I should make it clear right now that I was not a fan of "New World Order" back in the '90s. In fact I hated that faction. Not just because they were a major part of WCW (which, I didn't care for either), but also because "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan was part of it and I hated him for leaving the WWF and eventually turning heel. Adding to my disgust of the "nWo" was the fact that they kept recruiting some of my favorite wrestling stars: Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Diesel (Kevin Nash) and then Randy "Macho Man" Savage ("Macho Man" Randy Savage).
Today I appreciate WCW and the NWO as an important part of professional wrestling history. If not for the rise of WCW and the "Monday Night Wars", we wouldn't of had such awesome programming in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. Mattel's already released some prominent WCW-era Superstars and they continue with one of their RSC-exclusive
WWE Elite Flashback figures this year, Randy Savage!
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
WWE Elite Collection - Flashback
Mattel/ 7" Scale
$25.99 (RSC Exclusive)
As I stated in my
review of Kevin Nash yesterday, Mattel's still pumping out "Legends" figures via the retail Elite line. However, Ringside Collectibles continues to secure some highly-soughtafter exclusives in the Flashback subline. This latest Macho Man figure (his fifth Elite-level release!) comes to us in NWO gear including his removable shirt, sunglasses, bandana and weight belt.
The bandana and sunglasses utilize the molds we first saw with
Savage's Legends figure, but were also featured with his All-Stars figure. The sunglasses are the one constant accessory with every Macho Man figure release. This time around the pieces are molded in black plastic and feature white decos specific to his costume. "MADNESS" is running wild over the bandana while his glasses have tiny spikes all around the lens area.
Savage's t-shirt is made of soft, pliable plastic similar to
Elite 12's Randy Orton, although Macho's is much thinner and much less obstructive. Helping matters more, it's technically sleeveless, so his arms are able to move freely. The shirt has three small pegs on each side that hold it together and is simple to remove. Once you undo the pegs you just lift the shirt up, over his head. The printing on the shirt is great and considering it's white paint on black plastic I expected the apps to be week, but the paint was applied thick enough to cover up well. The detail is sharp, too! The small "nWo" logo near the bottom of the shirt is crisp.
Once you remove Macho's shirt you find his fourth and final accessory: his stylized weight belt. It's molded in white plastic and is a single piece with a peg disguised as part of the belt's closure. The word "MADNESS" makes it's third appearance on the Randy's belt. It's printed in silver paint with a black outline helping it standout from the white background.
The belt is a nice touch, the only issue with it is that you can't tie it over his t-shirt the way Macho Man wore it to the ring. That may be more of a complaint on the shirt, though, if it was made of cloth it wouldn't be a problem. All things considering, I prefer the plastic t-shirt in this case.
Without his accessories, NWO Macho Man is a straight reuse of his
Defining Moments figure (Nope, I haven't reviewed it. Weird, right?) with two exceptions: his head and the boot tassles. The head is almost identical to the previous one, but features Savage in his trademark... smile? Smirk? Growl? I don't know what to call that face, but he used to make it all the time. Anyway, I think we can all agree it looks best while he's wearing the goggles, right?
The boot tassels were first seen on Legends series 3
British Bulldog and later on
Texas Tornado. Like Bulldog's these are molded in white, but required no additional painting. Most of the paint on Savage's body is reserved for his starry tights which are exceptionally done. Every five-point star is sharp with clean lines.
One thing I'm not exactly sure about are his hands and wrists. The figure just uses the same old paint apps with white paint used on his fingers, hands and wrists to recreate his tape. On the box art Savage is sporting open-finger gloves that extend over his wrists. What I'm confused about is what did he actually wrestle with. The videos I checked out on YouTube were inconclusive. Some showed him wearing full black gloves, others showed something similar to the artwork, while another just featured Savage with simple black tape around his wrists. I think the figure would look better with either short, fingerless gloves or the ones seen on the package. I can't say it deters from the overall look of the figure, but I feel it would enhance it.
Good news/bad news time. First the bad. NWO Savage is an online exclusive, which means if you want one you HAVE to order from RSC. The good news, he's only $26 (plus shipping) and still in-stock. I would normally bitch about that price, but Elites are costing me $20 at retail. Six more dollars for an exclusive figure isn't bad when you factor that in.
Plus, he's a great exclusive! He has the right amount of accessories, a new head sculpt and it's motherf*cking Randy Savage! Don't miss out!
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