My
earliest memories of Junkyard Dog are of a bunch of ladies talking
about how handsome he was.
I
cannot remember the setting. I don’t know if it was at an aunt’s
house or a military base or a gas station. I have no idea. But I
remember hearing ladies saying things to the effect of , “Oh, my,
what a big, handsome man.” And looking up and seeing JYD’s face
on the TV screen, then a shot of him dancing on the ring apron. I
don’t know that I thought of him as particularly good-looking, but
he sure did seem like fun.
I
also feel like my memories of Junkyard Dog might somehow predate his
WWF run because I specifically associate “Another One Bites the
Dust” with him and I don’t think he would have ever used that in
the WWF. But I don’t know for sure what their music licensing was
like back then. I also can’t recall the various programs that
exposed me to wrestling. I know I watched WWF’s Superstars
of Wrestling,
but I know there were some regional compilation shows I watched, as
well.
My
clearest memories of JYD – like a number of 80s wrestlers – are
from Hulk
Hogan’s Rock N’ Wrestling,
where he was voiced by the mighty James Avery. That was also where I
saw this over and over again and loved every single second of it:
The
only thing that could make me love that song more would be if Dan
Aykroyd were dancing to it.
IMPORTANT
TRIVIA: Lewis Arquette voiced “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka in Hulk
Hogan’s Rock N’ Wrestling and
supporting character Herm in The
Great Outdoors.
KISMET.
First
Glance
It’s
nice to see a happy wrestler.
This
figure is sporting JYD’s signature grin and the bright primary
color scheme lightens it up as well. I mentioned above that my first
impression of the Junkyard Dog was that he looked like fun and this
figure reflects that.
Packaging
This
is the standard Elite packaging in the new color scheme. The bright
white stands out on the pegs, which is good. I like that Mattel
refreshes the colors every so often. I will say this, though – if I
were a mint-in-box collector it might bother me. The variances in box
shape and style definitely would.
Stickers
on the front point out the accessory and the fact that this is
Junkyard Dog’s first appearance in the Elite line. I like that
Mattel points that out. It’s good marketing and
is of interest to collectors.
The
back is a total letdown. These new grids of facts are not interesting
to me. I want the old bios back. I do, however, like that they
specify what era the ring attire is from. Back when I was collecting
the JAKKS figures it would actually bug me sometimes when I couldn’t
figure out where a gear design came from.
Looks
For
the most part 80s ring attire wasn’t quite as involved as it tends
to be today. You had two or three colors and maybe a design or some
stars. JYD’s gear is among the fanciest that might be seen in 1986,
and yet still pleasingly 80s in its simplicity. The white tights
contrasting his dark skin – not something you see as often in the
Elite series – makes Junkyard Dog a welcome addition to the shelf.
The
likeness is awesome. They nailed it. The beard is sculpted and not
just paint. His eyebrows are a little off-kilter and I can’t find
any references to that being a standard thing for JYD. It isn’t bad
– particularly in person as opposed to a close-up picture – but
it is noticeable. Everything else about the head sculpt and paint is
great.
The
figure has a thicker torso and it looks good. I think this would be
appropriate for a lot more figures than Mattel will probably use it
for. Unlike JAKKS, Mattel didn’t try to put that larger torso on
top of a regular waist. And of course, the ever-present “THUMP”
is printed across the back of the tights.
Like
all of the Elite figures, JYD’s legs are a bit too long. I usually
say that this is because of the double-jointed knees. That’s just
speculation. I have other figures with double-jointed knees whose
legs aren’t
too long. Maybe it’s just Mattel feeling like they can get away
with using the same legs for everyone. I don’t really know. These
legs have stars om them in all the right spots. They’re clean and
placed well.
JYD’s
boots have some more stars and a dog. They look good, but I’ve seen
a lot of wrestlers with white boots in my day and they are never
this clean. But obviously this isn’t a line of ultra-realistic and
detailed figures like you would expect from NECA. These are wrestling
toys. I bet there’s somebody out there that’s custom painting
these things to look more realistic, though.
How
I envy people with too much free time.
Accessories
Junkyard
Dog comes with a dog collar with a chain attached.
This
is a great accessory. The collar is black rubber with sculpted studs
painted silver. It snaps closed easily and stays. The chain is made
up of individual metal links and makes me angry about Ninjor’s
piece of shit nunchucks.
Fun
These
are all great figures that can be posed individually and interact
with other Elite figures. The articulation is about as good as you
could get without screwing up the figures’ profiles. The bottom
line is that you can get this figure to do pretty much anything you
might have seen JYD doing back in the day.
The
collar adds a whole extra dimension thanks to its great design and
level of interactivity with the figures. I hope that someday we might
get this same accessory with a collar at each end for use in Dog
Collar Matches. That would be cool. And Mattel seems to be pretty
good about figuring out ways to work accessories in.
Overall
Junkyard
Dog was a must-have for me, so I’m glad that Mattel did such a god
job with him. I can’t foresee a better JYD in the future, so buying
this one is probably a safe bet.
I’m
a little torn on the score. Just gauging this figure within the Elite
series he’s a 5 out of 5, but after reviewing five of these guys
this week (more to come!), the too-long legs are really bothering me.
Hulk Hogan and Undertaker are really the only figures that they look
okay on. Of course, the problem is exacerbated when the wrestlers
don’t wear kneepads. I’ve got a Flair (that I’ll be reviewing
down the road) that came with his kneepads on his knees (silly Mattel
– that’s not where Flair keeps them). He looked okay until I
pushed them down into the right spot. Then he had longleg syndrome,
as well.
4
out of 5
Grab
them cakes! And when you’re done, grab this figure!:
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