Let’s
talk about Kane.
I
have no idea how to talk about Kane.
I
have a lot of respect for the guy as a performer. He has taken
everything that WWF/E has handed him over the years and made the best
of it. He has been terrifying, powerful, tragic, and even at times
hilarious. It’s interesting to note that at this point in his
career, Kane has spent more time unmasked than masked, though I will
always prefer the menacing, masked Big Red Machine over Corporate
Kane or any other maskless variations.
Obviously
I like masks.
And
that’s another testament to this performers’ ability – even
after so many years and so, so
many bad storylines, we still love Kane. We still want to see that
ominous shadow emerge from the locker room.
This
special WrestleMania Heritage figure depicts Kane as he appeared at
WrestleMania
2000. I didn’t even realize it when I first saw him, but this is
his gear with inverted colors. When Kane first appeared he was in red
with black highlights. This was not the first variation of his gear,
but it was the first time the colors were different. I thought it
looked awesome and this was the Kane I used in WWF
No Mercy,
the greatest wrestling video game of all time.
You
might be wondering what the big, important match was at WrestleMania
2000
that inspired Kane to switch his colors and Mattel to make this
figure. Surely it must have been an epic confrontation with
Undertaker or Triple H, or maybe one of Kane’s brawls with Stone
Cold Steve Austin. Nope. He teamed up with Rikishi to face X-Pac and
Road Dogg.
Side
Note: WrestleMania
2000
is my favorite of all the WrestleManias. Not for the content, but for
the event. The then-WWF offered a day-long programming package
leading up to the pay-per-view that featured specials focusing on
each of the past ‘Manias. We had a ton of people over and just
watched WWF programming all day. It was one of the best times I’ve
ever had. Keep in mind – back in 2000 those past ‘Manias weren’t
even readily available on VHS, much less a 24 hour on-demand service
where you could watch them any time you want. So it was very special
to be looking back at them all day long.
First
Glance
Man,
I love the original Kane mask. Obviously I empathize with the guy
wanting less and less mask over the years, but this one is just so
damned scary. Especially with the different red-on-black design.
The
key details all seem right, but I’m not sure Kane was this slim in
2000.
Packaging
This
is basically the Elite style packaging, but with different graphics
to denote the WrestleMania specialness. These definitely stand out on
the peg. I had been keeping an eye out for them because I wasn’t
sure where they would show up first (as of this writing I still
haven’t seen them anywhere but the Target where I bought them, and
they’re long gone from there). These ‘Mania-specific collections
tend to show up at Toys R Us first for whatever reason, but I still
haven’t seen these Elites there. They do have the two-packs and
single regular figures, though.
Oh,
yeah – packaging.
It
looks great. It caught my eye the second I got to the aisle in
Target.
I’m
disappointed by the back in many ways. You guy know I like a bio and
these newest Elite figures have reduced that to a list of stats that
often aren’t even relevant. Or close to accurate, in this case. At
no point in his career has Kane been 6’1” and 212 lbs. That’s
just dumb. He wasn’t called “The Devil’s Favorite Demon”
until a couple of years ago, so that shouldn’t be on this
Kane (and also I hate that nickname). And why the heck would you list
Team Hell No as an affiliation and not Brothers of Destruction or
Rikishi, who is actually
the guy he tagged with at this pay-per-view?
This
is a moronic and just plain wrong collection of trivia and Mattel
should really look at hiring a different copy person. One that can
verify these things off the top of their head and has actually
witnessed many of the milestones that they will be producing toys for
over the coming years.
Someone
like me.
I
would’ve put “Electrocuting Shane McMahon’s Testicles” under
Career Highlights.
Looks
The
figure is too skinny to be Kane in 2000, but let’s move past that.
It
would be kind of hard to screw up Kane’s mask. They nailed all of
the seams and even the layering of the mask. The portion covering the
mouth actually sits under the rest. His nose is just revealed enough
and the paint is clean. There’s even a bit of sculpted and painted
beard under the chin. The hair could use some paint, but the sculpt
looks great. It resembles the tumble of wet, wavy hair that was
always pouting out of Kane’s mask.
Here’s
a thing I guess I have to address – the paint apps on Mattel’s
Elite figures. They stick with “just enough to get by”. I don’t
feel like there are ever parts that are just straight-up unpainted,
but Mattel doesn’t do any
detailing – washes or highlights. The thing is, it doesn’t bother
me. While this is a cost issue masquerading as a style decision, it
works. The line has its accurate-but-simplistic style and it works.
When more detailed and intense deco is required, they do it. But if
it isn’t absolutely necessary – like a wash on Kane’s hair –
they don’t bother. I think I’m pretty much okay with it.
I’m
impressed with the sculpting on Kane’s upper torso. The high neck
of his shirt looks
like a shirt and not just a painted neck. The same goes for the
sculpted trim of his open left sleeve – the trim and the studs are
sculpted and not just painted. Of course, that makes his painted-on
studded belt a let-down. Would it really have been that pricey to put
a belt on this guy? Aside from making him physically thicker that’s
all it would have taken for this to have been a perfect figure. It is
a nice touch that they used a glossier paint for the red portions,
giving them the appearance of shiny PVC material while the black
portions are a flatter, textured plastic.
Kane’s
arms look good. The glove and wristband pieces have sculpted studs
and stand out nicely.
The
boots are tall and glossy, with great sculpted detail on the folds
and on the laces and eyelets.
Accessories
Kane
comes with a stretcher and a fire extinguisher.
The
stretcher is a big hunk of plastic molded out of the most unappealing
blue I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty ugly. There’s no paint and
it’s just… flat. But you can put a guy on it and have two other
guys carry him, so it does what it’s supposed to do.
The
fire extinguisher is, at least, more than one color. It looks fine
(but could obviously be better with paint) and the figures can hold
it as though they were actually fighting a fire. Or conking someone
in the head. I like to think that Kane is extremely fire conscious
and that this is simply the personal extinguisher he carries
everywhere with him.
He
also carries the stretcher because he’s Kane and he just walks
around all day fucking people up.
Fun
These
Elite style figures have great articulation and can do just about
anything you would need a wrestling figure to do. The only way to get
more poses out of them would be to either make them bendies or just
make them lousy with joints, which would make them ugly and I
wouldn’t buy them. In my opinion Mattel has hit the perfect balance
between articulation and aesthetics.
And
playability, for that matter, because these guys are sturdy. They’re
going to survive a seven year old wrestling fan.
The
accessories may not be pretty, but they add a lot of options. Kane
can be the firefighter or paramedic of your collection or he can just
go around hitting people with things. Both items interact with the
figures in satisfying ways.
Overall
Kane
could be better. I really am disappointed about the belt, even more
so than his slim physique. Kane 2000 was a Kane that liked
cheeseburgers and pie. But I doubt we’ll see this particular
costume variation again any time soon – if ever – so if you’re
a fan of fully-clothed Kane this is a pretty good one to have. This
is still my favorite color scheme for his old gear.
4
out of 5
I’d
be delighted if you bought yourself a Kane from Amazon to help the
site out, but honestly just keep an eye on that price for a while.
You shouldn’t have to pay more than twenty bucks for this guy:
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