The Demented Dentist Returns...

Mattel continues to be on the ball with retro figures well into the better half of a decade with the WWE license. With recent announcements like John Tenta's "Shark" character and the action figure-elusive Wendi Richter as upcoming releases, it's no wonder that collectors continue to support the line. This past summer, another character who had never before been produced as an action figure made his far-from-painless debut. Hold on to your wisdom teeth, Isaac Yankem DDS is here.

It's no secret that Isaac Yankem was the first on-air WWE character for Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane. Debuting at an event that I attended, SummerSlam 1995, Yankem attempted to rid the world of Bret "The Hitman" Hart at the behest of Jerry "The King" Lawler. Though the demented dentist came up short, the character is remembered as a memorable icon of the campy, cartoony, mid-1990s WWF scene. Jacobs would go on to portray the replacement "Diesel" when Kevin Nash left the company, and finally ended up with the gimmick that would make him a surefire WWE Hall of Famer in Kane.

The Isaac Yankem figure was an exclusive to San Diego Comic Con and the Toys "R" Us website. It comes in unique Elite packaging that displays some of Yankem's useful dentistry equipment. The back is a doctor's file chart, complete with some bloody teeth and even a humorous allusion to Yankem becoming someone else that we all know. It's a tall figure as any representation of Jacobs should be, so it looks good in the packaging.

Yankem comes complete with his dentist coat and headgear. The headgear can be removed and even tilted downward so that the goggles can go over his eyes. I feel like we should have received one more accessory. The doctors bag, perhaps? It just feels as if other exclusives have a bit more to them, although Mattel did have to create all-new accessories in this case. When I removed the headgear, it did take off a little bit of the blond hair paint. The headgear piece itself almost felt glued on at first.

The figure sculpting is solid, utilizing recycled parts aside from the head. The pants mold works well, especially for the height of the figure. To be honest, it's an all around imposing figure which it definitely should be. The entire idea of the character was to be a demented monster...very much like The Big Red Machine just a little over two years later.

Although already a few months old, the figure can still be obtained for around the same price as release. That likely won't always be the case. I also wouldn't expect to see any future releases of the character. I could be wrong, but I feel Yankem was released in the proper manner so that anyone who wanted to add him to the collection could do exactly that. But I won't drill it into your heads, just try to extract him from someone else's hands in a few months. It won't be painless...