Mean Gene Okerlund, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Jake the Snake Roberts

Mean Gene Okerlund, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Jake the Snake Roberts

Mattel WWE - Flashback Series(Walmart), Hall of Fame (Target)

Three more WWE Legends immortalized in plastic!  Piper and Jake have had several Mattel renditions over the years, with differences in attire and articulation.  Do these have what it takes to make the collection?  Plus, everyone's favorite wrestling interviewer Mean Gene Okerlund finally joins the fray!

Jake is sporting tights from his feud with Ravishing Rick Rude, hence the giant rat in a robe on his left leg.  It was a decent feud, but pretty specific and frustrating for those looking for the definitive Roberts.  (The one that came closest was the All Stars two-pack with Randy Orton.)  It's still a good figure, but may have needed an accompanying Rude with Cheryl Roberts face painted on his tights to really sell it.  You do get two snakes for accessories, but it would have been nice of them to throw in a carrying bag.  C'mon, Mattel...you put a bag in the basic two-pack with Dean Ambrose!  There have been some complaints about the torso on this figure being more defined than the real Jake ever was (and I agree), but the weird body hair stubble paint job is too gross to make you want to look at it too long in scrutiny.

This may be the difinitive Piper for the time being.  It sports the longest hair of the releases so far, and the head sculpt looks pretty darn good.  The open mouth may not be everyone's cup of tea for display but, c'mon, Rowdy Roddy rarely kept his mouth shut for more than a second or two.  The cloth shirt is nothing new, but It's kind of puzzling that they didn't go the same route with the kilt.  The rubbery material cuts down on some of the leg movement when on and it can be difficult to fasten again once removed.  Still, all-in-all, this is my go-to for awesome backstage promo-cutting Piper.

Did someone say promos?  You can't cut a classic promo without Mean Gene Okerlund reigning it all in.  Like Howard Finkel, they originally planned to cut him up and distribute him as a build-a-figure some years back.  This wave made it out with limited distribution (maybe overseas), leaving a lot of fans in the cold.  Thankfully, we got another shot at him as a Walmart Exclusive...single packed...with accessories!  With additional arms and blazer (red), you get two different display choices.  He also comes with a big production light to help assemble your backstage area.  Oh, and of course he has his microphone to catch all that beautiful wrestling prose.

These are great figures of the greats of wrestling.  The only one I could see passing up is Jake because of the specific attire.  Though, to be safe, pick him up...you never know when it might be your last shot at this era.

RIP Rowdy Roddy Piper...RIP Mean Gene Okerlund.  Gone but never forgotten.

Wonder Woman - Dr. Psycho wave

Wonder Woman - Dr. Psycho Wave

DC Multiverse - Mattel

So, Im waaay behind on my Mattel figures.  Now that Mattel is losing the DC license to the likes of Spin Master (WTF?!) and McFarlane (Eh, scale and fagility issues), I'm catching up on some great figures almost as if it they were "in memoriam."  Also, the "Lady Captain Marvel" movie is out now, so I wanted to remind people that the true "Wonder Woman" is one success that Marvel didn't beat DC to at the box office.  Anyway, this mini Wonder Woman wave was shipped with two long-long overdue Superfriends versions of Superman and Aquaman.  Nothing too exiting there, other than Supes finally getting a more powder-blue outfit.  I had to buy them as a set to get these, otherwise I would have passed.

I would have passed on The Dark Knight Strikes Again Wonder Woman as well, because Frank Miller is a one-trick pony and that book is trash...but I needed the Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl and Dr. Psycho!  Not that this WW is a bad figure or anything.  I do like that she is an imposing Amazon here, making the best of the larger Masters of the Universe female figure body.  She really does look like she's ready to kick some ass!  Maybe I can convince myself that she is another Amazonian warrior for my army building purposes.

The Cassie Wonder Girl looks to be made similar to the standard DC Universe Classics female buck, which was only terrible when figure proportions were off other places (pinheads, bigheads, small hands.)  The costume is comic accurate in sculpt and color.  The only gripe here is that her lasso is glued to her hip (like previous WW releases) and she comes with no other accessories.  Still, I am glad to have her next to the Donna Troy WG.

The hilariously small collect and connect figure for this wave is longtime WW villain, Dr. Psycho.  Good thing you only needed two figures to build him, but even that is a stretch.  Seriously?  Arms in one pack, everything else in the other?  He should have just been packed with Cassie!  From the waist down, he's one solid piece.  The arms only have articulation at the shoulder.  The head moves, but that's it.  Worth it?  Heck yeah!  You will never get another chance at this bizarre character, so take it while you have the chance!  For all of their inconsistencies, for all their ups and downs, Mattel did deliver a robust DC Universe over the last decade or so.  It's the end of an era, and I don't think I will see another like it again.

Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Animal Man and B'wana Beast

Justice in the Jungle 2-Pack

Mattel - Mattycollector Exclusive

Ew...Mattycollector.  At least this pack was readily available on their website and not part of their abhorrent, all-in subscription service.  Animal Man and B'wana Beast are kind of oddball heroes with oddball powers, so I can see why Mattel decided not to take a chance on them pegwarming at retail.  However, if you are a DC fan, you definitely need these oddballs.  You should want these oddballs!

Animal Man can "borrow" the abilities of animals, which is hard to demonstrate in action figure form, even with an action feature gimmick.  I guess the old Kenner Superpowers line might have given him a "Gorrilla Press" arm lifting feature when you squeeze his legs?  Anyway, at least he has a spiffy costume.

The glasses look great and, unlike some other spectacled character, you can see clearly through the "glass."  You would think Mattel would have gone lazy (er) and slapped the Mr. Terrific jacket on him...wrong!  Totally new sculpt!  

B'wana Beast has more reused parts, but what do you expect from a guy in a loincloth?  The cloth and the head sculpt look great and...it's a B'wana Beast action figure!  That should be exciting enough!  Not exciting enough for Mattel to even give him nipples.

His powers of being able to combine two animals into a chimera is where I wish Mattel had given us more bang for the buck.  Even the smallest, most absurd combination of animal pack-in would have made a nice, fun accessory.  Maybe a chimpanzee with eagle wings?  A snake with the head of a cat?  I might just buy some cheap plastic animals and go all "Frankenstein" on them myself.

With Mattel's DC Universe coming to a close I needed these guys to round out the collection.  Luckily these are still available on Ebay for the original price (around $30).  Get 'em while the gettin's good!

Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon

Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon

Mattel - WWE Entrance Greats, Elite

Kurt and Shane were always so much fun during the Attitude Era, it's no wonder why they're back in the mix with the WWE today.  Both are fabulous heels, good at getting heat with pompous, overblown egos.  Kurt's got his gold medals to wave at the "professional" wrestlers while he spouts the three "I"s (Integrity, Intensity, Intelligence), and Shane's got daddy's money and trickle-down authority to push people around with.  Neither one afraid to take a bump to sell a story or push a "face" wrestler.

"Entrance Greats" base plays theme "Medal"...but sadly cuts out before the famous "you suck" part.

Milk not included...courtesy of "Gotham" Selina Kyle

I waited a long time to get the right classic Shane O Mac for my collection.  I went with the jersey-ed King of the Ring 2001 edition, because who can forget the bump he took from Angle that night?  They even included the famous plexiglass to suplex him through!  



Since WWE is a "family-friendly" company now, you'll have to custom up your own blood and battle damage.  I had a good time trying to pull off that moment with the pose-ability of these figures and was happy with the results.  Speaks highly for the articulation of the Elite figures.  I only wish they had some extra, interchangeable hands and maybe an alternate expression head.  Mattel is just now rolling these extras in with current releases, so maybe we'll see some re-releases with improvements?  Shane was a Ringside Collectibles exclusive, still available on their site along with Entrance Greats Kurt.

Goku and Vegeta

Goku and Vegeta

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Stars - Ban Dai

I'm not a big fan of anime overall, but I do have a soft spot for Dragon Ball Z.  Good memories of watching Cartoon Network's Toonami line-up after a long day of high school with friends.  With a mix of wacky humor and melodrama, absurd powers, and long, action-packed fight sequences, DBZ was tailor-made for that type of audience:  a super-nerdy soap opera of sorts.  And how could you not be pumped up after being introed by Optimus Prime?!

Anyway, I had some early 2000 Irwin Toys figures for some time that were 5-inch scale and had limited articulation.  Not terrible as far as sculpts go, but I sold a Frieza freezer bag full of them for $40 close to a decade later.  Big mistake?  Not at the time...I'm sure I spent it on more toys!  Though, I have been revisiting the series on Blu Ray recently and it has made me wish I had some of these now-iconic characters in my collection.  Luckily, Ban Dai has a Marvel Legends-type series of DBZ figures available to US markets as close as your Walgreens down the street!

These scale closer to the current 6-inch standard and have much more articulation than my older figures.  Sculpts and paint are clean, and the figures look just as they should leaping from the screen.  You get a set of interchangeable hands and, in Marvel Legends fashion, each figure comes with a piece of a larger figure to build.  Series one has pieces for Shenron, the dragon that grants your wish after collecting all of the dragon balls.  I am probably going to cherry-pick this line, so I'm not sure I will complete him (6 figures per wave.)  He looks nice, though a little small.  He's definitely no Fin Fang Foom!

I cherry-picked the biggest names from the series first: Goku and Vegeta.  They look and move great, though it kinda sucks that, in an age of extra head accessories, they still make you buy two versions of these characters to go Super Saiyan.  And would it have killed them to have thrown in at least one energy/blast effect per character?  I also miss the Dragon Balls themselves that came packed with the Irwin figures.

Oh well...I now have a Goku that can go toe to toe and scale to scale with Superman! (If you're one of those sad geeks who like impossible crossover "so-and-so" could totally beat "blank" debates.)