WWE Ultimate Edition Series 11 Kane review

Few WWF/WWE stars had a better debut than Kane.  We can quibble on earlier roles as a dentist or a replacement Diesel, but Kane’s first WWF appearance was amazing. He was a character that probably shouldn’t have worked as well as he did, but Kane would go on to be one of the cornerstones of The Attitude Era.

Mattel has been doing a great job of getting the most important members of the Attitude Era knocked out in the Ultimate Edition line. With Austin, Rock and Triple H done, it was time for the other big three of Undertaker, Kane and Mankind.

The Brothers of Destruction were knocked out this round so hopefully Mankind and Kurt Angle are next up.

Anyway, it’s time for hopefully the last version of The Big Red Machine in his original attire.

Package: Wave 11 features the standard Ultimate Edition red and white color scheme.

The red backdrop works much better for figures that don’t have red, but Kane probably would have benefitted from an inverted color setup like the new packaging for 2022. I love the back teasing Kane igniting the ring posts and the sinister reference photo.

As usual, the bio is fantastic focusing on Kane’s shocking arrival in the WWF.

The package art features a signature surly expression from Stone Cold. On the back, we’ve got a shot of the figure in his ring gear holding up the WWF title.

Likeness: Kane is all about the intimidating horror movie villain style mask. From the various reference pictures I checked out from his early days, the mask is a great representation right down to the chinstrap with the visible goatee/beard.

Mattel didn’t shortchange the details adding the studs for his gauntlets, belt and left side sleeve area.

The UE torso is a bit broader and beefier better capturing Kane’s look from 97-98.

He’s also got the long boots and stitching detail on his left pants leg. Kane was beefy. This figure captures that pretty well without going too extreme so he looks too big.

Scale:  At 7′, Kane was one of the giants of the Attitude Era and he should tower over everyone from the 6’2″ Stone Cold Steve Austin 6’2″, the 6’5″ The Rock and even his big brother The Undertaker at 6’10”.

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Paint: Be careful if you’re able to choose between multiple Kanes. The masks are the main area where the paint might chip or just not have been applied at all.

The slots of his nose were tiny areas to properly apply the paint and there’s a faint pink underneath. I’m not sure if applying black would fix the issue.

Most of my figure’s red and blacks were clean though there were some weak areas where the “flame” was cut/chipped or needed another application. The work on the studs was mostly solid. Kane has some precise details that are going to make a perfectly painted figure very difficult to find.

Still, it won’t be a matter of the figures being terribly painted either and most of the errors will be reasonable enough.

My figure was still old enough to have the arm that wasn’t cast in red/painted properly leaving a ridiculous flesh undercoat. Mattel is aware of the problem and issuing replacement right arms to people who have this original edition.

I could gripe about that this shouldn’t have ever been an issue, but I more appreciate Mattel working to immediately making good on a problem instead of fixing it on the next UE Kane. That said, this will factor into the score slightly until the replacement parts arrive.

Articulation: Kane was a plodding heavy impact brawler. He utilized powerful strikes and a few top rope moves like a flying clothesline.

The Ultimate Edition articulation allows him to hit these moves more naturally as well as land a more convincing big boot.

Thanks to the gripping hands, pulling off a convincing Tombstone is no problem either.

Ultimate Edition Kane has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• butterfly shoulder
• elbows (double-jointed)
• wrists
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles
• feet

Accessories: Kane doesn’t have a lot of obvious accessories so it was cool that Mattel went with some outside the box thinking.

Kane comes with his voice box for those moments when he decided to up the creepiness by talking.

He’s also got swappable wider clutching hands for chokeslams.

For an older look, Mattel also included the slightly brushed back hairstyle Kane wore early on in his career. I kinda like this one a bit more than the default one.

This helps provide a little difference from the two sculpts and was a cool touch since Kane can’t show any expressions that would make for obvious alternate portraits.

Next up is the black and gold-plated WWF title. Kane won the belt in the First Blood match against Austin. That was one of the rare times where Kane wore a long sleeve on his left arm.

I wish there was some easy way for Mattel to have included a long sleeve left arm, but that wouldn’t work properly with the original attire.

Finally, he’s got a cloak cape.

This is from one of those rare footage moments where Kane worked dark matches with it.

That’s a fun inclusion although probably not something I’ll regularly use. Still, that’s a nice effort to provide collectors with something extra.

Worth it?  Mattel seems to be conflicted on the best price point for the line. Wave 10 was $32.99, but this wave is back to the normal $29.99 price. That’s clearly a better situation and hopefully that stays the price point for 2022.

Rating: 10 out of 10*

I’ve always loved the original Elite Kane, but now he gets the upgrade with this fantastic update. I’m gonna assume Mattel makes good on the replacement arm situation, but if for some reason they don’t this drops down a few points.

Where to get it?  The Ultimate Edition figures aren’t too tricky to find once they hit stores, but they don’t tend to stay long. This wave is now hitting with the latest Target resets. You can order Kane from Amazon or Target.