The WCW Galoob Action Figure line was an action figure toyline based on the wrestlers of the now defunct World Championship Wrestling promotion (WCW). They were made by the toy company Galoob from 1990 to 1991. The toys were made of a solid plastic pose, with no animation. Some were sold with accessories and every figure had a gold belt with "WCW" printed on it in black. Dustin Rhodes figure has a special belt with 9 adjustment notches, all others had 6 adjustment notches. This line was designed to compete with the recently released WWF Hasbro Action Figures line, as the figures were about the same size.
The figures were released in the United States in 1990, and were re-released in the United Kingdom in 1991. Ten of the original twelve figures were released in the UK, but with different color outfits. Tom Zenk and Butch Reed were not released in the UK set. The UK set also released some brand new figures, known as UK exclusives. The UK exclusives were not a set that was intended to be only released in the UK, they were supposed to be part of the 2nd series in the US along with some of the ones that were seen later as prototypes. Jim Ross made reference to it at some point either on his radio show or on TV that the 2nd series was in the works & would be released soon. Releasing these new figures in the UK was a salvage & recovery idea Galoob came up with because the 1st set had not been released there & Galoob assumed that this WCW line was a bust in the US because of their lack of research to just how large the fan base was.
KMART was the 1st chain to carry the toys. TOYS R US didn't even have them. KMART sold these for months with no competition and did very well with them which was part of the problem that ended the line. The fact that KMART did so well with these for so long, TOYS R US finally put in a huge order for them and then several other department stores did as well not realizing that by then 90% of the fan base already purchased them. So TOYS R US and others did not fare as well as KMART did and before too long these ended up being closed out with bargain prices in close out stores such as KB Toys.
Seemingly, if Galoob would have re-released the 1st line again to the other retailers as the repainted versions with different color outfits, or waited until the 2nd series (the ones that ended up being the UK exclusives) were finished and ready to ship, the line would have done much better & lasted a few more sets at very least.
Even their competition, the Hasbro line had to tweak the number of pieces for each set several times to avoid over production. It seems that Hasbro did better market research and because of this their figure line lasted from 1990 until 1995.
The very first shipment of WCW Galoob figures in the US had a package variant that has "Presents the Superstars of the NWA" instead of "Presents the Superstars of the WCW". Only six figures came this way; Sting, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner. These are valued a bit more than the later shipments among collectors today.
The US released figures are usually valued from $10US to $20US in great condition. The UK line, especially the UK exclusives are considerably more valuable, with the loose figures ranging from $5US to $30US and MOC figures from $25US to more than $200US
Video WCW Galoob Action Figures
The complete collection
Series 1 - 1990 - released in the US
- Ric Flair (blue tights)
- Arn Anderson (white tights, no bald spot)
- Arn Anderson (white tights with bald spot-variant)
- Sting (blue tights)
- Sting (orange tights)
- Lex Luger (blue tights)
- Sid Vicious (black tights)
- Barry Windham (black tights)
- Brian Pillman (orange tiger print tights)
- Tom Zenk (white tights)
- Rick Steiner (purple and grey tights)
- Scott Steiner (yellow tights)
- Butch Reed (blue tights with all white sneakers)
- Butch Reed (blue tights with red Nike swoosh on sneakers-variant)
- Ron Simmons (Blue tights)
Series 1 Tag Teams - 1990 - released in the US
- Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (Flair with blue tights, Arn with white tights)
- Sting & Lex Luger (Luger with blue tights, Sting with blue tights)
- Sting & Lex Luger (Luger with blue tights, Sting with orange tights)
- Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner (Rick with black/grey tights, Scott with yellow tights)
- Butch Reed & Ron Simmons (both with solid blue tights)
Series 2 - 1991 - released in the UK
- Ric Flair (red tights with white lightning bolt on front)
- Arn Anderson (red tights)
- Sting (black tights)
- Lex Luger (green tights)
- Sid Vicious (pink tights)
- Barry Windham (blue tights)
- Brian Pillman (light blue tights with tiger face knee pads)
- Brian Pillman (light blue tights with one tiger face knee pad-variant)
- Rick Steiner (green tights)
- Scott Steiner (pink and blue tights)
- Ron Simmons (blue tights with white stripe on side)
Series 2 Tag Teams - 1991 - released in the UK
- Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (in UK colors)
- Sting & Lex Luger (in UK pre-ring, with robe colors)
- Sting & Lex Luger (Luger with blue tights, Sting with black tights)
- Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner (in UK colors)
- Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin
UK Exclusives - 1991
- El Gigante
- Big Josh (with wood ax handle)
- Dustin Rhodes
- Michael Hayes
- Jimmy Garvin
- Sting (pre-ring, with robe)
- Lex Luger (pre-ring, with robe and rubber silver chain)
- The Fabulous Freebirds Tag Team Set (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin, comes boxed, with sound module - different from the carded UK tag set)
- Sound Slammin' Action Ring (comes with sound module)
Unproduced prototypes
- Ric Flair (pre-ring, with robe)
- Diamond Studd
- P.N. News
- Richard Morton
- Black Blood (unpainted, hand carved)
- Michael Hayes (unpainted, pre-ring, with robe, hand carved)
- Jimmy Garvin (unpainted, pre-ring, with robe, hand carved)
- Sid Vicious (black tights, hand carved, short hair, different face)
Rings and accessories
- Slam-Action Wrestling Arena
- Sound Module for ring
- Championship Belt
- Collectors Case
14 inch fully poseable figures
- Ric Flair
- Sting
- Lex Luger
- Sid Vicious
Maps WCW Galoob Action Figures
See also
- Wrestling Superstars
- WWE action figures
- WWE Legends action figures (Mattel)
- WWF Hasbro action figures
References
External links
Source of article : Wikipedia
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