Collector’s Corner #4 With Matthew Barnes: Enter Galoob

Collector’s Corner #4
With Matthew Barnes
Enter Galoob

Following the success of the WWF LJN and AWA Remco figure lines, WCW sought a partner to carve its own slice of the market. Finding the right manufacturer in Galoob, WCW launched its range of figures in 1990, and what followed were some of the most memorable and collectible figures in pro wrestling history.

Eschewing the “all action” approach of most toymakers of the era – including the WWF’s concurrent Hasbro range – WCW and Galoob instead focussed on quality over flashy moves, leaning more into children’s imaginations than into providing them with a prescribed set of moves or actions to play with.
One might think that a lack of articulation would be a case of less effort going into the figures, or less care over what children might actually be able to do with them, but the time invested in quality, and in other aspects of the range, proves this to be a false assumption.

Galoob’s prior work included A-Team and Defenders of the Earth figures (and would soon include Biker Mice from Mars), all still loved and remembers for their… articulation and accessories. Indeed, it may seem counterintuitive that a figure line that didn’t move could become more synonymous with a toy company than its more famous of flashier properties, but mention the name Galoob to collectors and WCW is instantly recollected.

But why?

By this point, WWF had moved away from the high-quality, aesthetically appealing and quite brilliant LJN line (also, you may remember, as static as the Galoob figures would prove to be), and had instead shot for a cartoonish, mass-produced product with a range of defined moves and motions; almost an ‘art imitates life’ situation, with range as a whole representing the flash, colourful, mass-market vision for WWF as a whole during this era.

During this period, WCW still had its feet firmly planted in the territory era, built around a grittier, more regional feel (WCW still very much had its base in America’s deep south). Whilst the WWF was exploding, WCW in many ways stood still – and, argued its most vocal supporters, rightly so.

But, the territories had come apart at the seams, and after the 1988 purchasing rebranding of Jim Crockett Promotions to WCW by Ted Turner had established the company as not only a national entity, but a worldwide product, with WCW the last remaining viable competitor for a WWF that had shot for the moon with its approach. You know the history, but what it was Ted Turner’s acquisition of WCW and his positioning of it on his TBS superstation that effectively saved us from a world dominated by one-company wrestling product.

Turner’s vision was of a wrestling product that not only rivalled, but surpassed Vince McMahon’s WWF, though quite how this might be achieved was still years away from coming into view. In 1990, the product was a mixed-bag of declining territory-era stars, upcoming stars such as The Steiner Brothers who were more substance than style, and emerging stars such as Sting who had the flair and charisma to match what was happening up in New York. In short, WCW had yet to find a fully formed identity.

The company’s roots in its past made for an interesting product that didn’t fully satiate anyone, from long-time fans to modern viewers, but it certainly made for an incredible series of action figures.
The thing that set WCW action figures aside is something that if you ask any collector or even fan of early nineties WCW is one thing that they’ll say to you, right off the bat; every figure came with a belt. Every. Single. One. And, a belt that looked nothing like any recognisable world title of the era, at that. Maybe an odd choice, but something that undoubtedly set the figures apart from the rest.

You see, despite the extensive range of WWF’s Hasbro line, and the array of accessories they came with, there was only one way to get the belt: Buy the ring.

A common theme of the era, and a thread that runs through toy buying from then to now, buying accessories separately created a thirst to buy bigger, more expensive products, or simply add-ons that you needed to play with something you already had. Think Star Wars – a HUGE rebel transporter ship with spaces for 20+ figures? Daaad, I need to fill this somehow! Boba Fett’s Slave 1 ship? Muuuum!!! I need Boba Fett to go with it… and Han Solo! The list goes on and on.

Whilst not the super value offered by the AWA’s Remco ring and figures set, having belts with every WCW figure meant that if you owned just two, you could have a title match. If you owned four, a tag team title match. Owned more? Then you had belts literally all over your house, and even on He-Man and Star Wars figures.

Like most accessories, the belts are a little harder to come by than the figures these days, and when paired with figures they do add value, but they still exist to a massive extent and are really easy to track down. The belts were, and remain, a nice touch – and, without doubt, one that would rarely be repeated (though WCW did lean back on this a little in the late nineties with their main event level talent all having a belt – but then, in an era where titles could change weekly, there was some logic there).

But, back to the figures themselves. The range launched in 1990 with a stunning cast of characters – Arn Anderson, Flair, Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers, Sid and a beautiful Brian Pillman figure, alongside others such as Butch Reed, Ron Simmons and Barry Windham. Within this range were also two-packs, notable for mostly just including the same versions of the single figure releases, although some packs included the single figure variants – meaning you could buy three different editions of the Lex Luger and Sting two pack.

Ah, the variants…

Even today, figure variants is where the money really is in action figures. ‘Chase variants’ have become a huge thing (“got the Monday Night Wars Harlem Heat figures? How about getting the rarer blue gear releases, too?”), and in some ways this is a product of the eighties action figure boom. There were countless versions of Luke Skywalker, He-Man and Skeletor, for example, and it was no different when it came to wrestling figures.

Galoob’s initial line had no less than three versions of Sting – Blue Trunks, Black Trunks and Pink Trunks. All of these figures were cool in their own right, but they were the same figure, from the same mould – just a simple repaint; that these figures are all a dime-a-dozen these days speaks to how mass produced and in-demand these figures were in their day. But not all figures were as in-demand.

Of the 1990 releases, most figures can be purchased easily on eBay for next-to-nothing, depending on condition (bizarrely, there’s usually a lot of paint wear on the buttocks!), but one stands apart. Despite a single figure release, and a two-pack release alongside tag partner Ron Simmons, Butch Reed has become a rarity in his own right. Whereas even Z-Man Tom Zenk is ten-a-penny, Butch will set you back in the region of AU $40 at AU $180.

But, 1991 was where things really got interesting.

WCW Worldwide had landed on terrestrial television in the UK in 1991, getting a spot on ITV – one of only four UK terrestrial television channels in the era – and in 1992 moved to an afternoon slot before runaway smash hit show Gladiators (a US import, though a British version rather than a direct release). Whilst the WWF was having big success in the UK, its product was on the nascent satellite network, making it far less accessible in an era where executives had begun to fully grasp the selling power of kids TV shows. That WCW had replaced World of Sport wrestling, ditched by ITV in the late eighties due to declining ratings, was significant. In short, the product took off like a rocket.

British kids didn’t know it at the time, but what happened in 1991was that the second wave of WCW was an entirely UK-exclusive set of action figure releases. And these weren’t just any releases; from the cast of characters to the poses to the ambitious ring gear designs, this was a surprising move for a US wrestling company, and one that has since made them in-demand worldwide ever since.

The range included further variants of the 1990 releases, as well as Lex Luger and Sting with incredible sculpted robes, as well as The Fabulous Freebirds, Dustin Rhodes, El Gigante and, surprisingly, Big Josh. The line also included a unique set which included a Sound Board with The Freebirds, so you could have bell noises, grunts and groans to go along with your matches. Which I’m sure parents fully enjoyed.
1991 also saw the release of the WCW Slam-Action Wrestling Arena. As we’ll see next time, Hasbro released a stunning but very basic WWF ring around the same time, but WCW’s was next-level, featuring springboards, rebounding corner posts, ring bell with hammer and a removable cage. For figures that really didn’t move, this was an incredible way to make them come alive. Quite how Galoob pulled something so interactive from such a static range of figures defies logic, but it was a masterstroke. Of course, the UK release went one better with two figures included, Sting and Lex Luger, and then went further still with another ring release including a sound board, but even the ‘basic’ version of this ring surpassed anything seen to this point.

Alongside these figures, WCW also ran a 14” figure series, including Luger, Flair, Sting and Sid, with more points of articulation and a slightly better overall design, but these were nowhere near as popular as their smaller brethren, though nice all the same. Throughout the history of action figure releases, larger editions rarely hold as much appeal, which is a curious point, but less relevant here when talking about the main range.

The Galoob dream came to an end in 1991 with the UK exclusive figures, and today those exclusives hold the most value and appeal. Big Josh is a particular rarity, though Dustin Rhodes commands a high-ticket price, as does El Gigante and the robed Sting and Lex Luger figures. Carded figures sell for ridiculous prices – easily in the hundreds of dollars for most – and undamaged rings and sound boxes are tricky to come by, too. Despite such a short run, the WCW/Galoob figures were incredibly popular at the time and are still well-loved by collectors – many even more so than their WWF counterparts. Dustin Rhodes and Brian Pillman, in particular, remain stunning figures, but the whole range holds a huge appeal.

In a sad postscript, there was a range of prototypes developed by Galoob that never hit the shelves, including Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin with sculpted robes, Ricky Morton, Ric Flair with a stunning red and silver robe, and Scott Hall as The Diamond Studd, as well as some other variants of the original line. There was also a set of articulated prototypes that never hit the shelves. Oh, what could have been…

Join us next time as we hit the mass-produced madness of the WWF Hasbro era!