Thoughts on the Mattel reveals at SDCC 2024
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So, I have not wrote a blog since SDCC, we did see a lot of great stuff on show there, was a bit gutted we didn't see a completed Great Muta figure but I understand that one is down the line and there are other figures to come beforehand. I am not aware of any other events like WM weekend or SDCC they have a big showcase of new and upcoming releases so I don't know how the completed Muta figure will be shown maybe the Mattel guys such as Steve Ozer and Bill Miekina will share it on social media.
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| Great Muta Ultimate Edition |
Just a few thoughts from what was seen at SDCC, on the Elite side, it was great to see the Dragon Lee figure, really looking forward to getting that one in hand. The Mattel Creations return CM Punk was shown, loose and in package, plain of course but looks OK, on the subject of CM Punk and Elites, we thought it may happen and it is, they are re-releasing the Straight Edged Society Punk, I could cry about how I disagree with it but I won't, it gives collectors that missed out first time round or didn't want to pay the high prices for it on the secondary market a chance to pick it up and of course for Mattel, it will bring in plenty of dollars and at the end of the day, they are a business, that's what it is about for them so it's hard to moan really.
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| Dragon Lee |
I am glad we are finally getting a Brian Pillman to match the Steve Austin that came out a while back so we can complete the Hollywood Blondes, many made their own custom of a HB Pillman to match the Austin and back then, there was no deal in place with the Pillman estate for a deal to make figures by Mattel but that was agreed 2-3 months ago and now we will be getting this figure, REALLY looking forward to it. Sticking with the Pillman family, his son, who wrestles in NXT as Lexis King is also getting an Elite figure and I believe it will be in the same wave as his fathers HB one so that will be cool. Not seen him wrestle in NXT (have elsewhere) so will be picking this one up.
Another one coming out in the Vault collection is the Defining Moments Shawn Michaels based on his look from Wrestle Mania XXV. There is a figure coming out in the Vault series that I may try and get my hands on and that is the nWo Hollywood Hogan one as it will have the updated torso and skin tone and hopefully head scan because the last one was horrendous.
We got to see the Royal Rumble set that is coming out, it will see Hulk Hogan, Cody Rhodes, Hurricane and Diesel, now they are what they are, these PPV sets are never really exciting, sometimes you get a figure you are really into, go back a couple of years to the Survivor Series set that featured Ultimate Warrior with his look based on SS 90, I was really into that (it had a chance of coming out as a UE but lost out in the 'fan vote' and they brought another one out instead, the Wrestle Mania VI I believe) but these sets always come with BAF parts, Mattel did what can be considered a great thing when they moved away from suited figures and gave us two figures in wrestling gear, in the last RR set we got Virgil in wrestling attire and in the one before the last Survivor Series set we got the British Bulldog when he wrestled in jeans for s while, both great additions to the BAF/Mattel line, they did revert back to type in the last SS set as they gave us Adam Pierce in a suit and the Summer Slam one before that was referee John Cone and this RR set with Hogan, Rhodes, Hurricane and Diesel will see them give us the first ever Great Khali Elite figure as the BAF, which is cool. before I move on, I have to talk about the Diesel, I am REALLY let down by this one, as you can see by the comparisons I have posted, it is not a good match, the head is basically the one from the Best of RA series Kevin Nash and the body type just isn't right, I hope when/if, they give us the Diesel based on Wrestle Mania X, it's more accurate.
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| Royal Rumble set with Khali BAF |
Future Legends figures were shown, I think it will be series 26 (figures on series 24/25 were actually there, onto them shortly), there will be a series with Carlito, Billy Gunn from his Smoking Gunns days (like with the Hollywood Blondes Austin earlier I spoke about, maybe one day we'll get Bart Gunn like we are getting Pillman, The Godfather is getting a figure, first in forever and a bald Kurt Angle in a dark singlet and big gold belt and also shown was a Great Muta based oh his days later in his career complete with white/grey beard.
The future Legends series that were shown were, series 24, we have seen these before by the way, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan (Wrestle Mania VIII), Faarooq (chase) and Jim Neidhart from his singles run before he teamed up with the late, great Owen Hart, as the New Foundation and this will be a 2 in 1 figures as it will come with a masked head and if you pop that on and remove the soft goods gear off Neidhart you can have a WHO figure who Neidhart portrayed beforehand, the only thing about this that gets me, and people may say I am nitpicking, is the boots Neidhart wore when he was WHO were different to when he wrestled in the other gear so although you get the alternate head, the boots don't match, as they were shorter boots I am not sure you could even do a boot swap as the height won't match and I don't think there is a pair of yellow shorter boots out there by Mattel but there are many black ones, as I said, I am nit picking a bit, not sure if I will buy 2, especially as we have to pay inflated prices here in the UK for the Legends figures since Smyths stopped selling them, maybe I'll see one a bit cheaper as the month go on, I'll see.
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| Legends Neidhart, Faarooq & Hogan |
We also saw Legends series 25 on display and these will be Justin 'Hawk' Bradshaw who of course would have a run as JBL, Psycho Sid with the winged eagle world title that he held between November 1996 and January 1997 after winning from and then losing it back to Shawn Michaels and the chase will be 'Ravishing' Rick Rude, these are eye catching for a couple of reasons, he has a different pair of tights on each figure and they are like he used to actually have back then, airbrushed with various things on but also, he comes with the big gold belt however, this is different to all the ones we have had from Mattel so far, this is more like the actual one that was used in WCW at the time, again, it maybe nitpicking but on the one pair of the tights you can see a mention of the US title so I thought the US title would come with that one, you never know, it may. If it does, it would be great if it were resized because the one we currently have is too big in my opinion.
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| WCW Big Gold belt coming with Rick Rude |
We saw a Wrestle Mania line, pretty poor if I am honest, including the BAF, so, there will be a Bret Hart based on his look from way back at Wrestle Mania IV when he won the 20 man battle royal, I'll get this one as I collect all Bret Hart Elite and UE figures but the rest, well, there was a Seth Rollins (WM 39), Bianca Belair (WM 39) and a Hulk Hogan I feel we have seen before, not in wrestling attire but not in street attire either if you follow my drift, this one will be a tough one for me as like with Hart and some others (Michaels/Austin) I collect all his Elites/UE figures so I'll have to pick it up I guess or it will bug me. The BAF is Howard Finkel, yes, of course, as he was a ring announcer, he is in a suit, there has been a Finkel figure before and yes, it was a BAF, the parts came with a basic line way, way back, I don't have it in my collection and if I am honest, I have seen it for sale many times and although I have really hunted some BAF figures down, this is not one I bothered with and I don't think I will with time, maybe if I end up getting Rollins as well as Hart/Hogan I'll see if I can get the parts that come with Belair, if Mattel are smart, that will be Finkel's head, I can't be buying another female figure just for a BAF part, I still have some from previous sets to sell as I don't collect female figures.
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| Upcoming Wrestle Mania wave |
We got to see future Monday Night Wars figures, we had seen wave 4 previously, Bossman, Austin, DDP x 2 and Curt Hennig who will be a 2 in 1, he'll be the nWo version and the West Texas rednecks/rap is crap version too, prob will need two of these, which is fine as we can get them for retail price here in the UK and the BAF will be Shawn Michaels as the commissioner, the previous one was him in a brown suit, this has a better head scan and came with a series that was apparently hard to track down for those in the US, that set featured the 'King' Harley Race figure that Mattel also previously re released.
We were also shown the upcoming 'Greatest Hits' Monday Night Wars figures and last night as I type this, MOC images were shown, this set of 4 will be Triple H (previously released in the Amazon 'Best of Attitude era' set), Eddie Guerrero (based on his 1995 look and this was previously in the Target Hall of Champions line), Bam Bam Bigelow that came out in the Legends line, series 11 and Shawn Michaels and this one, OK, with updated arms and scan has been previously released not once, but twice, originally in the core Elite line years ago and again in the 'Lost Legends' line (this is the one I have) so, well, in some respect, I have all 4 of these but will want the BAF which is nWo Vincent but I can't be forking out £80 on these just for the BAF, hopefully I can pick it up on the secondary market.
And also, we got to see wave 5 which we had seen prior to SDCC and in this wave will be Ultimate Warrior (based on his WCW look, it is an Elite version of the UE one that was set to come with the failed Mattel Creations Nitro stage crowd funder, like Rey Mysterio in wave 2 and DDP in wave 4), Lita, Syxx, which is also the chase and Razor Ramon, this one will come with a soft goods vest as opposed to the rubber ones we have previously had, I love Razor Ramon figures, especially with the new scans but was RR really part of the Monday Night War, OK, when Scott Hall stopped being RR and went to WCW that pretty much started the war but, well, not sure on him being in this line but I am not complaining, as I said, I love RR figures. The BAF will be nWo Dusty Rhodes, like I said earlier with the Bianca Belair, I don't really want to be buying a female figure just for the BAF part, maybe I can sort something to secure just that part or I will bite the bullet and buy the figure just for the part and try and sell it on.
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| Ultimate Warrior from wave 5 of the MNW series |
We got to see drawings of a future Monday Night Wars wave, 6 I guess, Kane, Hardcore Hak (the Sandman when he was in WCW), Booker T with the TV title will be the chase, just had him (and his brother Stevie Ray) as the chase in wave 3 and to round it off a British Bulldog figure, short hair with long tights and the BAF will be none other than Golga, one of the gimmicks the former Earthquake, John Tenta portrayed.
We had seen unpainted versions of the Elite ECW style Dudleys previously but at SDCC, they showed them complete, these are a must. They will coming out via Mattel Creations, also via Mattel Creations there will be an Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci) set (went up for pre order yesterday as I type this, I don't think I will purchase these via MC at least anyway, maybe I'll grab them down the line but along with the Dudleys I'll definitely be getting this next set and that is Mosh & Thrasher, The Headbangers, I think it will be these after Imperium and then the Dudleys.
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| Mattel Creations Elite Dudley Boyz |
I think that is it as far as the Elites that caught my eye, oh there was a CM Punk shown that comes out is series 113 I think, that looked cool.
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| Elite 113 CM Punk |
Onto the Ultimate Editions. We got to see Dominik Mysterio, LA Knight, Damien Priest, 'Final Boss' Rock and Finn Balor, there were some Legends Ultimates shown, Shawn Michaels when he was doing the DX mark 2 run, we got the Triple H as an Amazon exclusive many moons ago so now at least that pair will be complete. Also on the legends side of things, there will be another Hulk Hogan, this one will be a look he had back in about 2005 maybe. We got to see, just before SDCC the Triple H UE that is coming out in the MNW series but we didn't know what the WCW figure would be but that was revealed at SDCC and it will be Lex Luger, I guess it'll be based on the night he won the WCW title from Hogan because it comes with 2 big gold belts, one with nWo painted on and one without and a towel too as the nWo was wiped off the belt on the night I believe, have to say, I can't recall the specifics. I wonder if the belts will be the updated ones that are coming with Rick Rude?
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Muta inspired Rey Mysterio Ultimate Edition
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| Coliseum Collection Bam Bam Bigelow |
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| Coliseum Collection Big Boss Man |
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| Ultimate Edition Steiner Brothers |
All the best, Stu.
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