LVJR - Store exclusive, meet print exclusive

For the seventh installment of my "Latest Vintage Jakks Receivings" posts, I have finally come around to buying two figures on my most wanted list, and for a great price!

I bought these two exclusive BCA figures from an eBay seller for $8 shipped, or $4 each (even I realize that elaboration was unnecessary).

Yokozuna was a KB Toys exclusive in 1997 and was limited to only 18,000 pieces (not each limb...oh, you know what I mean) and was later repainted and released on a yellow card in his black and white mawashi attire.

Sable was exclusive to White's Guide Magazine in 1999 and was limited to just 5,000 figures in S.T.O.M.P. Series 3-esque silver futuristic/cyborg gear (which, obviously, she never wore in real life...that I know of). Despite it being another Sable repaint, the exclusive includes an array of accessories from a silver whip and dagger to removable body armor.

Come to think of it, I believe Jakks' ratio for conservative exclusives was something like 35,476 to 1. Give or take a few.

As far as I'm concerned, the Yokozuna is an early gem of the BCA line and is often overlooked for reasons unbeknownst to me. The ENTIRE figure consists of parts made exclusively for Yoko and they were never used again, excluding the white repaint and the red re-release in the original Triple Threat boxed set with Ahmed and Marc Mero.

Sable, on the other hand, was one of many similar figures released around the same time to capitalize on her immense popularity during the late 90s.

My take: I do not have official ratings done up yet, but I will suggest looking into buying these two exclusives - one for the sake of being "technically" rare (see: Sable) and one for being an all-around excellent representation of one of the best big men in WWF/E history (see: Sable, err, I mean Yokozuna).

Go for both if they can be had for under $10 MOC each, as I was fortunate to come across, but never overspend for either since there isn't much of a demand for them anymore.

Fun fact: All of (meaning, all three of) Yokozuna's BCA figures were exclusive to KB Toys stores.

Sadly, both have left us.

At least their brief union brought us something special while it lasted.

Until next time, thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Check out these cool sculpts for late '90s Jakks figures!

Credit: MrDandy.com

As I alluded to in my previous post, the Ripped and Ruthless series never made it to a third assortment*.

However, for those interested in seeing what might have been, take a look at this site to see rough sculpts of a proposed R&R Chyna and Stone Cold Steve Austin in street gear courtesy of one Mr. Dandy.

Also pictured from Jakks' WWF line are body/torso sculpts for the Brawl 4 All toys, 2 Tuff Series 1 Chyna (this could have originally been planned for a Ringside Collection series, hence the "Chyna Ringside" title to the photos), R&R2 HHH, R&R2 Kane, Grudge Match 2-packs Series Luna and 2 Tuff Series 1 Marlena (see: Chyna comment), R&R2 Sable, and R&R2 Shawn Michaels (the attire color was changed from blue to red on the prototype before its release).

James Hakola is the sculptor and all credit goes to him, as well as my admiration for his incredible sculpting talent.

*For the record, the third series of Ripped and Ruthless would have included Owen Hart, Ken Shamrock, Chyna, and "Marvelous" Marc Mero.

Back Carding Pic of the Day! (#3)

Check out this back carding for the KB-exclusive Special Edition Series 2.

It almost slipped my mind (and by almost I mean it completely did) that 2 Tuff Series 1 is pictured on the back.

As always, it's interesting to see how Jakks composed the images on the back of the singles card, with only one BCA series (2 Tuff Series 1) present here.

The other series (S.T.O.M.P. 1, Legends 1, and Ripped and Ruthless 1) were heavily promoted to draw interest from all types of collectors, but two-thirds of them didn't enjoy a long stay (Legends figures were re-released in 2-packs and boxed sets, but Series 2 never came to fruition. Ripped and Ruthless lasted two series and was poised for a third, but no prototypes were ever shown. More on that soon).

Before the days of Build N' Brawl and Micro Aggression, there were the 3" Mini Rings figures as shown here with a King of the Ring theme. Also, the Monster Ring is here in full force and is/was a staple of many back cards before the Attitude Ring was introduced.

Speaking of rings resembling monsters, the first ever VJB Royal Rumble will take place in Jakks' first attempt at repainting/updating the Monster Ring in 1996.

Red, white, and blue ropes are where it's at...literally!

Series 5 is Buried Alive in Cast Resin!

I recently showed you a magazine scan I found from White's Guide with reduced pictures of a few of Jakks' earlier boxed sets, but I have with me now a much larger image of one of those sets and it is none other than Buried Alive.
Unfortunately, and I say this because it hurts me just as much as it does you, I was unable to retrieve larger images of King of the Iron Rungs or the Championship Title Series #1 sets.

However, I do have one for Superstars Series 5.

As I'm sure you're well aware, Rocky did not come with those arms shown on the prototype, but international collector/WF member STOMWIJF lays claim to this rare figure (actually painted cast resin) in his enormous wrestling memorabilia collection.

Now, compare it to the actual release of Maivia's debut figure.

If you have any stored photos of Jakks BCA prototypes or of anything that you think might be relevant to a future post, please feel free to send them to me at tmac152303@yahoo.com and I'll share them for everyone to see.

Check back each day this month to see which figures will be involved in the first ever VJB Royal Rumble!

Hint: We'll be partying like it's 1996.