WWE Legends Series 10 Brutus Beefcake figure review

Brutus Beefcake was a perfectly capable heel in the mid-80s. Whether solo or as one-half of The Dream Team, he was a credible nuisance to all the main faces in the Rock n’ Wrestling era.

This look has been a major wish list item for me and the last essential Beefcake variant — please no Booty Man.

Packaging:  I’ve said it before, but the Legends line is my favorite of the WWE package set ups. The gold, brown and yellow color combination along with an iconic portrait of the character provides a classy and stylish presentation.

His bio neatly recaps Beefcake’s heel WWF career and neatly sets the stage for his face run as The Barber.

Likeness:  When I first started watching wrestling, Beefcake had the short hair and was a heel fighting Hulk Hogan so this style is essential for my collection. And this mostly allows us to complete The Dream Team. Mattel really needs to release a younger Hammer figure with shorter hair and a more youthful head sculpt compared to the late 80s version they put out first.

This is a great head sculpt, perfectly conveying Beefcake’s way too cocky demeanor with a hint of a sneer and terrific work on his hairline. Mattel has a good parts formula for Beefcake mapped out and this mold reflects his physique well.

Scale: Beefcake was average height for the mid-80s at 6’4″ so he should be noticeably taller than his partner, the 6′ Greg Valentine. Both should be taller than the 5’11” Davey Boy Smith and our hypothetical Dynamite Kid figure.

Paint:  The standard version comes with magenta arm wraps and gloves and yellow tiger stripes. There’s significance to this color scheme as this is what Beefcake wore at WrestleMania 2 for the Dream Team’s big clash against the British Bulldogs.

Brutus “had” a chase with blue tights with a different pattern for the arm wraps. That was the version I wanted since it was such a striking clash of colors. The yellow tights with yellow robe makes it look too uniform.

Mattel majorly botched the chase option though since Beefcake was only available on Target.com for microseconds at a time so unless you were doubly lucky to even get an order through, you needed to play the lotto if your Beefcake was the chase version.

Regardless, as usual with Mattel’s paintwork, my standard figure’s paint job came out well. That’s not a surprise with Mattel as their paint work is typically very clean.

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Articulation:  Beefcake was a very basic brawler, who would break out the occasional power move. He doesn’t need the Ultimate Edition setup to pull off his move set.

My figure had a unique articulation issue as his shoulder joints were too tight to make moving them easy. That was paired with way too loose biceps making Beefcake’s arm movements an adventure.

Brutus Beefcake has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories:  Mattel provided Beefcake with all of his essential accessories. He’s got his sunglasses and Chippendales style bowtie.

I’m most impressed with the work on his entrance robe. It’s bright yellow with tiger stripes and black collar. The robe was 80s style with short banded sleeves that Mattel accurately replicated. That’s nice attention to detail.

Additionally, he comes with swappable gripping hands.

Finally, he comes with my favorite accessory in a while — the old school silver WWF tag team title. This turned out great. I do regret now not getting two Beefcake figures for another shot at the chase and to have a set of the tag titles.

Worth it?  I got Brutus for $20, which feels like a bargain considering the unique accessories and new look for Beefcake.

Rating: 9 out of 10

I’m really only taking away from the challenge of tracking the figure down and the wackiness with the arms. It’s nice to complete the worthwhile Faces of Beefer in my collection with this Dream Team version.

Where to get it?  The WWE Legends line is exclusive to Target. I’m pretty sure he’s sold out, but you can try this link if he happens to get restocked.

While the wave is in stores, but hasn’t shown up on the Target website since the initial pre-orders even though Wave 10 is now up on the website.