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Friday, November 20, 2015
Action Figure Review: Sargent Slaughter from WWE Elite Collection: Hall of Fame by Mattel
I have two things I want to say before beginning this review. The first is that, yes, I know Sargent is spelled incorrectly in the title of this review. That's because Mattel actually spelled it like that on the packaging. It literally says "Sargent Slaughter." Bizarre, huh? Anyways, I'm calling him Sgt. Slaughter, because that's how the name is really spelled. Secondly, as you can tell from most of my reviews I'm definitely a modern wrestling fan who didn't pay much attention to wrestling when I was a kid. I grabbed the Sarge, though, because I love G.I. Joe. There's not a lack of G.I. Joe figures on this site because I don't love G.I. Joe; it's because Hasbro only wants to release exclusives and repaints of figures I already own. If we ever get the 6 inch G.I. Joe: Black Series figures that many fans are interested in seeing, it'll be cool to have a Sgt. Slaughter to boss them around. Anyways, now that I've said those two things, let's take a look at Sgt. Slaughter, AKA Robert Remus, from Mattel's WWE Elite Collection: Hall of Fame subset. This figure seems to be a Target exclusive and seems to borrow pretty heavily from the older WWE Legends Series 1 Sgt. Slaughter. Of course, this one is wearing camo, so I think it's automatically a cooler figure. Ready for a closer look? Then join me after the break...
The Facts:
Height: 7 inches
Articulation: Hinged ankles w/ lateral rockers, boot swivels, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, swivel waist, hinged abdomen, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, swivel/hinged wrists, and a ball jointed head.
Accessories: Drill instructor's hat, sunglasses, and whistle on a lanyard.
Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars
The Positives:
*Listen up maggots! I'll tell this to you again: Te Sarge is sturdy! The Sarge is well articulated! The Sarge will put you in a Cobra Clutch and make you listen to Sgt. Slaughter and Camouflage Rocks America until you admit that you're not cut out for the Marines. You got that?
* Man, does Sgt. Slaughter look pissed! I love it! Maybe he's getting ready to dress down some new Green Shirts or maybe he's mad because Mercer brought drank all the Yo-Joe Cola and didn't recycle the bottles. Who knows? It's a great headsculpt, though.
I'm also digging the work on Slaughter's boots. They really do look like a combination between wrestling boots and Vietnam era military jungle boots.
* Sgt. Slaughter comes with three accessories which are really necessary to complete his look: A Marine drill instructor's hat, sunglasses, and a silver whistle on a lanyard. These are cool extras to have and by themselves they look pretty good. The hat and the whistle even have a few minor paint applications.
*The whistle looks good and the glasses and hat actually seem pretty correctly sized for Slaughter's face. They really complete his look and stay on nice and securely.
The Negatives:
* While his camouflage looks pretty good, his white belt is a bit messy. There's a lot of slop on the edges where it wasn't paint on quite right. I think an attempt was made to paint on a belt buckle, but it looks kind of weak.
Also, shouldn't the Sarge have come with a baton or something? Did he use that in wrestling or just in G.I. Joe?
Back in the mid 2000s when G.I. Joe Sigma 6 was failing to catch on with kids, I remember having many discussions with other Joe fans wondering what Hasbro could do to revitalize the brand. One thing I recall suggesting was having Hasbro find a real-world celebrity or athlete to be the face of the brand like Slaughter was in the late 80s and early 1990s. My suggestion at the time was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Oddly enough, The Rock did star in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a good movie that really suffered because it was pushed back a full year only weeks before its release. So much of the momentum for that movie felt like it came and went and The Rock really didn't get the chance to be the face of the brand. Sad, as I think he would have done a good job in the role. So far as this figure goes, it's a pretty nice piece. I'd say it's a Good and 1/2 entry that could have used another accessory or two to spice things up a bit more. Whether you're a wrestling fan or a G.I. Joe fan, this guy is worth tracking down.
I've reviewed quite a few figures from Mattel's WWE Elite collection, including:
WWE Elite Collection by Mattel
Bad News Barrett (Series 34)
Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt (Series 36)
Brock Lesnar (Series 37)
Cesaro (Series 33)
Dean Ambrose (Series 36)
Erick Rowan
Hulk Hogan (Series 34)
Kane (Series 31)
Luke Harper (Series 35)
Paige
Randy Orton (Series 35)
Rusev
Seth Rollins (Series 37)
WWE Elite: Wrestlemania XXX by Mattel
Bray Wyatt
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I'm the exact opposite: I was into wrestling back in the early to mid 90's, and then my interest fell off somewhere. Back when I was REAL little I had these hard rubber figures of Hulk Hogan (with the championship belt) and The Iron Sheik (those things were dangerous if you whipped one at somebody's head! Trust me). The other wrestling figures I remember are those 5 inch ones that all had crazy action features, with characters like the Ultimate Warrior and Hack Saw Jim Duggan.
ReplyDeleteSlaughter is something different though! I had always wanted the Joe figure of him, but never got it. I had meant to buy some version of him from a wrestling line at some point, but never did! This one looks great (and the sunglasses look to be useful elsewhere). Is he still in stores?
I just bought Slaughter from a Target near the end of October, so he's still floating around.
ReplyDeleteCool! I may hunt 'em down. It's funny that my first Slaughter won't be a Joe figure. Come to think of it: I should check out what the vintage one goes for, just to finally get that guy after all these years.
DeleteThe only Sgt. Slaughter I owned before this one was the vintage V3 that came with the Warthog Infantry Vehicle. Still my favorite version because he has a removable hat.
DeleteI was so aggravated that I could never get my hands on the 25th anniv Slaughter. Still am.
Yeah, that's the one I remember the most! Probably the one I'd hunt down whenever I wana buy a vintage one. I remember a friend having that version and wanted it SO BAD. Like you said: The hat makes all the difference.
DeleteSame here on the 25th one. I was planning on making that my first Slaughter, but that was a useless effort, like with most Hasbro SDCC items.