Dueling Machos

Action figure photography is all the rage these days. I’ve summed it up here on the blog before: it’s the accepted way for adults to continue to play with their toys. I love it and I’ve often said on my own wrestling figure photography social (Instagram: The_Figure_Arena) that you could literally start an account just for “Macho Man” Randy Savage figure pictures. Is it any wonder? He has countless looks from his colorful years in the business and it seems as if we’re getting several new figures of him each year. Well, now we’ve got two more to add to the lineup. Two new looks just hit, ironically both black and white, and what better way to look at both than in a combined blog review? Dig it? 

Both of these “Macho Men” are entries into the Mattel WWE Ultimate Edition line. Undoubtedly one of the hottest series out right now, the Ultimate Editions are purportedly the “ultimate” in accessories, articulation and likeness. Originally I took the name to imply that they were the “ultimate” edition of each character, meaning that no other version of this particular individual could ever measure up. Seeing as that we now have three “Ultimate” Savage’s and four “Ultimate” Hulk Hogan’s, with more of both on the way, I think that we can resign that way of thinking. At least I can. Instead I believe that we are to think that any figure in this line is automatically the “best of the best.” Does that really ring true? 

The 1993-1994 era Macho Man was the “early bird backer” incentive for collectors to back the Mattel WWE Ultimate New Generation Arena set. The set, along with the other “Ultimate” incentive figures (Diesel and Doink The Clown) have already been reviewed on this blog. Savage, due to being added to the program later, shipped separately. The nWo era “Mach” was a Target exclusive and the second in their “Ultimate Legends” figure lineup. There was an earlier Elite version of this figure that was exclusive to an online retailer, but I passed on that one as I generally do with “Attitude Era” online exclusives due to lack of personal interest. For reasons that we’ll get into when we look deeper into the figure, this one grabbed my attention for sure. 

Both figures are packaged in the standard, large “Ultimate” packaging. The “announcer/WrestleMania X” Macho also has an outer cardboard box which will undoubtedly be considered necessary to be present if one wants a “complete” figure. To me it’s just a box, albeit with the “New Generation” WWE logo on one side and the Ultimate logo on the other. As usual with the Ultimate figures there are plenty of accessories floating around. It’s (sadly) a non-factor when it comes to Randy Savage, but I’ve never entertained the notion of getting any Ultimate figures signed due to this. It just isn’t appealing to me in that respect. It should be noted that additional accessories are unseen yet included with “announcer” Macho. 

Before I really took a good investigative look, I actually thought that I would like the nWo Macho Man more. Considering that the announcer figure is closer to my favorite era, that thought was a bit of a shock even to myself. I’d heard some things that turned out to be false about the announcer figure. Appealing in the favor of the nWo Macho was that we finally get a “tongue sticking out” head for Savage. So, who’s better? 

Both include a plethora of accessories. Announcer Macho, as noted above, even comes with some that aren’t immediately visible. While you do see vintage-styled microphones, monitors, a headset and extra Macho Man cowboy hat with attached headset right in the window, hidden behind some cardboard is the “classic” announce table with blue soft goods table cloth and blue folding chairs. It should be noted that all of these accessories wouldn’t have made it into a standard Ultimate release. Again, they are part of the New Generation Arena theme. For those wondering, beneath the table cloth is your standard Mattel breakaway table. The extra headset (presumably for Vince McMahon, Gorilla Monsoon or Bobby “The Brain” Heenan) is too pliable and doesn’t look as good as its Jakks counterpart from years ago. This Macho also includes “pointing hands,” an entrance jacket and shirt. A fallacy that I’d heard about this figure was that the jacket and shirt couldn’t be worn simultaneously as they were in real life. I had them on the figure together in seconds, so obviously it’s meant to be done. Considering how thin both are (a blessing in this case), there’s no reason that it shouldn’t work. 

nWo Macho also features two thin shirts. In the past few years I think that most of us have gotten used to the thin fabric being used by Mattel. It may actually look a bit better as it’s more form fitting, but I do wonder about it holding up over the years. What I love about the nWo Macho shirts is that they fit on just like real shirts. No velcro! Mattel really needs to take note of how great this is for future Hogan releases. We’ve had more than enough “tearable” shirts with The Hulkster. It’s time to give us some solid ones. Going back to Macho, “The Savage One” also includes a pair of what I call “Freak out! Freak out!” hands, his white sash belt and bandana. It’s a solid figure that can be customized with other already released Savage accessories. All five heads included between these two figures are interchangeable although the “tongue” head is the only one not included twice. 

I do feel that each figure was missing fairly important hands. Seeing as that nWo Macho is gloved, I think that we should’ve received pointing gloved hands. As far as the announcer version, I feel that leaving out “taped thumbs up” hands was a glaring omission. He did this all the time as an announcer. Mattel has been strangely stingy with “thumbs up” hands. Is it some sort of evil, canceled hand sign that I’m blissfully unaware of? I honestly wonder if an updated Hacksaw Jim Duggan were to be released (he hasn’t had a new figure since alternate hands were added to the line) that perhaps they would not be included with him, either. We have gotten them with Scott Hall and in an upcoming Razor Ramon release, but that doesn’t help with Macho seeing as that he wore hand tape. 

The good thing is that The Macho Man has endless looks to choose from, thus there’s really no limit to more releases. Where do these two rank? They’re both very good but I wouldn’t deem either the best. If I had to choose I would probably say that the best Macho release was the first Ultimate figure clad in the white and neon outfit. It wasn’t his most recognizable outfit (despite being made in Hasbro form) but it certainly felt the most complete. Had the recently released WrestleMania VI version of The Macho King included his entrance jacket, I feel that that one would be hard to beat. Alas, it does not include the jacket. Neither of these figures ultimately makes my mental ballot for “Figure Of The Year,” but they’re still solid. nWo Macho is still available through Target while the other, due to it being part of the Mattel Creations set, will have to be obtained through the secondary market if you were not a backer. 

With upgrades in production methods and the ever-increasing demands of collectors, these figures should only be getting better and better. Randy Savage is one of the most visually varied and striking individuals to ever exist in the world of professional wrestling. As long as the rights are continually granted to make figures, we should continue to see him be well-represented. Both of these figures were necessary entries into the Savage collection, but the colors keep them from becoming truly the best of his figures out there. No one was more colorful in or out of the ring. Now that we have figures of just about every “darker” side of Savage (even late WCW which was produced a few years back), let’s get back into his colorful side. How about some of the 1988 robes? More of the “neon cowboy” era? The sky is the limit…although watch for flying elbows.