Toy Review – WWE Elite Collection Series 29 – Erick Rowan from Mattel

Let’s go ahead and wrap up that wacky Wyatt family!

Mr. Rowan is the most simply dressed and cleanly shaven (the top of his head) of the Wyatt family. Two elements keep him from being an utterly boring guy in a jumpsuit – his beard and that creepy effing sheep mask.

Well, those things and the rocking chair. Erick Rowan comes with Bray Wyatt’s rocking chair, which is not only a very nice accessory to add to your action figure collection, but is absolutely essential if you have the Bray Wyatt Elite figure. Like Luke Harper’s glow-in-the-dark lantern, the rocking chair was a major factor in my decision to buy all three members of the Wyatt family.

I know even less about Erick Rowan than I know about Luke Harper. Rowan pretty much just beats people up. Let’s see if the copy people at Mattel were able to come up with a hundred words of bio for this guy!

FIRST GLANCE

The Luke Harper figure is quite tall and imposing, but Rowan is a behemoth. This is a very large figure in both width and height. In a way he’s the creepiest of the Wyatt’s, even without the sheep mask. His nondescript coveralls and resting murderface create quite the imposing figure. Action figure, that is.

PACKAGING

The WWE Elite series packaging is nice. It isn’t too overdone and fits the figures nicely without a ton of wasted space. The shape and graphics are eye catching and I like that the graphic depicting the wrestlers is nice and big, it’s on the front of the box in a prominent position, and it doesn’t block any portion of the figure. 

 

Completing the trifecta of oddly wrong descriptions, Harper’s package calls his mask a “lamb mask”. While I suppose that’s even creepier than a sheep, I feel like the actual mask – and the toy representation – looks more like a grown sheep. I dunno. I also find it odd that they didn’t specify that this is a rocking chair. “Chair” just doesn’t cut it, especially when the thing comes disassembled and you can’t tell from looking at it in the package. I know this is nitpicking, but it just strikes me as odd.

But really, what do I care? I throw the boxes away anyway.

Holy crap. Rowan got a full sixteen more words than Harper. And more words specifically about him.

As I’ve been saying in the other reviews, I really appreciate that Mattel is doing full bios on these figures. 

 

LOOKS

So angry!

Mattel captured the sloping forehead and mean eyes perfectly. This figure looks like it would just as soon eat you as shake your hand. Which is what Luke Harper looks like. The proportions of the face are great and the texture of the beard is fantastic. I like to think of myself as something of an action figure beard aficionado and this is one fine beard. It has all of the weight and thickness of Harper’s tangled whiskers.

I could go on and on about this figure’s beard, and I probably should because the only other thing to talk about are his coveralls.

Don’t get me wrong – they’re nice coveralls. Mattel did a great job with the shape. Coveralls are very long in the torso, so it wouldn’t have looked right to just use a regular pants shape. Harper has an unusually long waist piece and shorter legs, which work together to create the right shape. There are sculpted seams and pockets and the cuffs on the legs are very wide, as they should be. The open shoulders protrude out over the arms, but they don’t restrict the movement.

Rowan’s boots are detailed with laces and seams. His arms… they’re just arms. There is absolutely nothing I can say about his arms. This figure looks really good, but there just isn’t much to it.

ACCESSORIES

Rowan comes with a “lamb” mask and a rocking chair.

The mask has a great sculpt and fits perfectly onto the figure’s face. And stays put, which is quite an accomplishment. This is due to the mask actually having an impression of the figure’s face on the inside. This means it essentially clips on. My only gripe is that the actual mask has cracks and wear on it. This one is a bit too pristine. As light on deco as this figure is I would think they could’ve painted some cracks on this mask.

The rocking chair is awesome because it gave me something to put together. Something that actually required instructions. Once it is put together it looks great. Figures can sit in it and it rocks. I think that’s fun. The most impressive thing about it is that it doesn’t have any hollow parts. There aren’t any exposed areas that ruin the profile. 

 

FUN

Speaking of fun, these Elite series figures look great and are fun to play with. I think Mattel has pushed articulation about as far as it can go without screwing up the aesthetics of the figures and producing weird-looking figures like Bandai and Revoltech do. While Rowan’s knees do look a bit funky when posed, otherwise it’s a great blend of looks and functionality. The figure can certainly achieve any of the poses and moves you’ve seen Erick Rowan perform.

The excellent accessories definitely add to the fun factor of this figure. The mask works very well and adds a lot of play value. And the rocking chair is all kinds of great. The figure can sit in it, it actually rocks, and it can even be picked up and used as a weapon. If you break it down into its parts you have a bunch of weapons! I never imagined I’d be so enthusiastic about a toy rocking chair, but this thing really is great. 

 

OVERALL

This is a great, creepy figure. What’s so cool about the Wyatts is that they work as creepy figures as well as wrestlers. I kind of wish the WWE figures were 6” scale and could integrate with my Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics, but in all honesty they might be more at home near my NECA shelves anyway.

I recommend all three figures – Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan. They’re cool individually and GREAT as a set:

Not since my Devil’s Rejects figures have I picked up such ruthless rednecks.

4 out of 5

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