My awareness of professional wrestling is limited to Hulk Hogan’s cameo in Gremlins 2 and the Macho Man’s beef jerky commercials, but since you folks seem to care a lot about what Mattel’s doing in regard to action figures, I thought this was worth posting.
Wrestling Figs has the scoop on all the upcoming Mattel WWE product. The one I imagine most of you will be interested in is the six-inch “Elite” series, which will come in at $14.99 apiece.
As you can see, unlike DCUC they have ball joint hips.
dayraven
dude, these look so much like the existing jakks WWE toys i have to wonder if they're just unable to top what's been done, or they think it's best to maintain an "even keel." either way, they are WAY not cool enough to warrant a re-investment if you're already a jakks fan. god i love mattel!!
yo go re
Especially not since they're at least an inch shorter and $3 more expensive. Ah, Mattel: you're always good for a laugh!
Dead Man Walking
Snore.
Monty Python
Unless they make a Sgt. Slaughter I literally couldn't care less.
finkrod
You know how I express that I'm not interested in reading something? I don't read it.
Valo487
Oh God, the collecting world doesn't know what it's in for. Whatever you think of Jakks, they get their product into stores and the durability is superb. Mattel can claim neither of these things. So one of two things will happen:
1. Mattel hits it out of the park, making these both durable and easy to find, which enrages the collectors of other lines such as DCUC who want to know why in the flying fook they can get WWE product into stores at great quality.
Or….
2. Mattel does their usual cock-up job, causing Wrestling fans to mourn the loss of the Jakks line even harder and adding a huge number of new voices to the "we hate Mattel" club that has been forming worldwide for years.
It's pretty sad when a company's reputation is so bad that no matter what they do they manage to anger their customers. And in this situation, I don't feel like the customer is to blame, whichever occurs.
dayraven
@Valo487: you know, those optiosn would be really funny… if they weren't PRECISELY what will happen.
@yo go re- one question i would ask yo go re… what do you mean 3 dollars more? the stuff i've read around says mattel is aiming at 9.99 for the basic figures, 17.99 for the 2 packs, and i have yet to read a price for the elite figs (pictured above) but that's roughly in line w/ what jakks is charging right now… have you read other numbers?
of course, i can already hear valo's prediction coming true… "wait, why is that CM Punk fig 9.99 and my Forager is 14.99?" i wonder if the WWE stuff won't be coming w/ accessories anymore. i know the jakks UFC line is supposed to be retailing at 9.99 a piece and part of that, they've openly said, is because the figures won't have accessories anymore.
bigraj
The faces look pretty bad, especially Edge's.
Newton Gimmick
Price, QC and Availability will be the big issues here. If Mattel can make those good, then this will be great.
Of course if they could fix those on all their lines, it'd be an improvement.
dayraven
easy newton… getting a toy RIGHT might be a bit of a stretch for mattel. 😉
ok, i think i know what yo go re was talking about… the elite figs will be 15 bucks at retail, rather than 12 for the current deluze aggression… though i would point out that the deluxe classics are already 15. so, it's kind of a price hike. but not entirely an unprecedented one.
Valo487
I'm thinking they'll start low to get people to either start the line or to switch over when Jakks wraps it up, and then within 6-12 months when they think they've got a firm customer base they'll raise the price. That isn't solely a shot at Mattel, Hasbro did the same type of thing with the 25th Joe line.
americanhyena
Hrm…
I *might* pick up a couple of the Elite figures to dink around with. If the entire line had the elite articulation I'd probably be more interested.
Having them all finally be in scale with each other is nice for wrestling fans.
Still, I really gotta question their ability to keep up with the ever changing roster like Jakks did. That was the one thing Jakks did insanely well–making sure that damn near every new wrestler had a figure within at least four or five months.
Valo487
Are they really in scale though? The only real comparison is between Beth Phoenix and Santino, and as for all the body types, they all seem really unique now because they're all brand new, but Mattel will reuse these so much in 6 months the wrestling fans will be BEGGING them to stop using them. Jakks did the same, but I'm reading a lot of people praising these for their unique scales, and I feel it won't last very long when the ugly truth becomes apparent.
Dead Man Walking
@finkrod: You know how I express contempt for someone's comment? I ignore it.
Mark
The face sculpts really are not up to Jakks level. Having said that I like the different body sculpts and the accessories.
Still it will be interesting to see how they make a Shawn Michaels.
Jakks are making UFC and TNA wrestling figures now.
Heli
Wow! So Mattel CAN make a figure with double knees!
Drunken Fist
I'll be getting that C. M. Punk, as none of the released figures of him have been that great, and that one looks pretty good. I was really hoping we'd finally get a decent Edge once Mattel's stuff started coming out, though. WHy the hell can't anyone seem to do a decent headsculpt for him?
Reilly
I'm giving those figs the benefit of doubt and hope that the faces look much better in person than on those proto pics.
I'm gonna be curious if Mattel will release their WWE toys in Germany, as well. It took ages until the Jakks figures were offered here, and they are among the most expensive figures on shelf.
Oh, and I bet the real Big Show would be happy if he was as thin as his figure. 😀