Ravishing Rick Rude

So here’s something interesting, the pair of legs for the build-a-figure that comes with this figure has almost as many points of articulation than the figure itself. The legs, with their double jointed knees, have ten points of articulation to Rick’s 15. I’ve wanted a Rick Rude figure for a while to indulge in some old school wrestling nostalgia, and $5 clearance was the right price. But if I’m being honest, the thing that sold me were the legs. I want to build a Howard Finkel figure, because holy crap they made a Howard Finkel figure.

Bayley

I don't pay attention to WWE figure schedules, but this blindsided me. It's a wave of NXT figures that's a Target Exclusive. This specific Elite figure and all the basic figures come with Tubeman BAF parts. 

They made wacky waving inflatable tubeman action figures. Kinda expensive, but this one comes with a bonus Bayley figure. 

Sadly, I don't want any of the other figures that come with tubeman parts, but if I did, oh man I would be so on that. I'm really hoping for some showing up cheap on ebay in a few months once they're easier to find in stores. (Right now the tubemen as loose parts are going for more than the cost of the figures.)

Alexa Bliss

Thanks to the Topps WWE Slam card trading app, where you trade virtual cards with other people, I've gotten into the WWE again. Kinda. Mostly I've gotten into the Smackdown show and the recent developments in the Women's division. The last time I was into professional wrestling was the late 90's and back then the women's division was pretty much an excuse for T&A spectacle with a token attempt at wrestling. Most of the wrestlers were models who lucked into WWE contracts and a few of them took their jobs seriously enough that they held some decent matches. 

But these days the women's roster is filled with people who were wrestling fans or children of professional wrestlers, so before they joined the WWE they took learning pro-wrestling seriously. As a result, the current Women's division of the WWE is filled with strong wrestlers who are ignoring the T&A elements of professional wrestling to instead put beat the crap out of each other. Plus the writers are taking things seriously as well, and a result the storylines  and matches the women are doing revolve around proving who the best wrestlers are rather than coming up with gimmicks to strip the women down to their underwear/ It's insanely fun to watch.

So hey! I'm totally down to buy WWE action figures again. Now when it comes to the figures of male wrestlers, the more expensive Elite figures have better articulation and a couple accessories. The Basic figures are missing some joints and rarely come with an accessory. But the female wrestlers have the same articulation regardless if they're basic or Elite figures, the only difference is accessories and costume design. So if you're looking to pick up some female wrestling action figures you get to save some cash.

The figures are pretty damned decent for about $10. (Oddly this is one of the price points where Toys R Us is cheaper than Target.) The likeness is so-so, which is really weird considering they use the live-scan technology where they make a scan of each wrestler's likeness by sitting them down and scanning their head to make a 3-D model. But you can tell which person it is, and it's $10, so it's good enough. 

This is Alexis Bliss. She started out as a pixie girl type character, but really took off once she adopted a mean girl persona and became a heel. Since she's moved to the Smackdown show she's become insanely popular so I was really looking forward to this figure. Again: the face is decent enough and the expression is neat. The figure itself is totally worth $10. Hooray.

WWE Stackdown Wrestling Ring

A building brick wrestling ring? I've wanted this ever since the WWE Stackdown sets were announced. Of course it's ridiculously expensive.

So first things first, this is C3, which is the Art Asylum building bricks that they created to make vehicles the first time they tried their hand at DC Comics minimates. Then as now, the bricks didn't feel as solid or strong as Lego bricks, but that's a complaint that can be leveled at almost all brick building sets.

In this particular instance though, it's a real problem. You see, the larger plates have a tendency to warp a little, so trying to stack a plate on top of another plate results in frustration as one corner keeps popping up, no matter how hard you try to flatten it or make it stick to the plate underneath. Which wouldn't normally be a problem except that this ring build requires you to place four plates on top of four other plates and the end result was I just removed an entire layer of plates from the build to get the bricks to stay attached to one another. So the base isn't as solid as it should be.

Actually, nothing sticks to the plates very well. Those steps keep feeling like they're about to pop off on their own.

And that's my main problem with this set. The bricks don't feel solid once you connect them. They feel flimsy, like they'll break apart if you just leave them there. The final build doesn't feel strong. This could also be an issue with how the build is constructed, the placement of bricks doesn't feel like they're forming a strong foundation to build off of.

On the bright side, once it's all put together, it looks nice, even if I have ignored using the provided cardboard bunting for the ring. It's just too branded for my tastes.

The minifigures are very basic. They lack the iconic look of Lego minifigures, or the Lego feeling of solid plastic. They're more like Mega Blok figures, but with a surprising amount of articulation. Even so, I've ignored most of these in favor of using minimates. (The first waves of DC Minimates came with C3 sets, so their feet were designed to plug into building bricks. Since that time all minimates have what are called "C3 feet" which means they can be plugged into any traditionally designed building brick.)

Santino Marella

I didn't buy this figure, but holy crap did I want to. Not because I know the character or follow wrestling, because I don't, but it's a 6-inch wrestling figure with a sock puppet on his hand.

Sharkboy

I've never watched TNA wrestling so I'm not familiar with the Sharkboy character. For all I know he could be a jobber. But I did see an MTV documentary about prowrestling back in 2000 that talked to wrestling school students, one of which was working on developing his in ring persona: Sharkboy. So it's nice to see that he made it.

Of course that's not enough to get me to buy an action figure. What really sold me, aside from the $5 sale price, was his ridiculous/awesome costume. The luchador shark mask is worth the price of admission alone. Add in the name emblazoned across his tights like an 70's plastic apron that came with a cheap Halloween costume you bought from a drugstore. That is amazingly cheesy/ gaudy. It's like a stereotype of how a pro wrestler should look. How can you not love that.

And shockingly, it has amazing articulation. It's articulated like a Marvel Legend figure, with double joint knees. That makes Sharkboy seem like a very flexible wrestler.

"Macho Man" Randy Savage memorial toy purchase

So just like everyone else, apparently, after the Macho Man died I really wanted a toy of him. I hope it's just because the realization of his mortality and passing galvanized an already strong desire to own a momento to his awesomeness and not some morbid "liking toys of dead people" fascination. Irregardless, everyone wanted one, and of course that meant it was damn near impossible to find one at a reasonable price. Fricking Grey Market.

Seriously, I ended up getting this one in a two pack with John Morrison, and you know what? It cost the same as the single card Macho Man (same toy but different paint and with a cloth t-shirt) was going for on e-bay before shipping. Even though I didn't want John Morrison, it turned out to be a good deal because Morrison ended up as custom fodder in an experiment to see if the heads on the WWE Classics and DC Universe Classics are compatible. They are, thanks Mattel.

Anyway, Mattel makes this figure, so it's almost exactly like a DCUC figure, except that for some reason there's a limited range of movement on the shoulder joints. There are just some poses the figure won't do, like say, arms straight out to his sides like an airplaine. Oh man, I just realized, it has the same limited movement as John McCain.

Head Swapping, as far as I'm willing to go.

So since I've gotten a few doubles when it comes to Green Lantern Classics series, I thought this would be a good chance to try my hand at head swapping. Let's see what I've got.

Metallo head on a Low body. I like this. The Metallo head isn't iconic enough to make you think "Oh, Metallo joined the Sinestro Corps." So in theory this could be just a robot that joined the Sinestro Corps. Shame about the hands though, I'll need to figure a solution to things like this.

A WWE wrestler's head (John Morrison) on a Hal Jordan body. Sort of works. But I don't like the design of the John Morrison head, and I have no idea who John Morrison is, but his name was on the box. It's okay, but I think I'll keep looking for a better head to place on there.

If you're wondering what I did with the John Morrison body, well, you see, I had an extra Skallox head so...

I feel like I've seen this guy in a Clive Barker movie. Doesn't matter. I'm keeping him. Hell, I'd display him at work if I didn't think it would cause problems.

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Okay, it's not the best likeness of the Piper, or even his most iconic costume, but hell, it's a small vinyl figure of Rowdy Roddy Piper. This dude:



Also, it only cost 50 cents because I found it in the discount bin of a discount store. I tried to look fore other gems, but then a staple stabbed me under my finger nail and I lost the will to do anything.

If you're wondering, there are better Piper figures out there. You know, like the one where you find out from the profile that he's Destro's brother and helping train the Iron Grenadiers. So technically Roddy is a terrorist in the GIJoe universe.