WWE Elite 59 Kurt Angle figure review
Don’t look now, but Mattel might actually have learned some valuable lessons from stars like Hulk Hogan and The Dudley Boyz. Don’t delay in getting all their major looks into figure form quickly when legends are under contract. Mattel previously released an Entrance Greats figure of Kurt Angle with his initial WWE look. Now with Elite 59, we’re getting Angle’s other signature look with his cueball Kojak head sculpt.
Packaging: I’m going back a bit with this Elite 59 packaging. It’s the standard work Mattel does with the stat layout and decent bio write-up from the figure’s specific attire.
Likeness: I kinda need Mattel to do a better job on this category with regards to head sculpts. The package shows Angle in his intense Olympic Machine peak with a serious, intense expression. This was how Angle carried himself during the Team Angle days.
The head sculpt we get is the re-purposed smiling, ‘happy to be back in the WWE after all these years’ one Mattel used on modern Angle figures. In some cases, head sculpt reuse is OK, but this head sculpt doesn’t fit at all.
The rest of the figure is on point. Mattel is using a well defined singlet sculpted torso for Angle. This is a better option than the smaller, leaner torso used on Bret Hart. I’m not a huge fan of the long leg sleeves, but they’re accurate to Angle’s attire.
Scale: Angle is 6 feet, which put him taller than the 5’8” Eddie Guerrero and looking up to the 6’3” Brock Lesnar. He’s scaled very well.
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Paint: First off, this is one of the more challenging Angle attires because of the detailed pattern and small lettering. From the logo and falling stars pattern that covers three different areas on the figure, it’s about as good a job as I’ve seen on a Mattel figure.
The kneepads design is also perfect. I had to look close to see some slop on the boots, but bottom line, this is a really nice paint job.
But, and you knew there was a but coming, right? The shade of blue Mattel used isn’t accurate to Angle’s attire, which was more of a classic Superman lighter shade of blue. In fairness, I like the blue, but it’s darker than Angle typically used for his attire. Angle’s torso and arms are slightly different shades, which is more evident in photos than in person.
Articulation: The great thing about this body is you’re not going to have a lot of problems pulling off any of Angle’s signature moves. No problems with the wide array of suplexes, Angle Slams or Angle Lock. Angle is a figure that makes great use of the Elite body.
Kurt Angle has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee
- ankle
Accessories: Here’s where Mattel really put in work with this figure. Angle comes with his trademark gold medals. Unlike the era-accurate Entrance Greats version medals, these have the red, white and blue ribbon. The paintwork here is also very strong for this scale with just a little red runoff on the medal.
But to go that extra mile Mattel gave Angle a cloth Team Angle jacket. It fits nicely on him and shows why going cloth should really be the only option for Mattel instead of plastic in 98% of the time for figure attire.
And he also comes with the Rob Schamberger diorama piece.
Worth it? I grabbed Angle for $20. That’s the typical price for a WWE Elite figure so no problem on that front.
Rating: 9 out of 10
When Mattel eventually gets around to a sterner Angle head sculpt, I’m going to bump this up to a perfect score. The execution is incredible and now it’s time to unleash the floodgates of Angle variants.
Where to get it? Gamestop has been great about keeping up with recent WWE releases in store and online. Amazon has Kurt Angle in stock for slightly above retail price.