Friday, January 31, 2014

#375 HASBRO'S WWF - YOKOZUNA #2, BILLY GUNN and BART GUNN (1994)



I have finally completed series 11! The white Yokozuna figure was the most difficult to find, but it is finally home. With this one, I have now all figures complete with its accesories except the mail-ins.


Yokozuna (real name: Rodney Agatupu Anoai) is a repaint of the same figure released only one year earlier in series 8. The original figure had black and red pants, while this second version had black and white pants. The original figure was very impressive with that huge body, which was a complete new cast only for that figure. It surely sold many units, and maybe for that reason made that the white Yokozuna sold less than their counterparts in wave 11. If a boy bought Yokozuna in 1993, it is unlikely, that the same boy bought it again in 1994. The same happens with Crush #3, to my opinion, these two are the rarest figures in wave 11, or at least the ones which I have seen less in auction sites.


The figure looks bulky and strong, but it actually has one of the most fragile gimmicks from all figures. It is very difficult to find it in good shape. First problem is the articulation in the waist. It tends to loose with the use. Second point is the movement, that has some defect, that makes it end in a lower position than it started (this problem is common to many figures with that same movement). Third, paint gets damaged on its bottom, where the sumo pants are "tied", and on its belly. These three points are critical to grade mint (not carded) figures.


The next figure is Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp), one of the members of the Smoking Gunns. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst figures in the whole collection, since it uses the body of Jake "the Snake" Roberts, but the head is not very well casted. The neck has something strange.



The second member of the Smoking Gunns is Bart Gunn (Michael Polchlopek), whose cast is the same used for Razor Ramon. Both this and the previous figure wear cowboy hats, and these are relatively fragile, the most fragile part in the figure. It cannot be removed, so sometimes it has been forced or deformed by pressure.




FACTS and FIGURES:
  • Name: YOKUZUNA #2, BILLY GUNN and BART GUNN
  • 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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