The WWE Mattel Legends Line

Welcome back guys, so after my introduction last time I want to talk figures, we all have our favourite lines and when pushed we can prob single out a favourite figure and that is what I want to talk about today.

My favourite line since Mattel has had the contract to make WWE figures is the Legends line. They started with the line right at the beginning back in 2010 and there have been some tremendous figures in the series.

The first series (left) saw The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) in their NWA attires, Dusty Rhodes in the outfit he was given when he went to the WWF, the black gear with yellow polka dots, Sgt Slaughter in an outfit based around his look in the AWA, Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat* and as of typing this, the ONLY figure from the original line I am still looking for, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin complete with entrance vest and Austin 3:16 T-shirt.**

*Steamboat had never had a figure released by JAKKS in the previous WWF deal which frustrated a lot of collectors.

 

**EDIT: I now have this figure.

The second series saw The Iron Sheik, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka, 'Ravishing' Rick Rude in his attire based on his Summer Slam 90 match, Terry Funk in a terrific look based on his mid-80's run in the WWF complete with cowboy hat, chaps and branding iron and Kamala The Ugandan Giant.

 

As us collectors know, store exclusives are a thing that can irritate a lot of fans, especially us here in the UK and they are pretty much US store exclusives when they are released, today it's usually Target or Walmart well back around this time, Toys R Us were the ones to get exclusives and they were two-packs and they consisted of 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper & Cowboy Bob Orton , The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) and The Iron Sheik (yes, again) & Nikolai Volkolff. There was going to be a series 2 of these two-packs but low sales saw these scrapped, in that series would've been The Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels) and The Von Erichs (Kerry & Kevin, below).

The Third series in the singles line saw 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan complete with American flag and 2x4, Big Van Vader based on his WCW look from around 92 complete with white cape and two removeable masks, The Rock, The British Bulldog & Brian Pillman both from around 97 (below) and Mr. Perfect complete with towel and IC title belt, he was in blue/black ironically, the gear he was wearing when he lost the title to Bret Hart at Summer Slam 91, this was the first figure in the line to come with a belt.

The fourth series saw Demolition (Ax & Smash), George 'The Animal' Steele, Hillbilly Jim, Ultimate Warrior with IC belt and I believe this is based on the night he first won that belt at Summer Slam 88 and 'Mr Wonderful' Paul Orndorff.

Series 5 had just the 4 figures and it saw Akeem The African Dream, Bam Bam Bigelow in his Wrestle Mania XI gear, 'Macho Man' Randy Savage* (pictured above, on the right) and 'The Model' Rick Martel complete with jacket, pin badge, sunglasses and of course, Arrogance.

*Like Steamboat, Savage never had a figure released by JAKKS, that was a bit more understandable due to WWF and Savage not being on good terms at all at that time.

Series 6 was the final series as it was starting to lose appeal it seemed, it did however produce some terrific figures, including my favourite of all but anyway, this final series saw The Ultimate Warrior*, Eddie Guerrero, Kevin Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich from his mid to late 80's look and that favourite of mine, the 'Texas Tornado' Kerry Von Erich. Not sure what it is but I really like that figure. As mentioned earlier, the Von Erichs were going to get a release in the two-pack series but that was nixed but at least they got a release in the end.

*This Ultimate Warrior (left) is based on his Wrestle Mania VI match with Hulk Hogan, however, that match saw Warrior come to the ring with a yellow strapped IC title and after defeating Hogan, leave with that and the black strapped Winged Eagle title, however, this figure came with a yellow strapped Winged Eagle title. Some years down the line Mattel would bring out a line called 'Lost Legends' and in that line they would release this Warrior again (below right), with some slight differences, the orange on the wrists was in a different position, the Warrior logo on the chest was a different size and it came with a black strapped Winged Eagle title.

As mentioned, Series 6 was the final series but before it was cancelled, series 7 was set to feature Magnum T.A. another Steve Austin, Andre The Giant, Arn Anderson and Diamond Dallas Page. Shortly after these were cancelled there was a poll created online for collectors to vote for their choices to be released exclusively online at Matty Collector, those chosen were - Andre The Giant, DDP, The Rockers, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard & King Kong Bundy (or just Bundy as it was released as, copyright issue I guess). Much like today when WWE put polls out to see what attires collectors want to see on characters you have to ask yourself, are they all they seem I mean, in these Matty Collector exclusives, is it a coincidence The Rockers, Andre, DDP & Anderson were all scheduled to get a release previously? I think not. In saying that, I am not complaining, it was great to get The Rockers, Andre is amazing and the Bundy figure, WOW, probably my second favourite figure in the Legends line.

Also, there was one more figure in this Legends line so to speak but it was exclusive to Ringside Collectables and that was the Macho King Randy Savage complete with crown, robe and sceptre.

So, with that, that was it, the Legends line was done, Mattel, as mentioned earlier, released a line called 'Lost Legends' and along with the Warrior one, also released that was released in the legends line was a Kamala and also it finally saw a release of the Magnum T.A. figure.

In 2020, news dropped that Mattel would be bringing back the Legends line and I am not going to lie, I was quite excited, not sure what to make of that at my age, however, it was my favourite line first time round so I was very interested to see what they would produce. Over the months preceding we had seen reveals at comic cons of upcoming figures without actually knowing what lines they would come out in; Mattel would sometimes drop a legends figure in here and there and call them 'Flashbacks'* so to hear that the Legends line was coming back, well.

*One of these Flashbacks was a great looking Shawn Michaels (left) and as I wasn't collecting Mattel figures at the time, I missed out on him, but it was re-released in the Lost Legends line, so I was happy at that point. Them re-releasing figures I know is somewhat of a sore point in the collecting world as some see it as devaluing figures but, like with me and that Michaels, it gives people a chance to pick up figures they missed out on first time round without paying big prices on the secondary market.

Another nice touch is they were starting off where they left off and this first series in 2020 was going to be officially Series 7. This series saw Razor Ramon (below), Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan complete with weasel suit and Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine which also had a chase version. The series was originally supposed to have 4 figures and that fourth one was scheduled to be another version of the WCW Crow Sting but there was an issue with his contract so that was cancelled or as I like to think, was put on the back burner. I have the 3 figures, still need the chase.

Series 8 saw Another 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff, this time in red attire/robe, the previous one was in blue, we had another Eddie Guerrero which was great, an Ultimate Warrior in a suit and long coat based on his final ever appearance on RAW before he passed away and the final figure which also had a chase was Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, I just need the chase in this line too.

Series 9 featured Nikolai Volkoff, Tatanka, The Undertaker and 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBease. DiBease is the chase, they both are suited, well, the suits he wore to the ring before he wrestled, they are not removeable, one is the classic black and gold and the chase is a silver and pink. I don't have any of these as of writing this and I am not going to lie, they don't blow me away but as they are in the Legends line I am going to endeavour to pick them up, please get in touch if you can help out because as I said, I do not have any of this series yet.

Series 10 (left) is scheduled to be  DDP, this will be a shorter haired version based on his WWE run, John Cena which although has his original type of gear he wore when he first came to the WWE is based on a situation a lot more recent, I don't watch the current product, so I am not going to pretend I know what it's all about, suffice to say, the collectors I have seen comment on this are not impressed. Anyway, also in this series is a great looking early WCW/NJPW Vader I'd say was based around 1990 and I know for me is a MUST HAVE even if I decided not to get the rest of the series. The Final figure in series 10 is Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake, this is also the chase figure, it comes with a WWF tag title and is based on his 86/87 run he had with Greg Valentine as the 'Dream Team'.

So that's it, all up to date on the Legends series. Please share this around to anyone you think maybe interested, it's greatly appreciated.

Please get in touch with your thoughts on the Legends series of figures, what's your favourite series in the line, what's your favourite figure and like me, does your favourite Mattel figure come from the Legends line and if so, what is it?

Thanks for reading.

You can find links to my social media channels and ways to support HERE