Mattel WWE Elite Collection Undertaker, CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

After giving us a great look at the Mattel WWE Entrance Greats Triple H, Salem Crow is back with a review of three of the four figures in the Elite Collection Series 1.

I’m psyched in particular for the Elite Undertaker, because I never picked up one of the many from JAKKS, and also because I think he’s going to make for some excellent custom fodder. But let’s get on to Salem Crow’s review.

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*bells toll and organ music starts*

I’m back with another review of some of Mattel’s new WWE figures. This time I’m going to cover the Elite Series 1 figures of The Undertaker, CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

It seems like Mattel tried to keep a similar theme as far as design goes, with the Jakks Deluxe Aggression box packaging, but added their spin on it. The sides and top of the package come apart easily enough, and fold down so you can free the figures from their prisons.

All of these figures fit in great with the Triple H I reviewed last time, which was a great move on Mattel’s part, that way you can mix and match the Elites with the basic figures. The upside to the Elites though, is the increased articulation. Each figure also comes with a figure stand with a tiny name plate that sticks in front of it.

The articulation breakdown is as follows:

• Ball jointed head
• Ball shoulders
• Cut biceps above the actual bicep
• Single hinge elbows
• Cut writs with hinges
• Cute waist
• Ab crunch with a fairly good range of motion
• Hips are similar to DCUC hips, but are rounded off, I would call them ball and hinge hips
• Cut joint right below the hips
• Double jointed knees; this was truly unexpected
• Rocker and hinge ankles

The first figure I’ll look at is a longtime favorite of mine, The Undertaker.

He comes with his hat and coat so you can recreate his slow, methodical trip to the ring, so all you other figures can get the heebie jeebies. The hat fits well, and is in scale pretty good to his head, which tends to be hit or miss at this scale. I like the look of the coat, but it’s a bit stiff, doesn’t allow for much movement with it on, and made me more than a little nervous about breaking the arms while trying to get it off the figure. Once the coat comes off though, you get one of the best Undertaker figures released, in my opinion. The level of detail on all of his tattoos is amazing, and where color is needed on them, you get it, unlike most of his previous versions. His upper torso has sculpted gear, not just a painted top, and his pants and boots have lots of nice sculpted details.

He is the right height and build compared to the other figures in the line that I have thus far, which was always a gripe I had with previous versions. His articulation allows you to get him into some nice poses as well. You can have him give other figures his famous Tombstone piledriver, chokeslam, or Last Ride powerbomb, and they all look convincing once you get the center of balance set. The major move I am happy this figure can pull off is his famous pose on one knee after he has won a match, and he reaches one hand to the sky. His double knees and ankle articulation all make this one possible, and I’m thankful for that.

Now I’m hoping for some Elite versions of him in some of his other looks, as well as a Paul Bearer figure to go with him.

Next up is the Straight Edge Superstar, CM Punk. Punk comes with a cloth shirt replicating one of his shirts that he wears to the ring. The shirt is a nice enough material for this scale, and has a thin strip of Velcro down the back to close it once you get it on the figure. The articulation is the same as on ‘Taker, but Punk suffers from the stiff knee pads, so his leg movement slightly restricted. I hope that Mattel can devise a slightly more flexible material for the pads on future figures, or I’ll likely cut them off, even if it makes them less than accurate to their in ring looks.

Punk’s painted details are amazing as well. All of his tattoos are there, minus his Pepsi logo on his left shoulder, and the Cobra logo on his right shoulder. He even has legible letters spelling out “Drug Free” across his knuckles, something I wasn’t really expecting. His gear is painted nice and clean, with no visible paint slop that I can see, and his headsculpt is the best likeness that I have seen thus far.

Now the final figure I’ll cover is the little man that doesn’t know the word quit, from the 619, Rey Mysterio Jr. This version of Rey Rey comes in purple and black attire, with a cloth shirt and plastic mask that fits over his head.  This Rey is also the correct height in regard to the other figures in the line, which was sorely needed, he should never be as tall as Triple H or Undertaker. Do you want to know the best part though? He can now be the human lawn dart we all know he can be.

All of Rey’s tattoos are nice and crisp, with no slop that I can see on mine and all his costume details really pop with the paint work as well. The articulation really helps with this figure get into some of those crazy Lucha Libra moves he pulls off, and unlike the other guys, his smaller elbow pads don’t seem to restrict his elbows as much as the larger ones do on the other guys.

I really like this line of figures, and hope to see most of my favorites in Elite versions as well as the basic assortments, that way I can pick and choose which ones I like better. I will hopefully have a review of some more figures soon, so keep a look out.

~ Salem Crow