Whatcha Gonna Do When Mr. America Runs Wild On You?!?

I once said, on this very blog, that the Mattel Create A WWE Superstar Hulk Hogan figure would be the closest that we would ever get to a real, production figure of Mr. America. I admit when I was wrong and I was, in fact, wrong. As this year opened we finally got to hold not one but two different versions of that mysterious red, white and blue masked man in our hands. Yes, Mattel WWE Elite 101 not only includes the famous Mr. America but a chase version as well. It may even include an alternate head to give us a hint as to just who was underneath that mask. Let’s take a look!

The Elite packaging is feeling cheaper and cheaper. It seems near impossible to find examples that aren’t bent, creased or crushed in some form as soon as they leave the shipping case. I don’t really have a problem with it, but I’m feeling less and less need to buy extras of any of these to get signed. The current design has been with us for a few years yet it still feels new to me. I will always pine for those rather plain and straight forward rectangular boxes that were the norm for Elites around five years ago. As I often say, time marches on. At least the color is a nice dark blue. I’ve always found the reds used in WWE packaging to be unpleasing to the eye. Remember the early days of the Mattel line? A great rendition of Hog…I mean…Mr. America adorns the front of the box and the pieces are nicely displayed.

With both versions of Mr. A you get an alternate “mask lifting” head, weight belt, “tearing” t-shirt, red, white and blue boa, and an array of hands. Just like his friend Hulk Hogan, Mr. America does a lot of pointing and ear-cupping. With the hands included you can accomplish that. The difference in the standard and the chase are the mask, tights and kneepad designs. I do think that the chase design is more striking but the standard is the much better remembered version, at least for me. I’d probably be damning the chase version if I hadn’t obtained one at pure retail price, but that’s how petty and hypocritical I can admittedly be. I’m sick of the “chase” garbage, to be honest. It’s gotten us some great figures and I’ve rarely had trouble getting any that I’ve wanted, but enough is enough. Just do equal amounts of both, pack them one per case each, and be done with it.

We rarely get a bad looking Hulk Hogan figure and for someone who looks a lot like him this is really no different. The head sculpts are insanely well done and the colors on the costume are perfect. I feel like the red, white and blue boa could be used elsewhere, too. Who wouldn’t look good in such a thing? I’m tired of the “ripping” shirts, but I don’t think we’ll get Mr. America again so I guess it’s best to have it here. As far as his buddy Hulk, he needs no more ripping shirts in future figures, that’s for sure. Like Hogan, Mr. America does well having the open and pointing hands at his disposal, although that does lead me to my complaints about the figure.

Why does Mattel insist on making later Hogan figures leaner and hardly tanned? I will never understand this at all. They pulled the same thing with Mr. America here. Unless my television set refused to believe that Hogan was no longer thick and tanned in his later years, this is not how it was. The Hogan torso and coloring used on the ‘80s versions should always be used for his figures and should’ve been used for this guy, too. It doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the figure itself, but it’s enough to at least question the motives behind it.

This is a good one no matter which version you get your hands on. This is yet another character that Jakks and its leadership failed us on. We’ve since seen what their plans were regarding the character and I must give credit where it’s due: Mattel has blown them out of the water. Chinese New Year, anyone? And, thanks to Mattel, we finally know that it was indeed Hulk Hogan under the Mr. America mask all along. I thought it was either Genichiro Tenryu or Otto Wanz. So, Mattel? Since you’re on my good side this week, how about a proposal? You’ve now revealed to us who Giant Machine and Mr. America were. Let’s do it again. Let’s go for the hat trick. Let’s see a First Time In The Line and first time EVER figure release for…

…The Midnight Rider.