WWE WrestleMania 13 Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin Bobblehead set review
You don’t need to read too many of my wrestling figure reviews to know Sting and Bret Hart are my all-time favorite wrestlers. And the common link they have is Steve Austin, who fought both in my favorite WCW and WWF matches. Austin battled Sting’s Squadron alongside the Dangerous Alliance in Wrestle War while Hart fought Austin in the show saving I Quit mach at WrestleMania 13.
When the good folks at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum announced they were collaborating with FOCO, an official licensee and manufacturer of WWE merchandise, on making a Bobblehead set commemorating the iconic I Quit match, I was thrilled. I was ecstatic when they asked if I’d like to review it. Maybe I’ve responded faster to an email at some point in my life, but I can’t remember it now.
Package wise, FOCO went with the white, red and black color scheme currently being used by Mattel in a cool bit of cross licensor symmetry. The front features the Bobblehead set and the back includes pictures of Austin and Hart.
The set is limited to — in a very nice touch — 1,997 pieces in honor of the year of this all-time WrestleMania classic.
Upon opening the box the first thing that struck me was the heft of the pieces. The Bret and Stone Cold piece is heavy like you’d expect for two solidly constructed bobbleheads.
The ring was surprisingly heavy, which should make for a solid base preventing any toppling. Bret’s right boot has a peg that connects to a washer and bolt underneath the ring. It’s a simple execution, but it keeps the set firmly in place and perfectly positioned. There’s no weird gapping here as everything is flush, including Austin’s arms as he’s trying to bridge out.
My only gripe with the ropes is they’re made out of thread instead of a more durable material. As such they just kind of loosely hang along the ring corners. Maybe adding turnbuckles could have helped? The ring mat was blue for their encounter, but I wouldn’t have remembered that without looking at reference pictures.
Along the front and back of the ring is a sticker. The front piece uses the familiar WrestleMania logo and gives the combatants’ names while the back side gives the match location and date. That’s a cool bonus.
Now for the bobbleheads themselves. Most wrestling fans from the Attitude Era will immediately know this pose as it shows Austin’s defiance against the odds. Hart and Austin are posed properly — you can tell this was done by sculptors who were fans of this moment right down to having Bret’s right hand gripping Austin’s left knee for more leverage.
I always find Bret to be a hard person for sculptors to really get his likeness down, but the sculpting here captures him pretty well even in figuring out a solution for his wet hair.
The musculature of both bobbleheads is also pretty good as neither guy was sucking down donuts at this part in their careers.
Austin was probably harder to get down just right since he’s in a pained expression, but his likeness is impressive. That’s Stone Cold even grimacing in pain.
The cool aspect of this set is it looks good from any angle. Big Stone Cold fan? You can position it facing him to show his determination. A Hitman guy? Make him the focus to show the limits this once great hero has fallen to destroy his hated enemy.
There’s some paint details missing namely the trim on Bret’s singlet and tights and the missing star on his boots and Hitman logo on the back of the tights, but the gist is there. Easily the more glaring absence is the lack of blood streaming down Austin’s face. This was the most iconic image of the Attitude Era and it’s a little strange that it’s missing.
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Overall, I really like this set and hope FOCO and the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame explore other iconic WWE/WWF moments to commemorate in this form. I’d definitely be interested in collecting a series of these big moments.
The set is $60, including a $8 shipping charge per order. You can purchase the set here.
Thanks to the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame for providing this set for review.