Earthquake and Typhoon possessed all of the qualities necessary to become a dominant tag team during the golden years of the WWF: massive bodies, brute strength, and a ton of... charisma? Sure, why not? They may not have had the interview skills of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, the superhero-like physique of the Ultimate Warrior, or the flamboyance of Ric Flair. But any child who grew up watching wrestling in the early nineties can tell you exactly who these guys were. They were giants. They both became embroiled in storylines with the legendary Hulk Hogan. They wore title gold.Unlike many of the industry's cumbersome "big men" today, what the two lacked in technical, in-ring skill they more than compensated for in all-around showmanship and their ability to understand the audience. The Natural Disasters' imposing size and anger-arousing tactics made them easy to market as ruthless monsters who squashed the competition by literally throwing their weight around, drawing the ire of the crowd during a more innocent time in professional wrestling.
Jakks Classic WWE Superstars #17: Typhoon Both figures' character likenesses (head sculpts), body shapes, and attires are fairly accurate; however, Typhoon usually wore knee pads, not elbow pads. His figure also comes equipped with a baking pan, an accessory that seems a bit anachronistic. This type of foreign object is typically associated with mid-nineties hardcore wrestling, and probably did not appear in WWE on a regular basis until the dawn of the Attitude Era (arguably 1997-2001). A steel chair may have been more appropriate. Typhoon's singlet is made from a jersey-like material rather than being cheaply painted on the figure.
Jakks Classic WWE Superstars #22: EarthquakeEarthquake's outfit (also made from real material) is more reminiscent of his earlier days as a singles competitor, although technically he wore these colors when the tag team first debuted. There is a variant figure in the Jakks Classic Superstars line (series #6) based on Earthquake's time as a member of the Natural Disasters, but I am content with the more classic representation of the character. Fortunately, I don't suffer from your average toy collector's insatiable need to own "them all".
I have one, minor complaint about this figure: The skin tone is too dark. Earthquake was relatively pale for a wrestler, but I'll cut them a little slack since it wasn't a distinctive character trademark like other performers such as The Undertaker. The tag title accessories also do not fit around either of their waists, although heavier wrestlers are known for wearing the belts over their shoulders, which does in fact look good on these figures.
Typhoon and Earthquake are highly poseable and feature the standard points of articulation expected from Jakks figures: head, torso, arms, elbows, wrists, hands, legs, knees and feet are all movable, making them ideal for play or display purposes. Earthquake's head has limited movement due to hair length.
These are well-constructed, instantly recognizable figures. If you collect Jakks Classic WWE Superstars, be sure to pick up the series #17 Typhoon and series #22 Earthquake today!
