WWE Elite 89 Sgt. Slaughter figure review

After the Flashback Series 86 Col. Mustafa, the dress gear Sgt. Slaughter seemed like a no-brainer. Thankfully, Mattel didn’t have us waiting too long to get 2/3 of the Triangle of Terror that faced Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior in SummerSlam 91’s Match Made in Hell.

Mattel previously released this look as a basic figure, but that barely counts.

I’m kinda surprised at the amount of Sgt. Slaughter figures in my collection at this point, but I think this one should be the final one. Let’s see if this one is worth standing at attention or if should get buried in the back of the 91 display.

Packaging:  Sarge is part of this new packaging with the bold blue with black accents.

The artwork with a great reference pic of a fired-up Sarge. On the back, the stats are prominent and the bio is stellar as always.

Likeness: With the SDCC Ultimate Edition Sgt. Slaughter there’s a new head sculpt Mattel could have used, but the classic jut-jawed default one always works.

Sarge’s sneering expression fits for him and is a common enough expression it’s basically his version of a neutral expression.

The top half is the same from various Slaughter figures right down to the painted on camo T-shirt. Mattel repurposed Mustafa’s legs, which makes sense.

In a nice touch the 1991 head sculpt features even less hair. The stress of being WWF champ was getting to Sarge. This is a good example of the improvement of the True FX compared to the older sculpt. The Hall of Fame Slaughter was very good, but it’s definitely enhanced here.

I like the baggy pants, which similar to Mustafa, gives Sarge a little extra bulk. While Mustafa was a bit on the short side, Mattel gave Slaughter the taller boots, so he doesn’t lose any height.

Scale: Sarge stood at 6’4″, taller than his ally Mustafa at 6′ and the 6’3″ Ultimate Warrior yet he’s still looking up at the 6’7″ Hulk Hogan.

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Paint: Mustafa had a pretty weak application of the camouflage, which thankfully doesn’t carry over to Sarge.

His paintwork is clean throughout with nice execution on the smaller elements like the belt and sides of the boot.

Articulation: Even at his prime, Sarge wasn’t a catch as catch can style wrestler. He relied more on overpowering his opponents.

That works just fine with the Elite articulation setup.

As a nice bonus though, he does get the double-jointed elbows to help with his Atomic Noogies and Camel Clutch poses.

Sgt. Slaughter has:

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

Accessories:  Mattel trying to get the complete look of the figure for major events is appreciated.

Sarge gets the Mustafa jacket.

Again, it’s missing the ribbons and medals, which seems a bit odd since I doubt anyone at WWF bothered to make authentic looking Iraqi medals.

He does come with a good amount of accessories nonetheless. First up is the riding crop, which he definitely used as weapon. Mine came out warped, which is weird since this doesn’t need to be a flexible weapon.

There’s alternate parts to the default hand sculpts with a left pointing hand and a right gripping hand.

Additionally, Sarge has his beret and sunglasses. The beret doesn’t sit on his head snugly and falls off with minimal movement.

In a very nice touch, Sarge has removable red elbow pads that actually have the opening to prevent restricting articulation. This feels like a big breakthrough and something I hope is the norm going forward.

Worth it?  I took advantage of Target’s Spend $50, get $10 off sale so Sarge wasn’t the normal $22.99 price. He’s actually already started clocking in cheaper — around $20, which is a perfectly reasonable price for him.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Sarge is a pretty good figure whose biggest weak areas are the supplemental accessories that would push him to a 10. The too tight jacket, the constantly dropping beret and the limp riding crop hold him back, but this is a good final heel version of Sgt. Slaughter.

Where to get it?  Sarge is all over though I’ve seen him most often at Target. Some online retailers are selling out of him already, but he’s still available at Amazon.

Missed out on Col. Mustafa? Grab him for a slight markup on Amazon as well.

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