#314 M.A.S.K. – SEA ATACK with HONDO McLEAN (1986)

Apart from transforming vehicles, the M.A.S.K. toyline also offered from the second wave on figures you could buy in double blisters. These were the "Figure Packs". At the same time, other figures were available in "Adventure Packs" that included one figure plus some accesories. There were 4 different packs released worldwide:

• Coast Patrol with Matt Trakker
• Jungle Challenge with Matt Trakker
• Rescue Mission with Bruce Sato
• Venom's Revenge with Myles Mayhem

But another 4 packs that were only released in Europe:

• Sea Attack with Hondo McLean
• Artic Assault with Calhoun Burns
• Glider Strike with Jacques LaFleur
• Racing Arena with Maximus Mayhem

The first four "Adventure Packs" came with figures that were new or recoloured sculps of old characters, and, (as said before) a bunch of accesories like backpacks, shoes (or parts that attached to figure's feet), guns and maybe small vehicle, like a boat, helicopter.

The European packs include again recoloured figures, all of them drivers from wave 2.

The Racing Arena was re-released with Maximus Mayhem instead of Bruno Sheppard. Maximus Mayhem was also released as driver of the "Buzzard" (wave 3, 1987). This makes me think that the European "Adventure Packs" were also released during 1987. The card was changed and still depicts Bruno with the accesories. If we consider this, we could say that there are really 5 European sets instead of 4.

Back to Sea Attack, Hondo McLean comes in a blue suit, and is a repaint of the figure available with the Hurricane /Nightstalker (that figure was pink and orange). The name of the mask is Blaster II, a mask "that pretends to shoot supersonic laser rays".

The accesories are a blue backpack, a green gun, and a boat made out of several pieces. the boat has two flaps (maybe wings) that are detachable, and two missiles that are also removable for a better playability.

Because the boat is quite flat, it was released with a security belt, that prevents the figure to fall off easily.

I have prepared a small diorama in which Piranha has surprised Hondo McLean returning from a dangerous mission.

There were also some European exclusive "Figure Packs", but this topic will be left for future entries.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SEA RESCUE with HONDO McLEAN
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 2)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 6 cm approx.

#313 MATCHBOX – MERCEDES 300SE and MG 1100 (Nr. 46 and 64) (1970)

This two cars in the pictures are Matchbox models from 1970. They are an example of cars that were originally released with regular wheels, but later re-released with superfast wheels. These are the re-releases with superfast wheels.

MERCEDES 300SL

The first of them is number 46 (or 46C to be more exact) was originally released in 1969 blue. Other versions include blue, orange/gold and green. The model has practicable trunk, and I think the Mercedes emblem at the frontal grill is broken.

MG 1100

The second one is number 64 (64B) and was originally released in green colour in 1966. This is the first and only reedition in blue, from 1970, although it is common to find the green version in superfast wheels too. The mode has no practicable parts, but a nice detailed interior. If you pay attention to the next pictures, you'll recognise the driver and a dog in rear seat.

Both cars were produced during many consecutive years, so it is common to find many shades of the same colour.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES 300SE and MG 1100 (Nr. 46C and 64B)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1970
• Company: Matchbox (G. Britain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#312 ROMAN – MOTO SPRINT FRICCIÓN (V-201) (1978)

HISTORY OF JUGUETES ROMÁN

This company was founded in Ibi in 1969 with the name "Asunción Román Albero". The name of the company was at the same time a name of a woman. Her children, the Valls Román brothers, were the founders of the company that named after their mother. Later (1971) they turned the family business into a share company: Juguetes Román S.A.

Asunción Román Albero produced spring loaded toys, but after the re-foundation of the company, the company started producing tin lithograph toys. With the appearance of plastic, Román also incorporated plastic in their models to spare production costs. They also used some mechanisms in their toys to make them more attractive, like battery operated direction, obstacle cars, friction motors and more.

The family business was located in a small factory in San Isidro street, but since the business was successful, they moved to more suitable and larger facilities in Espronceda street, that they built themselves. This place was later sold and does not exist anymore.

Currently Juguetes Román is placed in Córdoba street, in the outskirts of the city, in one of the industrial areas. We talked about the company which it is today in our previous entry dedicated to this toy company.

In that same entry, we showed a friction motorbike that was a copy of a Japanese toy. If you check that entry, you’ll notice that this motorbike is almost identical to it. And you’re right. The difference between them is the size. This model V-201 is around 50% larger than the first one.

Other differences are that this model is completely made of tin (except the side wheels), without any plastic part and that it was sold in a box instead of a bag. The box is beautifully illustrated and is also very colourful. It depicts one version of the motorbike on each side (references V-201 -Police- and V-202 -Race-). On the sides of the box, there’s a nice illustration of the policeman and the race driver that drive the motorbikes.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOTO SPRINT FRICCIÓN
• Year: Around 1978 (Probably sold during many years)
• Company: Román (Spain)
• Size: 10 cm

#311 HASBRO'S WWF – ROCKERS (1991)

TAG TEAMS II + UNPRODUCED “RHYTHM 'N BLUES”

ROCKERS

The Rockers Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels were the good guys. Specially memorable are their fights against the Nasty Boys, the Demolition or the Legion of Doom.

These two figures are also cheap and easy to find. I guess they were sold massively back in 1991.

Something curious is that in the back card the figures are different from the actual produced toy. Shawn Michaels appears in the body of Marty Jannetty and the other way round.

Shawn Michaels (the blond one) features the classic “jump” move. Interesting is the left hand, which is open, instead of fist.

Marty Jannetty features a strange movement that was never given to any other figure, and that I do not fully understand. Maybe it is a version of the movement performed by the Ultimate Warrior v3, Skinner of Giant Gonzalez. I-m not sure about this.

RHYTHM ‘N BLUES

First Greg Valentine prototype. Taken from: http://wfigs.proboards.com/

But the most interesting thing to comment about the tag teams, is that, in this first wave, they were originally  4 teams intended to be made. The fourth team appeared in a promotional image in a Toys ‘r Us catalogue.

In this picture, apart from the figures we already known from this and the previous entry, there’s a seventh and an eighth figures: Honky Tonk Man and Greg “the Hammer” Valentine, the Rhythm and Blues Tag Team.

If you’re familiar with the toy-line, you’ll probably know that Honky Tonk Man wasreleased in wave 2 in a single pack.

But what about Greg “the Hammer” Valentine? A figure representing this wrestler was released in wave 3, although the finally produced version is quite different to the one in the promotional picture.

Second Greg Valentine prototype. Taken from: http://wfigs.proboards.com/

Apparently, the figure in the picture was a prototype. Now we know that there were at least two prototypes. The second one is almost identical to the first one, can be identified because has a slightly better paint scheme.

This has been known for collectors since a long time. It is rumoured that Greg Valentine himself was looking for one of these prototypes. And finally, one appeared.

This was the description on eBay:

I have in my possession the holy grail of wwf figures Greg "the Hammer" valentine rhythm and blues prototype. one of a kind. only one in existenc, There was 2 made but the other one was different. I received it from my grandfather 23 years ago he was a wood pattern maker for hasbro. If you wanna do some research his name was Norman Macneil he retired from the Hasbro on Newport ave, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
 
I have had it sitting in a box all this time and didn't know what I had until yesterday, I have been offered a couple thousand dollars already, but as i"m not a collector so i"d rather see it go to somebody who appreciate it. it is a prototype it seems to be painted with flat colors and the figure moves pretty loosly, it was not ment as a toy. for advertisement. it also says greg in raised cursive letters on the right side of his trunks.  if you have any other questions that i did not cover contact me personaly at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Greg valentine himself was looking for this figure but I dont know how to contact him.

The price it finally got in the acution is unknown, because the listing was finished before the time ended, but it was 7500 US$or less.

I retrieved all the pictures from this listing, because they will disappear sometime.

In Spanish cardbacks the Rhythm ‘n Blues tag team is also listed among the others, note that Rhythm (in Rhythm and Blues) is not correctly written.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ROCKERS (MARTY JANNETTY and SHAWN MICHAELS)
• Toy Line: Official WWF (Wave 2)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 12 cm or 4,5’’

#310 HASBRO'S WWF – BUSCHWHACKERS and DEMOLITION (1991)

TAG TEAMS

The second wave of Hasbro’s WWF action figures came with some news. From this point on, Hasbro would offer two figure pacts for its most famous tag team wrestlers.

As we saw in the entries dealing with wave one, the figures of Ax and Smash were sold separately, although they belonged to the same team.

But what is the reason for this change? I can guess this decision was taken because of many factors.

The first reason could be, that this toy-line comprise only figures and a few rings. Since you normally only bought one ring through the entire collection, Hasbro though in two-figure packs to offer another product in another price category. This way, people willing to spend a bit more of money in toys for their children would have the chance to do it. You may argue, they could also buy 2 “single” wrestlers, but there was a risk that parents buy only one or one plus another figure from a competitor. The new tag team blister cards were quite exactly twice so expensive as the single carded wrestlers. Apart from this, it was the only way to get the figures, so children’s whose favourite wrestlers were the Bushwhackers (they were very funny), the Rockers (the good guys) or the Demolition (the bad guys) were forced to buy these double packs.

Another reason could be that when two figures are very similar, some parents have problems when buying them, and their children got one figure twice.

During wave 3 there were also 2 tag teams available in “double packs”, but since wave 4 to the cancellation of the toy-line not a single double pack more was released. Some of the figures were parts of those tag teams, but they were released separately. For example, the Steiner Brothers (series 9), the Headshrinkers or the Bushwhackers version 2 (series 10) or the Gunn Brothers (series 11) were sold in single cards rather than in double packs.

Other wrestlers that teamed up sometime were Koko B Ware (series 3) and Owen Hart (series 7). Their figures were released with their “High Energy” clothes, but not the same time, so for obvious reasons, they were sold separately.

BUSHWHACKERS:

Let’s start with the pictures of the Bushwhackers, Luke and Butch. These figures are among the cheapest and easiest to find in the entire collection. According to the backcard. Butch is the figure with the stomp action feature (Down and Out Blaster) and Luke is the other one. The action feature of the second figure (Down Under Pounder) is quite mysterious, I always thought it was the movement these wrestlers always did when marching to the ring, but it is actually something else. It is not the best move, and to my knowledge it was never reused in another figure, except Luke v2 (series 10).

In this first version of the Bushwhackers, Butch and Luke carry grey and black camouflage trousers, while in the second version, they came with brown “camo” trousers. This second version will be shown some other time in this blog.

DEMOLITION:

The demolition tag team was released in both the first and second wave. The figures in the first wave were Ax and Smash, but since Ax left the team in between, it was replaced by Crush in the second wave of toy figures. Smash figure, however is identical to the one released in wave 1.

The most interesting thing about this tag team, is that it was sold with two helmet accessories. These are today very hard to find, and increase the value of the figures radically. I have included pictures of the helmets from every angle, in case you don’t have them yet. Although I cannot remember the blister card with the helmets in toy shops, it seems that there is no version without them.

As a Bonus, I include here the original filecard in English, and part of the blister card.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BUSHWHACKERS (BUTCH and LUKE) and DEMOLITION (CRUSH and SMASH)
• Toy Line: Official WWF (Wave 2)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 12 cm or 4,5’’