You Can Look, But You Can't Touch...

Never before has a theme song matched the action figure so well.

I have nothing against the Bella Twins personally.  I'm sure they're very nice girls.  Lord only knows why they wouldn't milk a WWE deal for all it's worth, but that's for them to know and the dirt sheets to find out.  That said, they're almost the Kardashians of the wrestling world, albeit much better looking.  In essence, they're famous for nothing.  They can't wrestle.  They don't seem to be particularly talented at anything else that we've seen in the PG-rated WWE Universe.  When they had the position of escorting Raw guest hosts to the ring it seemed like their talents were being used to the fullest degree.  Nonetheless, the twins have decided that they've had enough of the WWE.

Maybe I'm the crazy one.  After all, not only did I just mention the scourge of pop culture, the Kardashians, TWICE in an entry, but the rest of the entry is devoted solely to the Bella Twins.  They do have merchandise though, and one of the hottest current pieces of merchandise to boot.

I've mentioned in previous reviews that Mattel just doesn't understand that female figures will sell.  They don't have to be packed in shipping cases less than the male wrestlers.  In fact, if Mattel were to ask anyone who's been in a WWE figure aisle over the past year they would instead hear desperate pleas for them to make and ship less Randy Orton figures.  Yet, more "Viper" figures are on their way, folks.

Keeping with their one-track-minded decree of producing/shipping less females, Mattel has done the same with their first two-female figure pack, the Bella Twins.  If you see the tons of John Cena/The Rock two-packs clogging shelves, you've already missed the Twins.  You've missed Sin Cara/Daniel Bryan as well, but not to fear, more Sin Cara figures are on their way.  As for the Twins?  Never again.

Even if they weren't gone, this would most likely be their only shot at plastic immortality.  That fact actually helps answer a question that I'm often asked by non-collectors:  Why figures of less talented or less popular superstars can attain such popularity and value.  Even if they were the worst figures ever made (and they aren't), the fact that they're limited in distribution and that figures of the girls will most likely never be produced again automatically brings up that price. 

Are the figures worthy of their current position atop of the wrestling figure heap?  Let's take a look...but we can't touch.

When these figures were in the planning stages, Mattel promised that we would be buying two distinctly individual figures as opposed to two of the same figure in one package.  While they succeeded, I wouldn't call it a rousing success.  A slightly different smirk and cock of an eyebrow are the extent of the facial differences.  Though one could argue as to just how different twins can look, it would help if they looked more like the girls themselves.  Here, Brie looks passable while Nikki greatly resembles actress Alyssa Milano.  The hair mold used for each girl is different which shows some commendable effort, although the real difference is behind them.  No, really.  It's on their behinds.  "B. B." and "N. B." monograms are included on their derrieres so that children across the world can tell the difference.

As opposed to other Mattel Diva figures, you feel like you're getting something tangible here.  Their leggings are fully molded and detailed, while their tops are actually separate pieces from the figures which are not removable.  I feel I should mention that since the Bella's wore a variety of colors, black should've been the last choice for the figures.  The nice colors did wonders for the recent Layla figure and could have been repeated here.  Also included is the first-ever figure-sized replica of the WWE Diva Championship belt.  This ultimately has to factor into the popularity of this set, although only a fool would believe that we won't see it released with future Diva figures down the line.  Hopefully Mattel will actually color it in a bit for those releases.

I wouldn't advise against buying it, as if you want it grab it whenever you see it.  What I will say is that as opposed to the LJN Ultimate Warrior, Remco Buddy Rose, or even any of the rarer Jakks Classic Superstars, it isn't really worth the inflated prices.  Are any figures?  Obviously it's up to personal taste, but I'd have felt slightly ripped off had I paid more than $18.96 for the set.

Don't blame me if you end up wishing that you'd taken heed of the theme song's advice, "You can look, but you can't touch."  Honestly, I think another group of female wrestling figures deliver a Knockout to these twins, but that's just my opinion...