The Jakks Pacific WWE Classic Superstars series is legendary for many reasons. It introduced an official line dedicated to legenday talents for the first time. By the time it was finished, almost all major names from the history of wrestling had been covered, and it is remembered fondly, despite some severe parts choices in some cases and some detail errors in others. That was how Jakks rolled, and we loved them for it. This is the fourth in a series of posts covering the Jakks Classic Superstars Series, with checklists, and my opinion of the best and worst in each wave. For today, we’re going back to 2007, and covering Series 16-20.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three
Classic Superstars Series 16:
Checklist:
- Barbarian
- Warlord
- X-Pac
- Ultimate Warrior
- Sycho Sid
- Giant Gonzalez
- Vince McMahon
- Shawn Michaels (LJN Version)
Note: I picked up most of these at Toys R Us, but they did arrive at Walmart as well.
The Best: Warlord and Barbarian are some of the best in the entire line.
The Worst: Sid was a series of bad decisions, with short boots (which actually made him taller than the other boots options Jakks had), no knee pads, and a poor facial likeness.
Series 17:
- Eddie Guerrero
- Ken Patera
- Typhoon
- Repo Man
- Ivan Putski
- The Rock
- Rocky Johnson
- Shane McMahon
- Triple H (LJN Version)
Note: I found all of these at KB Toys, it took some time to complete the lineup.
Sidenote: The Rock has “Nation of Domination” on the box, but is definitely a 1998 Corporate World Champion attire.
The Best: I personally liked Typhoon the best, although it’s not the greatest parts choices, but my favorite from this group.
The Worst: Repo Man. One shot at getting Repo man and they gave him a coat with molded arms. Unfortunate.
Classic Superstars Series 18:
- Honky Tonk Man
- Kane
- Jim Ross
- Sunny
- Mae Young
- King Mabel
- Rikishi
- Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Val Venis
- Ric Flair (LJN Version)
Note: This set was definitely at Toys R Us. I bought most of these on a great buy two get one free sale they had at the time.
The Best: Val Venis is pretty good all the way around.
The Worst: Rikishi is so disappointing. Using the Yokozuna body was not a good choice. Skinny Kane, and Body Painted King Mabel are also worth mentioning.
Series 19:
- Adam Bomb
- Cactus Jack
- Doink The Clown
- Eddie Guerrero
- Howard Finkel
- Kevin Sullivan
- Nikita Koloff
- Tatanka
- The Rock
- Mankind (LJN Version)
Note: This was also a Toys R Us Wave.
The Best: Have to go with Adam Bomb here, but Cactus Jack is very good as well.
The Worst: Eddie Guerrero, who is in his Black Tiger costume, but without the mask. They should have given him a different attire if they couldn’t license Black Tiger.
Series 20:
- Dynamite Kid
- Ric Flair
- Ron Simmons
- Rey Mysterio
- The Rock
- Tony Atlas
- John Cena (LJN Version)
Note: This set was at Toys R Us for me.
The Best: Ron Simmons, but Dynamite is also very good.
The Worst: The Rock, being released for the third time in four sets, the Series 19 has the IC belt, 20 has the World title being the only difference between the two.
Final Note on Series 16-20:
Series 16-20 is when the Classic Series started to struggle, in my view. There were still some big names and important looks, but the cracks were starting to show, and we will see the outcome in the next post.
This is part four of a full line breakdown of the Jakks Classic Superstars Series. I’ll be back with Series 21-25 soon.
