AEW Unmatched Evil Uno and Stu Grayson review Series 3

Jazwares is showing a willingness to go against the norm in terms of typical figure roll outs. With AEW Unmatched Series 3, Jazwares decided to dedicate the entire wave to one faction — The Dark Order.

It’s an unconventional approach, but one that might just have resulted in the wave of 2022 given the high quality for all the figures involved. Today, I’m looking at the initial tag team of The Dark Order, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson.

They’ve probably been overdue for inclusion in the line given their presence since the early days of AEW. We finally get the guys who got the ball rolling for the faction so I figured it made sense to start with them. Let’s see if they make me join the Dark Order or decide to throw out my application.

Packaging:  Nothing really different with the Unmatched wave from the Unrivaled line besides the silver foil accent instead of gold. It does make for a fun distinction for MOC collectors.

Again, the line’s overall weakness with the packaging — the lack of any kind of stats, bios and larger side portraits — haven’t been addressed. I doubt it’s really on Jazwares’ radar, but it would take this category up to another level.

There is a new feature here with the addition of a tab for three exclusive Upper Deck trading cards.

Likeness:  It didn’t take Jazwares too long to start vastly improving on their head sculpts. The likenesses look amazing and shows a desire to keep getting better.

Evil Uno always had a great action figure look and Jazwares captured it perfectly. The best part of the figure of course is the head sculpt. The creepy smile is replicated tremendously with actual sculpted teeth.

He’s a little bigger so Jazwares gave him a thick torso. It helps fill him out and has the appropriate level of details with zippers, clasps and folds. Minor details like his thick socks peering over his boots and the angled pattern of his wrist tape are great inclusions as well.

Stu Grayson opts for a white paint-free God of War Kratos homage. This is removable and his smaller skirt is well done and scaled properly. From the thick beard, the grimacing head sculpt and long skirt, he definitely has that gladiator look.

Jazwares also didn’t skimp on smaller details like the unique wrist tape applications and his left arm band.

Scale:  Grayson is 5’10” and Uno is 6’. There’s not a lot of giants on the AEW roster so they’ll fit in just fine with the other figures. As always keep your regular figures away from the ridiculously out of scale Jon Moxley, which just wrecks the sale for everyone.

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Paint:  These two guys feature some of the best paintwork we’ve seen in the line so far.

Evil Uno has some very precise elements with his mask’s teeth and his outfit’s studs and clasps. The inner portion of the mask in particular is impressive without any bleeding or sloppiness around his eyes.

Not to mention the purple lining throughout the outfit. Uno’s paintwork is exceptional and that extends to the bright white wrist tape and socks.

Grayson isn’t as complex, but it’s just as well done. The face paint stripes are properly aligned. As usual, I’m really impressed with Jazwares’ work on the teeth, which creates a shinier appearance from a distance without looking bad up close either.

Jazwares probably went a shade too dark on Grayson’s beard, but it’s not terrible. The smaller detail work like the white lining on his beige wrist tape is sharp. His skirt’s purple is a nice rich strong shade standing out against the black.

Light spoiler, Jazwares did a great job of making sure all the Dark Order figures have the same shade of purple.

Articulation:  Jazwares has dramatically improved the expected articulation model for wrestling figures. They’ve made Mattel step up in order to keep up.

Evil Uno is great. His movement isn’t restricted dramatically from his thicker torso and plastic shirt. He can’t lock his arms for submission moves or suplexes, but is otherwise solid.

Stu is a bit more problematic. His left bicep is ridiculously loose, so it basically just spins around whenever I try to move it.

And his ring gear skirt rides up with every movement. Jazwares may as well have made it part of the sculpt or attach it, so it doesn’t constantly move.

Finally, at this point the line needs to advance and start adding butterfly shoulders. It feels like a significant missing articulation joint now for the extra bit of range to pull of some moves.

Evil Uno and Stu Grayson have:

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

Accessories:  Evil Uno comes with four additional hands. A set of fists and a clutching right hand and a Dark Order gesture right hand. Additionally, he’s got an AEW mic that’s reused from the Unrivaled 2 MJF figure.

Stu Grayson fares better. He’s got a set of fists and the Dark Order hand. He’s also got an alternate head sculpt with a yelling expression. That’s a good secondary option for Stu as he does that a lot in his matches.

Worth it?  The Unmatched line, like every other figure line, has seen a price increase. Now the figures are $21.99. Jazwares is trying to provide accessories to help soften the blow, which is helpful.

I was able to take advantage of a timely Target sale, which knocked them back to regular pricing. As the line becomes more consistently available on shelves, it might not be a bad strategy to time purchases around sales.

Rating: 9 out of 10

 Evil Uno was a very pleasant surprise from the detail and articulation. I probably got a bum Grayson with the arm, but the skirt issues dragged his score down too.

Where to get it?  Target has definitely improved on getting these guys on the shelves and is your best option. Amazon has Stu Grayson and Evil Uno in stock now.