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

Happy figure friday everyone!

it got real nice out for the weekend! im so grateful for this last little burst of warmth before we go back to 40-50F weather.

Today im gonna start sharing my thoughts and pics of the Ruthless Aggression series 1

i love the concept of this series; i grew up right in the heat of the style transition and i remember buying all of series 1 from a certain mail order catalog....because i didnt have internet. ill bring this up in later reviews, but as a kid i was HEAVY into my fig fedding and i regularly photoshopped together a magazine for my fed. when i bought these new RA figures i remember hyping the F out of the characters as they were mostly all new debuts to my fed. (shawn michaels exclued ofcourse as he didnt come in RA form until way later)




Shawn Michaels

i always get super excited for shawn michaels figures because as a kid i NEVER could find a shawn figure anywhere. i think the first shawn figure i had in offical ring gear was the Classic Superstars series 1 shawn. i had this weird shawn figure i bought at the flea market from the 'ripped and ruthless' series, but that figure royally sucked. fast forward to being a teen working at wal-mart--i hadnt watched wrestling for a hot minute, but i was asked to stock toys for the day and i saw a box of something called "deluxe aggression" figures. opened it up and there was a Shawn Michaels figure in red tights. i gasped and hid the figure to buy later on 😅 this mattel figure reminds me of that moment, but i know the attires were completely different.
this is the third(?) RA era shawn figure that we've gotten recently, which is amazing-mattel please keep slotting him in lines. this Shawn comes to wearing red and white long pants with red cross designs on the legs. the cross designs are really detailed and if you also look closely they added a silver zipper going down the middle of the pant leg.the headsculpt on this figure looks good, but boy is it bland. shawn looks completely dead inside. i also feel like his hair is a little too light of a brown color, but to be honest it really seems reminiscent of his RA figures. it would be super cool to see some new headsculpts for this era of shawn because they killed it with the newest shawn fan takeover ultimate. for accessories, we got interchangeable hands and a black ring bell, reminiscent of the one included with the RA figure this one is based on.
all in all this is a GREAT HBK figure. as i mentioned, this is our 3rd RA era shawn and they all have been great figures. the addition of the double jointed arms and trueFX are always a welcome feature on characters that we havent seen in a while, or dont get to see often. keep the shawns coming, mattel.

Wrapping up the reviews today for the Ruthless Aggression Series 1




Brock Lesnar

An obvious choice for the Ruthless Aggression era line and a must have in series 1 is in fact the beast incarnate; Brock Lesnar. for me, as a collector, i already have a few flashback elite brocks, so i had mixed feelings about buying this figure. im fairly certain that we have seen this exact brock figure before, but its a great opportunity for newer collectors to get a flashback brock with double jointed elbows and the sweet Undisputed championship. this brock comes to us in the classic elite brock formula. i really do wish they wouldve changed the design on the back of the tights because we have already seen this design before. another suggestion i would have made for this figure would have been to give him the headscan from the basic figure that was in the hall of fame line. that headscan does portray a really young brock, but i think it is similar enough to the original RA Brock head that i think it would have looked great, im planning a headswap. there isnt really too much else to get into with this brock figure. if this figure had seen a mainline release i think adding elbow pads or some rib wrap would be cool because brock sported those looks for a period, but as a release to celebrate the RA figure line of old, this is a great offering regardless.
all in all, if you need a classic Brock for the collection, this is great, but if youve already collected every brock to this point, i could see saving some money and passing on this figure.

Coming in today with a classic Superstar Saturday!



E 94 Mace

i think at the time of this figures release Mace was undergoing a character change into a male model or something 😂 as with the rest of the Retribution figures, i was pretty excited to add Mace to the collection because i really dig the aesthetic of their characters. there is alot going on with this figure; Mace comes to us wearing a removable mask that is really detailed and frankly has more attention to paint apps than T-Bar's does. underneath the mask, Mace was given some red and white facepaint and long beaded dreads. the mask on my figure is kindof flimsy and had a tendency to fall of the face pretty easily. they captured all of Mace's tattoos cleanly and crisply they look great on the figure. Mace was given his entrance vest aswell that features a fair bit of detail and paint apps including MACEMACEMACE logos on the shoulders. going down the figure, Mace is wearing black tights with honeycomb designs printed along the waist and right leg while his right leg reads "01 NO SOUND SELECTED". the last little item of note is that they included really cool straps for the upper portion of Mace's boots.
All in all this Mace figure is actually really cool. i like the design of the figure as is very toyetic and it lends well to fantasy booking scenarios. mattel did a good job on capturing all of the necessary details on this figure despite the stable become inactive fairly quickly. i think the figure is proportioned very well, we dont get many super tall characters and Mace is definitely a giant and the figure feels and looks great. Mace looks especially cool when posed next to his tag partner T bar, i didnt have time to get ALL of my retribution figures out for photos, but IMO mattel did a great job in bringing them to the line.

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Top Picks John Cena

Jjjjjjaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn CCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNAAAAAAAA

im really late member of the John Cena appreciation club. i was a fan of the product, watching basically his entire come up and run. i remember seeing John as the prototype on an A&E documentary way before his first appearance on Velocity. i liked Thuganomics Cena, but SuperCena lost me and i kinda checked out. ANYWAYS, this top picks figure is basically a 'greatest hits' style figure in the sense that weve already gotten a John Cena in this attire a long time ago and now we get to see it again with updated features. This Cena come to us wearing his classic black and red Hustle Loyalty and Respect tshirt along with Blue wristbands and 'Cenation' armband. the wristbands and armbands are sculpted this time around which looks awesome. i dont own the older Cena figure, so i cant truly compare but it seems like they gave this Cena MASSIVE arms. i mean it does look true to the character as Cena did get HUGE at times, but it almost looks a little comical how huge the biceps are on this figure. The headsculpt on this figure looks amazing; the likeness is uncanny. the rest of the figure gets less cool because they gave us that ever classic John cena jorts and nikes feet mold that never seem to want to cooperate when standing the figure around. for accessories we got the aforementioned softgoods tshirt, dogtags, hat, and interchangeable hands.
all in all i kinda feel like this John Cena is a must have figure. it is stacked with classic cena accessories and features a ton of improvements that the previous elite version of this figure did not have. my only complaint is truly that those ankles are abysmal, the rest of this figure overall is pretty ace.

As far as that Top Picks John Cena goes, I've seen him with the massive arms like you got and I've seen him with smaller arms like he normally gets. Same thing happened with Lex Luger, I saw about 50/50 on those same 2 types of arms.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 🦃🦃🦃

got a big helping of thicc turkey on the plate today 😜




Sensational Sherri

Continuing our review of the Summerslam BAF series we have Sensational Sherri today! this figure is probably the sleeper of the set because i really didnt expect too much from this figure but HOLY COW they really stacked this figure with details. This Sensational Sherri figure is based off of her appearance at Summerslam 1992 as she accompanied the Heartbreak kid to the ring against the model Rick Martel. this figure seems to be made up of a bunch of completely unique sculpts. the sleeves on the arms have all sculpted details on the hearts and trim. the sleeves do kindof hinder articulation but they look awesome. her shirt has gold trim and little red rubies along the top which transitions into some sensational heart design pants. gonna be honest this outfit was quite cheeky in its true form and im just a tiny bit surprised that mattel went with this 😅 the heart designs continue along the legs of the figure and they even feature mesh paint apps inside. the last item of the outfit are the neat white high heel shoes with red lacing.
all in all this is surprisingly a great figure. i do not own the ringside exclusive Shawn figure but i think this figure would look great posed next to him. this sherri figure has a fantastic headsculpt and her outfit and attire is so completely unique it would be a shame to pass on this figure.

Happy Superstar Sunday!!

we're gonna be closing out the Summerslam Dominik Mysterio BAF series today and since i was able to acquire the entire set, ill do a quick ranking of all the figures and basically give my opinion on whether i feel that this set is worth it or not.





Rey Mysterio

the final piece to the set is the one and only Rey Mysterio and appropriately representing Summerslam 2005 from the custody match. This rey comes to us in a dark navy blue attire with white logos which i personally really like. this was during the time when rey was sporting the sleeveless top look; not one of my favorite eras for rey but his evolution has been awesome nonetheless. this outfit sees a black and white 619 logo over his heart, 619 going down the left leg and his mask/cross logo on the white leg. this figure and attire feels like it is very bland in terms of rey figures because we're used to seeing those bright colors and tattoos, but i really do kinda dig this figure for how clean and subdued the design was; it was the custody match after all. the ab crunch on my figure is a little loose, otherwise all the rest of the joints and limbs move and operate smoothly. i will also say that all of the paint apps on my figure seem to have been applied cleanly and crisply.
all in all, Had this rey not been necessary to complete the BAF wave, i dont think i would have bought it. when i bought this figure, i didnt own the legends eddie figure yet, i have since bought it and i still dont think that completing the pairing for the match would be enough to make me want to buy this rey for the collection. i do like the blue colorway of the figure, but--as i mentioned compared to other rey figures this attire doesnt really pop or show off as much as others do. we have been getting a ton of rey figures across multiple eras lately and IMO this figure and attire just doesnt have that exciting factor for me.



Dominik Mysterio

the subject of our BAF wave was the focus of the Summerslam 2005 custody match---Dominik Mysterio! this was a historic first for the wwe mattel line as we got the opportunity to own both the young and modern versions of Dominik in our collections. this figure is really interesting. we get Dominik wearing a softgoods button up shirt, baggy jeans and lugz boots 🤣

i feel like most BAFs to this point have been pretty universally wanted across the board. it allows us to get announcers or managers or authority characters IN ADDITION to 4 other in ring talents and the value typically feels worth it. i just feel like this Dominik figure is a novelty that the design team did for the sake of being able to and as a treat to Dominik. i will admit it is cool that we now have the Rey, Eddie and Dominik figures from the match---but i really think youd be hard pressed to find a majority of collectors who had "2005 era dominik mysterio figure" on their wish or want lists. the effort is appreciated though, and i do understand the sentiment that if the end product is not for you, then dont buy it.

RANKING

So, when this BAF wave was announced, my only WANTS were the Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels figures. i do not have the ringside exc shawn figure so i didnt have a need for the sherri figure, and i frankly thought the rey figure was too bland to warrant a buy. after acquiring the orton and hbk figures, i ended up buying the other two figures on ringside as they were on sale($18.99 /ea). i liked the sherri figure more than i anticipated and the Rey figure is just another addition to the timeline, i suppose.

5. Dominik Mysterio. i appreciate that mattel took advantage of the opportunity to make this figure, but this was an end product that was just not for me. as a collector, its cool that i own this figure now and i think its a cool opportunity for photography, but just being straight i didnt want it, and i wouldnt have voted for it.
4. Rey Mysterio. im not a big fan of the era when rey was sporting this attire look. i do admit that that i like the color and the "clean" look it offers in contrast to other rey figures, but for my personal collection i wouldnt have bought it had it not been needed to complete the BAF.
3. Sensational Sherri. i will admit that i really ended up liking this figure more than i thought. i love all of the details captured on the figure and the unique sculpts that went into making it. it is however another figure that i probably would have passed on had it not been a part of the BAF wave; OR i would have bought it MUCH later on.
2. Shawn Michaels. deciding the top two was really difficult for me. as i mentioned earlier these were basically the only two figures i wanted from the entire wave and they are both really great figures. the deciding factor is my knock on the shawn michaels headsculpt they chose/continue to choose. it is so template bland and expressionless it almost ruins the entire figure. the attire and the execution on the entrance gear are top notch, however.
1. Randy Orton. the shining diamond out of the entire group, Randall Keith Orton, Youngest World Heavyweight Champion at the time. as i mentioned in the review, the entire package of this figure is perfect to me, IMO. those orange trunks, posed hands, elbow pads, big gold belt 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 its a must have figure no doubt.

Keeping up with Summerslam '92 Sunday today!!



E94 British Bulldog

coming in today is Bret's opponent from Summerslam '92, the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. Davey Boy comes to us draped in glorious Union Jack livery both in the union jack flag he carries and themed tights he wore for the event. the included flag is well done, it has three loops to attach to the figure; two for putting around his wrists and the third loop fits around his neck-all of this made convenient with the new technology they implemented for swapping heads and hands. i will say that the flag is made out of a spandex/nylon material and a few of the threads got caught up on the plastic shroud they used for packaging when i was removing the figure and it definitely pulled the weave. the headsculpt on this figure is pretty good, we get Davey Boy sporting the beaded dreadlocks; the likeness is present in the face all day. moving down the figure we get the bulked torso and double jointed elbows, a great addition for popping off the double bicep poses. Davey is sporting red white and blue wristbands that read 'Bull' on the right and 'Dog' on the left. moving down to the tights, Davey is sporting the Red white and blue tights with the Union Jack flag on the right leg and a stringed closure design on his left leg. wrapping up the attire are clean white boots with red and blue 'B.B' letters on them representing the British Bulldog.
all in all this is a really good figure, IMO. ive never been the biggest fan of the Bulldog so this figure wasnt something i was clamoring for. its cool to be able to get an updated Bulldog figure in an attire to match the Bret that we got in the same series.

Happy Saturday everyone!

i was down and out all this past week with a cold 😷🤒🤧 it was a pretty mild cold all around, but i think it was the first time ive gotten sick in 2 or 3 years so it was a bummer for sure.

coming in today with an edition of Snow Slays Saturday nope, She slays Saturday!



E94 Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley

wrapping up my reviews of E94 we have Mrs-McMahon-Helmsley herself, Stephanie. this is honestly a great addition to our attitude era lineups. we had a later era Stephanie release in the Milk-O-Mania pack, but here we finally have the Billion Dollar Princess in her infamous white "SMH: Brains, Beauty and sometimes...B*Tch" t-shirt. the shirt is softgoods, which is awesome! however the small font under the large SMH lettering is kindof bled out and cannot be read. i can tell that it just reads her name: "Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley". the headsculpt on this figure is great! it presents a young Steph really well and the details to her hair are actually perfect, i vividly remember Steph during this era really just making her way as being an onscreen character. im really upset because the paint apps to the face on my figure were botched; her right eye looked like it got blacked 😭 Steph and Bret were REALLY the only two figures i wanted from this line and the poor Steph got botched. this figure is honestly really straightforward, for accessories we got the Womens Championship and some interchangeable pointing hands. they gave steph some red nail polish on her hands.
all in all i would absolutely recommend adding this figure to the collection. we badly needed this era of Steph in our collections and; i guess they knocked it out of the park? its a straightforward figure and it turned out great.