Fantasy Five Jakks Lineups and Exclusives for 1996

With as much writing talent in my body as Vin Diesel has the ability to convey depth in his onscreen characters, I present to you the Fast Five, err, Fantasy Five Jakks Pacific lineups I could have gone for in the year 1996.

“I could have gone for”? Eh, no one will notice.

Now, this is assuming that all things happen as per usual for the company’s wrestling figure line in ’96 – Superstars Series 1 and 2 goes off without a hitch and the Razor-Diesel, Bret-Owen, and Shawn-Vader exclusive 2-packs reach out to the collectors market.

Also, I primarily focused on the members of the WWF roster from a five-month period, January to May 1996, in order to keep with the release schedule of Superstars Series 1.

I’ve decided to break my ideas up into separate categories, or assortments, which play on the existing “Superstars” theme of the 1996 packaging.

Beginning with “Rising Stars”, a line featuring up-and-coming WWF Superstars with a select number of jobbers thrown into the mix to appease collectors, Jakks Pacific offers an alternative to the established names like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels on store shelves.

WWF Rising Stars Series:
Series 1 (Fictional Release – Summer 1996)
”The Ringmaster” Steve Austin
Ahmed Johnson
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Barry Horowitz
”The Portuguese Man O’War” Aldo Montoya
Savio Vega

Would it have been a colossal failure? You betcha.

I can just picture the shelfwarmers arm-in-arm on the pegs now, but the bigger question would be is there any differentiation in the figure’s sculpts?

As you know, many of the earlier BCA figures re-used sculpts to cut costs. Does that mean Austin, Johnson, Helmsley and Vega wouldn’t have looked the way they did in their respective debuts from Superstars Series 3 to 5?

For argument’s sake, we’ll just assume Jakks knows what they’re doing at the time and releases each with their own custom sculpts where applicable (heads and torsos especially).

You can already tell this will be a FANTASY post then, right? Good, let’s move on.

My next lineup will cover the “Classic Stars” then-currently employed by the company. There aren’t many that qualify as legends returning to the ring in 1996, but here are a few I’ve brought together.

WWF Classic Stars Series:
Series 1 (Fictional Release – Summer 1996)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Ultimate Warrior
Luke Williams (One-half of The Bushwhackers)
Butch Miller (Other half of The Bushwhackers)

The latter three were still technically active at the time and they fit the bill as legends in the industry, however Roberts, Piper and Warrior all received significant exposure in their roles with the WWF in 1996.

Roberts and Warrior would probably be the most in-demand, but Piper, Lawler, and The Bushwhackers each had their own fan bases and could easily make the crossover to Jakks’ BCA style.

Next, as a pre-cursor to both the Tag Team and 2 Tuff series of double packs released from 1997 to 1999, I offer up a serving of “Superstars Tag Teams” using the same carding as the exclusive 2-packs.

WWF Superstars Tag Teams Series:
Series 1 (Fictional Release – Early Fall 1996)
The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip)
The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart Gunn)
The Godwinns (Henry O. and Phineas I. Godwinn)
Owen Hart and “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith

The former and latter two listed represent a transformation of the WWF’s tag division from 1995 to ’96 and beyond; once again providing a variety of names from which collectors and casual fans can choose to expand their collections.

Finally, my submissions to the world of mailaway exclusives would include these two recognizable faces from the first half of 1996.

WWF Superstars Exclusives:
Singles (Fictional Release – Early Fall 1996)
1-2-3 Kid loses the inaugural “Crybaby Match”
Kid gets his own exclusive singles figure on Superstars carding complete with removable diaper!

That should satisfy all the theorists that believe he was originally supposed to be included in Superstars Series 1 (and was replaced by either Undertaker or Goldust, supposedly).

Double Pack (Fictional Release – Early Fall 1996)
Vader splashes Gorilla Monsoon in an iconic segment on Monday Night RAW
Vader comes equipped with his mask and red/black attire and Monsoon appears in a dark suit.

Here we get the Mastodon in all his glory opposite the very first Jakks figure of then-storyline WWF President Gorilla Monsoon to replicate their RAW encounter.

Not to mention, this would also be the first Jakks ringside/personnel figure prior to 1997’s Ringside Collection series featuring the likes of commentator Vince McMahon, Sable, Sunny, and the generic Referee.

It’s no Shawn vs. Bret circa WMXII’s Ironman Match as far as potentially-awesome 2-packs go (and I don’t know why Jakks never commissioned this as an exclusive in ’96), but Vader’s moment was as memorable and shocking as anything from that year (well, except for Hogan’s mega heel turn, but still).

I do think Jakks could have broke some new ground by offering 3-packs (Bret vs. Shawn with Earl Hebner) and 4-packs (throw in Shawn’s manager Jose Lothario to the mix) as Toys”R”Us or Kay Bee Toys exclusives, but that might be jumping ahead a bit much for Jakks’ first year with the license.

Regardless of whether any of these ideas could have come to fruition, it never hurts to fantasize every once in a while about the BCA line’s unlimited potential.

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

- Alex