WWE Classic Superstars: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper was one of my favorite wrestlers as a young child. I don’t know why I connected so much with him so much; maybe it was because he’s the only significant Scotsman in popular culture or maybe because I’ve always been a snarky, wise cracking person. Anyway, I always loved Piper, even more so than Hulk Hogan. His figure in the WWE Classic Superstars line was a must have.

The sculpting on the figure is really good, capturing his signature “Hot Rod!” ringer t-shirt. The only problem I have with the figure is that the face doesn’t really look that much like Piper. They got the hair perfectly though.

Get rowdy!

But face aside, Jakks did a really good job capturing his look. He’s wearing his kilt, with the appropriate tartan. You can remove the kilt, and he’s wearing his blue wrestling trunks underneath. I wouldn’t recommend it, as he looks kind of odd wearing just trunks and a t-shirt. The figure looks awesome on my shelf with the rest of his wrestling chums.

On the accessory side, he comes with the original style WWF Intercontinental Championship title belt that he had in early 1992. I still think the match he had with the Mountie on Saturday Night Main Event, with him wearing a zap proof shirt to prevent the Canadian villain’s zap stick from being a factor, was one of the silliest things ever in pro wrestling.He also comes with a microphone. It’s appropriate since he was/is among the best talkers ever in the history of wrestling.

Criticisms aside, it is a really fun action figure and I’m very happy to have it. He stands proudly over Hogan.

WWE Classic Superstars: Sabu

During the mid 2000s, I was kind of obsessed with buying the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line. Having regularly watched Extreme Championship wrestling since it’s debut (lets face it; I was an impressionable youth) It only seemed right that I would get the Sabu figure.

Sabu is dressed in his typical ring gear. His baggy MC Hammer style pants are made out of a sparkly/shiny cloth which really makes him stand out. The detailing is right, even down to his sash belt

They also painted on his various wrist and arm tapes which are a nice touch. Sabu also came with a vinyl white version of his typical headdress to complete the look. The action figure also came with a folding chair as an accessory, so you can have him hit all of his signature wrestling moves, from the Arabian Facebuster to the Triple Jump Moonsault to the rest of your unsuspecting action figures.

Jakks received a lot of criticism for how much they recycled parts of action figures and didn’t detail the figures enough. This figure proves to be the exception. Sabu has all his appropriate scarring on his chest and arms, showing the pains of wrestling in barbed wire rings.

Ultimately, this is one of my favorite action figures from this line. It looks really cool and serves as a nice nostalgia piece to the days when a glorified bingo hall in south Philadelphia was the epicenter of the wrestling universe.

Someone Flipped The Switch On Poor Death Row Marv!

Poor Marv. Not only did he bite it in the electric chair in the Sin City comics, but even his action figure winds up that way as seen in this one from McFarle Toys in 1999.

This action figure is without a doubt the creepiest one I own. Marv is strapped to the electric chair and there is a switch you flip to fry him, for lack of a better word. Inbetween the shaking and eyes glowing Marv speaks his final words: “That the best you can do, you pansies?”

The grim nature of this action figure caused controversy with many parents groups and anti-death penalty groups who objected to how graphic it was. That wasn’t the last time that Marv got killed for our enjoyment; Mickey Rourke reenacted this scene in the movie version of Sin City.

Anyway, this picture is of my Marv. I took it a while ago and only recently figured out what to do with it. Enjoy!

A Blast From The Past: Tron Light Cycle

I stumbled across this vintage Tron Light Cycle in my basement a few weekends back and how cool is it! This was part of the Tron toyline that Tomy produced back in 1982, pretty much around the same scale of the Star Wars and GI Joe action figures from that time period.

 

In the Tron movies, the light cycles were not only a mode of transportation but for combat games on the grid. As you can imagine, this is a speedy form of transportation and this toy reflects that. It has a pull back rip cord that launches it pretty far. 

I picked this up at a church rummage sale back in high school, about 15 years after this toy was sold to its original owner. It’s missing an action figure (it comfortably sits one) and the rip cord, but it looks awesome on my toy shelf.

I really wished that they had made some of the original characters in the Tron: Legacy toy line that was out last year. The new action figures are the right size and detail level to look awesome piloting this light cycle.

So who had the red/orange light cycle in the orginal movie?

That would be Ram, one of the programs that was allied with Clu and Tron in the original movie who was derezzed (killed). Ram’s programmer Roy Kleinberg is still alive in the Tron real-world universe, and was behind the “Flynn Lives” hoopla early in Tron Legacy.

 

U.S.Agent

Remember the 1990s when we had a new Batman, new Green Lantern, new Spider-Man and even a gaggle of new Supermen? The character now known as U.S.Agent was a replacement Captain America back in 1986, and eventually wound up carving his own identity once Steve Rogers took the job back.

So when they released a figure of U.S.Agent as part of the recent Captain America line of action figures, I was pretty excited to get a chance to add him to the collection. It also gets me one step closer to having a set of the West Coast Avengers.

His costume is awesome, as it is a darker version of the American flag. The accessories are pretty cool. U.S.Agent comes with his most recent shield and a Uzi. After all, he’s a much tougher (and more violent) version of Cap. For picture and display sake, I swapped it out for one of the M-16 assault rifles that are so prevalent with GI Joe figures.

U.S.Agent is a brute of a guy, so I imagine him being one of my most combat-ready toys. I could really see him being air-dropped over an AIM or Hydra base, with two machine guns, a lot of ammo and maybe a Monster energy drink,.

1940s Captain America Action Figure Review

 

One of my birthday presents my super cool girlfriend gave me was the very cool 1940s style Captain America figures from the First Avenger toy line. This version of Cap pays tribute to the World War 2 costume that Bryan Hitch had him wear during the flashbacks in the Ultimates.

This look on Captain America is really cool looking; it is definitely very old timey. I don’t claim to be any fashionista, especially one that knows about what was wrong in the 1940s, but the spats and some of the jacket closings look like they would be more appropriate during World War I. But, again, what do I know about these things?

Cap also comes with the original style shield, which looks really cool. He also comes with a machine gun and a small pistol that fits in a holster on his belt.

Captain America was also a big part of the war effort, as here he is being used to advertise and promote the purchase of war bonds. Okay, I made this part up, but there is no reason to think they would not have used him in this capacity. He was an American hero after all.

There was also this iconic picture of Harry Truman when Captain America guaranteed the Allies victory.