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Pod Warriors #2: The WWF LJN Line
7 Plays2 years ago
Heel Husband and the Fig God give their 5 favorite LJNs, fantasy book a Mattel Re-Boot of this line, identify the worst LJN ever, do some eBay market research, and answer your listener mail!
https://wrestlingfiguremuseum.weebly.com/ljn.html
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Ugh!
Success of Pod Warriors
00:00:15
Speaker
what is up chick bole fan we are back with part two of the pod warriors me and jordan aka the fig god aka my best friend's little side project jordan what is going on man man things are good uh a lot of people said we wouldn't make it to episode two and to those people i say you are probably right but here we are
00:00:39
Speaker
Oh yeah, we've already 100% exceeded the expectations for the first ever spin off on the Chick Foley show. I got nothing but love on the first episode of the Pod Warriors. You guys can go back and find it in the feed. We're going to make these very easy to find on. They're going to be a part of the regular Chick Foley show feed on Spotify or Apple, wherever you happen to listen at, but we'll make sure we'll keep the title simple. They'll be Pod Warriors.
00:01:03
Speaker
pod warriors too etc as we keep this thing going so if you want to go back and cherry pick these they'll be easy to find for you but i got a lot of love from the listeners on this jordan what kind of feedback did you get off our countdown of our top five favorite wrestlemanias
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, man, it was only positive. And I appreciate everybody being patient with us. I know this is our first time doing this. So we're used to having four of us. So just having two of us is definitely different. But me and Seth do pretty well together. So just keep being patient with us. We'll keep these rolling as long as you guys want to keep listening. So yeah, thanks for the feedback, guys.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for all the love. If you have any suggestions or stuff you guys want to hear us wax poetic on just let us know and we will try to try to make it happen.
Social Media and Promotions
00:01:51
Speaker
Let's get the plugs out of the way. All of my social media is basically shoot social media for lack of a better term so I'm going to direct you guys to my wife Sheena stuff.
00:02:00
Speaker
Check out at chick Foley on Instagram Our good buddy the MVP Marco runs the chick Foley Twitter at chick Foley show on Twitter You can find the podcast just by search obviously, you know, if you're listening, you know how to find it But tell your friends search chick Foley on any podcast platforms and then you could check out our patreon at chick Foley show comm and be part of our really awesome Facebook group Which is just a really really really fun community that we got built over there Jordan you want to plug your social media?
00:02:28
Speaker
Yeah. So the only one I'm going to plug is my Instagram. It's the Fig God. I'm getting better at posting on there. I love doing Fig Hunt. So yeah, follow that and hopefully I'll find you something.
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, and we want to remind you guys to support our presenting sponsors ringside collectibles use code chick Foley to save 10% on all of your action figure purchases there and go over to chalk line and you could use code PF 10 to save 10% on behalf of the pod foundation. The pod foundation is made up of ourselves. The two bad chads over at the turnbuckle Tavern and all the rest of the Tavern members, they really got an expansive cast going.
00:03:07
Speaker
at this point, you get the extra cooler show and coming down the aisle with our good buddy John Swallow. So just follow at Pod Foundation on Instagram to keep up with all the latest from all of our brethren over there.
Evergreen Wrestling Topics
00:03:21
Speaker
Now, so again, this is the Pod Warriors. If you missed the first episode, just a quick intro on what we're doing here. Me and Jordan have been best friends over 10 years. We both
00:03:29
Speaker
deeply, deeply love wrestling. We're lifelong fans and we often have extended phone conversations about just random topics of wrestling. And we thought, you know, we're already kind of in the mix of doing the podcasting. Let's keep this thing going and put some of this stuff on wax, as they used to say back in the hip-hop game.
00:03:47
Speaker
So this is going to be more of like evergreen content. So again, I encourage you guys, you know, to just look for the pod warrior stuff. Obviously, it's easy to catch up right now because this episode two, but if you jump in, you know, 10 episodes, 20 episodes down, tell your friends that they can go back and listen to this stuff because it's going to be not super tied into the current day product. It's going to be stuff that kind of just sparks our passion. I mean, am I on the right track with that, Jordan?
00:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, so like Seth said, this is going to be able to be a listen anytime. Hopefully some of these you'll be able to go back and listen to twice, three times. But yeah, definitely refer your friends and let them know about us.
00:04:29
Speaker
Definitely. So again, it's going to be evergreen content. But I do want to kind of give a little bit of, you know, place and time on on these on these episodes.
Wrestling History Discussion
00:04:41
Speaker
It is April 13th, 2022. As we record this, Jordan, you want to take a quick trip down memory lane for this day in wrestling history? Sure. Let's do it.
00:04:51
Speaker
All right, so going all the way back to 1964, Moe from Man on a Mission was born in Harlem, New York. So happy, let me do some quick math here. What is it? Happy 58th birthday to Sir Moe. Jordan, what's your favorite Sir Moe match? Yeah, that one is when he debuted. That was it.
00:05:17
Speaker
WrestleMania 10 against the Quebecers was pretty good, right? Yeah, that's a good one. All right. In 1971, the Briscoe brothers, not Mark and Jay, Jack and Jerry, they beat Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.
00:05:36
Speaker
Let's keep it going. In 1977, Bruiser Brody beat Fritz Von Erich for the NWA American Heavyweight Championship. NWA had some crazy titles, man. Listen to this one. 1977, Roddy Piper defeats Chavo Guerrero. Not the Chavo Guerrero Junior that we know. This is the OG Chavo Guerrero to win the NWA light heavyweight title. Wow. Chavo Classic, baby.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah. All right, moving into the into the modern era. In 1994, Jesse the body Ventura went over on Vince, he was awarded $800,000 in videotape royalties from Vince McMahon for his work on commentary on WWE. That's why a lot of those old late 80s, early 90s WWE events, some of them have redubbed commentary that got
00:06:26
Speaker
They got Jesse Ventura out of there, man. So yeah, Jesse sticking it to the man. Here's one that's right up your alley. On this day in 1994, Jordan Diesel defeated Razor Ramon to win the Intercontinental Championship. There we go. Now we're hitting some home runs here. I'm going to keep it going. 1997, ECW made their pay-per-view debut with Barely Legal. Took place in front of 1,100 fans at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I remember watching that show live, actually.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, main event of that show was Terry Flunk winning the ECW Championship in a triple threat match with Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Very good match. Let's see here. It's 2001, Steve Carino defeated Rodney Begnot. Okay, I don't know how that made the This Day in History list. I don't know. Yeah. 2007, Johnny Swinger defeated Lee Condrey for the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight title.
00:07:26
Speaker
Oh yeah, there we go. Now we're getting somewhere. I'm on PW Insider's website right now. They have a This Day in Wrestling History feature. And I'm telling you, it is the most, this is like the deepest, this day in history I've ever seen, man. Like literally, if a wrestler coughed on a day in history, they got it here on their article, man. I think that pretty much wraps it up for notable things that happen on this day in wrestling history. You ready to get into some LJN talk, Jordan? Yeah, man, let's do it.
LJN Figures and Childhood Memories
00:07:54
Speaker
Alright, so we this episode we are going to be counting down our top five favorite LJN figures in addition to just really having discussing all things WWF LJN. So for, for reference, if you guys want to have something to kind of follow along as we talk about this, if you go to wrestlingfiguremuseum.weebly.com and we'll put the link in the show notes if you want to click that right now.
00:08:19
Speaker
That was kind of like the main reference point that me and Jordan had as far as just getting a quick history lesson on these figures and identifying which series was which because for me, I kind of this I played with them a little bit in the 80s, but I really kind of discovered this line in full force in the early 90s, once it was already complete. So I never really had a good knowledge of which series was which because I kind of just got all of them at once.
00:08:42
Speaker
Uh, but this was the first main, uh, like major wrestling figure line in North America. There were a few lines out in Japan that predated this one, but this was the first big line. It coincided with the golden era of WWEF and Hulkamania, which is one of the big reasons why I think it's so beloved in addition to the figures just really holding up quality wise. Um, but yeah, five series released by LJN and then there was a last series released by crown toys, um, in Canada. Uh, Jordan, what's kind of your personal history with the LJN line?
00:09:12
Speaker
So yeah, just like you, I wasn't old enough to appreciate these when they were actually sitting on pegs, you know, these debuted in 84 quick history lesson, I was born in 1985. So yeah, I wasn't even born when these came out.
00:09:28
Speaker
By the time these ended, I wasn't old enough to really know what these were. But like you, early 90s, I just remember getting some of these from thrift shops, things like that. You know how we used to just come across these toys and stuff all the time, whether it was Goodwill, Salvation Army, whatever.
00:09:51
Speaker
Very cool toys about as hard as a rock. So I don't know how well that would hold up to this day. But yeah, very cool toys. Yeah, they were they were awesome. I love these things for me. My Uncle Josh, that's my my mom has a younger brother who's actually about like 10 years younger than her. He's only seven years older than me. So he was really more like a big brother than a
00:10:15
Speaker
than an uncle. I've talked about him a few times on the pod, but he, he's what really kind of introduced me to wrestling. And looking back, his wrestling figure collection was kind of whack, but he did have the LJ and ring and he had about eight or nine of these figures.
00:10:30
Speaker
So that's how I was introduced to play with them and stuff. But then in like 92 already had a pretty sweet fig fig going with WWF has bro and WCW glue. My cousin Greg, if you guys remember last episode he came up so cousin Greg's randomly has got back to back appearances on the pod warriors. He sold me and my little brother tad his entire LJ in collection, and
00:10:54
Speaker
If I could go back in time, I would probably just tell my younger self like dude put these in a box and stick them in the attic, but we bought almost a complete set of ljns for I want to say like maybe 115 bucks dude it was it was insane man what we paid for this set of figures and they were in really good shape too because he was a teenager as these were coming out so he bought them more for display purposes had the ring I had everything except for the cage
00:11:19
Speaker
I didn't have the heart foundation and there was maybe two or three others that I didn't have but we had pretty much the entire set of ljns and we played with them like crazy I was I was so captivated by these guys I think because like the Hasbro's I had a really really strong connection with all the characters there so
00:11:37
Speaker
I was kind of just reenacting the stuff I was seeing on TV. But when I got these, there were people like Outback Jack and Ted RCD, who I had absolutely no context of. So it really kind of engaged my imagination. And I was kind of just making up backstories and moves and stuff for these guys. Because this was in the days before YouTube or really any kind of internet. So there was no way for me to really research and see what these dudes were all about other than going to get an old VHS.
00:12:02
Speaker
And some of the people, the LJN line was pretty deep for a short lived as it was. Like they had some jobbers, you know, they had guys like SD Jones and stuff that had figures. So you'd have a hard press time even find like a VHS match of SD Jones back in, you know, 1991.
00:12:18
Speaker
But these things were a ton of fun to play with.
Top Five LJN Figures
00:12:20
Speaker
Me and my brother gave these things hell. We live close to some sand dunes in South Texas. We'd go back there, just have the craziest hardcore matches with them. We'd set these things on fire. It's a crying shame what we did to our LJ and figure collection, but we had a blast with them. Some of the most fun I've ever had playing with wrestling toys.
00:12:38
Speaker
Definitely a beloved line for good reason. I still have it on my kind of to do list to go and piece together LJN collection but it's going to be pricey and we'll get into that as we get deeper into this episode. But do you want to start counting down each of our top five Jordan? Yeah, let's do it. Alright, so we'll start off with Jordan's number five figure Jordan, take it away.
00:13:01
Speaker
So this one's a little nostalgic for me because this is the first figure that I remember getting as far as a wrestling figure goes. So my number five is Bam Bam Bigelow. This one was produced in 1988. It was part of Series 5. It's really well done. The head tattoo is not the greatest but again this is 1988 so give them a break.
00:13:27
Speaker
um this is just a gray figure bam bam always his outfits always popped on figures still due to this day um so even though this is just one of my first figures it's also one of my favorites of ljan um just just for the fact that i think it's really cool looking figure and uh this is a figure that i often threw at my sister's head in defense so i had an older sister so i had to fight her off every once in a while
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, these things could be some wicked projectiles because they were a lot of you'll notice with some of the Mattel big guys, they actually feel lighter than some of the other molds because Mattel uses like hollow bodies for the big guys and stuff so they can be a little bit airy. These things were just solid hunks of rubber. So yeah, the guys like Bam Bam Kamala and some of the people will get as we get deeper into the countdown. Yeah, they could do some serious damage. Scouts from 1988 great figure all the way around.
00:14:22
Speaker
I love it. He was one of the ones who's prone to the LJN disease as it's known because I believe he was molded in black rubber. I think he was black rubber that they then painted. So similar to guys like honky tonk man and some of the others these get these ones look especially ugly if they start getting scuffed up because
00:14:40
Speaker
The ones that weren't molded in flesh tone or whatever, they could look really bad once they start getting scuffed up because you have that black or blue undercoat that starts coming through and it just looks funky. I always called it the LJN disease for those figures, man.
00:14:55
Speaker
All right, so one thing we want to do, obviously these are hot collectibles right now. Let's play a little game here. So I went fishing yesterday, didn't catch a damn thing, but what that did allow me to do is do some extended research for this episode. So I have researched eBay prices for all of the figures on our countdown.
00:15:16
Speaker
I didn't go too deep with it. Obviously, you could get a better price if you built some trends, maybe looked at all the sales over the last six months. I just looked at the most recent sale for a loose that was in mint-ish condition. Didn't just have to be perfect, but had to be collection worthy, what we'll call it, and then MOC. So Jordan, let's hear your guess. We're going price is right style. What do you think a loose minty Bambam Bigelow LJN figure goes for on eBay?
00:15:47
Speaker
This is just total guess so I could be way off. I'll say $100. Way off buddy. $275. Oh my gosh. I think it's because of the LJN disease. You know what I mean? Those bam bams are hard to find in good condition. Now with all the LJNs, typically aside from Series 6, the black cards, you can usually find beaters.
00:16:09
Speaker
for like less than 40 bucks, right? And then it's up to you if you just wanna accept it in this condition. There's actually a little cottage industry out there of people that repaint your LJN. So you could find a cheap one that's scuffed up and stuff and send it off to somebody and they'll repaint it for you and get it looking minty. I think we all have different, you know, different collectors will have different stance on if that's ethically responsible or not. To me, I'm cool with that. What's your thoughts on getting LJNs repainted, Jordan?
00:16:35
Speaker
I mean, these figures are so old and there's such a limited amount of these that are probably still in mint condition. So if you're like me, I am an MOC fan, but obviously these on MOC would probably cost you as much as a house. So you got to do what you got to do to make these look good. So I don't mind the repaints. I've seen some of them. People know how to make them look good and still make them look aged. So I'm completely fine with the repaints.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, same here. They're so expensive and it's such a beloved one. I got no problem with somebody that wants to get one and get it. I would say it's restored. Why don't we call it that instead of saying you're getting your LJN just repainted, repainted sounds so basic. What if we, uh, well let's, let's start something here in the chick Foley fam and try to expand it out in the figure world. Let's say you're just getting your LJNs restored back to factory condition. It's the same as getting a classic car and rebuilding it, right? Exactly. Except you're getting a toy rebuilt. So almost the same.
00:17:33
Speaker
The one thing you got to watch out for is I guarantee you there's people out there that are going to repaint these and try to pass them off as like OGs that are just in mint condition. So that's a little bit dicey. We definitely want to discourage anybody from misleading anyone to make a quick buck.
00:17:50
Speaker
But yeah, I got no problem. People wanted to get them repaid. There was an MOC one that actually sold for $300. So that's pretty crazy that the Loose was only $25 less. Again, I just looked at the most recent sales. And with some of these, they're so random. When they come up, it could have just been a down week that nobody happened to be searching for a BAMBAM MOC that week. And that's why it went for cheaper. I was a little bit surprised that the Loose went for $275. And it was only $25 more for an MOC.
Iconic LJN Figures
00:18:20
Speaker
But yeah, that's it for Bam Bam, great figure and an awesome way to kick off the list. So for my number five, I'm going with probably the one person that defines this line more than any other, the immortal Hulk Hogan, that racist piece of shit in the words of Bret Hart. But I'm not going with the series one Hulk, even though that series one Hulk is arguably the wrestling figure that pops in the mind of figure collectors our age, if you just hear the word, you know, wrestling figure. I like the series five one.
00:18:49
Speaker
This was from 1988. He was also released on the black cards in series six, but this is the one that's in the tank top. And he's got the muscular pose. The series one Hulk had like, he was kind of skinny, I thought, and he was in a weird like burn Gonye, like straight up grappler pose. Even though it's such a beloved figure, I actually still have a mentee series one Hulk Hogan in my figure collection. I don't love that figure. What's your thoughts on the series one Hogan Jordan?
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah, same. It's a pretty plain figure. This one is a much better choice. I like the tank top in this one. The pose, like you said, is a lot better. Yeah, the head scopes better too. It looks like Hulk, man. It looks like Hulkamania, Hulk Hogan. They had two variants on this one. Go ahead, Jordan. Yeah, I was going to say, we're not going to rip them too much for series one because it was the first series of mainline wrestling figures in the United States.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I'd be willing to bet that series one Hogan's one of probably the greatest selling wrestling figures of all time. I mean, it's, it, it honestly, it probably deserves to be at the top of this list. Spoiler alert, it's not on there, but, uh, cause I think we kind of went more favorite over historically significant, but series one LJ and Hulk Hogan, you could, I would not be, uh, I wouldn't argue too much with it if anybody said that it was the number one wrestling figure of all time. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't think that's arguable.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah. But for the Series 5 Hogan, there were two variants. There was a red and white, and then the classic red and yellow. So the red and yellow one is the one that is on the list for me. I just love it. It looks like P. Cole Cogan, and it's an outstanding part of anyone's wrestling figure collection. Let's play Guess the Value. Jordan, what do you think a Lucy Series 5 Hogan is going for?
00:20:32
Speaker
I just feel like there's gonna be a ton of Hogans out there. I'll say a hundred on this one as well.
00:20:39
Speaker
Very close, 81 bucks was the last one. Okay. Yeah, I figured this one would be- That's actually, that's down a little bit. So I sold one, I had in 2019, I raided my parents attic and found my old LJN collection, sold off like half of them. They were in well-played-in condition, so they weren't quite up to snuff for including in my collection. Looking back now, I probably should have hung on to them and tried to get them repainted, but I actually- Restored.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah, restored. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. I actually sold my red and yellow Hogan for like 165 back in 2019. But again, a lot of these, I just took the most recent listing. So these prices aren't necessarily indicative of the actual value of the figures. And there were no MOCs. I looked for the blue card and black card of this version of Hogan. There were no MOCs that have been sold in the year 2022 so far for the Hulkster.
00:21:33
Speaker
Let's take a brief pause before we move on to number four. Jordan, I'm gonna ask you, what do you think was the biggest missing link? Like the biggest missing piece of the LJN WWF line? This one for me is easy. How did we not get a demolition smash? Them having just acts is almost unforgivable.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is, I would say that's not even the biggest missing link from the LJN line that's arguably the biggest missing link from any wrestling of the entire history of wrestling figures. There were two that stood out for this line demolition smash, and also the barbarian but the warlord
00:22:15
Speaker
he had a solo run as well. So I feel like the war, even though we got a warlord with no barbarian from the powers of pain, I feel like that one's almost forgivable. And that warlord is such a cool figure. I don't really love the demolition ax LJN. It's just, it doesn't have like the traditional ax space paint. And it's just, it's still a cool figure, but it's a little bit off to me. I feel like it does not work at all without having, having smashed with him. Whereas, you know, I still have, a warlord is still a really, really cool figure by itself. Yeah. I a hundred percent agree with you on that one.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I think this this one was a pretty easy one. Yeah, definitely demolition smash is the one we're missing he was supposedly going to be a part of the next series before the line ended up just getting canceled. We'll see if somehow some way somebody can make it happen for us here in 2022 or beyond. Jordan, give us number four on your list.
00:23:06
Speaker
So me and Seth talked about this a little bit yesterday. We're going to try to give some love to some people that probably wouldn't necessarily always make somebody's list. So for number four, I went with Haku. I love the paint on this fig. His pants are awesome. We don't have a whole lot of Hakus either, so this one holds a pretty special place for me.
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, this is just a really good thing. I loved haku when I was younger I mean I still love to this day, but I remember having this figure in my collection So yeah, this one just holds a special place in my heart because of the way it looks and we don't have very many haku so Do you have any idea where your haku is at right now?
00:23:51
Speaker
He just walked to the winds at this point. Oh, that's long gone. It's probably buried in my old front yard somewhere. I mean, that's basically what I did with half of my toys where I threw it out in the middle of the street and watched cars run it over. Hawk was part of Series 6 in 1989. This was after LJN went out of business and Crown Toys, a Canadian company,
00:24:12
Speaker
picked up the last series. I think the figures had already been produced. Crown Toys just handed the packaging and distribution of them. These were never available at retail. They were only available through mail order in the after mags, which is the wrestler and Pro Wrestling Illustrated. So that's part of the reason why this line is so scarce and so valuable. There weren't as many distributed.
00:24:35
Speaker
Adventure to say that probably weren't as many made seeing as how it was the last line and somebody kind of just picked it up to to ship it out there Really cool figure and I think you made a great point. Haku is one of the all-time underrated wrestlers as far as a figure representation goes man I don't I don't know what the deal is. Luckily Chela is gonna drop a Hasbro style Haku this year. Hopefully we get him
00:24:57
Speaker
in their uncensored line to get him in elite slash unrivaled form, because he's such a cool character. And I'd really like to have a haku to go with my Andre the Giant. I always liked the colossal connection tag team. In Ring, they didn't really deliver that many bangers, but I don't know. For some reason, I just really liked that team managed by Bobby Heenan. It was a good act. Let's go to guess that price, Jordan. What do you think a minty haku is going for loose on eBay?
00:25:25
Speaker
Man, I would guess these black cards are so tough.
00:25:30
Speaker
I'm gonna guess 500. Very good, man. We don't call him the fit guy for nothing. The last loose Haku that was in good condition went for $537. Oh, yeah. There were no MOCs have been sold this year. So I didn't know what a MOC Haku would go for. But yeah, this is a very, very coveted figure. Even out of the black cards, he's up there as one of the most wanted just because I won the black cards were very limited and he was probably like the
00:26:00
Speaker
I don't wanna say smallest star. It sounds like I'm insulting them. Everybody else was basically like main event or upper mid card. He was probably like the lowest on the card as far as the black card releases go. So I gotta imagine there weren't as many that are sold and then people probably didn't hang on to him. Because if you're a kid, you're like, ah, you know, whatever, it's Haku and toss him by the wayside. So I think that's why he's so up there in value. But he's definitely one of the most valuable LJNs that there is. So if you got a Haku hanging out there and you need to make a quick buck, throw that bad boy up on eBay for sure.
00:26:30
Speaker
My number four is strictly sentimental reasons the junkyard dog. He was part of the original series back in 1984 You guys heard me at the top of the episode That my uncle Josh only had about 13 of these figures that we played with and junkyard dog was one of them
00:26:47
Speaker
And I don't know if it was the red tights or that you know he was the only African American superstar and I think it was really just the figure though he was kind of like a weighty figure, the pose he was in as far as LJ and poses was super playable, and he was just pushed to the top like anytime I was having a battle royal. It seemed like junkyard dog was always going to be the one to win I just love playing with this, this red tights toy.
00:27:09
Speaker
As a kid, I was really stoked that Mattel and the Legends line gave us an homage to this figure at the end of 2021. Huge fan of this figure. I never actually had the collar and chain as a kid, though. He was one of the first LJNs to come with an accessory. He'll be the gym with his hat. Hogan had the belt, and Junkyard Dog had his dog collar and chain. There were actually a couple of variants of that, too. There was a black collar and a red collar released.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah, I was just a real big fan of this figure as a kid. Jordan, you got any thoughts on JYD? Yeah, this is a really good figure. And actually, there's a toy store in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's about an hour from me. They actually had this on card like two years ago. And I was so tempted to buy it. But this is when like it was right at the height of COVID. So everything was so high. Like this is right when Hasbro's and Ljans and everything just boosted up so much.
00:28:04
Speaker
I want to say it was like 400 bucks on card and the card wasn't even that good. So I was like, yeah, that's probably too much. I think I offered the guy 300 and he said no. But I mean, that was, that was a good call. We'll, we'll get into it. But the series one, from what I could tell from the little bit of eBay research I was doing yesterday, it seems like this thing was flooded on the pegs, man. Like there is a ton of series one LJNs in circulation and the, the eBay prices kind of reflect that.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's good thing. What do you? Yeah, yeah, really good figs. Like I said, super playable, man. It's probably my favorite of the LJ and poses the the JYD style. Let's play. Guess that price, Jordan. What do you think a loose minty JYD is going for? This is with the accessory. So I didn't price it without it. This is JYD with the accessory. What do you think he's going for? I'll say mint JYD is 200. No loose. He's going for 50 bucks with the car.
00:29:00
Speaker
I told you man, series one is out there. So if you wanna, if you're not quite trying to make the big boy purchase to do a whole set and just wanna have a little LJN representation in your collection, go back and just piece together series one. It's pretty economical. But yeah, 50 bucks for a loose LJN with collar. What do you think MOC? Probably 150, 200. 117 was the last MOC. Wow.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah, so like I said, you made a good call, not dropping that three hundo for JYD.
00:29:32
Speaker
But yeah, man, freaking great figure. Let's take another little break before we get the countdown going again. Jordan, I want to ask you, let's say Mattel brought these back. We know AEW has got, I guess they've licensed the trademark for LJN because they got the logo on the LJN style figures they're dropping as part of the unmatched line. Chalk Line did an LJN set with the Young Bucks a couple of years back.
00:30:00
Speaker
When, let's be honest, LJN is a WWE slash WWF product, right? If Mattel, we're going to bring these back with a series of four figures. Who would you put in the first series, Jordan? I mean, I would argue your AW point with the only guy who has one currently is a WWE guy.
00:30:20
Speaker
So if I was gonna do a new series this one was pretty easy for me when you asked me this I just went with four so I did a Roman obviously would be the first one I would go Brock for the second one I'm gonna go Randy Orton for the third one and then Charlotte Flair for the fourth one
00:30:40
Speaker
Having a female on the line join us Elizabeth. I like it
Imagining New LJN Figures
00:30:45
Speaker
man. I would go Roman I would go Cena hmm. I would go Brock I think those are kind of like the three defining guys the last five or six years and Then just as kind of to throw a bone all the figure collectors. I would go with demon Finn baller. Oh That's a good one
00:31:02
Speaker
I just feel like that'd be the real hook man. I think they could, you know, I don't know if you would see these things at retail again, just because Bill McKean has kind of been on record as saying the cost for shipping on these things, man, they just weigh so much that if you're mass producing these, it really does add up the actual shipping costs of a line of figures like this. But I can see it as like a Mattel Creations type thing, maybe doing a concept like that.
00:31:27
Speaker
But yeah, we'll see if they do it. I doubt they're going to do it. It seems like the response from Big Shot Bill and Action Figure Tech has been lukewarm at best. Anytime somebody talks about bringing back the LJNs and they're already doing the homage to Hasbro's and to the old school Remco line. So it seems like they're fine with letting Jazzwares kind of own that corner in the action figure world. What do you think, Jordan? Do you think Mattel actually will ever do an LJN line?
00:31:53
Speaker
No, for the exact reason you just said. If they're that worried about shipping costs and stuff like that. And I think that's why AEW did it the way they did and included one in each of the unmatched series boxes, because at least it keeps shipping down a little bit. So now I'm going to say they don't ever bring it back. All right, let's have a drink before we hit our top three LJNs.
00:32:30
Speaker
I was inspired by GCW, you know, for whatever reason their show over the weekend was titled Devil in a New Dress, man. So it made me think of Kanye from my beautiful dark twisted fantasy. Such a great album too. This probably, I put it second to College Dropout just off of, cause College Dropout's got a lot of sentimental value to me. What's your favorite Kanye album, Jordan? College Dropout by far.
00:32:54
Speaker
yeah that one that was like right when that album came out when me and she know we were like just getting serious i was about to join the navy and stuff so like that that actually got a month before i joined the navy was when that album came out so uh yeah that one's got it that one hits me right in the field spot i can if i hear a song i'll college drop out it immediately takes me back to early 2004 and everything going on in my life at that point
00:33:18
Speaker
It just hits. I love Yeezus a lot too, man. I know Yeezus was kind of like a lightning rod for a lot of Kanye fans. I was a big fan of Yeezus, though. I like all Kanye, honestly, man. Kanye just... I know he's nuts now, but, dude, he's always kind of just been one of my favorites, and you can always play old Kanye, dude. Kanye always hits.
00:33:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I've said this before, man, in private. I think this is my first time saying this on the pod. People are going to laugh to me like 50 years from now when people look back at, you know, the last 10 or 15 years of music. I think the two artists who are still going to get a lot of play and stuff and like historically significant is Kanye West and Taylor Swift.
00:34:01
Speaker
Taylor Swift is the best songwriter of this generation man. I don't care what anybody says like She did she makes hits man Taylor Swift makes hits and Kanye is just a genius man. So There's we probably just lost like half our audience right there Jordan they heard that but I'm telling you off you really listen to music you really listen to music Taylor Swift is a a true artist that's opinion not mine
00:34:28
Speaker
Let's get back to why we started the music in the first place. Man, we gotta stop picking such hot tracks for the beverage break, man. We're getting sidetracked. The beverage break. I am drinking the hottest beer in the nation right now.
00:34:43
Speaker
El Segundo Brewing Company, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Lager. We gave our review a couple weeks back. It's good. As far as if you want just a light drinkable beer, it's really, really good. It's not as memorable as the IPA, but I don't think it's supposed to be. I think it's supposed to be a really nice, crushable beer. And that's what it is. What are you sipping on, Jordan?
00:35:00
Speaker
So I am sipping on a beer called Brewleggins. It's based out of Second Shift Brewing in St. Louis. I actually picked this up on a Royal Rumble weekend and I found it last night when I was going through the garage. So this is a hazy New England style IPA. It's brewed in collaboration with the St. Lueggins. That's the official fan club of the St. Louis Football Club. So I didn't even know this when I bought it, but pretty cool.
00:35:30
Speaker
Hell yeah, man. That actually timed out perfect to go back to the music, right when it hit that beat drop where the guitar solo before Rick Ross comes in is when you started talking about the beer. I was like, fucking primo, dude. That was beautiful. The boss.
00:35:45
Speaker
All right, let's get back to some wrestling figure talk. The hardcore wrestling fans are like, what the fuck? This was supposed to be the show for the hardcore fan. These guys are talking about beer. Seth's talking about fucking Taylor Swift. Like, what is going on here? But we told you guys this is going to be just like me and Jordan's me and Jordan's kind of phone conversations just on record now. And this is the way the the convos go. But yeah, we'll try to bring you guys some unique music choices on these pod warrior episodes as well.
00:36:14
Speaker
This is going to go off the rails quite often. There's going to be 10 minute stints where there's no wrestling talk. It'll be Seth singing Taylor Swift or something. Just give it time. It's going to get worse. We're lucky, dude. We still haven't had a segue where we go into Super Bowl 51. That's coming. Oh, no. No, it's not. No, it's not. We may need to just do a whole episode on that sometimes, just reliving that trauma. Just rip it off in one episode.
00:36:41
Speaker
Let's get back to the figures, Jordan, give us your number three. So I have professed my love for this guy many times on the Chick Foley show. I still don't understand how we do not have a Mattel of this guy, but my number three is the one man gang. This figure, I mean, dude, just look at this figure. I hope you guys are like kind of following along with us and looking at the figures as we go.
00:37:10
Speaker
He's flexing basically in the package. He's got the jean jacket on, all black. Dude, one man gangs a tire just, it always resonated with me. Mohawk, just a big, huge dude. I don't know, man. He's just, and he's easily believable. Like you can believe this dude would absolutely kick the shit out of you, right? I mean, there's no doubt that this is a guy. He's the name, one man gang. You're like, yeah, okay, I get it. He's a one man gang.
00:37:38
Speaker
And dude, I mean, he had slick as his manager. Like, dude, like, this is a dream team right here. Like, this is great. But yeah, this figure to me is one of the best ones. I don't have it, but I'm going to eventually go back and get it. But I mean, yeah, this is just one of my favorites.
00:37:57
Speaker
Yeah, he was 1989 series five, another one that does suffer from the LJN disease. So because he's got the black t-shirt underneath the denim vest and the black pants, they decided to cast him in black rubber. So he is susceptible to the LJN disease. But other than that, great figure, sizable. Like you said, the big guys really stand out in the LJN line. I'm kind of going to piggyback on that with my number three choice as well. I love the pose too, because he's super playable. I remember
00:38:26
Speaker
He was perfect for doing like a top rope splash and doing the avalanche in the corner. Just, again, really, really playable figure. I do got a question though for you, Jordan, because it was right around this time frame that one man gang had a pretty drastic gimmick change, becoming the African dream, Akeem. Let me ask you this one, man. If you could swap out the one man gang and get Akeem instead in this line, would you do it?
00:38:49
Speaker
No, one man gang was always my favorite out of the two characters. I don't know. That might be a hot take, but I always loved one man gang. He was always one of my favorites. They're both great. They're both great gimmicks. I preferred Akim because he was funny. And as far as figures go, he was a little bit more colorful.
00:39:09
Speaker
I think in a vacuum, I will take an Akeem figure over a one man gang, but we've gotten Akeem in the original Mattel Legends line. We had an Akeem Hasbro. We had Akeem in classic superstars. One man gang is kind of same vein as Haku. He's a little bit underrepresented in the figure game. So that's why as far as LJNs go, I'm glad we got one man gang instead of Akeem. There was a one man gang prototype made in the
00:39:34
Speaker
Mattel Legends line, but it didn't release. I think his Legends contract ran out or whatever, and it just hasn't been renewed since then. So I'm so hopeful that we can get Gang and the Mattel line, because yeah, as far as mid to late 80s go, he was one of the top heels, and just a really, really cool character, and a good wrestler too, man. He was good. I'm surprised he never really did a whole lot after that mid 90s run in WCW. He was a king in WWE, and then he went and had another brief run as one man Gang,
00:40:04
Speaker
He kind of just fell off. He was on the indies for a while and just kind of hanging out in Louisiana now, so Really really iconic reformer though as far as mid-card heels go from back in the 80s Let's play guess that price Jordan. What do you think a loose minty one-man gang is going for? Okay, I gotta stop saying 100 and 200. I got to go with some odd numbers in there. So I Just don't think this one's gonna be over a hundred. So I'll say I'll say one-man gang is 85
00:40:35
Speaker
125. Wow. Remember, man, the LJN disease is a real thing, dude. It's hard to find these guys in minty condition. You could have a one-man gang that's kind of been played with just as much as a JYD, and that one-man gang is going to look significantly worse because of those scuffs and stuff, you know? Yeah. Yeah, so 125 for a Lucy. Guess what the last MOC one-man gang went for?
00:41:03
Speaker
Can't imagine these are very common, because again, this is not like a main card wrestler. So I'll say 550. Very good, man. 500 bucks is what he went for. So I got a theory on why he's so much so expensive compared to his kind of place on the card that I'm going to drop after we talk about my number three, which is King Kong Bundy.
00:41:30
Speaker
King Kong Bundy, again, this dude was a true main eventer back in the day. A lot of people just remember him as kind of like a bumbling heel in the mid-card during the new generation when he was part of the Million Dollar Corporation with Ted DiBiase, feuding with the Undertaker. He's actually one of Undertaker's WrestleMania opponents at WrestleMania 11.
00:41:50
Speaker
which I think is probably the worst WrestleMania ever. But King Kong Bundy was a legit main event or main event in WrestleMania 2 in a steel cage match against Hulk Hogan. The only time a steel cage match has been the main event at Mania. Pretty fun little feud and
00:42:05
Speaker
As far as the 80s Hogan match goes, it was a pretty good match ever swimming into as well. He was part of Series 2 in 1985. I loved playing with this figure as a kid. This thing was huge. I've never seen this scientifically proven, but I'd be willing to bet he is the heaviest action figure ever made.
00:42:23
Speaker
I mean this thing was just an absolute solid block of rubber it's insane man the, the size of this figure we talked earlier about these things being good weapons with your fighting with a sibling. Again, we want this stuff to be evergreen but we will occasionally date it with topical events so you know the war in Ukraine is going on right now.
00:42:44
Speaker
And kind of the big reason why it's kind of just lingering is that, you know, NATO and the United States, we don't want to help out Ukraine because Russia has nukes, right? That's always a threat. King Kong Bundy was like the nuke of like toy weapons as a kid, man. You know, if you were holding it or if your brother was holding it, it definitely kept you in check.
00:43:04
Speaker
for what you were going to do to push the limits because you did not want to take that thing. It didn't have to be a headshot dude. Take, if you try to run away, take a King Kong bunny to the spine, that could be life altering injuries right there, man. This thing was rock solid. But yeah, he had a cool pose too, with just like the arms down kind of the big brute like gorilla pose. So he was perfect for doing the avalanche and doing splashes and stuff. I just love this figure. What about you, Jordan?
00:43:28
Speaker
So this is actually one of the ones I also remember having. Like you said, this is a great figure. The pose is phenomenal. I don't know, man. Now that as I get older, I realize I liked a lot of the bigger wrestlers. So I guess I am a Vince McMahon guy. That's what he prefers. And I guess that's what I prefer, too, as far as my wrestlers go. I prefer the bigger guys. So yeah, King Kong Bundy was the walking condominium.
00:43:55
Speaker
I mean, dude, there's not much you can say about King Kong Bundy that hasn't already been said. So yeah, I'll just echo everything you said and say great choice for your number three figure.
00:44:06
Speaker
Yeah, whether it's LJ ends, has bros Mattel's current line. I'm definitely a little bit of a size queen when it comes to my wrestling figures, man. I just, I love the super heavyweights, man. Earthquake, Typhoon, Yoko Zuna, something about the super heavyweight figures just really captivates me, man. I love them.
Toy Store Nostalgia
00:44:26
Speaker
Let's go guess that price. So this is,
00:44:30
Speaker
This is probably the biggest variation you can see between loose and MOC. And I'll get into my theory for that afterwards. Jordan, what do you think a loose minty King Kong Bundy is going for? Man, I just cannot imagine this would go for much. I'll say 50.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, 32 bucks is definitely the lowest Lucy so far. Series two, they're probably just a cut hair below series one as far as like production levels go from what I could tell from my research. They these things were plentiful on the pegs like I think these, these were like one of those toy lines from when we were kids in the 90s Jordan that
00:45:04
Speaker
pretty much anytime you wanted to, you could go to Toys R Us and just buy them. They're gonna be there. It's not like it is nowadays where you gotta know somebody that works there. You gotta be checking the pigs every day. Like if you want a King Kong Bundy, you could go in and get them. So 32 bucks. What do you think an MOC Bundy is going for?
00:45:22
Speaker
I'll say 200. No, $400. Wow, really? So we heard the last one, One Man Gang was going for 500. This one was 400. So in doing some research on this one, there were issues with King Kong Bundy even back in 1985 and 1986 of this thing separating from the car because the figure was so heavy.
00:45:45
Speaker
He's hanging on a peg, the bubble would just separate off of the card and rip sometimes the figure would completely, it would completely separate and you'd have a figure, you know, in the middle of the aisle at Toys R Us or whatever. So that's why I think there are so few MOC Bundy's left either to be lucky and get one that had like, you know, the glue just had a solid seal on it.
00:46:04
Speaker
or, you know, for whatever reason, it never went on a peg and was just laid down. I just don't think that there's a lot of MOC Bundy's remaining because of the weight of the figure putting that stress on the cardboard card. And I think that one man gang is probably similar, you know, because one man gang, he's not as heavy a figure as Bundy, but he's still, it's a pretty big figure, man.
00:46:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good point. I didn't think of that and I'm guessing this probably set on the pegs for a while. I'm guessing this wasn't what everybody was reaching for even out of this series. Yeah, he's a heel man. Back in the day, heel figures just didn't sell the same. You would get a Bundy, but if you're only going to store and getting two figures, you're going to grab Hogan and Jimmy Snooker before you grab King Kong Bundy.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah. So I never bought one of these on card when I was a kid, I got all mine from Goodwill. So that tells you how overproduced these were because I mean, every time I went to Goodwill, there was another wrestling fig and it was always an LJN. So guess what I got every time I went to Goodwill or Salvation Army, another wrestling fig.
00:47:03
Speaker
Yeah, definitely these things. Yeah, they were definitely plentiful and even now if you're cool to get the beat up ones to just have or to restore you can find beat ljns for like less than 30 bucks almost every single figure. So these are it's really when you start getting the ones that are in good condition, this becomes such a pricey line. But yeah, the 80s were just a true golden 80s really that the first half of the 90s are just such a golden era for toy sales man like
00:47:27
Speaker
Going back to Toys R Us, you just had so much more shelf space and just such a retail imprint for people to go in and buy toys.
00:47:34
Speaker
Yeah, I wish I could go back now. Looking back, I definitely took it for granted. Like think about like the Jack specific days when they were first coming out. You remember like the spread of figures at Toys R Us and like the wrestling figure section? Oh, yeah, those the pegs were always full of Jacks. There was never a time where you weren't finding a bunch of figs sitting on the pegs at Toys R Us when it was Jack Superstars. I do miss that. I miss walking in and just being able to grab whatever you wanted.
00:48:00
Speaker
I know. I mean, it's gotten better here in the last like 12 to 18 months. But there was a time a couple of years ago you were excited if there were any elites even on the pegs when you went to the store. Yeah.
00:48:12
Speaker
All right, so before we get to our top two, we'll take a little, go a little bit on a eBay sidebar here. We talked earlier about Hulk Hogan series one. He is the most expensive MOC, LJN purchase there is right now, which I was surprised. I figured there'd be a ton of these, but a straight up minty MOC Hulk Hogan series one recently sold on eBay for $10,000.
00:48:41
Speaker
I know, man. That just goes back to what we said about that being like the most iconic wrestling figure. This thing wasn't autographed. It wasn't PSA graded, but it wasn't like perfect condition, right? Cardboard crisp, the bubble wasn't cloudy or oxidized figure inside was really good. But still, it was just a straight up MOC series one Hogan 10,000 bucks it sold for. Man, that's crazy. Yeah, let's play guess the price on the ring. What do you think the minty LJ and ring is going for Jordan?
00:49:12
Speaker
They don't even know how rare the ring is. Minty ring, I'll say 400 on the ring.
00:49:22
Speaker
310 bucks loose. There was one MOC that I could find. It wasn't even the true MOC, but it was the box. It had been open, but the box was still there. It went for $404. It was a great ring, man. I love the LJN ring. It got brought back when Jax got the license that I get somehow or another, they acquired the molds for the LJN ring and basically re-released the same ring. It was super sturdy. It was giant. You could fit a ton of these figures in them. What were your thoughts on the LJN ring, Jordan?
00:49:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's really cool. And just kind of looking at it. I mean, that's basically what Hasbro based their ring off to is the old Jan ring. Pretty cool. Yeah, I wish I had this because I like the white ring. I think that's really cool. But yeah, really cool ring. $310. That's crazy. That's a lot, especially because you're gonna have to
00:50:15
Speaker
The ropes have just lost their elasticity. That's just the nature of elastics 30 years later. So you either have to redo the ropes or your ropes are going to look like crap. The steel cage accessory that they released for it, I couldn't find any MOC. There was one loose in perfect condition that sold for $500, which
00:50:35
Speaker
I know that's a rare piece man because I've been deep in the wrestling game basically my entire life. I have never seen this thing in person. I never had it as a kid. That was the one thing I didn't have I had an LJ and ring never had the cage and I've never even seen the cage in person that all the toy cons and rest and you know toy shops I've gone to so that would if I end up you know
00:50:56
Speaker
I probably won't get this but if I end up you know winning a lottery or something and can fulfill my my fantasy I have in like you know an outdoor barn just full of wrestling figures and stuff man I'll probably go back and try to try to get this LGA and ringing cage but it is pretty sweet it's the the old school solid blue steel cage man it would be a very cool piece to have. Let's get back to the countdown Jordan give us your number two figure.
00:51:20
Speaker
So for number two, I went with Series 3. That was made in 1986. I went with the Macho Man from Series 3. I love this look on a figure. I mean, even on any figure to this day, the pink trunks just
00:51:41
Speaker
it always hits different. I mean, um, the other thing is too, as I remember having this figure as a kid, so that definitely elevates it for me. Um, and, and this is still one of the ones that I see people wanting to this day, uh, just cause of the, the look of it. I mean, pink trunks, pink knee pads, yellow boots, yellow bandana. It's just got the bicep pose, got the glasses on. It's just, it's a great figure. Um, they did a good job with his likeness. Um,
00:52:11
Speaker
Yeah, this is just a gray figure. I don't really have to go into a lot of detail on this because everybody loves macho man. I mean, I don't know very many people that don't like macho man. So if you're one of those people, let us know. But if you don't like macho man, fuck you turn the podcast off.
00:52:28
Speaker
I mean, I wasn't gonna go that far, but yeah, this is just great. So yeah, that's my reasoning for this is my number two. I don't feel like I need to go too much into detail with it. Yeah, I love this figure. You could put it right up there with the series one Hulk Hogan, maybe the series one
00:52:47
Speaker
Hasbro Ultimate Warrior as far as like the all-time iconic wrestling figures. Like I said, if you hear the phrase wrestling figure, this is one of the first images that flashes in your mind. Our friends at the major wrestling figure podcast, they did their Just Collect shirt and they have like the NBA logo style. It was the silhouette of the Macho Man LJN. So that's how iconic this figure is.
00:53:11
Speaker
Great look for Macho man, great figure, really absolutely zero negatives to this one. Let's play guess that price. What do you think a loose LJN Macho man is going for Jordan? In mint condition, like I said, because it's still kind of sought after to this day, I'll say 125.
00:53:30
Speaker
$46 Wow, there's just a ton of these man. I think it's just I think it's just the amount that's in circulation is what it is You know what? I mean? There's so many of these out there It's so plentiful. I think that's why the value is not super high MOC is a different story though MOC macho man. What do you think is going for? 400
00:53:51
Speaker
$681. I think everybody that was getting these was opening up up and playing with them, man. Such a playable figure. I just don't think there's a lot of MOCs out there. So I think it's kind of similar to the Hulk too, you know? It's such an iconic wrestling figure that I think to have a minty MOC version of it is just really drives up the value, even though it's probably higher circulation than some stuff like, you know, like a haku or even like a bam bam bigelow. But yeah, 681 bucks for a
00:54:19
Speaker
MOC, LJ, and Macho, man, that's definitely too rich for my blood, but it would be an awesome piece for any wrestling figure collection. Yeah, that's a good one. All right, so I cheated on my number two, you know, to give you guys a peek behind the curtain, me and Jordan, we shared our top five with each other before we recorded this, just so we could kind of each have some thoughts together for what we were gonna be discussing. But I love the LJ in line so much, I love these figures I'm about to talk about so much, and I just wanted to find a way
00:54:47
Speaker
to kind of cram in a few extra figures so that in my defense these guys were an on screen act at the time the figures released I'm doing a three for one special so my number two is the British Bulldogs and Captain Lou Albano. The Bulldogs because I just play with these figures a ton for whatever reason these ones really jumped out to me kind of the same way I mentioned earlier with
00:55:11
Speaker
with a junkyard dog. I've always loved tag teams in action figure form. And these were really like the first ones I had is LJN, you know, they would also have the heart foundation, the killer bees, the dream team with Brutus B. Cake and Greg Valentine, but the Bulldogs were always the ones I kept going back to and playing with.
00:55:28
Speaker
a ton as a kid. And then Captain Lou, I just love this Captain Lou figure. He's in the shortlist of my most wanted for Mattel to get the rights to release. I'd love to get a Captain Lou figure in elite form. But I love Captain Lou and I always was just really, really into this figure as a kid. These were all three of them were released in series three in 1986. The Bulldogs had individual releases. And then they were also released in a box set as a tag team with the tag team belts.
00:55:56
Speaker
Jordan, what do you think of Captain Lou and the Bulldogs?
00:56:00
Speaker
I like it. This is a good choice. You did cheat, but good choice. I mean, how can you not like British Bulldog Dynamite Kid and Lou Albino? I mean, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? I mean, these guys are awesome. The poses are great. Like you said, they were good enough to get a tag team pack and a singles. So do you prefer, I mean, I know it's the same thing, but would you prefer the tag team pack or the singles?
00:56:28
Speaker
I like the carding better on the singles. I wasn't a huge fan of the box sets, but I still go the box set because they come with those tag team belts. Yeah, I agree. I would definitely go with the box set just for that exact reason. Well, hold that thought. All right. Let's get in and guess that price. What do you think Captain Lou is going for it loose? I can't imagine this one's very expensive. 65.
00:56:56
Speaker
17 bucks, man, a minty Captain Lou. Man, that's... I don't know if Captain Lou's just been forgotten by the hands of time or what, but there were a ton. I was really surprised. It wasn't just one, because I was like, that seems so low to me that I was like, man, that seems kind of off. But even going beyond it, like 23, 27 bucks, you can get a minty, loose Captain Lou LJN for very cheap. And then MOC, he's going for about 140, man.
00:57:23
Speaker
139 was the most recent but yeah, they were all around like between 130 and 145 for the MOC captain loose Alright, let's do the Bulldogs man. This one's gonna be interesting. What do you think the Bulldogs go for loose? Man now you got me question everything This is as a set as I look for these as a set so the Bulldogs as a set loose I Was gonna guess 75 each so I'll say 150
00:57:54
Speaker
No, you can get the Bulldogs loose for 30 bucks. Both of them? Both of them. This is the set. You can get the set loose for 30 bucks. I think they were just kind of so plentiful because they had the box set release and the individual carded ones. With the belts, you can get them for 85 bucks loose, man.
00:58:12
Speaker
And these are minty sets. Yeah, you can go. If anybody wants to check this out, just search like British Bulldogs LJN. And then on eBay, on your filters, go to sold and completed listings. And you can see kind of what we were going off of for our research on this. Let me hit you with this though, Jordan. MOC in the box. So this is the two pack with the belts. What do you think the Bulldogs went for? MOC. MOC.
00:58:39
Speaker
I'll guess 600. 900. Okay, well at least I was closer on that. Yeah, the box set tag teams go for a shitload. If anybody's been listening to the main Chick-fil-A show, you guys know Bret Hart is my absolute all-time favorite wrestler. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the figures,
00:58:58
Speaker
I've been on the lookout for like a LJN box set in the heart foundation, but it's just too high, man. Like I think I saw one for 700 bucks a couple of years ago. And that was too much for me nowadays the heart foundation box set goes for like 1200 bucks. So pretty wild. Before we get into our number one choice, which spoiler alert me and Jordan agreed on the number one best LJN. Let's talk about the worst Jordan, what do you think was the worst figure in the LJN line? This one's easy for me. The Rick rudist got awful.
00:59:28
Speaker
It's the only LJN that you can't use their arms. His LJN arms are anchored to his tights. What is even the point of that figure at that point? I mean, that is a record pose, man. I feel like I'm almost an apologist for that figure. I don't mind the pose. I hate the gear, man. I feel like he had so much awesome gear in the 80s. I don't know what the hell that gear is that they picked out for him. I don't like anything about it. I mean, the whole thing to me is garbage.
00:59:56
Speaker
I get it, it's his pose, but dude, you literally can't even use his arms. Yeah, that's true. He's not playable at all. Like, it's just like a torpedo. He was doing tope, sues, etos. Off the roof.
01:00:15
Speaker
Mine is really more just a strictly personal choice man. It was the series one Andre the Giant. So this is old school Andre in the trunks with the white guy Afro. By the time I was playing with these figures, I only knew Andre is the one strap singlet guy, you know, WrestleMania three heal Andre.
01:00:34
Speaker
So it was confusing to me and I just hated it. Because even though obviously Andre had a legendary career before he turned heel and went to the famous one strap look, I didn't know him as that. And it just always bugged me. I remember my uncle having to explain to me, I was like, what the hell? Why is this Andre the Giant? And him kind of explained to me and it just never made sense. And I was just not a fan of that figure at all as a kid. So for me, series one Andre was my least favorite LJN.
01:01:00
Speaker
Jordan you're eating into the tippy top of the list. This is the mountain top of the list. Let's do it Yeah, it's time to load the spaceship with the rocket fuel Jordan let them know what our unanimous choice for the best LJ it ever is I mean, I thought this is a little Homer ish by me But then Seth said it too. So I was like, I must not be that bad Ultimate warrior. I love it man. I love it, dude
01:01:24
Speaker
that this figure is killer like everything about this is awesome like dude if you don't i i get people unlike him as a person and him as a wrestler but his look if you're honestly going to tell me that someone looked better than ultimate warrior
01:01:39
Speaker
in 1989, you can go fuck yourself. This is the best thing ever. I don't care what anyone says. His look is just so iconic. I was actually watching a Superstars last night and they had all the kids in the Ultimate Warrior face paint and stuff and he's meeting with all of them and I was just sitting there thinking,
01:01:57
Speaker
Dude, if he would have pulled me up on that stage, I probably would have pissed my pants first of all. But then I would have regrouped and thought of another plan. Yeah, this figure is just phenomenal. Orange trunks, face paint tassels. This is just, this is the creme de la creme. I do not own this figure. It's just the pricing on this is outrageous and we'll get into that. But yeah, I don't know, man. This one to me is just the best one as far as look and everything.
01:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, I remember this was my most played with as a kid. I'll take it a step farther. Jordan, you said it was all about the look. I think it was the energy, man. Even though, yeah, he only had a couple really, really great matches. The actual energy he brought to all his performance though was just totally captivating, man. He was just a star, man. He was a star of the highest level. And the cool thing about this figure, it really depicts him in his intercontinental championship run before.
01:02:51
Speaker
He became, you know, world champion at WrestleMania six. So this was kind of like when he was at his most over, you know, the rose hadn't fallen off the bloom yet. People were still just loving all things ultimate warrior. Just a cool figure, man. It's unique with the black boots. I'm not even 100% sure if you ever even wore black boots in a real match. But I think that's something that kind of sets the figure apart. The orange trunks and the face paint is just the pose too, right? The pose is perfect for hitting like big clothes lines and stuff.
01:03:21
Speaker
I just love it man like it is it's one of my favorite wrestling figures ever I've definitely before all said none I'm gonna go back and grab one of these to just have my collection even if I don't grab the rest of the LJ ends I'm gonna grab a warrior and make it part of part of the collection because I just love this figure it was part it was part of the the black card series in 1989 last series LJ ends and it's such a quality figure it really makes you bum because you want it you wonder what would happen if they could have kept the line going another couple years you know
01:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, this this is a great way to end the line, though. I mean, this whole set is really good, and it's obviously one of the most valuable ones outside of Rick Roode. But the rest of this set is just it's such a good set of figures. I mean, they they did really put everything into this set. And it really does suck that this is the last one, especially considering demolition axes in it. So it's like, man, if we got seven, we probably got smashed and Warlord Warlord was in this one, too.
01:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, just it sucks man. It's just really unfortunate. The Andre is great. This this series is your boss man Yeah, haku we talked about this this whole set is just so good But yeah, it just doesn't get any better than the ultimate warrior and figure form for me Yeah, I agree. He's a great figure one of the best ever Let's get in the guest of value. There were no mocs that have been sold so far this year. So just Lucy What do you think warriors going for Lucy on eBay Jordan?
01:04:49
Speaker
I mean I'm gonna have some sort of an idea on this because I've have a saved search but I mean I guess I don't pay attention to the sold listings. The last one that I saw was 450. I mean I don't know if that's even close to the one you saw but the last one I saw was 450. So it would look like it was a little bit of a one off there was one that went recently for 275 but typically these things been going for the mid 300s to the mid 400s.
01:05:12
Speaker
So yeah, you're going at least two if you could probably find one of these for 250 if you're lucky but be planning on spending at least three bills for the most part if you're gonna find a LJ an ultimate warrior in any kind of good condition Even the beat ones are going for a hundred plus man It is it's just such a good figure. I mean, it's what's pretty tough to think anything's better than this one to me. So
01:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. We got a little bit of Q&A from the Foley fam for this one. First off, I want to thank Zach Hertzer and Johnny JB. They both had questions that we kind of asked. They both had asked questions that we kind of answered through the course of the episode. But thank you guys for reaching out and showing love anyways. Let's start with Brian Vermeer. He asked, do these need to be remade without nostalgia goggles on?
Should LJN Figures Be Remade?
01:06:00
Speaker
Everyone has tried to do this love letter to LJN, but they were not good.
01:06:04
Speaker
They peg warm like a champ. I love my childhood ones because they're my childhood and I buy the AEW at a FOMO, but if they didn't make them, I wouldn't miss them. So what do you think Jordan? Should these things be remade? It's tough because I feel like if they did remake them, they would have to charge a premium for these because like you said about the shipping and stuff like that. And I feel like if they had to charge a premium up to like $40, I don't know if I'd be in play for those.
01:06:35
Speaker
Have they aged the greatest? No. Are they the greatest looking figures? No. It's all about the nostalgia. Yeah, it really is. There's zero playability also, so there's no appeal to these for little kids nowadays. This is strictly a collector's item. Yeah, I would say no, probably not. This would probably not be something that they should remake.
01:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, I will always say yes, just because I'm of the opinion that the more figures, the better. From a business standpoint, it's iffy. I think like we talked about in the middle of the episode, a Mattel Creations execution could work, but they need to be authentic. Even with the ones AEWs dropping right now, the scales off from original LJNs, they're a little bit smaller, which was the same thing with the Jack specific LJNs. They were just small enough to where they don't quite fit in with the original LJN line, right?
01:07:26
Speaker
And it just that just makes it not connect as much so if they are going to be remade by Mattel or whoever I want to see 100% you know, often authenticity make them back in scale with these, but outside of a Mattel creations execution or something like that I don't really see it happening in the near future. Tony B man Tony Barker had a fun one he said if you could be immortalized in LJ inform, what would your pose be and what kind of gear are you rocking.
01:07:54
Speaker
Ooh, Tony with the banger question. I'm going S&M like Demolitiono. Ball gag.
01:08:07
Speaker
I would probably go, um, I mean, I'm big dude season. I don't care. I let it all hang out. I'll wear some speedos to the ring. I don't care. Uh, I would probably wear like a basketball shorts like Owens though. Cause I mean, that's usually what I rock anyway. Um, I would probably go basketball shorts. I ain't doing a t-shirt F that I'm letting it hang out.
01:08:29
Speaker
I would probably do some sort of face paint to as an homage to the warrior I don't know how close I would get to it But I would definitely do face paint and basketball shorts for my my look and I would be flexing for sure
01:08:44
Speaker
Hell yeah. I always said my gimmick if I was a pro wrestler would be, I would take the dirty white boy that Tony Anthony was doing, but turn it up a notch and basically be like a redneck sandman, kind of like Steve Austin, but just be like a shit heel. So I'd go like some cut off denim shorts and like a sleeveless t-shirt man for my pose.
01:09:05
Speaker
I probably go with the warrior pose man I think that was the most playable so I think that would get me a few extra figure sales just being in a nice playable pose if I was an LJN but yeah thanks Tony that was a really good question. Alright last question we are coming from Matt Carlos.
01:09:22
Speaker
He wants to know, out of the best non-LJN figures, so we had WCW's original San Francisco Toymakers, the Jax Classic Superstars, the AEW's, or when Chalk Line did that Young Bucks set. Jordan, I'll let you go first.
01:09:40
Speaker
What I'm picking which ones I like the best out of those yeah the best non-ljn version of the ljns I'll go with the Jax ones just because I think they did the the best out of all of them honestly so far I mean, I just remember getting a few of those and I feel like those were as close as we're gonna get Yeah, have you unboxed any of the jazz words ljns? I've not
01:10:06
Speaker
I haven't either the only ones I've had or MOC so I haven't had the feel of them yet from what I've heard the feels not same to me. That's the biggest thing I can almost forget the scale issue just because I know even like making them a little bit smaller could probably be monumental on saving on the shipping costs on these things and make them more feasible to be on cards and stuff on the pegs, but to me you know the OSF TM they were the first ones after LG ends that were in that style just a big block of rubber.
01:10:34
Speaker
They were super stiff, man. The LJNs, they had some bendability. Obviously, they had no articulation, but you could bend those figures, right? You could bend the arms, you could bend the legs if you wanted to. I feel like all the ones since then have been super stiff. The jazzwares, or excuse me, the chalk line LJNs, the Young Bucks set, those were basically the exact same type of rubber as the OSFTM. So I still don't know that we've had a true homage to the LJNs. How were the Jax classic superstars? What was the feeling on those ones?
01:11:04
Speaker
I feel like some of those were at least movable. I don't feel like they were as stiff as the Chalk Line remakes. Man, that's been a while, dude. It's really hard for me to remember all this stuff. You know how many beers I've drank since then? Do you still got the Trish Stratus that I got you at WrestleMania 31? Oh yeah, that's still
Favorite Wrestling Figures
01:11:23
Speaker
in box. Cross-eyed Trish, that's still in box.
01:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, my favorite is definitely the OSF TM. I'm in the process of finishing up my WCW Galoob set. And I think the next set I'm going to move on to is the WCW OSF TM of that style figures. I love those figures back in the day, even though they weren't 100% true to the LJN line because they were a lot stiffer, but I really enjoyed all those figures and I like that time period of WCW. So I'll go with those just out of for sentimental purposes, but I don't think we've gotten a true solid
01:11:56
Speaker
Solid LJN remake man. I think it's still that that cheery still waiting to be picked.
Episode Wrap-up and Feedback
01:12:00
Speaker
Yeah
01:12:02
Speaker
All right, that's a wrap for Pod Warriors number two. Thank you guys so much for all the support. Please let us know what you liked or didn't like about this episode. And if it's any topics that you want us to tackle going forward, hit us up. Reminder to use code chick Foley at ringside collectibles to save 10% on all your figure purchases and use code PF10 courtesy of Pod Foundation to save 10% at chalk line. Jordan hit us with the closing thoughts for our second Pod Warriors episode.
01:12:30
Speaker
All right. So we're going to try to make this a thing. So every week I'm going to give you guys a piece of advice and then I'm going to sign it out with what we're going to do for the song and why we decided on the song. A piece of advice. Can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. And as far as the song this week, these ended in 1989. Sadly, we were four years old. So we were just a little slap nuts at that time. So it's been a while. We went with the 1989 song.
01:12:58
Speaker
and it's Bismarck key. So you guys enjoy and we'll talk to you again soon.
01:13:05
Speaker
Have you ever met a girl that you tried to date? But a year to make love, she wanted you to wait. Let me tell you a story in my situation. I was talking to this girl from the US nation. The way that I met her was on tour that concert. She had long hair and a short miniskirt. I just got on stage dripping pouring with sweat. I was walking through the crowd. And guess who I met? I whispered in the air, come to the picture booth so I could ask you some questions to see if you're 100 proof.
01:13:34
Speaker
I asked her her name she said blah blah blah she had nine ten pants and a very big bra I took a couple of flips and she was enthused I said how do you like the show she said I was very amused I started throwing bass she started throwing back mid-range but when I sprung the question she acted kind of strange then when I asked do you have a man she tried to pretend she said no I don't I only have a friend come on I'm not even going for it this is what I'm going to say you
01:14:03
Speaker
You got what I need. But you say he just a friend. And you say he just a friend. Oh, baby, you got what I need. But you say he just a friend.
01:14:57
Speaker
Would you say he's just a friend? Would you say he's just a friend?