If you’re a wrestling figure collector and you like collecting the ‘retros’ you’ve had a very exciting couple of years with the explosion of figures available. Companies like Zombie Sailor Toys are releasing their Heels and Faces line of figures and Chella Toys released the Wrestling MegaStars which have recently been taken over by Wrestling Trader. Beyond this there are the official WWE Retros from Mattel which have been continuing the retro craze officially from WWE. And there are even more of these figures emerging with the upcoming Championship Wrestling Figures lines coming from a company in Germany. There has never been a more exciting time to be a retros collector.
For those who don’t know, Retros refers to figures designed to be in a similar style to the classic Hasbro style WWF figures from the early 1990s.
The Hasbro WWF figures are the figures I mainly grew up with as the bigger rubbery LJN figures were just before my time. The Hasbro figures were much smaller, and significantly smaller than the most common size of wrestling figures that WWE, and AEW produce today. Each figure only had limited ways in which it could be posed and although I never really noticed or thought about it at the time they have stumpier legs and bodies than they should have to be truly to scale. They also came with some kind of spring loaded special move like a power slam or a dropkick.
The last of these figures to be released were the hard to find green card range that included the likes of the 123 Kid and The Smoking Gunns in the mid 1990s. After that the figures would be replaced with WWF Bend ‘Ems and then the taller more posable figures we have today.
Over the years fans and collectors would keep the Hasbro dreams alive with a continual community of custom figures of wrestlers who didn’t get a Hasbro figure back in the day. Eventually the nostalgia button would be hit and Mattel would create the WWE Retros line which would be in a similar (if arguably worse) style. The stumpy design of these was even more pronounced.
In this article we’re going to have a Geek Battle showdown just for fun and pit the Zombie Sailor Toys Heels and Faces against the Chella Toys/Wrestling Trader range of Wrestling MegaStars.
I’ll keep the official WWE Mattel Retros out of the battle for today as they have some clear advantages with the official WWE license and mass availability, although we may revisit them for another battle another day. I’ll also leave the Championship Wrestling Figures out the battle as their first wave isn’t out yet. For now though, it’s Heels and Faces vs The Wrestling MegaStars!
Ring the bell!
Round 1: Roster Series 1
The first area to be considered for this friendly competition is the roster that each figure line has been able to sign up.
Series 1 of the Heels and Faces featured Matt Cardona, Brian Myers, Dino Bravo, Earl Hebner, and Sabu. Then releasing separately, but not quite as part of series 2 were Danhausen and Jeff Jarrett, which I’ll count as being part of the initial mix of figures produced.
The Wrestling MegaStars Series 1 featured Nick Aldis, Ethan Page, Bull Nakano, Hayabusha, The Blue Meanie, Josh Shernoff and The Dynamite Kid. On the side of this range were several variant figures of Aldis, Page, Shernoff and a few figures based on Joey Knight.
To compare the first offerings from both companies let break down the highs and lows of each set.
Zombie Sailor Toys snagged Matt Cardona and Brian Myers who are like the godfathers of pro wrestling figure supporters with their Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. Matt Cardona would also have a huge year as an indie wrestling since leaving WWE by making a big splash in GCW and winning the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Dino Bravo marks a wrestler who it feels like should have had a figure back in the early 1990s, but didn’t. Sabu gives a little ECW representation when ECW never received a retros line in the past. And Earl Hebner marks the first time a referee gets a retro figure. Earl is also the most famous wrestling referee of all time so this will open collectors up to some iconic moments if they like to photograph their figures.
As extra to this series the Danhausen figure gives the series a current AEW star by the time of it’s release (he was in ROH when he signed up) and the Jeff Jarrett one hits some nostalgia by being based off an original design from the 1990s which never got released along with the others in the fabled Hasbro Orange card series. There was also a variant Sabu released in limited quantity.
The Wrestling MegaStars series 1 came out bit by bit rather than in a bigger batch as the Heels and Faces did, but ended up with more figures overall. Nick Aldis was the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion at the time of his figure’s release which was a strong way to start the line. Blue Meanie and Josh Shernoff came out in a double pack like the old tag teams did in the Hasbro era. Shernoff was the first announcer/podcaster guy to get a figure and would then get a solo Fite branded variant. Meanie gave the Wrestling MegaStars it’s own ECW wrestler to compete with Sabu, and Ethan Page gave the Wrestling MegaStars an AEW wrestler to combat the Heels and Faces’ Sabu. Page may have been with Impact at the time of his signing however. Hayabusha gave the range a legend from FMW and Bull Nakano marked the first time a female wrestler was made into a retro style. Finally for the main releases of this series there is the Dynamite Kid figure that comes complete with mini bulldog figure.
There were several variants including a bloody and a gold version of Nick Aldis which were available in very limited quantities. Joey Knight is another bonus figure based on the indie wrestler who is partly known for appearing in the Fighting with my Family movie and saying that he wanted an action figure. Mission accomplished.
So, who wins this round?
I’d argue that with Cardona, Sabu, Jeff Jarrett and Danhausen Heels and Faces have a stronger line up of star power compared to Aldis, Blue Meanie, Ethan Page and Dynamite Kid from the Wrestling MegaStars. The MegaStars get some points for the first retros of an interviewer (beating out Mattel’s Mean Gene) and first female figure with Bull Nakano, but neither of these are the biggest of names. Zombie Sailor meanwhile knocked it out of the park with the first referee figure with Earl Hebner. The biggest legend from either series is possibly Dynamite Kid on the WM side of things, but the argument could be made for Sabu or even Jeff Jarrett on this front as well.
So, whilst it’s a tough battle I say ZST gets it.
