In the past couple of years, Mattel has been re-imagining WWE Superstars and turning them into Zombies, Mutants, and now as Monsters. This horror-theme line-up is the latest offering of this line, and recreates both classic and modern WWE Superstars as some of the Universal Monsters that fans adore. This line-up includes Roman Reigns as a werewolf, Chris Jericho as a Mummy, Braun Strowman as Frankenstein’s monster, The Undertaker as a Vampire Bat, Jake “The Snake” Roberts as a Snake Creature, and Asuka a Phantom.
Availability: March 2018
WWE is a show that brings back some very fond memories growing up in the 1980’s, and we got to see some of the legends in their prime. This includes Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Undertaker, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Million Dollar Man and many more greats as the 80’s and 90’s helped build the building blocks for this sport, while getting new generations of fans as it went on. In the past decade, Mattel has been offering some of the best Wrestling figures that fans could hope for, which includes 6″ scale and loaded with detail and articulation. While we don’t normally get the opportunity to showcase many of these, as well as not really having the knowledge of recent events in the franchise as well as characters, we do enjoy checking out the displays at trade shows as well as the toy aisles.
The most recent horror theme line by Mattel is called WWE Monsters, and re-imagines both classic and modern WWE Superstars are disguised to haunt your toy shelves.
The Undertaker is one of the oldest and most legendary characters in Wrestling history, having debuted with the WCW in 1984 (has it really been that long?) and is still active today. The character is now transformed as a Vampire Bat with wings, and definitely an opponent that you wouldn’t want to face off in the ring.
The Undertaker stands at roughly 8″ tall with the wings extended, and he is sculpted in his black and purple uniform. The shirt and skirt are made of soft plastic, and the shirt is torn in various places on the body. The skirt has purple deco on the edges and part of the pattern, and there are also patterns left in black deco on the skirt that are sculpted on. The arms are covered in tattoos, which includes skulls, faces, and various other objects, and are painted in nicely crisp black lines and detailed patterns. The hands appear to be clawed, with the fingers appear to be sharp, long, and just menacing. The head sculpt and the wings truly make the figure great, with his facial details designed as a bat with an open mouth, purple tongue hanging out, fangs, white eyes, and pointy bat ears. The wings are hinged, and are painted in the same light grey as the skin on the bones and back, and purple on the inside of the wings themselves with some holes and veins. The pants are painted in black, and the boots have a brown wash over it in the front.
Included with the Undertaker is a removable hat, with holes on the top so that his ears can fit through, and sharp objects around the rim.
Jake The Snake Roberts is the only other familiar character to us in this wave, as the character has appeared in Wrestling since 1974, and made a name for himself in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Jake the Snake is now a Snake Creature, with two large snakes sculpted around his chest and back.
The snakes include hinged jaws, red tongues that stick out, and are painted in light and dark shades of green. The snakes are also textured on the skin, and this makes them look realistic. The snakes also have large fangs, yellow and black eyes, and looks menacing enough. What is different about Jake Roberts himself is the fact that his head sculpt has been changed to resemble a serpent, with fangs and yellow and black eyes. What is also unique on this figure is the fact that the top of his chest, shoulders and back also have snake skin, with green deco blending into the skin tone. The rest of the figure sculpt looks normal, with the stomach, lower back and arms not changed. He is sculpted in light blue pants and black boots with a brown wash in the front.
Asuka is sculpted to represent a Phantom, and includes a facial sculpt that will terrify her opponents. The head sculpt includes a wide open mouth with fangs, and the mouth looks to have been replaced with a new mouth piece with a beige jaw that is sculpted underneath the mouth wit the cheeks with torn flesh on either side of the mouth piece. There is also a purple stripe acorns her face, with black eyes. Her hair is made of soft plastic, and is painted with brown and purple wash. Her body looks to be unchanged, and is painted a white flesh tone, and a brown wrestling outfit. She has black tattoos on her forearms that are nicely detailed and painted in black, and some purple and blue deco on her right bicep, left forearm, and right thigh. Her toes are out of the shoes. Included with Asuka is a phantom mask that is painted in white and black lines and eyes.
Braun Strowman is sculpted as Frankenstein’s monster, and the figure features a nicely detailed sculpt that is made up of multiple body parts and clothing stitched together. His head sculpt includes his brown hair, with the pony tail in the back and long beard, and has some green flesh stitched to the right side of his forehead, and a silver plate on the right side. The chest has clothing stitched on the flesh, with blue veins on his chest and back. His right arm includes a tattoo on the shoulder and bicep, with some of it around the shoulder on the chest. This tattoo includes detailed deco with nicely crisp lines and patterns. The arms also have multiple layers of flesh stitched together, which includes light blue and green deco. The pants remain unchanged, and are painted with a purple belt and silver belt buckle, metallic light brown, black boots with a brown wash in the front.
Roman Reigns features the likeness of a werewolf, and his head sculpt includes fangs in a snarling position, and yellow wolf eyes. The head sculpt also includes his long black hair, beard and a mustache, and only the facial details look different. His hands are sculpted in a claw position, with pointy fingernails and long fingers. His feet also resemble that of a werewolf, with the toes bursting through the boots and are now long sharp nails that curl. The rest of the figure appears to be unchanged from his appearance, with the exception of his shirt being town on the chest, around the shoulders and on the bottom. The shirt is painted in a dark grey with a yellow and black design, and he has a light grey and black stripe bandages on his forearms. The pants are painted in black, as are the boots. There is brown wash on the front of the boots, and bottom of the pants.
Chris Jericho is sculpted as a Mummy, and is wrapped up with bandages around his chest, back, shoulders and the top of his legs. His skin tone is purple, which reminds of Purple Man from Marvel Comics. The figure also has an Egyptian theme to the costume, wit ha yellow and light blue piece around his neck, and is sculpted over the bandages. The bandages are painted to look dirty, with a light grey deco and a brown wash. Parts of his skin are shown through the bandages on his chest, back and right arm. His wrists are covered with a yellow bracelet with a light blue ruby, and his hands are purple, with the right one open, and the left one fisted. His shorts are painted in yellow, with the name Jericho painted in black and yellow in the front. His knees are covered in a yellow soft plastic pieces that are part of the wrestling outfit, and the boots are yellow with black detailed deco with the words Jericho on the front. His head sculpt is nicely detailed with light brown hair, mustache, beard, yellow eyes, and the same dark purple skin tone as the rest of the body. Included is a tablet with the words The List of Jericho sculpted in it.
Overall, Mattel has once again offered an incredible wave of WWE figures with a horror theme twist to it. These Monsters will definitely haunt your toy shelves and Wrestling figure collection, and fits in great with the previously released Zombies and Mutants figures.
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