Happy Halloween and welcome to the newest spooky toy
review on Needless Things!
In last week’s review of Zombie Paige I explained how I had unloaded most of my wrestling
toys but that the strangely appropriate combination of horror and wrestling in
the form of the WWE Zombies line had hooked me back in.
It’s a bit odd that Mattel and WWE are going this route
with their action figures. Back in the day, JAKKS Pacific tried all kinds of
different gimmicks – armored science fiction themes, stretchy figures, and even
figures that would sweat (that initially were meant to bleed, but JAKKS wisely
removed the red liquid from the equation). But Mattel has, for the most part,
been much more conservative with their products; remaining content to simply
provide some of the best-looking toys on the market.
Lately that has changed with the addition of their
build-a-figure line and now WWE Zombies. What’s so odd is that WWE has been very serious about maintaining a PG-TV
image for many years now and this Zombie line is absolutely gruesome. These are some of the goriest
action figures I’ve seen at mass market retail outside of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead line, and that’s a
whole different animal from the generally kid-friendly WWE section.
WWE has been getting a bit more edgy lately. Wrestlers
have been getting color (bleeding) from time to time, up to and including Randy
Orton getting his head peeled open by Brock Lesnar’s brutal elbows (and yes –
this was planned; if you think Brock was going into business for himself and
that WWE didn’t okay it you’re a bigger mark than Marky Wahlberg). Language and
humor has been a bit saltier. I don’t think we’ll ever see the ridiculous
sexuality and violence of the Attitude Era (at least I hope not), but I do
think a bit more grit is good.
If we’re getting gritty, there’s no better gimmick to me
than releasing some zombie figures around the Halloween season. These are gross
and creepy and awesome and I’m thrilled to see something so different from
Mattel.
If you want to hear more about horror and wrestling,
check out last year’s Needless
Things Podcast about horror gimmicks in wrestling!
FIRST
GLANCE
Out of the four Zombies that I picked up, Bray is
probably the least disgusting. From the waist up he’s just a color variant. But
considering how creepy the patriarch of the Wyatt is anyway, it didn’t take
much to make him into a disturbing monster.
PACKAGING
I actually had a tough time deciding to open these. I
knew I wanted to review them – part of my rationalization for buying them was
that I’d be able to do one a week for 31 Days of Halloween. But the cardbacks
looked nice and the blisters are among the best I’ve ever seen.
Each character has a uniquely designed plastic blister,
which blows my mind. Bray has a round blister with a sort of cobblestone design
on it. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be stone or just an earthen mound or maybe
even smoke, but it’s weird and distinctive.
The back of the card features a brief blurb that made me
laugh out loud. “Eater of BRAAAAINS”.
LOOKS
The zombie effect of the upper portion of this figure is
mostly achieved through color, but it is done very well. The head sports a
great likeness that is turned undead through paint. The ghastly green skin and
whited-out eyes create a great look, especially with the expression on Bray’s
face. The beard has a great sculpt, as does the hair, which is a separate but
permanently attached piece (if Mattel wanted to get really gruesome it could
have been removable and had an exposed brain underneath).
Bray’s tattoos are accurately represented, but in all
black, which is fine given the nature of the toy. His shirt has sculpted folds
and even a pocket, as well as some painted-on grime (blood?). I’m not crazy
about the wrapping on the right arm. It’s all paint and no sculpt and brings
the figure down a notch.
At first I was disappointed that the only damage was on
the figure’s legs, but the sculpting is all so well-executed that I can’t complain.
The boots look amazing, with tons of sculpted detail and paint. The right trouser
leg is torn off just above the boot, exposing some torn muscle with two shades
of paint, not to mention the dirt around the torn leg.
There’s a big hole in the left knee of the trousers,
exposing a green zombie knee. There’s a ton of bloody/dirty paint all down the
leg. Above that is another tear, but this one reveals a gruesome wound painted glossy
red. There are actually sculpted tears and wounds all over the pants, but some
are painted and some are not. It’s not terrible, but the ones that are just
untouched white are odd.
ACCESSORIES
The figure comes with one of
Bray Wyatt’s ring vests. The sculpt is fantastic and I am surprised by the
paint wash. These figures are $12.99 – not Basic but also not Elite – and I
think Mattel could have gotten away with just brown plastic for this. I’m glad
they didn’t.
The vest slides on and off
of the figure easily. It has to go on top of the hair, so it sits a little
high, but it still looks good.
FUN
Mattel has two ranges of standard WWE action figures –
Basic and Elite. Elites are super articulated, have detailed paint apps, and
cost twenty bucks or more. Basics have much less articulation and paint and
cost half as much. I have to say – the ten dollar basic figures are the best
deals on the toy market right now.
As a cost-saving measure, Mattel will carry accessories
from the Elite line to the Basic line when it makes sense. So a Basic figure
might actually end up with some fancy HHH kneepads or something only because it
costs Mattel less to do it that way.
This figure has a very good amount of articulation for a
Basic figure. The shoulders are ball jointed with bicep swivels, the wrists swivel
and pivot, and even the covered left boot has a swivel at the top under the
trouser leg. The only significantly limited joints are the hips, which are
simple pivoting joints. You can still achieve a wide variety of poses with this
figure.
OVERALL
This is my go-to Bray Wyatt action figure. The crazed
face creates a story in my mind where Bray has managed to retain his cognizance
after being infected and is plotting to take over the undead masses. I love the
paint work on this one and the vest is such a nice piece that Mattel could have
easily gone cheaper on or even left out entirely.
This is a great figure at a great value, but I do have to
knock it down a bit for some of the more glaring cost-cutting. I think I would’ve
given up the vest for sculpted arm wrap and paint in all of the wounds.
4
out of 5
If you want one, buy from Amazon and help Needless Things
pay the bills!:
I love this figure! He was the first one I grabbed when I found this series. Heck, the Elite Bray Wyatt from a few years back (red shirt) was the first wrestling action figure I ever purchased. I love the Wyatts and I'm pretty pleased that Bray got a win this past weekend at No Mercy!
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that Bray seems to be back on track. He was awesome confronting Braun on RAW Monday (who I also like a lot right now). Haven't had a chance to watch SD yet - hopefully tonight. I can't wait for Survivor Series Sunday night.
DeleteI can't help wishing that his head would flip over backwards so he could do his creepy upside-down face without bending back into the spider crawl.
ReplyDeleteHe can sort of do it, I just wish his hair would hang right!
Delete