I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month. You can view photos of my collection on my Instagram account.
Every Elite series released this year has been great. They have been including more flashback figures. I think it’s largely due to the success of the Target exclusive Hall of Fame series (by the way, series three should be in stores in the near future).
The WWE Superstars included in Elite 39 are British Bulldog, The Godfather, Sycho Sid, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Mizdow & Sting.
We give our thoughts on each figure and include some pictures.
I actually pre-ordered the entire Elite 39 set and should receive them in late-October. Elite 40’s lineup has already been released (it’s listed near the bottom of the page).
British Bulldog – This Bulldog attire has been high on most collector’s ‘want list’ for awhile. We had a Hart Foundation Bulldog a few years ago in the now-defunct ‘Legends’ toy line. My one nitpicky observation would be if the British Flag Cape was cloth. It’s made of that weird rubber/plastic stuff many accessories are now made of. This will be on everyone’s Christmas list for sure.
The Godfather – I love that Mattel decided to make parents buy their kids a figure of a pimp. This figure is loaded with accessories. This one should also be a hot seller.
Sycho Sid – Mattel had a lot of different gimmicks to chose from before deciding to go with Sycho Sid. They could have made Sid Vicious, which is what he went by in WCW, or Sid Justice, his short-lived gimmick in the WWF. The headscan is a bit weird, but he would often come to the ring while laughing.
Sting – The early prototype images of this Sting figure was met with poor reviews. The pictures looked like his head was square-shaped. I’m sure it was an error made while editing in Photoshop. The figure was still met with mixed reviews due to the shirt being tucked in. I still like it and this will be the first present-day Sting elite figure.
Dolph Ziggler – This is Dolph’s first elite figure since series 24. He was long overdue for an updated elite. This one comes with a plastic shirt and the intercontinental title. This one will be a hot seller since he has been on television a lot more.
Damien Mizdow – This figure feels like it’s a tad late to market. This gimmick hasn’t been on television in nearly six months. It’s a companion figure to The Miz elite that came in Elite 37. Sandow hasn’t had an elite since series 29, so he was due for a ‘somewhat’ updated elite.
Mattel showed prototypes for Elite series 40 figures at Ringside Fest last weekend. The lineup includes Umaga, Rick Rude, John Cena, Tyson Kidd, Sami Zayn & I.R.S. I’ll write a post when more information about accessories is released.
Elite 39 should be found at retail some time in early-December.
You can pre-order everything at RingsideCollectibles.com. I’m not getting paid to plug them (although it would be nice to get a nice discount – wink wink). I just highly recommend them. I’ve been pleased with every purchase.
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.