale at this point, which is fine to have a separate line/style, but why waste time with the marketing around Rudat if he never intended to keep running with that style?

The arms definitely need to be fixed. Other than that I am fine not having the Hasbro poses. I never cared for jumpers or clothesliners even when I was young. Some figures could use some pose though. The Sabu was great, he was kind of doing his signature taunt. If Sabu just had his arms to his side it would have lost some of its magic for me.

I also do not understand keeping the Rudat art and even the Hasbro-esgue packaging style. At this point he should stop trying to emulate anything Hasbro and maybe the complaints from people that they do not look like Hasbro will go away. At this point there is really nothing to be gained by pretending to be a continuation of Hasbro. Especially considering the Epic Toy line, and even Hastell are doing such a better job at being Hasbro figures.

[@Chair.Shot]

That is a better question but not one that we are likely to ever have answered. None of us can figure out why Zombie Sailor lies so often. It could be that hustler mentality. Always make things look as grand as possible and then cover up anything that goes wrong. Sweep every issue under the rug and use distractions to change the conversation. I appreciate how transparent everyone is these days: The Major Bendies/BRGs, KWK, Epic, and for the most part FC (they work largely in silence but don’t run from problems). All we can do is speculate as to why he does what he does. At the end of the day, it’s about the figures I want in my collection (whenever they might arrive).

[misterfigi]

Jul 7, 2024 8:07:20 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

That is a better question but not one that we are likely to ever have answered. None of us can figure out why Zombie Sailor lies so often. It could be that hustler mentality. Always make things look as grand as possible and then cover up anything that goes wrong. Sweep every issue under the rug and use distractions to change the conversation. I appreciate how transparent everyone is these days: The Major Bendies/BRGs, KWK, Epic, and for the most part FC (they work largely in silence but don’t run from problems). All we can do is speculate as to why he does what he does. At the end of the day, it’s about the figures I want in my collection (whenever they might arrive).

You must be my alt account because this is the same "negative" stuff I have said! What a strange coincidence.

I just watched the Major Podcast for this week and I guess I am the only person who is looking forward to a Big Bully Busick figure. When he debuted I was all in on him and was kind of disappointed when he was gone a few months later. I hope that Mitch can get his Harvey Whippleman figure out soon to go with Busick. I also hope that his hat does not fall like Slicks, I assume not since he wont be swapping hats with anyone.