Intro:
Well,
it’s that time of the year again for wrestling fans all over the world. It’s
time for the grandest stage of them all. This is like the World Cup for
Football & Rugby; the Olympics; the Commonwealth Games; the… well, ehem…
you get the picture.
Well,
it’s time for WRESTLEMANIA!!!
Typically,
the night before Wrestlemania, WWE would also host its annual WWE Hall of Fame
Induction ceremony, and this year is not an exception. This year’s Hall of Fame
inductees truly worthy of their induction into this elite group, although I do
question the logic in the induction of Donald Trump? Why? Just because he’s BFF
with Vince O’Mac?
Anyways,
the lineup for this year’s induction are truly amazing, each of them are
legends in their own right – along with the aforementioned Donald Trump, Bruno Sammartino
(the man with the longest title reigns in history – 7 and 11 years
respectively, and also touted as the man who made famous Madison Square
Garden); Bob Backlund (the man with the second longest undisrupted title reign in
history with 5 years); Trish Stratus (arguably the best female wrestler in past
20 years); Booker T (6-time world champion, with a record of 11-time World Tag
Team Champion – one half of one of the greatest tag teams in history, Harlem
Heat).
Last,
but it’s sure damn well ain’t the least, the Hardcore Legend himself, Mrs.
Foley’s baby boy – Mick, who is known all around the world with his 3 wrestling
personas – the hardcore-crazed and trigger-happy Cactus Jack; the hippy chick
magnet Dude Love; and the deranged Mankind.
Of
all the characters, my personal favorite would be Mankind. This is a character,
with character. He’s probably the sickest and craziest of the trio. My fondest
memories of Mick Foley as a wrestler and there are 3 of those: first was during
the 1998 Royal Rumble when Mick participated the Rumble under all 3 different
personas.
Second
was when Mick won his first of three WWF Championships on Raw is War, back in
January 4, 1999, when he beat The Rock to the title; and thirdly, who can
forget that most memorable match of all time, and probably had gone down in
history as the greatest Hell in the Cell match in history – a match with The
Undertaker in the 1998 King of the Ring.
That
was definitely my most favorite match of all time.
I
think that you all can see the pattern building now – in all three of those
memorable matches, they involved the character Mankind. And so, what better way for New Planet Cybertron to pay a
tribute to this wonderful and fearless performer – probably one of the
resilient individuals on this planet, based on the physical abuses that he has
taken throughout his entire career – than to have a special review on him.
We don’t usually
do wrestling reviews, but we’re willing to make this an exception.
This particular
figure – that of Mankind – was a figure that I got way back in 1999, when I won
4th place in a contest held by The Star newspaper, in a weekly
column called Ring Post. I had won the 3-Faces of Foley documentary DVD (or was
it CD?), a poster, and best of all, this particular figure.
This was from a
time when Jakks Pacific still held the rights to produce action figure for WWF/E
wrestlers.
So I think, we
have had quite an intro already, so let’s get on with the meats and potatoes…
Action
Figure:
This
figure has very detailed designs. I absolutely love the amount of design
considerations that they have infused into this figure.
The
head sculpt is pretty darn good, and they got the hair and mask perfectly
right. The outfit that he wears, as a nod to his hardcore tradition, is custom
faded with that classic torn and worn out look.
He
even has a necktie!
Articulation-wise:
the head turns left and right limitedly – the shirt collar is clearly blocking
Mankind’s chin; the shoulders are on some sort of a universal joints that
allows all range of motions – they are not ratcheting, but they are relatively
tight, and for a 14-year old figure, the joints are still damn good; there are
no elbows articulation, unfortunately, but he does come with rotating wrists.
Mankind
has different left and right hands: the right being a fist, while the left
being an open palm. The legs move front and back at the hips; the knees bend
into 90°; and finally the ankles tilt up and down limitedly.
So
yeah, the articulations kinda suck, but do bear in mind that this figure was
from a time when articulations were not in much demand. Most of the focus was
in his physical appearance and details.
While
I do love how this figure looks overall, my only qualms for this figure would
be the accurateness of his physique depiction. In all of my time watching
wrestling, which has been for quite some time, I do not recall Mick Foley ever
having a heavily muscular body, as depicted on the figure.
Just
look at the figure’s arms! Was he ever that muscular?
I
don’t think so.
Anyways,
that aside, Mankind is still a quite nifty action figure in his own right.
Accessories:
This
set only comes with one accessory, which is a worn out and bended pipe, made
from bendable rubbery plastic.
The
pipe is as detailed as Mankind himself, custom-rusted with what appeared to be
the galvanized coating peelings.
The
one downside of this figure is that there is no way for Mankind to hold his
frigging weapon. At most you could do was place the pipe on his open palm, and
hope it doesn’t fall over, unless of course you want to stuff Mankind’s thumb
into the opened hole on the pipe, which I am pretty sure that you won’t.
Overall:
This
is a classic figure, and with Mick Foley soon to be inducted to the Hall of
Fame, wrestling fans would probably go the distance to get their hands on a
Mick Foley/ Mankind/ Cactus Jack/ Dude Love action figure, and one of them
would be my pal Big Daddy V.
Plus
with the rarity of this particular figure in review, a lot of people would
probably wanna look for him. If you’re a fan of Mrs. Foley’s little boy, then
you’d probably love this figure.
Highly
recommended.
Final
verdict: 9/10
