Macho Madness Lives Forever

To his legions of fans worldwide, it's still unreal to think that Randy Savage has passed away. A truly larger than life and seemingly invincible character, Savage and his "Macho Madness" phenomenon will go on as long as classic wrestling is remembered. This has already been proven by the many tributes and memories presented by family, friends, and fans in the period since Savage's death.

It's similarly unreal to think that just this past January, many factors had led fans to believe that 2011 would be a "comeback year" of sorts for Savage. A new action figure, a WWE video game appearance, and a reappearance of the reclusive icon himself truly gave fans hope. As we all know by now, this was simply not meant to be.

With the 2010 announcement of the Defining Moments Randy Savage figure, Mattel made it clear that more figures of the legend would be on the horizon. The first to hit stores was in a series of 2-packs packaging a legend and current star together to capitalize on the release of the WWE All-Stars video game. Savage, clad in green tights, was packaged with John Morrison. Many fans passed on this figure in favor of the figure to be released in Savage's iconic orange and yellow. This figure, in Mattel's WWE Legends Series 5, is our focus here.

While this series has been available for a few months now, many Toys "R" Us stores are receiving the wave as part of a Vince McMahon figure promotion. Select locations will have a cardboard corrugate display packed with a variety of Mattel's WWE toys. If certain figures (including WWE Legends, Defining Moments, and Deluxe) are purchased within a two month span, collectors can send away for a special figure of Mr. McMahon himself. This is the first figure of McMahon to be produced by Mattel and has collectors buzzing.

There's no better way to obtain the McMahon figure than purchasing figures of those who made his business what it is today. No one reflects this more than Randy Savage himself, especially during the era of which this figure represents.

Savage is most remembered wearing the orange tights around the time of his first WWF title reign. A pink variation on the tights came a bit earlier and was represented in the very first Randy Savage figure produced by LJN. The orange version was previous produced by Hasbro in 1990.

This Mattel production comes complete with removable sunglasses, "Macho Man" bandanna, and "Macho Man" t-shirt. The bandanna and shirt are amazingly detailed and are exact replicas of the actual items. For reference, the aforementioned All-Stars 2-pack version of this figure includes the bandanna and glasses but not the t-shirt.

The paint detailing is sharp and very accurate to the costume. "Tape" painted onto the hands is always welcome and seeing as that this is the same head sculpt as was used for the Defining Moments Savage, I'm still pleased. It's a great likeness and the holes used to hold the sunglasses on are again very unnoticeable when the glasses are removed.

I like this figure but I'm not as overwhelmed with it as I was with the Defining Moments figure. When both figures were announced, I thought for sure that I would prefer this version as this is my favorite look of the Macho Man.

As amazing as the t-shirt accessory is, I'm ultimately disappointed in its inclusion. I would've much preferred one of his robes from the era. Certainly a robe accessory made of a bit thinner material and some light decoration (think Jakks Classic Superstars Michael P.S. Hayes robe) wouldn't have upped production costs. In fact, costs may have been lower to produce a robe than they must've been to have replicated the t-shirt. Savage wore this shirt, but nowhere near as much as he did his robes.

This is a nice figure and certainly one that you'll want to pick up if you're going for the McMahon promotion. If you simply want a Mattel figure of Savage, you may want to look elsewhere. While a bit higher in price, the Defining Moments Savage is already my choice for figure of the year and has been since I first reviewed it. Mattel has already said that we have not seen the last of Savage in their WWE line. Personally, I'm hoping that this means we will be seeing another Savage figure from this era but this time with a robe. Time will tell.

If these figures prove anything it is that Randy Savage's legacy, even in merchandising, will be requiring a lot of "Pomp and Circumstance" for some time to come.

Ohhh yeah...