Toys from the Past: #117 HASBRO’S WWF – HULK HOGAN #1, ANDRÉ “THE GIANT”, “MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE #1 and ULTIMATE WARRIOR #1 (1990)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

#117 HASBRO’S WWF – HULK HOGAN #1, ANDRÉ “THE GIANT”, “MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE #1 and ULTIMATE WARRIOR #1 (1990)

Hasbro got the license to turn into action figures the most famous wrestlers from the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) that, at this time, was at the peak of its popularity. There had never been more famous and charismatic wrestlers than Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior or Macho Man.

Years before, other figures were made by companies like LJN. More precisely, LJN built several series of wrestlers between 1984 and 1989, but these figures were made of rubber plastic and didn’t move at all.

Galoob also had their own wrestlers, made in PVC and without any articulation point. These were sold as "WCW wrestlers" between 1990 and 1991.

Many wrestlers had their figures in two series, the one by LJN and the one by Hasbro, or the one by Galoob and later the one by Hasbro.

As you can imagine, such a popular collection had hundreds of knock-offs and look-alike figures. Most of these have very bad quality and could be found in “1 Euro shops”, kiosk, tobacconists, and so on. Some exceptions were quality toys, like Simba’s Wrestlers.

In Spain, this toys were released with a two years delay, I used to watch the program on TV every Sunday morning, so when the figures came out, I quickly got a few to play with. The first figures (first wave) were around 500 pesetas (3,00 Eur), later waves increased slowly their prices. If I can remember properly, I got 6 figures from the first wave, 2 from the second and 1 from the third… I am almost sure that the figures from 5^th wave on were never available in Spain, but since they were available in other countries like Germany and Austria (were, by the way, there were and there are many wrestling fanatics even today), I got to buy most figures in this collection.

First Hasbro's WWF wave

In this article and the next two, I want to show the first wave, released in 1990. This wave consisted of 12 wrestlers, so I’ll show 4 of them on each entry.

1. Hulk Hogan #1 with Gorilla Press Slam!

Hulk Hogan is the greatest star of wrestling so far, the good guy, the one that always plays fair, This figure was probably the best selling figure in the whole Hasbro collection. The figure came with open hands to allow the featured action of holding and knocking off one other figure. This movement was repeated many times during the 11 series that were released.

2. André the Giant with Giant Jolt!

André the Giant retired in 1990, and was more popular during the eighties than at this time. He was one of the figures which I didn’t know who they were in 1992. The other two were Akeem and Brutus Beefcake. The figure however looks great, and is one of the most “wanted” from this first series. His “action” movement is a chest-slam, what makes it a relatively fragile figure (compared with other in this collection)

BONUS: Spanish filecard

3. Macho Man Randy Savage #1 with Elbow Smash!

Macho Man (later Macho King) was also among the most popular wrestlers, and had several versions of him made. The movement is the same that features Hulk Hogan, but Macho Man has not open hands but fists. These movement is also featured by many other figures.

BONUS: Spanish filecard

4. Ultimate Warrior #1 with Ultimate Smash!

One of the greatest stars of wrestling ever… by the time these figures were released, it was absolutely number 2 in popularity after Hulk Hogan. Had many fans because of his look and his great style of fighting. The figure has on its back a flap that you can push to make the figure jump. The chest part of the figure goes down to its feet showing a strange and not very well done neck (the “spine” of the figure) (see pic). The movement is absolutely great when it comes to play with, and was the featured action of many figures from wave 1 to 10.

FACTS and FIGURES:

Name: HULK HOGAN #1, ANDRÉ “THE GIANT”, “MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE #1 and ULTIMATE WARRIOR #1
Alternate Names: HULK HOGAN, ANDRÉ EL GIGANTE, MACHO KING*, EL ULTIMO GUERRERO (Spain)
Toy Line: Official WWF (Wave 1)
Year: 1990
Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
Size of the figures: 12 cm or 4,5’’

*As a result of that delay of 2 years that the figures took to arrive to Spain, Macho Man #1 was already renamed to Macho King.

As an annex, I include a list of all produced figures ordered by year and series. I hope all of them (or almost) will be appearing in this blog in the next years… The list is based on the one published by sophandjames in “ebay.co.uk guides”.

Series 1 (1990)