Post by ThugSuperstar on Dec 31, 2009 21:14:04 GMT -5
They had them at Target...I picked up Elite Undertaker and Punk and the Target Basics Exclusive HBK and Jericho. These were my first WWE purchases in months and first ever Mattel WWE purchases, so I decided to share some opinions on them based on the fact that I'm pretty bored right now.
First off, the body molds are all obviously much better than anything from Jakks' RA or DA lines. They're much more realistic and the Basic line reminds me a lot of the R-3 line, which I guess has its positives and negatives. Like the R-3 figures, the Basics line aren't compatible with RA figures. They're drastically smaller and wouldn't really match up well considering RA figures have the exaggerated body sizes.
The body molds are very realistic and the scales are much improved from any Jakks line, but in the Basic line I find that the joints are VERY hard to move. They're not nearly as smooth as the RA line, but not as tight as the TNA Toybiz figures. Not a gigantic problem, but I remember having a similar issue with the R-3 line where the joints would get stiff/stuck to the point that you'd risk breaking it if you forced it too much. If you're someone who plays with their figures, this could definitely be an issue for you.
The head molds, I'm very up in the air with. Shawn Michaels' head, I think, is better than just about any Jakks scan, but Jericho, Punk and Taker I'm sort of meh with. Some angles they look decent, others they look awful. Just from the pics I've seen of the figures so far, it seems like this will be an ongoing thing with the Mattel line. Some heads will look good, others will leave you scratching your head. I think the fact that they're so much smaller than any of the Jakks scans works against them because there's a lot of detail left out. All of the eyes, for example, are white with a solid color for the pupil. I also think Jakks did a better job with paying attention to different shades/highlights in certain guys' hair, where as Mattel seems to just pick one solid color and paint the hair that way.
The best part of all of these figures are obviously the attention to detail on tattoos and attire. Several of the small details Jakks routinely missed are picked up on by Mattel, and then some. The color in tattoos, the accuracy of tattoos (Undertaker's are specifically spectacular), getting every detail on HBK's pants - all phenomenal and go beyond CS quality. As long as Mattel keeps this up, this is obviously going to be the biggest drawing point of this line. Simple things like repaints I can see selling well because of the detail that's in them.
The biggest drawback about these figures, to me at least, is the price. There's no way I'm going to spend $20 regularly on one action figure - not even McFarlane's are that much. It's just unreasonable to expect people to pay that amount, especially in this economy now more than ever. I don't know what they'll have to do to cutback on prices in the future, but don't be surprised if the packaging becomes less detailed and they start skimping out on the cloth accessories. Small cost cutters like that to drop the price 5 bucks or so seems reasonable.
The accessories, BTW, I can't really judge since I only have two accessories thus far. But Punk's t-shirt is awesome - it's actually loose fitting and not tight around his biceps and that's how he actually wears it. Undertaker's coat, however, is awful. Unless you're strictly buying this figure for display (which would essentially kill the purpose of all the added joints), the coat is useless and more of a hassle than anything else. It was nearly impossible to take off to the point that I had to just cut it off with a pair of scissors and throw it in the trash since I wasn't going to be using it anyway. So, they're obviously going to have to fix that in the future because I imagine Mattel is going to get several complaints about little kids who bought an Undertaker or Edge Elite figure and broke the thing just trying to get the damn coat off. Not a huge problem, but something to pay attention to.
Overall, I think the figures are good, not great. It'll be interesting to see if Mattel continues with all the detail as the line goes on or if they begin to skimp out on certain things if they're forced to cut the prices. I'm not going to be buying these figures regularly, but I think the line looks promising.
First off, the body molds are all obviously much better than anything from Jakks' RA or DA lines. They're much more realistic and the Basic line reminds me a lot of the R-3 line, which I guess has its positives and negatives. Like the R-3 figures, the Basics line aren't compatible with RA figures. They're drastically smaller and wouldn't really match up well considering RA figures have the exaggerated body sizes.
The body molds are very realistic and the scales are much improved from any Jakks line, but in the Basic line I find that the joints are VERY hard to move. They're not nearly as smooth as the RA line, but not as tight as the TNA Toybiz figures. Not a gigantic problem, but I remember having a similar issue with the R-3 line where the joints would get stiff/stuck to the point that you'd risk breaking it if you forced it too much. If you're someone who plays with their figures, this could definitely be an issue for you.
The head molds, I'm very up in the air with. Shawn Michaels' head, I think, is better than just about any Jakks scan, but Jericho, Punk and Taker I'm sort of meh with. Some angles they look decent, others they look awful. Just from the pics I've seen of the figures so far, it seems like this will be an ongoing thing with the Mattel line. Some heads will look good, others will leave you scratching your head. I think the fact that they're so much smaller than any of the Jakks scans works against them because there's a lot of detail left out. All of the eyes, for example, are white with a solid color for the pupil. I also think Jakks did a better job with paying attention to different shades/highlights in certain guys' hair, where as Mattel seems to just pick one solid color and paint the hair that way.
The best part of all of these figures are obviously the attention to detail on tattoos and attire. Several of the small details Jakks routinely missed are picked up on by Mattel, and then some. The color in tattoos, the accuracy of tattoos (Undertaker's are specifically spectacular), getting every detail on HBK's pants - all phenomenal and go beyond CS quality. As long as Mattel keeps this up, this is obviously going to be the biggest drawing point of this line. Simple things like repaints I can see selling well because of the detail that's in them.
The biggest drawback about these figures, to me at least, is the price. There's no way I'm going to spend $20 regularly on one action figure - not even McFarlane's are that much. It's just unreasonable to expect people to pay that amount, especially in this economy now more than ever. I don't know what they'll have to do to cutback on prices in the future, but don't be surprised if the packaging becomes less detailed and they start skimping out on the cloth accessories. Small cost cutters like that to drop the price 5 bucks or so seems reasonable.
The accessories, BTW, I can't really judge since I only have two accessories thus far. But Punk's t-shirt is awesome - it's actually loose fitting and not tight around his biceps and that's how he actually wears it. Undertaker's coat, however, is awful. Unless you're strictly buying this figure for display (which would essentially kill the purpose of all the added joints), the coat is useless and more of a hassle than anything else. It was nearly impossible to take off to the point that I had to just cut it off with a pair of scissors and throw it in the trash since I wasn't going to be using it anyway. So, they're obviously going to have to fix that in the future because I imagine Mattel is going to get several complaints about little kids who bought an Undertaker or Edge Elite figure and broke the thing just trying to get the damn coat off. Not a huge problem, but something to pay attention to.
Overall, I think the figures are good, not great. It'll be interesting to see if Mattel continues with all the detail as the line goes on or if they begin to skimp out on certain things if they're forced to cut the prices. I'm not going to be buying these figures regularly, but I think the line looks promising.
