WWE Ultimate Edition Legends Bret Hitman Hart figure review

Mattel pretty much has me on the hook for any Elite and Ultimate Edition Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart figure they crank out. The same would be true for Sting were he not in AEW. This just means I’m going to have an even greater variety of Bret figures in my collection.

While he got an Ultimate Edition figure back in Wave 2, Mattel made enough updates to the format The Hitman was arguably overdue for a new UE figure. First up is the Target exclusive Legends version with Bret from his first reign as WWF champion. At SDCC’23 Mattel revealed an all-black Canadian Stampede UE figure. I’m not gonna complain about having as many definitive looks of The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be so I was thrilled to get this all-pink attire in my display. Especially after growing dissatisfied with my custom all black and all pink attires.

Let’s see if this take on The Hitman is excellent executed.

Packaging:  MOC collectors should appreciate this version as it features a palette swapped presentation with a dominant red as opposed to white.

It helps provide an easy visual difference from one figure to the next while still providing some consistency in the line. The side drawing of Bret looks great and avoids that wacky looking Photoshop take of some other New Generation stars.

As usual, the back features some notable stats as well as a shot of the figure and a photo reference along with a terrific bio. The UE line in particular features some very well-written bios.

Likeness:  Bret’s packaged with his ring jacket, which I’ll cover in the accessories. The original UE Bret had a different mix of heads allowing for a greater library of Hart expressions.

This one is from the Elite 94 figure (available on Amazon). The likeness is there, but getting the hair flow just right remains a challenge for Mattel.

Bret’s torso is still slightly pinched in creating an odd gap from the chest to torso.

Admittedly, that would be hard for a guy who wet his hair creating smaller strands that are likely too small to make look great in this scale.

Scale:  Bret stands at 6 ft, making him shorter than most of his peers like the 6’1” Shawn Michaels, 6’3″ Narcissist, 6’4″ Yokozuna, 6’7” Razor Ramon and 6’10” Diesel. He is taller than the 5’10” Doink the Clown.

Paint:  This figure’s attire is based off of Bret’s match against Razor Ramon at Royal Rumble 1993. While Bret would wear all-black and all-pink attires it’s all about the smaller details that help in determine the specific look Mattel was recreating with the respective figures.

There’s a nice distinction from this attire to the latter WWF run, which featured more involved and busier designs. This one has the black flames on the legs with white interior and pink hearts.

Mattel’s first UE Bret has a painted torso, which didn’t match up perfectly with the heads and arms. This time it looks like Mattel used a richer flesh tone to better match up with the heads and arms if they did paint the torso.

Bret’s tights also have Hitman outlined on his backside.

Articulation:  The first UE Bret helped sell me on the format thanks to its improved articulation setup. It’s been enhanced further as Bret now has butterfly shoulders allowing for even better implementation of his various submission moves.

I still wish the torso joint had a bit more range back and forth with superior range in the back-and-forth movement.

You won’t have any issue busting out the Five Moves of Doom from his middle rope elbow smash, a better-looking Russian leg sweep and his piledrivers. And the Sharpshooter looks much better now.

Ultimate Edition Bret Hart has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees
• ankles

Accessories:  This Ultimate Edition Bret features just about the same accessories as the previous UE figure with one interesting omission.

He’s got the swappable arms with properly sized elbow pads and two different set of swappable hands. One is the outstretched palms for his signature ring introduction pose while the other is a set of fists.

Bret also has his trademark sunglasses, which fit decently into the slots along the sides of his head.

The Hitman only gets one additional head portrait, which is interesting as most UE figures have three head options. This one is similar to the neutral sculpt from before only with added strands of hair covering his face in a more realistic manner.

Of course, the big accessory is the ring jacket. This is a repaint of the original UE figure just repainted to a pink attire.

As usual for anything with a significant amount of white paint, it could have used another couple of applications to avoid looking faint or having the underneath color bleeding through. The details like the stars, black splatter and outline trail are sharp.

I do wish Mattel could come up with a better way to pull off the jacket beyond those big holes in the sleeve area. This allows for movement, something that’s been noticeably missing for all plastic jackets and robes. It’s not the best solution, but it’s a major improvement.

Without a second head sculpt, it probably would have been better for Mattel to throw a WWF title in as an additional accessory.

Worth it? Ultimate Edition Bret retails for $32.99, but I was able to take advantage of a Target sale to take him down to $23. That’s not as great as the clearance price of $16.49, but I’m not upset about it at all.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

This is a nice improvement over the initial UE Hitman, that’s really just a better head sculpt away from being the definitive all-pink version of The Best There Is, The Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be.

Where to get it?  Target is the exclusive home for WWE Legends, which extends to the Ultimate Edition Legends as well. You can still get The Hitman at Target’s website. You could also check through Amazon resellers if you strike out at Target.

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