WWE Ultimate Edition Wave 14 Roman Reigns review

Sometimes all it takes is a little personality change for a star to ascend to their career peak. Austin did it after cutting his hair and quoting scriptures. Hogan did it after going outlaw and making easier wardrobe choices and Roman Reigns did it by finally giving the fans permission to boo him if they failed to acknowledge The High Chief.

I’ve been waiting to get a figure of this career renaissance take on Roman Reigns for a while now, but with the arrival of Ultimate Edition figures, I figured he had to get his most articulated figure yet. That patience finally paid off with the reveal of UE 14. Now it’s time to see if this version of Reigns gives him his proper respect that he should have enjoyed since Day 1.

Packaging: The UE packaging with the white and red accents always works best with characters with clashing colors. It makes it far easier to see them and all their accessories. This is an ideal contrast of colors that would work great for MOC collectors.

Roman’s bio is excellent as always wonderfully summarizing The Tribal Chief era of The Head of the Table.

Likeness: Mattel has cranked out countless Roman figures. They all follow the same basic formula in the post-Shield look.

The UE 14 figure gets the muscular UE torso despite Roman not being as ripped as he was earlier in his career after dealing with leukemia. Since there’s no change (yet) with the lower half of the UE figures from the Elites, this is the carry over style from every Roman Elite figure.

The default head sculpt is intense giving Roman a menacing presence. He’s got two alternate portraits.

One that’s more reserved Tribal Chief with his hair pulled back.

The beard here is a bit thicker than the others making for a little inconsistency, but not that noticeable.

For the third sculpt, it’s far more expressive capturing Roman in his pre-spear Ooooh-ahhh.

This is a great specific head sculpt and exactly what we should get with this line.

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Scale: Roman is 6’3” the same height as his cousin Jimmy Uso. They’re both taller than Roman’s right hand, Jey Uso at 6’2” and the wise man Paul Heyman at 5’11”. Roman is the same height as his archrival Brock Lesnar and should stand taller than the 6’ Kevin Owens.

Paint: Roman has a fairly basic paint scheme with the most complicated aspect his tribal tattoo along his right pectoral extending over his shoulder and onto his arm. Mattel has had plenty of practice with that and even with the additional articulation points it’s not a problem.

The facial hair is just right and it seems like Mattel has Roman’s skin tone down now. His red gauntlet has a nice amount of detail and the black lining is sharp.

Articulation: The benefit for Ultimate Edition figures is the wider range of movement.

This is definitely useful for a guy like Roman who utilizes a lot of shoulder arching, arms flared back moves like spears and his Superman punch.

Butterfly joints definitely help with him as well with his big roaring back power moves.

Ultimate Edition Roman Reigns has:

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

Accessories: The amount of accessories wildly varies from one Ultimate Edition figure from the next. Roman gets the lighter tier package on this front with the kind of extras I’d expect more from the standard Elite figures.

He’s got a cloth Bloodline shirt. This is a nice design and it’s nice to get it in figure form. And as always, I appreciate getting T-shirts that are a snug – but not too snug a fit on the figure.

Roman also has two swappable fists. Maybe to enhance the value, Mattel could have given Roman a swappable black gauntlet. He tends to wear red now, but that would have been a nice extra.

He has a red lei befitting The High Chief. This is a cool accessory and nice inclusion. Additionally, he’s got the Universal Championship? I know Roman is the Undisputed Champ now, but I couldn’t keep up with the blue and red tint belts on Raw and Smackdown.

Finally, he’s got the two additional portraits I mentioned earlier.

Worth It?  Given the lack of true extras, I don’t love the $32.99 price point. These really needed to stick to $29.99. I was able to get Roman during a Target spend $50 get $10 off sale, which knocked him back down to the older price and then some.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

The Tribal Chief gets an outstanding Ultimate Edition figure that just needed a few more accessories — a raised index finger and maybe another shirt? — from getting the full score. This is my main Roman figure now thanks to the articulation upgrades that enhance his moveset.

Where to Get It? I don’t normally see Ultimate Edition figures around beyond Target, which tends to keep a plentiful supply of the current two waves. Otherwise, you can always go the Amazon route.

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