WWE Ultimate Edition Mr. T review

For WWE Ultimate Edition Wave 13, Mattel did something I’d love to see become a standard feature in this format. Instead of a modern and a legend offering, we got two legends closely connected with Hulk Hogan and his Wrestlemania tag team partner Mr. T.

UE 13 provided Hogan and Mr. T in their respective looks for the match, which was a terrific strategy and whets 80s collectors’ appetite for a future similar theme Ultimate Edition set featuring their opponents ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.

Mr. T was vital to WrestleMania’s success as his mainstream popularity brought more attention to the surging WWF so if any celebrity warranted inclusion in the Ultimate Edition line it’s him.

Mattel already released a San Diego Comic Con exclusive and a WrestleMania 2 boxing match version of Mr. T. Now it’s time for his WWF career defining take. Let’s see if I’ll pity the fool who put this together or proudly display this in the centerpiece of my 1985 shelf.

Packaging:  As with the normal retail UE packaging, this sports the white with red accents color scheme along with a solid render along the side.

My favorite part of the packaging remains the rear with the action shot of the figure and a reference photo in addition to the stat breakdown. Mr. T’s bio is excellent as expected based on Mattel’s track record.

Likeness:  Mattel knocked out Mr. T’s likeness right away. I love the focused expression with that simmering intensity.

Mattel went with the slimmer UE body for Mr. T. Of the available bodies this was the best choice as he had some definition without being shredded.

While the arms have good musculature, his legs are a bit thin. That’s not far off from T’s appearance so they chose the parts properly.

Scale:  Mr. T was a big guy for Hollywood, but at 5’10” he was surprisingly short compared to WWF stars including his pal Hogan at 6’7″.

He should be looking up at the 6′ Orndorff and Piper, but Mattel hasn’t done much in terms of differentiating scales in the UE line so he’s much closer to Hogan’s height than reality. That’s unfortunate and not the norm for Mattel, which normally handles scale better.

Paint:  It’s always a win when Mattel gets the skin tone correct on black stars. Mr. T isn’t too dark or too light and his complexion is accurate. The lining on his beard is solid.

Mattel nailed the thin white stripes along the side of his tights and the mismatched blue and red laces of his gold boots.

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Articulation:  Mr. T wasn’t some technical savant, but he was game to brawl with the WWF heavyweights. The most important thing is you won’t have any trouble hitting the airplane spin, which was one of signature photographs from WrestleMania 1.

Ultimate Edition Mr. T has:

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

Accessories: Some Ultimate Edition figures get shortchanged with accessories, but that’s definitely not the case with Mr. T.

He gets his red robe he wore to the ring. The shot of Hogan, T and Superfly Snuka walking down the Masson Square Garden hallway is somewhat iconic so it’s nice to be able to capture that with the robe.

Beyond the ring gear, Mattel included accessories from the various promos Hogan and T shot in hyping the Mania match. First is his Hulkamania hat. The lettering is tricky and something to be mindful of if you can choose your figure on shelf.

You can also gear Mr. T up with all the accessories from the SDCC figure.

Next up is the matching red Hulkamania shirt. Annoyingly it’s still got the Velcro seam along the front to simulate Hogan (and T) ripping it, but it never looks great in the default state.

Mr. T also has his signature gold chains and a set of swappable fists. The chains are painted a little darker than the SDDC version.

Additionally, he’s got his resistance rod.

Finally, Mattel added the intense teeth gritted portrait. It’s always nice to have options and this is a great sculpt.

Worth it? I was holding out for a sale on Mr. T given the frequency of Target sales, but Mr. T hit clearance first. That knocked him down to $16.39. Then I was able to stack some Target Circle rewards and the spend $50 get $10 off sale. That’s a lot better than the original $32.99 price tag!

Rating: 9 out of 10

The biggest issue is the height as it would help illustrate how physically overmatched T was compared to the WWF stars. Otherwise this is a terrific figure and worth getting especially at the clearance price.

Where to get it? You can get Mr. T at Targets, which have had him in plentiful stock. You can also grab him from Amazon. Entertainment Earth has T in a set with Hogan.