by Keith J. Rainville
Bag Figures...
an informal term we lucha-nerds use for what has traditionally
been, outside of masks, the most abundant of unlicensed,
unauthorized ring souvenirs sold outside of arenas on match
nights. Sometimes it’s 8 or 10, a lot of times it’s
12 — identically posed, inarticulated, poorly molded and
even more poorly painted four-inch figurines made of decaying
recycled plastic, stuffed into in a rapidly yellowing vinyl bag
you can smell from ten feet away.
A wayward pack of bag figures that somehow
made it’s way to a comic book store in Detroit is as
responsible for my inspiration to publish FPU as anything else. The
12-pack, full of piss-poor representations of 1994’s
hottest ring talent like Octagon, Vampiro, Konan, Atlantis,
Rayo de Jalisco, etc. was something I’d just stare at in
wonder. What the hell were these? Who was that one supposed to be?
What arcane corner of the world produced this baffling product,
and where could I get more??? That pack of Bag Figures was the
tip of the iceberg and I needed to know the whole story. I
might have been aware of lucha libre already, but horrendous cheap knock-off
toys — damn, now it was ON!
Time has long forgotten the
‘Adam’ of Bag Figures — the first, original
piece that was possibly an officially licensed and
professionally produced figure, sold above board, all legit
like. Whenever that may have been, for probably two decades
since, that original mold has been knocked
off. Then the knock-offs have been
knocked-off, and those knocked-off, and so on and so on. There
might have been a defined physique and intricate mask details
at one point, but those have long since been lost, and
sculpture definition now resembles that face on Mars more than
Mil Mascaras.
The recycled plastic doesn’t help
either. Now, by recycled, I don’t mean Green-friendly
post-consumer, planet-reclaiming Gore-approved re-used 6-pack
rings. This is re-cycled in the sense of melting down discarded cake
decorations, broken toys, used bottles, and any other refuse
plastic around, into a toxic potion and pouring it into molds.
You can see the swirls of different shades and textures in
every figure, discoloring at different rates.
Then there’s the paint. I shudder to
think of the chemical mixture used here. Some of it sticks to
the figure, some flakes off right away, some of it stains your
skin when you handle the figures. Nasty little capes stuck on
with some weird stinky glue finishes off these near folk-art
masterpieces quite nicely.
Bag Figures are produced in sweat shops and
cottage industry circles all over Mexico, and sold in lucha
souvenir shops and on blankets outside arenas. Most of the
time, the paint designs TRY to replicate the hot stars of
the moment, so collecting the bags over the course of several
years provides a unique sort of wrestling history timeline.
Below, enjoy a multitude of examples from
my decade of collecting these kitschy, thoroughly Mexican and oh-so-lucha knick-knacks.
LATIN ~ Figuritus
Baggus – a typical
example of the species. Note the flaking toxic paint, cape cut
from a plastic tablecloth, and changing skin color from the
mixed re-used plastics.
Also typical, it’s damn hard to
accurately identify who exactly this figure is supposed to be.
Could be a still-hooded Konan, could be Mil Mascaras. Looks
like it was painted with a house roller.
EL ESPECTRO — fuzzy hair is a common
embellishment to the Bag Figure. Note the effort someone put
forth to re-define the muscle tone in this particular batch.
FELINO? Could be... he’s fond of
furry vests... This variant of the head sculpt has small
protrusions used for cat-gimmicked workers and sometimes devil
characters.
FABULOSO BLONDY or EL DANDY – this is
a super rare bare-headed variant with long hair. More often,
the regular mask head has a face painted over it...
...like this VAMPIRO CANADIENSE. Is that
some amazing f’d up crap or what!
This nice figure of ULTRAMAN 2000 features
another head variant...
...the pronounced forehead fin, ideal for
Ultimo Dragon and the like.
It’s a challenge for even the most
ring-literate lucha expert to identify some Bag Figures.
They are referenced from whatever lucha
mags are on the rack at the time, so big stars and legends
share bags with...
...obscure indie wrestlers, new rookies,
retired characters and gimmicks that just never took off.
And sometimes the craftsmanship is so bad,
you just scratch your head and wonder...
SANTO is of course the most common of the
Bag Figures, there’s usually one or more per assortment.
This one has an actual cloth cape and has retained some
sculpture details.
This is the typical head sculpt used for
all the enmascarados. It was likely Santo originally, as the
eyes are teardrop shaped and the mouth plate looks right.
Here’s an ambitious Hijo del Santo,
with an open chin variant mask and a championship belt painted
on is waist.