Rebuilding my collection again....for the Third time

[MonsoonMan]

coming in with a twist of fate tuesday!!



Elite 57 Jeff Hardy


Dropping the Swanton in today is the one and only Jeff Hardy! I was able to scoop this figure up on ebay loose for less than $20 shipped and I was stoked about that deal. The sellers pics were potato quality and the figure was photographed crammed inside of a baggie, but I HAD FAITH! This Jeff comes to us from his look at Wrestlemania 33 when the Hardys made their epic return to wwe. This Jeff was given a Purple sleeveless shirt with the ‘Reborn By Fate’ and Hardy Boyz symbol on the front and Hardy Boys logo on the upper back. The headsculpt on this figure looks great, mattel seemed to get a lot of mileage out of it on future basic figures but it captures Jeff in a serious, determined expression and the likeness to Jeff can be seen from all angles. They added the paint detailing for his unique facial hair trimming and gave him all black hair. The rest of the figure is classic Jeff Hardy formula, he was given the Hardy torso with little to no muscle definition, white armbands with black detailing underneath and they included the large tattoo on his right side and back; the color and positioning seems to be accurate. finishing up this figure are some baggy cargo Hardy Boy pants and some black boots with white detailing.
All in all this is an all around SOLID Jeff Hardy figure. The likeness and headsculpt looks awesome and the attire is pretty classic. If youre not into the facepaint, longsleeve top Jeff Hardys, this one is right up your alley, I quite liked it.

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in with a we are the champions Wednesday!

had a fantastic day at work! stopped by my local Target to see what was on the pegs and i was greeted by a CHASE Big Bubba Rogers figure front and center, grabbed that guy for the collection and also picked up the AEW Full Gear PPV two pack with Moxley and MJF. i could give or take the MJF figure but the pack was $20 and ill gladly pay that for 2 figures ALL DAY. they also had the smackdown 4 pack on shelves but honestly im gonna hold out for a clearance price on that, for my collecting purposes i dont see the $80 value in it.





Top Picks 2024 Wave 3
Rey Mysterio

Jumping out the sky today is the R-E-Y Mysterio and here we go! I found this figure on the pegs during my relentless hunting for the Monday Night Wars Series 2 figures so I was right in the trenches when these top picks 2024 series 3 figures dropped and they were plenty on the pegs; Gunthers, Romans, and Reys for everyone. I didn’t necessarily need a new rey figure but I was kindof fiending a new in store purchase and I really do tend to end up liking all all the qualities of Rey’s figures, so I scooped. This figure comes to us wearing a removable rubber lWo sleeveless shirt for entrance gear. It’s the classic Rey sleeveless shirt, just now with the Latino World Order logo front and center. This Rey is coming to the ring wearing a Blue/pink/white themed attire and I really dig it! I did have a pretty extensive RA Rey Mysterio collection as a kid and I had an ‘off the ropes’ rey figure that was in a dark blue and yellow attire---this figure sorta reminds me of that. Rey comes to us with a headsculpt we have seen many times before—its that modern rey head that mattel has been getting some pretty good mileage out of with the mask unclasped at the chin and Rey in a happy, confident, positive expression. The mask has the ‘open back’ and mohawk design on the back, the front features a Pink Cross and Falcon Wings outlined in pink details. Rey’s attire is his modern singlet style gear with Pink gloves and a blue singlet. Mattel gave rey rey his armbands with tassels; an R with a crown on his right arm and a ? on his left arm. Uniquely this figure features some black athletic tape on his left shoulder; the tape is black with bold white TAPE logo throughout. Rey is dropping legs in some blue tights with the white detailing on the upper crotch area with pink ?s on the front and back. Each leg features some black and white striping going down the outside of each leg; the right leg has Rey 619 in Pink and his left leg features GOAT, also in pink. Finishing up this figure are some white boots with black detailing on the back and black ‘Mysterios’ logo on the outside of each.
All in all this is a cool Rey figure. As always with Rey figures they pose really good and just ‘feel really good in the hand’. I really enjoy the color palette of this figure, the blue and pink looks great and the colors contrast against eachother quite well. The honest truth about this figure is that it really doesn’t bring anything quite new or fascinating to the elite line. Rey is a very toyetic dude and he is one of those guys where---as soon as you take inventory of your collection youre like ‘holy crap how do I have so many rey figures?!’ and honestly they all look pretty cool.

[MonsoonMan]

🎆⚡Happy SDCC THURSDAY⚡🎆

holy cow what a day! we had some reveals take place yesterday and then today the preorders opened up!! i honestly was able to get everything pre ordered that i wanted!

MNW series 5 LOCKED IN
MNW Ultimate Triple H LOCKED IN
Amazon Papa Shango / Ultimate Warrior LOCKED IN
SDCC Ultimate Shawn Michaels LOCKED IN
LEGENDS series 24 LOCKED IN
Legends Ultimate Vader LOCKED IN
RSE Ultimate MITB CM Punk LOCKED IN
RSE From the Vault SES CM Punk LOCKED IN
RSE From the Vault DM Shawn Michaels LOCKED IN

GIMME A HELL YEAH!

awesome!

i was the most worried about the MNW figures but it seems like i was lucky enough to spring into action when the pre orders were live.



E109 Shinsuke Nakamura

Coming in today is----honestly one of my favorite Shinsuke and possibly one of the all time best Shinsuke figures mattel has ever made. The first major thing to note about this figure is the badass black softgoods robe mattel equipped this figure with. It is made of a soft spandex-y material and I honestly absolutely love the fit and form it takes on the figure. The sleeves are these traditional Japanese style long sweeping design and I really like the way mattel executed that. The robe features a hood that can be placed over the head or laid flat and it looks great in either position. The robe sees its closure using a black string and it needs to be bowtied or double knotted to achieve closure and it works and looks alright, but I kinda wish mattel gave us more length on the string as it is a bit of a delicate mission to get a tiny bowtie knot in place. Underneath the robe, I (think) mattel provided us with a new headsculpt on this figure, it sees the King of Strong Style with black shoulder length hair, swept to the left and a determined, serious expression portrayed. The likeness on this headsculpt is quite on point, it is a very realistic feeling portrayal of Shinsuke. We are used to seeing a bit more expression from the character and his figures, but I think this serious head is great for this figure. Shinsuke returns to the black bodysuit with this figure, but the design feels much more aggressive and refined. His gear contains multiple white stripes throughout the attire that somewhat resemble traditional Japanese tiger stripes (the chase reminds me of darth maul a bit) and a white belt on his waist. This chapter of Shinsuke sees him ditch the baggy pants and go with some tights and kickpads and I don’t know I kinda feel like this is nearing Shinsuke’s “Final Form” appearance, I really like the way this whole ensemble comes together.
All in all, I REALLY dig this figure a lot. I wasn’t really getting used to seeing Shinsuke in the bodysuit with the baggy pants, but I think this look with the tights and robe is really a hitter. He feels like an assassin- some sort of Daimyo—Seikoro character. This figure was ultra fun to pose around aswell, mattel gave him some hands posed in his signature Shinsuke taunt and they aided greatly in the presence this figure provides. The likeness is spot on and it not a weird expression where they attempt to show off his mouth guard. 10/10 pick this guy up if seen on shelves.

[MonsoonMan]

Happy Figure Friday y'all




E109 Cody Rhodes

wrapping up my reviews for Elite Series 109 today is Commentary Desk Cody! no but seriously, ive been somewhat grateful that mattel is producing some more modern guys in the main line as to give my poor wallet some relief--i really dont collect modern superstars unless im really drawn to the talent in some way. Damien, Dominik, Seth, austin theory, (i still might buy the bayley figure if i can get it on the low) dont really move the needle for me enough to get all their figures. i do have the first couple Damien Priest figures and those turned out great, this next one looks really true to his on screen character, but thats about where i check out. i dont care enough about the new storylines to be invested in Dominik or Austin theory and i was never really a seth fan at all. ANYWAYS, lets talk about the one figure that matters here, Cody Rhodes. i will say that i did kinda just pick this up on a whim; i dont really NEED a suited Cody, but i typically collect all suited figures for the novelty factory of a suited guy in a wrestling figure line. This Cody comes to us in--a grey suit but its interesting that mattel packaged him with an entire announcers chair(way better scaled than jazwares) headset, microphone AND interchangeable hands. the headsculpt on this Cody is the serious, straight faced sculpt and i dig it, its just lacking any sort of emotion or energy. as mentioned, Cody comes to the ring wearing a slim fitting grey suit with white undershirt and bold blue tie.
all in all this E109 Cody is a pretty cool figure. i tend to enjoy the suited figures from mattel, i dont really have any sort of complaints on this figure, the neck maybe seems a little short, but at the same time, Cody is a 'close the top button' type of guy. i like the announcers chair and headset inclusion, ill probably grab a few more chairs on ebay to have for photography; the jazwares chairs are like toys in scale to these figures, the mattel ones are ace.

[MonsoonMan]

Coming in today with a Savage Saturday!!!




E23 Macho Man Randy Savage

Winning the belt with a schoolboy pin today is Macho King Randy Savage! This figure portrays Macho’s look from Wrestlemania VIII when he defeated the Nture Boy Ric Flair for the WWF Championship! I remember owning this figure years ago, IIRC this was the second headsculpt mattel made for macho man and to be honest I do like it. this figure came with no sunglasses or crown so we get all full view of the Macho One’s face and mattel sculpted macho with his stringy hair and a straight faced; determined expression. The likeness to Macho is pretty good I kinda feel like the hair color could’ve been a tad darker and the sculpt/paint apps to the beard could be a little improved, but overall I DIG IT. going down this figure, Macho King was wearing an extravangantly designed sleeveless top with fringes on the arm openings, mattel opted to give him a removable sculpted rubber top to achieve this look. I hate the dreaded molded rubber and would have much rather they sculpted him a new torso but honestly this does look fine. As mentioned this was Mach’s WMVIII gear that was gold and had many designs throughout; I think mattel’s version is a few shades too dark, and I think mattel did a bit of position compensation and maybe scaling to their designs, the printed designs on the figure do look great regardless, they are printed on the figure crisply and clearly. The elegant swirl and stripe designs continue onto his tights as well as the all gold theme to his gear. Finishing up this figure are some gold boots; macho was wearing some black tassels on his boots and im not sure why mattel didn’t give us those sculpted boot tassels—they opted to just paint some black vertical stripes along his boots.
All in all I was glad to bring this Macho King back into my collection. I vividly remember being active on the boards and everything during the time period that this was released. I think if the color palette of the figure was a few shades lighter it would be considered much more legendary of a figure than it currently is.

[Old Zeke]

Always loved that Savage - I hope if Mattel gets the rights to him again, they do an updated version of it.

[MonsoonMan]

Jul 27, 2024 12:57:53 GMT -5 Old Zeke said:

Always loved that Savage - I hope if Mattel gets the rights to him again, they do an updated version of it.

it looks great with the winged eagle belt for sure! i would love an Ultimate edition of this gear!




Basic 30 Daniel Bryan

coming in today with a YES YES YES Sunday representing Team Hell No is Daniel Bryan. i owned this figure back in the day aswell and i guess i wanted it back in the collection because IMO it has one of the best DBry headsculpts that mattel had ever done. This figure comes to us from the Team Hell No era where Daniel Bryan was SO OVER, like Stone Cold Steve Austin he was able to get an everyday word over with the crowd and have thousands of people chanting with him all at once. This figure comes to us with a new headsculpt for its time, a headsculpt that i believe never saw a release on an elite figure, but it portrays Daniel with short hair and long beard in a very expressive mouth open, angry, serious, determined, about to kick your f***ing head in expression and its GREAT. the head is perfectly proportioned, the expression was executed perfectly and the likeness to Danielson Bryan is spot on. the elite heads that mattel were making for Bryan at the time were really pretty low bar and not that great looking so to see this head pop up and not ever be used on an elite is wild to me. i will say that it may look a little oversized on the elite body recipe that they used for him but it still holds up as A+ likeness. This Daniel Bryan is wearing some red trunks with withe detailing and NO! logo on the left hip and the DB logo on the center back. he is wearing matching kneepads that contain the DB logo aswell front and center and then finishing up this figure are some red kickpads with the white flame style designs.
all in all despite being a basic figure i really actually give this DBry high scores. i LOVE the headsculpt and the body recipe and attire choice is pretty cool too. really wish this head would have seen an elite figure release, it deserved to be showcased much more than it did, but this basic figure is still cool looking.

pic from 2013:

[MonsoonMan]

Basic 27 Ryback

Dropping a Timber Splash today is The Big Guy ™ , Ryback. This was The Ryback’s first official basic figure and it was HOT HOT HOT. I was actually watching the product and collecting during the Ryback’s debut and he was OVER. Skip Sheffield figures were all of the sudden IN DEMAND lol I even remember scooping one up on ebay before they got silly pricey. Then mattel dropped the official Ryback figure and everyone had to have one, it was a craze. I believe this figure came with a new headsculpt, I think Skip was in an angry scowling expression and this Ryback figure is a straight faced, almost void of expression headsculpt. Mattel did however add some paint detailing for his beard stubble. This Ryback Reeves is squashing three jobbers at once wearing an airbrushed singlet, this was one of the cooler original designs he came out with that featured some grey mechanical / engine / cyborg / cyberpunk designs on the front contrasted by some lime green slime oozing out of a few spots. The back of the singlet features a round chrome looking face with glowing green eyes and a large Ryback R logo. Finishing up this figure are some small black kneepads and short shooter boots.
All in all this is a neat figure. Although he has exposed himself as a looney in recent times, Ryback was pretty white hot during his time on wwe tv. His look was new and unique and his gimmick was kinda fun. Ryback figures can be had pretty cheap these days and I was able to get this guy on ebay for around $5+shipping.

[MonsoonMan]

All Stars Randy Orton

Punting in today is a Randy Orton figure I have had my eyes on for quite some time now. I had owned this figure before for the exact same reason, but I was heavy into the PS2 WWE smackdown games. When the line changed to Smackdown Vs. Raw, I got the first game for Christmas and had a real hard time getting the same level of enjoyment the previous games gave me. The roster seemed limited and there weren’t many superstars I wanted to play as. I ended up choosing Randy Orton to complete career mode with and in that game he was wearing these black trunks with white designs. I wanted to have this figure in my collection to commemorate that little bond I shared with Orton for that period of time. I got this figure loose off of ebay and im not necessarily an Orton figure historian BUT I think these trunks were only released on the All Stars figure, this one seems to have been treated to a head swap with a bearded Orton from later on in his career. That being said, this Orton figure is pretty straightforward in the realm of Orton figures. The body recipe is the same as all of them, the headsculpt is good it portrays Orton in a sort of glaring, judging, angry expression with some bold brown paint apps for hair and beard. This Orton figure features a modern level of tattoo coverage, this figure features his tribal work on his upper back and arms aswell as the skull details on his arms. As mentioned, the main draw of this figure is the fact that he is wearing black trunks with white tribal logos and white ORTON logo on the back. Finishing up this figure are some small black kneepads and medium height black boots.
All in all this is a great orton figure. My favorite era of orton was legend killer / evolution / post evolution where he was wearing colored trunks but as mentioned I have a but of a sentimental connection to these black and white trunks. I may try and source a black and white rKo shirt to put on this figure I think that would look rad.

[MonsoonMan]

coming in today with a Triple H thursday!




E73 Triple H


Coming in today is a triple H figure I caught on ebay in the very last seconds of the auction. Saw it was loose, great condition-didn’t realize it was missing the hood and mask but I scooped this guy for $10+shipping loose. ANYWAYS coming in from Wresltemania 34 is the Game Triple H. I will say right off the bat, this headsculpt is absolutely amazing. One of the all time greatest Triple H heads, this headsculpt sees the game with a modern bald head style and long beard. The sculpting sees trips in a serious, straight faced expression but the likeness reaches photorealistic levels, IMO and it just really truly is a great looking headsculpt. As mentioned, this Game is from Wrestlemania 34 so he comes to the ring wearing a black leather vest with silver zipper detailing on the front, a small nXt patch and on the back a large ‘Tyrannus Eimperium’ logo with skull and iron cross design centered up. The sculpting on the leather vest looks great and the vest looks and fits the figure fine. The body recipe for this figure is the same as any other triple h figure, he comes with the superheavyweight ripped torso, Black elbow pads that feature white iron cross designs and black trunks with a Tyrannus skull on the front and HHH outline logo on the back. Finishing up this figure are some small black kneepads, white painted kneewraps and black painted legsleeves that end in some medium height black boots.
All in all this is a spectacular modern day triple h ring gear figure. The headsculpt is pretty off the charts cool to me and I really dig the look of the black legsleeves on this figure. I know Rock trademarked the gimmick, but this triple h figure looks pretty ‘final boss’ to me.

[MonsoonMan]

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

GUYS I DID IT IM SO EXCITED WITH MYSELF HOLY SMOKES

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆


SO,

im a huge RVD fan, always have been always will be. he was one of those guys i just liked him the instant that i saw him. his whole look, attire, attitude, ring work, he was just awesome amplified.

i guess one of the things that really drew me to his look---and this is a super nerd thing----were his kickpads. i remember my first RVD figure EVER was a two pack TTL figure in the Tiger Stripe Attire that was matched against test. that figure came with normal laced boots; after a few months of owning it, i used my dremel to smooth the laces and try to make them look more like kickpads. i had a Rikishi TTL figure that had actual sculpted kickpads and i was THIS CLOSE to switching them to my RVD figure but it was way out of proportion.

WHAT IM GETTING AT:

i normally wouldnt jump the gun on a figure in my thread like this but it was one of those rare glory moments i needed to share right away 💡

the Monday Night Wars Rob Van Dam figure.

i was level 20 hype for this figure when i saw the thumbnail of the attire, this is one of the greatest most colorful, impactful RVD attires and i was stoked for mattel to make it up. everyone was poo-poo'ing the headsculpt but i was like no biggie we can just pop an ultimate head on there real quick.

i was left ABSOLUTELY GUTTED when i saw that mattel had FOR SOME REASON decided to give the Mr. Monday freaking Night the mini kickpad boots.

💔

what?! WHY?! my excitement turned to digust when i found out, how could they fumble the formula ON A RVD FIGURE COME ON. i checked some pictures and as it turns out RVD wore some neat looking stylized boots during his stint on Raw when this figure is portraying him 🤔




so if we peek at those pics, yeah theyre clearly not traditional kickpads------BUT WAIT A SECOND LETS JUST DIG IN HERE A LITTLE BIT GUYS

somebody else wore those style of boots.

and hmm yeah you guessed it they worked for the wwe.

and oh yeah YOU CAN BET THEY EVEN WORKED FOR THE WWE WHILE MATTEL HAD THE CONTRACT AND THEY MADE FREAKING FIGURES OF HIM





ALRIGHT!

so after i saw the promo pics of the RVD figure and the abysmal johnny gargano syndrome legs, i went to ebay IMMEDIATELY and scooped me up a neville basic #74 figure before you mad lads would raise the stock price of them 🤪

my heart was ONCE AGAIN shattered when people started receiving their RVD figures and they reported that the figure had pinless legs, meaning that part swapping was basically not gonna happen 😭😭😭😭😭

WAS MY RVD COLLECTION TO BE FOREVER FLAWED?

HELL NO!

the community came thru as i saw our good friend CMW Toys post on instagram that the Stunning Steve Austin legs were the same as the RVD figure used, so you could swap them at the thigh joint.

AS IT TURNS OUT MATTEL, IT WAS I WHO WON THE MONDAY NIGHT WARS



🤮🤮🤮🤮

GET RID OF THE MINI KICKPAD MOLD MATTEL WE ALL HATE IT

my solution:



so i sacrificed a basic 74 Neville lower legs and an elite 100 Stunning Steve upper legs. you can see that unfortunately with this new parts choice, we are losing just a tad bit of height and that upper tight detail for RVD's singlet--but everything is cool when youre R-V-D. i can also say with 100% certainty that although we are LOSING some height it is closer to being accurate to other RVD elite figures than the original figure was.




sorry for the bathroom sink photos, but i was just supremely excited that i feel like i saved this figure in my eyes and i really freaking like this! ill do an expanded review on it when i get the rest of MNW 3 in but i wanted to share this with my brethren and see you guys run with it.

so heres the side effects of looking cool:

the neville boots are actually super tall. in order to get them to integrate into this formula, we had to sacrifice double jointed knee articulation; there was no way these were gonna plug into the calves of the Stunning Steve legs and still look remotely good. same with the knee joint; these boots came off of a basic figure and so unfortunately RVD now has basic knee joint with a black peg. also unfortunately basic ankle articulation...so i think if youre doing some dynamic posing and photography it could pose slightly challenging----but itll look great.

so yeah, play with this. i do warn yall to beware when shopping for basic neville figures with these boots. there was a version that utilized these boots but the boots had NO ankle articulation. zoom in on pics or ask seller to verify.

[MonsoonMan]

coming in today with a Socko Saturday



Monday Night Wars Series 2 Ultimate Edition
Mankind

coming in today with his buddy Mr. Socko is the man putting butts in seats as the wwf champion, Mankind. i was pretty excited to finally see mattel make a mankind ultimate edition figure. i bring it up in all of my mick foley reviews but i was never able to own ANY mankind figures growing up so all my mattel figures are pretty special to me. this set of ultimates came to me on a RANDOM shopping trip to wal mart. i was at walmart literally for the purpose of getting groceries at like 7pm at night, shopped for about an hour getting said groceries and lazily walked to the toy section to see the stock. lo and behold the freaking ultimates were just chilling there on the shelf and i got SUPER excited. i felt dizzy walking to the checkout i was so excited and proud to have just found them at my local store like that. ANYWAYS, this mankind comes to us with three interchangeable headsculpts. the first is a standard masked Mankind head portraying Mick in a positive happy, open mouthed smile. the second is anouther masked headsculpt and it portrays mick in another jovial type expression where he is twisting his tongue in his teeth in some sort of happy twisted expression as he either punches his opponents in the head or jams a sock down their throat. the final headsculpt is a non-masked mick head and as we see during the rock n sock era mick would often wear the mask on top of his head, humanizing him a bit more. the unmasked headsculpt is a tad bit weird it feels like it falls into that 'uncanny valley' a little bit and just kinda makes me feel weird when i look at it; i dont know if its the eyes or the no teeth in his mouth but something just makes ME feel awkward a bit. that being said all three headsculpts do hold a true likeness to mrs foley's baby boy, if im being super critical, i think mattel did a sort of black outline around mick's eyes that make the figure look a tiny bit like it has eyeliner or some sort of makeup on and it gives the figure a sort of 'animated?' feel to it? going down this figure mattel gave Mick a softgoods shirt and i actually LOVE IT. there are two layers to the shirt, the first is the button up shirt all ripped and torn to shreds along with the softgoods tie. taking off that shirt there is another white tshirt beneath and it really helps 'fill the figure out'. Mattel gave this figure the Sgt Slaughter torso which-----i dunno mick was a pretty big guy in the era and i do kinda sorta feel like they should've gone with something bigger or completely new. as i mentioned, the layers to the softgoods top helps 'fill the figure out' and make Mick look thicker, but i still do think the torso choice is too small for him. mattel did pay special attention to give mick his scar on his left bicep. i was really happy to see mattel choose the brown tights look for this Ultimate Mankind. i think we only have the defining moments mankind elite in the brown tights, the rest of the elites were released in sweatpants and tennis shoes. for accessories, we got some interchangeable hands, mr socko, wwf championship and that extra mask.
all in all this is a GREAT ultimate figure. Mankind often feels like the unsung hero of the attitude era with everyone swooning over the rock and stone cold and undertaker. kudos to mattel for the body recipe and execution of the softgoods; as i mentioned the figure does seem to LOOK fine scale wise but i just feel like that SGT Slaughter torso is too slim for a '99 mankind. im all for the inevitable release of the RSE three faces of Foley Ultimate pack for all those that may have missed this guy at retail.

[MonsoonMan]

Monday Night Wars Series 2 Ultimate Edition
Eddie Guerrero

representing WCW this series, frogsplashing in is YOUR favorite wrestler, Eddie Guerrero! right out of the gate i want to say this is quite possibly the BEST Eddie Guerrero figure that mattel has EVER made. headsculpts and torso sculpting is absolutely choice! This Eddie figure is a 1000x improvement over his last appearance in the Ultimate edition line; granted that last figure was from the end of his career, this is towards the beginning- either way it seems like a masterpiece to me. This Eddie comes with three interchangeable heads and i absolutely love them all. the biggest WIN that these headsculpts provide is the sculpting to the hair and Eddie's bangs. oftentimes Eddie's hair was obstructing his eyes giving him this type of edge--but shadiness to him that worked out perfectly for his character. The first headsculpt portrays Eddie in a straight faced, focused, disgusted expression, the second a teeth bearing disgusted angry expression, and the third is a mouth open- intense shouting expression. mattel did an excellent job with the facial sculpting, the details are very prominent and they conveyed so much energy into these heads. going down the figure, they chose to give eddie a great torso choice, not too overly muscular like his last figures have portrayed him. Mattel gave Eddie some black wrist tape and his iconic Black and Gold tights with shard designs on the legs. these tight designs contain the red color detailing whereas his previous elite figure release in these tights did not. also that previous elite may be inaccurate as it seems he always had the gold on his left leg. finishing up this figure are some black and gold boots.
all in all this Ultimate Edition Eddie Guerrero figure is a MUST HAVE for the collection. the headsculpts really provide photorealistic levels of detail and the body recipe for this figure is ON POINT. the attire looks great, we got a softgoods vintage shirt for eddie and WCW cruiserweight championship belt for accessories, i truly feel like RIGHT NOW this is the definitive WCW eddie guerrero figure.

[MonsoonMan]

Heading into THE VAULT today as we dig into some figures that i picked up from Mattel's From The Vault Series 1!




From the Vault Series 1
Ultimate Warrior


Running in at light speed today is the ULTIMATE WARRIOR!! this warrior was a pretty sought after figure seeing its original release in the Hall of Champions line way back in the day. Im not a Warrior historian, but i think this gear was only seen on a promo picture for the warrior, but its still a great look the color palette of the figure is superb! the headsculpt of this figure--i think on the time of its release was brand new, we have seen it on another warrior figure since and to be honest i like it. it captures warrior with some swept back light brown hair and a wide eyed open mouthed, shouting "FEEL THE POWER OF THE WARRIAHHHHHHH!" expression and it looks great to me, the sculpting is very expressive and this head makes the figure alot of fun to pose. Warrior's attire follows a unique color palette of Teal/white/lime green/blue--ive seen alot of people remark that these are Seattle Seahawk team colors. Warrior comes with some sculpted wrist wraps and tassels. the wrist wraps are a combination of blue/light blue and feature two warrior logos and lime green tassels. Mattel also gave warrior his bicep tassels; purple and yellow on the right arm, and red and orange on his left. i wish that mattel would have upgraded this figure to have the new articulated bicep tassels, but alas we get the rubbery sculpted ones. Warrior's trunks are a combination of dark blue/light blue with two warrior mask logos on the front of the trunks and "the ultimate warrior" logo in lime green on the back. Warrior is wearing some kneepads that match his trunks and has some dark blue tassels on the side. Finishing up this figure are some sculpted boot tassels in yellow and black and the trademark warrior style boots in yellow with a black warrior logo on the toes and white soles. For accessories, we got the white strap Winged Eagle.
All in All, i have to be completely honest and say that after seeing this figure on the secondary market for so long, having it on my wishlist for so long.....i am a tiny bit underwhelmed by the figure upon having it in my hand. maybe it was that badass Hall Of Champions packaging design but this attire just really didnt meet my expectations? the colors are a very natural palette; im used to seeing warrior in neon, bright, eye grabbing colors and designs--this one just doesnt exude that supernatual intergalactic energy that im used to feeling with Warrior figures, ESPECIALLY this one that had to be revived from the vault. i have to say the Survivor Series warrior that also utilizes this headsculpt is a much better all around figure to me, IMO.

[MonsoonMan]

From the Vault Series 1
Hardcore Kane RSE

coming in today through the fire, flames.....tables, ladders, chairs and barbed wire is the return of the Ringside Exclusive Hardcore Kane Exclusive From The Vault Series 1 Exclusive. i owned the original Hardcore Kane figure back in the day i remember when the teasers were dropping for this figure i think ringside were posting macro shots of random parts of this figure and we all were trying to guess who it was. this was the debut of the hardcore championship in the Mattel line and i personally thought it was weird to come with a Kane figure?? i do remember him being a part of the hardcore division but didnt think the moment garnered a whole figure dedicated to the run. ANYWAYS, this being the Vault release of the figure, Mattel decided to make one improvement to this figure by giving it the Ultimate Edition headsculpt, which is the best Kane mask sculpt we have in the line so far, so +1. this figure was also updated with some new bigger double jointed arms h o w e v e r the biggest detriments to this figure are the exact same complaints that have followed this figure since its inception and that is that the torso is way to small and the paint apps to the outfit leave a lot to be desired. During this period of Kane's career he was massive. next to Big Show he literally had to be the biggest guy on the roster his arms were massive and he was built like a farm silo. most mattel figures suffer from 'too small' syndrome but this Kane is really obviously not accurately representing his look during the time. i think the next time we see this look for Kane will be an Ultimate edition and they have no choice but to really do this figure up correctly in that form, however if we ever see this attire in an elite form again, it NEEDS a re-tool of the torso. the second issue we all had/still have with this figure is that the attire is coffee stain brown and Kane was wearing black mesh. you can go and google "kane 2001" right now and look at images of his attire; there is no brown hue to anything its all black and red. very disappointed in this move by mattel as they have been getting better with imitating mesh with paint apps on gear with the womens figures, but nope kanes still spilling coffee. NOW, ONTO THE BOTCH that is the glove / wristband. the paint apps for the studs were colored incorrectly by the design team and the wristband should have the studs on the top and bottom painted and the glove should only have the bottom studs painted. in this EXCLUSIVE release, the glove has all the studs painted and the wristband only has the bottom studs painted woo-hoo! now moving onto the paint apps on the belt. real quick, open up that google image search for "kane 2001" again and tell me how thicc his waistbelt looks. so it looks like a normal belt maybe 3-4" thick? cool, well mattel designed this belt to look like its 8" thick as it extends from his waistline all the way to his hip joints. frankly-----------the details should have been sculpted aswell. the legs of this figure feature more red flame designs with coffee stain mesh on the outsides and finishing up this figure are some tall laced black boots which are completely inaccurate aswell as Kane wore glossy laceless boots. for accessoires, we got some open hand interchangeable hands and the classic Hardcore Championship belt.
All in all i SWEAR i woke up on the right side of the bed today 😂 im done tee'ing off on this figure its just a really weak offering from mattel, especially at this point in the game. i will say that i am grateful that Ringside is offering one of their older exclusives for purchase again, thats a rad business move but this figure is and has been flawed for so many years and this is the new version that frankly cant even be assed to have the correct paint apps to the gloves. they literally could have kept the same body recipe, fixed the coffee stain color palette, gave him the Ultimate head and the Ultimate boots in gloss black and i think we (i) would have been over the moon with that figure. would it have still been the Ringside Hardcore Kane Exclusive at that point? no, i guess not but when youre given the option to have mattel push out a flawed old figure or an improved figure i think we're all voting for improved. the brown color hue this figure portrays it doesnt have a 'charm' because 'oh thats how mattel did it back in the day! thats how the original figure looked and we want to stay true to that vision'. no guys. its incorrect. you have the decision making ability and technology to do this a right way. THE RIGHT WAY.
its my opinion, if youre a collector who is serious about your collection, ex: having accurate figures , this figure might be worth passing on until we get either a re-tooled one or an ultimte edition that sees this figure get the right treatment. till then the Jakks R3 Kane from the year two thousand and two is league better than this as far as accuracy and capture of details.

[MonsoonMan]

Happy Figure Friday Y'all



From the Vault Series 1
The Undertaker

Gliding in on some huge freaking bat wings today is The Undertaker!!! i was pretty hype for this figure to see a re-release from mattel. it is an ultra unique figure; i remember owning it in my previous collection and really digging this figure! This Undertaker comes to us in his gear from Survivor Series 1996 when he returned and faced off against Mankind. This was originally a defining moments figure, so seeing it be included in the From The Vault series was amazing knowing how far this Vault series can reach into. As mentioned, being from Survivor Series 96, Taker made a very unique entrance to the match by gliding down from the rafters on a huge pair of bat wings. This was noted and executed by mattel with precision as we got some badass spandex wings that are articulated and clip onto Taker's top with some pegs. i like the scale of them and the figure is able to articulate in a way that he can hit those iconic poses. The headsculpt on this figure is GOOD; it looks to be the original headsculpt for this figure and captures Taker's likeness directly from SS96-he was given long brown hair with a ponytail over long hair style. the face sculpting portrays Taker in that menacing frowning, disapproving glare and mattel even included Taker's symbolic black tear on his right cheek. Mattel added some paint apps to Taker's brow as he was also frequently wearing a bit of makeup during the era to accentuate that angry, furrowed brow look. i sadly have to take away a few points for the paint apps to Taker's goatee; not quite sure what they were going for here but they most definitely applied more paint to the chin of his goatee than the mustache portion and it creates an inaccurate look to Undertake circa Survivor Series 96. He was rocking a full goatee look--he did not transition to just having chin goatees until 99. Going down the figure, Taker wore a one-off gear for this event that was evidently made out of some stretchy black leather. He has a black plastic fringed entrance shirt that is secured by the fringes on the neck. underneath that he has a leather tunic with stringed closure by the throat; the tunis is removable and underneath mattel gave him the Undertaker style body torso. for the event, Taker wore some large black elbowpads and forwent the gloves this time for black wristwraps. i wouldve liked to see mattel make the wristwraps on the figure a bit bigger, but they get the job done. all of his appropriate tattoos seem present on the figure. The legs of this figure are pretty unique; as mentioned Taker wore some stretchy leather for this gear, watching the match back, it does appear that any type of movement would make the leather physically bunch on Taker's legs so i guess i want to give mattel some semblance of props for their attention on sculpting these. It certainly looks to be too much on the figure, but honestly watching the match back his pants were more bunched up than smoothed over looking so, cool! finishing up this figure are some tall black laced boots----which i think are inaccurate-Taker wore laceless gloss black boots for the event.
All in all im pretty happy to have this taker return to my collection! it wasnt a stupendously pricey figure on the secondary market, but i think by now most people have lost / damaged the original wings so it was a pleasant surprise to get another run. the updated TrueFx gave the headsculpt more personality and energy but im not a fan of how the goatee turned out. id still recommend 10/10 picking up this Undertaker figure.

[MonsoonMan]

Happy Superstar Saturday y'all!

Cruised out to my local Target yesterday in hopes to find the legends greatest hits series 2 figures; no sign of them but i was able to score an Elite 110 Bruno Sammartino and also AEW Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli! love the swiss superman! i also caved in an bought the three faces of foley set AND the Ultimate WCW Nitro Ring from ringside 🫣 its a big purchase, im already feeling woozy about it but i kinda sorta just KNOW i would kick myself for not getting it on sale price plus the eric is almost essential for the wcw collection. i already have the new gen arena and i actually am regretting not getting the Attitude ring. its just something cool to have for the collection, i have alot of fun posing and doing figure photography plus the wcw roster is really filling out.

continuing the reviews FROM THE VAULT 🔒🎤



From the Vault Series 1
Bubba Dudley


Dudley Death Dropping in today is one half of one of the most decorated tag teams of all time; BUBBA DUDLEY! this is infact my VERY FIRST BUBBA DUDLEY FIGURE EVER! all these years, every single dudley boy figure has escaped my collection; i remember seeing their first ttl figures in a toyfare magazine--they had that blue camo and i was like 'oh man these guys would be amazing in my fig fed!' even through the Ruthless aggression era with the yellow camo, ive never been able to have dudleys. i was excited to be able to own these 2015 era Dudleys but im REALLY HYPE for the upcoming elite 2 pack dudleys 😬 ANYWAYS, as mentioned this Bubba is from the 2015 run of the Dudleys so he is sporting a modern look. The figure comes with two different style glasses frame; one modern and one classic style- they both look and fit the figure fine but i find the classic style tend to flop off the figures face quite easily. the headsculpt on the figure is good, it captures Bubba in a glaring frowning expression and it seems to portray Bubba's likeness pretty well from all angles. as was his style for that era, mattel gave him a high fade hair cut and beard. This figure comes to the ring wearing a sleeveless top in the Red, white, black camo print and 'Dudley 3D Get The Tables' logo on the back. Mattel gave Bubba his modern right forearm tattoo and also left bicep tat along with his classic black/white/black wrist tape. finishing up this figure are some camo pants and the iconic tall black boots with 3D logo and stripe. for accessories, this Bubba came with a table and interchangeable hands.
All in all for my first Bubba figure, this is actually pretty rad. I do remember seeing him onscreen and at that point, i just couldnt un-see him as Bully Ray. he got Bully Ray over so good that it felt like his return to Bubba Dudley was a step back, imo. nonetheless this figure is still very cool and im very proud to finally have the Dudley Boyz in my collection. i will say that i kinda feel like they could have / should have made the torso a bit bigger as it looks like he has anchor arms, but beyond that im satisfied with the figure. i mean i also wish they could have packaged in the 3D 👌 'ok' style hands but i guess politicians out there have blacklisted that as some sort of nefarious hand sign so its a no-go.

[MonsoonMan]

From the Vault Series 1
D-Von Dudley

getting the tables today is Brother D-Von Dudley!! As mentioned in the Bubba review, this is also my first D-Von figure so i was pretty excited to welcome these table destroying brothers into my collection. Along with Bubba, this D-Von seems to be styled after his return to wwe in 2015, although D-Von seems to have not aged in all these years anyways ✨ The headsculpt on this figure is great! i can immediately see the likeness to D-Von in the sculpting and paint apps; it seems to have captured D-Von in his iconic - intense, pursed lips expression as he is about to shout 'TESTIFY!' Mattel included two pairs of interchangeable glasses frames; like bubba one frame seems to be classic styled and one modern, they also included D-Von's gold chain and ring accessory; they look and fit the figure great. D-Von comes to the ring wearing his trademark black 3D Dudley boys sleeveless shirt; looks to be a new sculpt specific to D-Von. mattel included D-Von's tribute arm tattoos; the application seems to be in correct placement and the black ink is easy to read. the upper body detailing completes with D-Von's white wrist tape and finger tape. i wish mattel would have included the open hands that seems to be coming in the elite 2 pack so we can pose for his 'testify' taunt. finishing up this figure are the same baggy pants in the red / white / black camo pattern and tall black boots with the 3D logo and stripe along the back.
All in all its great to have the Dudleys!! i do kinda feel like D-Von's entire upper body and head seems to be a bit undersized, but the details and sculpting for the rest of the figure is pretty on point! i forgot mention in the bubba review that i do not believe that the paint apps to the boots are correct, mattel colored the logos in a creme color and they need to be white. Looking forward to all the other incarnations of the Dudleys that mattel is willing to produce!

That was all the figures i got from the From the Vault series 1! i dont have a connection to the triple h and shawn michaels DX figures--i stopped watching the product at the time and i really disliked the PG version of DX it was way too goofy and campy for me to get into. i MAY get the cena figure sometime down the line but the reason i skipped on it is because i wanted mattel to include the new sculpted wristbands on his figure with the ChainGang logo and also i know the jersey is not accurate

[Deep Figure Value]

Aug 18, 2024 9:37:41 GMT -5 MonsoonMan said:

i forgot mention in the bubba review that i do not believe that the paint apps to the boots are correct, mattel colored the logos in a creme color and they need to be white. Looking forward to all the other incarnations of the Dudleys that mattel is willing to produce!

I'm not the deco historian that some users here seem to be, but I noticed this too. I couldn't point to dates across the expanse of time, but the Dudleys did seem to have the off-white logos/decor on their boots during their later run in the...I don't remember, mid-2010s? Guess that's what they're going for/using for reference here...which I guess makes sense since that's when those original figures would have come out.

[MonsoonMan]

Aug 18, 2024 18:34:29 GMT -5 Deep Figure Value said:

Aug 18, 2024 9:37:41 GMT -5 MonsoonMan said:

i forgot mention in the bubba review that i do not believe that the paint apps to the boots are correct, mattel colored the logos in a creme color and they need to be white. Looking forward to all the other incarnations of the Dudleys that mattel is willing to produce!

I'm not the deco historian that some users here seem to be, but I noticed this too. I couldn't point to dates across the expanse of time, but the Dudleys did seem to have the off-white logos/decor on their boots during their later run in the...I don't remember, mid-2010s? Guess that's what they're going for/using for reference here...which I guess makes sense since that's when those original figures would have come out.

great catch! thanks for the input! i see what youre talking about they definitely had darker logos on their boots during the era thats interesting!