WWE Elite #54 Charlotte Flair figure review

WWE tends to go ridiculous with hype, but it’s hard to say they’re overselling Charlotte Flair. She has the presence and in-ring talent to overtake Trish Stratus as the greatest female star in WWE history. I couldn’t put that greatest tag on Mattel’s efforts with Charlotte figures. To their credit, Mattel has gotten a little better with each attempt, but with the WWE Elite Series #54 they might have made their definitive version of The Queen of the WWE.

Packaging:  Mattel might not need to change this Elite packaging style up for awhile. This is probably the first time in a long time they’ve come up with a good color scheme for the main Elite line. The dark black insert puts all the emphasis on the figure, not any lack of accessories. With the white and red, there’s a nice framing of the figure and its features like the Build a Display. Mattel could stand to tweak that accessory area as it’s barely noticeable.

 

I appreciate the multiple portraits of Charlotte with the straight on side shot and the walk to the ring picture. I like that stat layout along the upper left portion of the back.

It’s a smart placement to make use of that layout. The bio section is almost there. It at least tells you the look Mattel was going for even if this write-up kinda leaves you hanging about how she ushered in the new era.

Likeness:  Charlotte has maybe the most unique look of any female on the roster. Translating that to figure form hasn’t always been easy, but this version really does a terrific job of capturing Charlotte’s likeness on every level.

From the flowing nature of the hair, the sculpted jewels on the face, the moles and the oh so slightly smirk. This sculpt does a great job of conveying Charlotte’s confidence. Now if they could just ditch the slappy hand sculpt for a left hand fist.

Scale:  At 5’10” Charlotte towers over most of the women in the division. That’s also the case with the figure so the consistency is definitely appreciated. Charlotte isn’t looking up at Alexa Bliss.

Paint:  This is easily one of Charlotte’s most detailed figures with sharp applications conveying the glittery, sparkle filled outfit. Hasbro doesn’t drop the ball on this often and it’s not a problem here either.

The face work is more impressive though as Mattel added just the right amount of eye shadow and full lashes and accurately painting all of the face jewels and moles. Really great work here.

Articulation:  As solid as this figure is, it still suffers from the same problems as every other female figure. The Elite tag is solely for the accessory, not an enhancement to the articulation scheme like it is for the male figures.

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With Mattel limiting articulation for the Basic figures, it’s time to upgrade the female Elite articulation.

For Charlotte that means the single jointed knees restrict a decent figure-8 and big boots are largely out of the question because of the hip joint range. And as you’d expect, the hair really limits some of the side to side and back and forth movement. This is a common issue for the female figures, which would be helped with torso articulation.

Charlotte Flair has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee
• ankle

Accessories:  The big selling point here, aside from the new head sculpt, is the fantastic robe. Charlotte used her father’s Wrestlemania 24 robe and it’s styled fairly accurate.

I wish Mattel could have come up with a clasp like Charlotte wears instead of going the Velcro route, but it’s close enough.

That clasp issue aside, Mattel pretty faithfully recreated the robe in figure form right down to the open area to showcase the belt and slit sleeves. It definitely helps Charlotte stand out among the other female figures.

Worth it? For whatever reason, this Charlotte has been surprisingly plentiful on shelves including the closing Toys R Us. That means you should be able to get Charlotte for under $20. That’s a steal for a figure of this quality.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Where to get it?  While Mattel is now onto Series 57, you shouldn’t have a ton of trouble finding Charlotte Flair at stores like Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and Target. Or you could avoid the hassle all together and get her from Amazon at $19.