WWE Elite Collection Series 17: Sheamus

With Wrestlemania 29 coming up later today, I thought a WWE review would be appropriate today. Now I'm still a newbie when it comes to collecting the Mattel WWE figures and this is the first Elite Collection figure I've bought, so please bare with me.

Instead of the simple blister card packaging the Basic figures receive, the Elite figures comes packaged in large window boxes. Most of the figures also come with cloth clothing and or accessories of some type. As you can see here, Sheamus comes with the World Heavyweight Championship belt and his signature Celtic cross necklace.

I was surprised when turning the box over to see such an elaborate layout. The top right corner gives you some stats including nickname, height/weight, titles held and his signature moves. Not stopping there Mattel also included some more in depth info of the wrestler. I didn't know that Shaemus made his debut in ECW! Most notably however this block of text references last year's Wrestlemania where he defeated Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds to win the coveted World Heavyweight Championship!

The build of this figure is nicely done. I've only opened a handful of figures previously and this by far is one of the nicest figures by a landslide. Articulation is excellent, however the plastic knee pads does hinder the knee joints. The paint apps are nicely applied, but you may have noticed the red used for his hair is a little off on the forehead. Sheamus' wrist bands have been directly painted onto the forearms. I really wish he had sculpted wrist bands, but hey I can live with this.

 

One of the best aspects of the figure is the head sculpt. Mattel has done a fabulous job capturing the likeness of the characters in plastic form. Sheamus here is no exception. I love how they even captured the look of his spiky red hair. While were on the likeness, even the flesh color plastic seems lighter than most of the other WWE figures. Sheamus truly is a large jar of mayonnaise!

The Championship belt is large and bulky, just like it is in real life. I'm kind of glad Mattel opted to use a flat gold plastic instead of a shiny gold chrome. Chromed plastic never tends to age well. Sheamus can easily wear or hold his belt in a manner of different ways. As of this post the belt really belongs to Alberto Del Rio, but perhaps one day Sheamus will find himself as the champ again.

All in all I am really impressed with the Elite figures. The cost makes me think long and hard about which wrestler to buy, but Mattel has done a good job justifying the increased price over the basic figures. I really wanted the Mankind figure that was in this same wave, but the only other ones I saw at the time of purchase was Kelly Kelly and John Cena. No thank you and no thank you. Not sure who will be my next purchase, but at least I feel a little bit better going in knowing that these Elite figures truly are elite.