How Did Hasbro Get Demolition Crush Out So Fast?

[hbkjason]

I do not know what made me think of this, but Hasbro were not exactly super fast at getting characters out, and with the way figures were made back then it was understandable.

However, Crush joined Demolition in June of 1990, but his figure was out in the first half of 1991! When you look at how long it took for a Slaughter, a Bret, a Bulldog. It is crazy how quickly they were able to get that Crush figure out.

Do you think it was fast tracked due to how over Demolition were in 1990? If that was the case, why were the Hart Foundation not fast tracked too?

Crush is a real favorite of mine and as a kid, I was so excited for that figure, even though Demolition was done.

When you look at the Hasbro line Demolition Crush has to be the quickest turnaround that they did in the entire line!

[jason1980s]

The 1990 Ax Ron Rudat sketch shows the initial concept for Ax having the Crush lower body. I wonder if they either had the mold done already for the singles or if a tag team set was planned for 91, given their popularity you mentioned. When Crush came along they could have just scrap an Ax new mold and put the Crush head on it instead.


Also, for Dibiase #1, there is a drawing similar to the card backs that shows his #2 toy mold so I wonder if the green version was already produced but once he started using black more regularly they changed it to that.

Outback Jack is an LJN example of a toy that came out very quickly compared to others.

[hbkjason]

Oct 2, 2024 0:33:40 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

The 1990 Ax Ron Rudat sketch shows the initial concept for Ax having the Crush lower body. I wonder if they either had the mold done already for the singles or if a tag team set was planned for 91, given their popularity you mentioned. When Crush came along they could have just scrap an Ax new mold and put the Crush head on it instead.


Also, for Dibiase #1, there is a drawing similar to the card backs that shows his #2 toy mold so I wonder if the green version was already produced but once he started using black more regularly they changed it to that.

Outback Jack is an LJN example of a toy that came out very quickly compared to others.

That is a great shout about the Ax sketch, I forgot all about that.

[y2josh]

Hasbro experts are so impressive. You guys pulling out all of this knowledge was really cool to read; I literally knew none of this. Crush is the only non-main event guy who got 3 or more Hasbros, right?

[@Chair.Shot]

Not much to add to what has already been shared. Just gonna post the Ron Rudat drawing of Ax that would become Crush. Also, VintageFigs1 used to (or still does?) own the original Crush prototype with different face paint that was seen in the infamous TRU/R&B Greg advertisement.








There miiiight be another prototype version but I have yet to verify it.

[MKSavage]

I always thought they were planning another Demolition set with Ax and Smash because of their popularity. But by the time the figures were going to be released, Ax was no longer with the company, so they just put a Crush head on the mold for Ax's body. Though it is odd that they were going to give Ax a new mold and not Smash. I don't remember ever seeing a Hasbro sketch of Series 1 Ax (gorilla press slam), does that exist? If not, was the one with the clothesline meant to be used for S1 Ax and they scrapped it for some reason. Then when they needed a mold for Crush, they just used it with him?

[RedDevil]

I wonder if they had issues getting the clothesline action to work properly?

That could explain why they adjusted Ax to the slam action that Hogan had already in series 1. Then after that they had Macho King in series 2 with the clothesline so they might've fixed the original Ax and put Crush's head on it?

Maybe we'll find-out one day about how the change happened.

[jason1980s]

I don't see a date on the Ax sketch so it's a wonder if it was meant for 1990 or 91. The hood part makes me wonder since Hasbro already did accessories like Damien and the Million Dollar Belt but the first series Demolition had no hoods.