Tuesday, August 23, 2011

#53 HASBRO'S WWF - ADAM BOMB vs 1-2-3 KID (1994)



It has taken me 53 blog entries to talk about one of my favourite action figure series of all times: Hasbro’s Official WWF figures.
Some other time, I’ll make an introduction to this series, and will talk about the casts repeting all over again for different wrestlers and many other things. Today, I’d like to talk shortly about the 11th (and last) wave of these figures.
1994 was the last year in which these figures were sold. Since 1990 in the market, the waves tended to become shorter, and new ones were released more often than at the beginning of the collection, when a wave of 12 figures was available during a whole year in toy stores, before the next wave was available. The 11th wave was the fourth(!) wave released that year (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th) and the final one.
It is quite common for action figure series, that the last wave ever made doesn’t sell very well (if it sells well, why should the companies stop making them?). This fact makes normally the last waves of toy series very difficult to find and very expensive for collectors to buy them. I don’t like saying preliminary prices, because each one can pay what he/she wants to pay, relying on many personal factors, but this time, I will make an exception.
 

Figures in this collection are extremely cheap, if bought in lots, or individual auctions, a figure in good shape can usually be bought for approximately 1 or 2 ­Euros or American dollars; exception made of figures that have some kind of accessory (belt, stick, cloak…), which are a bit more expensive (or even cheaper, if the accessory is missing). This is the common rule for most waves, but not for the 11th one, whose figures are sold for prices ranging between 30 to 40 Euros or even more (we are always talking about loose figures, carded figures are much more expensive). 30 Euros is not a fortune, but in comparison to the other series, it’s very expensive. There are, of course, some exceptions to this “1-Euro-rule”, but they are just a few.
Figures in wave 11 were packaged in green cards, the wrestlers were 7:
  1. Ludvig Borga with Finland Finisher!
  2. Yokozuna with Sumo Smash!
  3. Crush with Kona Crusher!
  4. 1-2-3 Kid with 1-2-3 Punch!
  5. Adam Bomb with Nuclear Knockout!
  6. Billy Gunn with Cowboy Clobber!
  7. Bart Gunn with Rodeo Roundhouse!

Adam's head is too big for 1-2-3 Kid to perform his special action feature

Some interesting remarks about this series are:
  • Billy and Bart Gunn were sold separately, since no double packs were sold since wave 4
  • From the 7 figures, two of them are repaints from previous waves: Yokozuna was released with red tights in wave 8, now he wears white tights, and Crush was released in wave 7 with a yellow outfit, and now he wears a purple outfit.
  • All figures’ bodies are reused from other figures, the head sculpts are all new.
FACTS and FIGURES:
  • Name: ADAM BOMB and 1-2-3 KID
  • Toy Line: Official WWF (Wave 11)
  • Year: 1994
  • Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
  • Size of the figures: 12 cm or 4,5’’

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