WWE Superstars are the spiritual successor to the cancelled Masters Of The WWE Universe line, with a bit of the WWE Retro line thrown in for good measure.
The bodies are definitely in the MOTWU mold, with very basic body types and less of the nuanced physiques that, say, the main line of WWE Mattel figures has (some could even compare them to the old AWA figures, in fact). But unlike their He-Man counterparts, these figures have outfits and accessories that are more wrestler-friendly and true to their original characters.
Let's took at the sixth and seventh series, which were released exclusively in Wal-Mart stores.
Once again, Mattel has squished two of its lines of WWE Superstars together, much like Series Four and Five. This is because two of the figures are in both sets, making it difficult to distinguish them as a proper set. And much like the previous sets of WWE Superstars, if you line up each of the cards side-by-side, you notice that the background pictures kind of run onto each other... which is a neat little piece of continuity.
Rowdy Roddy Piper makes a big entry into the WWE Superstars line and as one of my all-time favorites, it's hard not to get excited about this one. Armed with his ever-present Hot Rod t-shirt and kilt, The Rowdy Scot also has a microphone and removable knee pads, truly recreating the mid-1980s Piper we all know and love.
Next up is Vader and interestingly, this is not the WWE version of him, but rather his WCW look. This means he has his very-underrated "White Castle Of Fear" furry cape, which definitely distinguishes this from the back.
Captain Lou Albano makes his WWE Mattel debut with this figure, and it's truly a work of art. The face scan is perfect, and he comes with a removable merch shirt and Hawaiian shirt as well. Plus he comes with a gold record that breaks into pieces, so you can recreate the classic moment where Piper dinged him on the head with Cyndi Lauper's album.
Rounding out Series 6 is Hulk Hogan. While this isn't the first version of The Hulkster in this series (nor will it be the last), this comes with a removable Hulkamania red tracksuit and weight belt. I have the Chase Variant of the figure that has blue boots, but there's also the regular version that has yellow boots.
Both Hogan and Piper are also in Series 7 (not sure why, as they are identical figures), but there are also two others rounding out that set:
Mr. Perfect is looking... well, perfect, with a great face scan. He also comes with a removable lime green singlet (if you're so inclined, you can remove the gear and make him AWA Curt Hennig), plus the Intercontinental Title.
Last but not least is Bam Bam Bigelow. I have yet to see a bad version of Bam Bam by Mattel, and this figure doesn't disappoint at all, with a nice face scan complete with colorful tattoos. The only criticism I have is that Bigelow has a removable top (complete with yellow and orange flames), but he doesn't come with matching trunks.
This WWE Superstars line keeps getting better and better with each new set. Now if they could only stop doubling on with figures in their sets (which they do beginning with Series 8....)
OOv