Friday, April 29, 2016

Action Figure Review: Renee Young from WWE by Mattel

 I've always loved toylines that release action figures of side or supporting characters. Yeah, you almost always get the main hero and antagonist, but how cool is it when a character who helps to make your toy universe seem more alive? Maybe they're not part of the action but their presence really helps to make a toyline feel complete. Renee Young is one of those figures. She's my second favorite commentator/interviewer for WWE right now (only behind Mauro Ranallo because that dude sells every freaking match he commentates) and I was thrilled to find out that Mattel was releasing a Renee Young action figure. As soon as I could track one down I ordered her. Well, let's let today's review be a bit of a lesson on why you shouldn't buy an action figure sight unseen. More details on this new WWE basic figure after the break...



 The Facts:

Height: 6 3/4 inches

Articulation: Hinged ankles, boot swivels, hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, swivel waist, ball jointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, and a ball jointed head.

Accessories: Removable skirt

Non-Scalper Price: $10 dollars
 The Positives:


*As far as I can tell, Renee's torso is a unique sculpt. I haven't see it before, anyways. It's actually textured with raised flowers (which is kind of weird for a shirt, to be honest) and the skirt is a separate soft plastic removable piece. The outfit looks pretty decent and while I can't place it exactly it absolutely looks like something Renee Young would wear.


 * Like the rest of the female figures in Mattel's WWE line, Renee features the Elite model articulation at a basic figure price. She's actually pretty mobile and looks like she could hold her own in the ring if need be.
 The Negatives:

* Like so many of the other female figures in the WWE lines, Renee has the flimsy feeling biceps that drive me crazy! I don't know what it is but they always feel so bendy and gummy. No one wants to feel like their toy is in danger of breaking, you know?
 * I managed to find the perfect depiction of my first reaction when I pulled this figure out of her shipping package! Yeah, it was that bad. This....this is not Renee Young. This is Renee YoungAnd so is this.  This too is Renee Young. And, this is Renee Young as well). See, it's not that difficult to look and see what Renee Young looks like so I'm not sure what's happening here. When I first opened this figure I thought that maybe I was on an elaborately staged episode of Swerved and that Renee Young and Vince McMahon were secretly hiding in my dining room waiting to pop out. Didn't happen.

* So... Renee Young does interviews and commentating for WWE. Quick, think about the first thing you picture when you think of someone giving any kind of interview in wrestling! It's that big old school microphone with the WWE logo on it, isn't it? Yup! So, guess what Renee doesn't come with? A microphone. Yeah, that's really, really lame. I mean, it's her tool of the trade. I know she's a basic figure, but give her a darn microphone for crying out loud!
 I have to say that this figure turned out to be a pretty big disappointment for me. I was really looking forward to Renee Young because, let's be honest, it's not like Mattel's going to produce dozens of versions of her yearly. While they definitely did some decent work on the body and she's as technically proficient as nearly any other female figure, headsculpt and lack of microphone are just terrible. I mean, this headsculpt really kind of creeps me out. There's something extremely unsettling about it that seems more like a Jokerized citizen of Gotham rather than one of the WWE's most attractive talents. I'm honestly pretty sure I had a nightmare last night where some woman who looked like this crept up behind me and tried to kill me in midsentence while I was writing a review about a Eh figure that you should probably ju

 Other WWE Reviews from Action Figure Barbecue:

WWE by Mattel
AJ Lee (Series 53)
Bray Wyatt (Series 55)
Charlotte
Lana
Paige (Series 57)
Stephanie McMahon (Series 40)
Tyler Breeze

WWE Battle Packs by Mattel
Big E & Kofi Kingston
Konnor & Viktor 
Nikki Bella & Brie Bella (Series 38)

WWE Elite Collection by Mattel
Bad News Barrett (Series 34)
Bo Dallas 
Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt (Series 36)
Brock Lesnar (Series 37)
Cesaro (Series 33)
Damien Mizdow
Daniel Bryan (Series 38)
Dean Ambrose (Series 36) 
Dean Ambrose (Series 41)
Dolph Ziggler (Series 39)
Erick Rowan
Finn Balor
Goldust (Series 36)
Hulk Hogan (Series 34)
John Cena (Series 40)
Kane (Series 31)
Luke Harper (Series 35)
Mark Henry (Series 32)
The Miz (Series 37)
Paige
Randy Orton (Series 35)
Roman Reigns (Series 38)
Rusev 
Ryback (Series 41)
Seth Rollins (Series 37) 
Stardust (Series 36)
Stephanie McMahon (Series 37)
Triple H (Series 35) 

WWE Elite Collection: Hall of Fame by Mattel
Sargent Slaughter
Stone Cold Steve Austin

WWE Elite Collection: Wrestlemania by Mattel (2016)
Undertaker

WWE Elite Collection: Wrestlemania XXX by Mattel
Bray Wyatt

WWE Elite Collection: Wrestlemania 31 by Mattel (2015)
Seth Rollins (Seth Cashes In!)

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