Go figure... Superstars on my wanted list

Shockmaster action figure

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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The summer of 1985 I purchased my first wrestling action figure. To my knowledge, it was the first time such toys had been offered. It was the Hulk Hogan LJN. My brother got "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. Andre the Giant, "Big" John Studd and the Iron Sheik were the other three characters in that first series and would be added to the collection before summer ended. I built that collection and was way too old to be playing with wrestling "dolls" when I bought my last two in 1989. I was entering my junior year in high school and randomly found a "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Slick figures at a store in Canada while on vacation with my family.

My WWE WWF LJN, Hasbro, Jakks collection

A couple years later, WWF partnered with Hasbro for a smaller version of Superstars. I bought another DiBiase figure, but kept him in the package and hung him on my bedroom wall. Fast forward 15 years and when I met DiBiase for the first time, he autographed the box for me. In between that first purchase and meeting the WWE Hall of Famer, I had picked up several other Hasbro figures in the box at flea markets and on the discount shelf at various toy stores. They've all remained in the packaging, except for a few. Excessive heat in my storage space for them damaged the package and they've become free. Now they along with a handful of Jakks Pacific figures are on display in our bonus room.

The new WWE Isaac Yankem figure
Courtesy: Dalton Anthony

That's my history with the figures. I've seen at Comic Con in San Diego a whole new line of Elite figures will soon be sold. Plus there's the exclusive Comic Con figure this year, Isaac Yankem. A new friend of mine, Dalton from Podzilla 1985 & Cape Championship Wrestling, has acquired one of these, which is pretty cool. Chad has a Shockmaster figure from last year's show still in the box too. We are hopefully going to be giving that away in the future.

Bobby "The Weasel" Heenan

I'd love to add the Bobby Heenan in a weasel costume to my collection. Since I'm a huge Von Erich fan, I'd also like to get the Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich figure too. And up until today, I thought the company had produced a Roddy Piper WrestleMania VI figure with half his body painted black. Turns out that was a custom figure I had come across online a few years ago.

What's your figure collecting history? Who is on your "must have" list?