Tag: WWE

Hulk Hogan is Gone from the WWE, but His Toys Live On

Mattel WWE Hulk Hogan figures still in stores

Almost exactly a year and a half after Hulk Hogan’s much lauded return to the WWE, he’s gone – this time it’s probably for good. The WWE uncermoniously fired Hogan on Friday, in advance of a National Enquirer article detailing racist comments made by Hogan to Heather Clem. (Clem was the woman, married to Hogan’s friend, featured in the sex tape scandal Hogan suffered a few years back – apparently the WWE can get past sex scandals but draws the line at racism.)

The WWE has also been busy eliminating as many traces of him from their programming and website as possible. For example, Hogan is no longer shown as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, in which he was inducted in 2005. They’ve also removed all traces of Hogan merchandise from the WWE Shop.

What’s unclear is how long licensed product, like Mattel’s WWE figures, will stay out there. As of now, you can still find plenty of Hulk Hogan figures on Amazon, a couple on Walmart.com, and one at Target. I’m sure the WWE will nix any planned Hogan figures and Mattel would also likely want to distance themselves from the scandal. But they also bet heavily on his return, producing several Hogan figures in the short time that he was back. Lots of that product is already on shelves and in warehouses.

SDCC 2015: Mattel WWE [Updated with Mattel and WWE: NXT Superstar of Tomorrow Panel Video and More Pics]

SDCC 2015 Mattel WWE (1 of 16)

Mattel’s WWE team always puts on a great show at Comic-Con. I was able to attend the standing room only Mattel and WWE: NXT Superstar of Tomorrow panel with William Regal, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Charlotte, and Finn Bàlor. After the panel I stopped by the Mattel booth to check out the figures. Being a fan of classic superstars of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, and the Ultimate Warrior, it’s tough for an old guy like me to keep track of the younger talent, but I did recognize some of the new figures on their way.

Continue reading “SDCC 2015: Mattel WWE [Updated with Mattel and WWE: NXT Superstar of Tomorrow Panel Video and More Pics]”

SDCC 2015: Our Comic-Con Schedule, and How You Can Join Us (Virtually!)

SDCC 2015 Our Comic-Con Schedule, and How You Can Join Us (Virtually!)

I’ll be the first to admit, we’re pretty awful when it comes to planning for San Diego Comic-Con. There’s so much to do and see, and frankly, it’s overwhelming.

But this time around, we’ll have some tools and technology that can help get you to the big show, at least virtually, if you can’t make it to there yourselves. So it makes sense to apprise our favorite folks, those of you who actually read the stuff here at AFP, of what we’re planning and how we’re going to share it with you. And to ask for your advice – there’s one scheduling conflict that I’ll need your help to decide on which to attend.

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Border Patrol: WWE Elite Scale Play Set – Must See!

Border Patrol - WWE Elite Scale play set by Extreme Sets

For this edition of Border Patrol, we’re just featuring one eBay auction. But it’s a doozy!

I am instantly wary of eBay auctions listed with qualifiers like “OOAK HTF L@@K!!!” in the title. This auction is not titled like that; I’m the one applying the labels, because if you love action figures, you’ve got to check it out.

This play set was built to accommodate a Mattel WWE Elite Scale ring – that’s not included in the auction but you can pick up an Elite Scale ring with free shipping at the Mattel Shop this week. The play set comes with pretty much everything else (minus the figures, naturally) to give your wrestling action figures a full-size arena to put on a show. It comes with a couple of entrance sets, a Jumbotron and speakers that are suspended from the ceiling, and a custom built audience, complete with wrasslin’ slogans on their t-shirts.

This was a prototype built for an ambitious but ultimately underfunded Kickstarter project from last year. Be prepared to see a huge price tag, and know that this play set is so huge that the seller is only accepting bids from people who can pick it up (in a pickup truck, most likely) from its location in Southern California. Even if this puts you out of the running, you should still take a look at this one-of-a-kind WWE Elite Scale play set.

In AFP’s Border Patrol, we scour active eBay auctions for customized action figures that you won’t want to let slip by!

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