WWE SummerSlam Elite Lex Luger review – BAF John Cone wave
Lex Luger had a weird start to his WWF run. He initially joined as part of the World Bodybuilding Federation before debuting as The Narcissist months later.
That was a good gimmick for him, but a dearth of faces to battle Yokozuna prompted a face turn that propelled Luger to main event several shows in 1993. The biggest was his WWF title match against Yokozuna at SummerSlam.
Mattel celebrated that big encounter with this year’s SummerSlam Build a Figure weave. I was pulling for this attire, of my favorite Made in the USA Luger era costumes, to be made in the Ultimate Edition line now that we have a UE Yokozuna.
Let’s see if this version of Lex can truly be my hero or needs to get laid out on the rack of poorly executed releases.
Packaging: Like most of the special event packaging, this set up has some splash of color with a beach theme turquoise and orange. It features a reasonably sized portrait of Luger and the BAF Cone.
The side features another Luger portrait while the back has a bio and the specific part attached with Lex.
I got him on a damaged package deal, and it arrived true to description. Not a big deal since I only cared about the figure anyway.
Likeness: I really like this short haired Lex portrait. It does a great job of capturing his look from that time period.
Appropriately, Mattel gave Lex the more muscular torso used for the Legends 15 Luger.
The outfit is also accurate as it has the longer elbows sleeve on his right arm as well as the tights with the front and back flap. The boots have the correct fringe parts with the triangle style flaps.
Scale: Luger stood at 6’3″ so he’s looking up slightly at the 6’4″ Yokozuna. He is taller than the 6′ Bret Hart.
MORE:
- Marvel Legends 85th Anniversary Ghost Rider review
- The Penguin – After Hours review S1 E1
- G.I. Joe Classified Series Airborne review
- Agatha All Along – Seekest Thou the Road review
Paint: Lex had a pretty standard pattern stars and stripes attire. The exception was the SummerSlam matchup where he added the waistband and flap to his tights. His boots also have flaps. Lex’s boots and tights have gold lining. Lex’s armbands are small yet the detailing on the stars and the stripes is very clean and precise.
Even with the typically challenging color pairings of red and white of his wristbands, there’s no bleeding between them. That is a major deal. Some of the white stars on the plastic pieces aren’t as clean. Getting the paint to adhere to that style of plastic is too tricky to reasonably expect it to be smooth and uniform throughout.
Mattel hasn’t prioritized getting hair color and the mix of gradients, so Lex’s hair isn’t a dirty blonde. It’s more of a mustard brown.
Articulation: Lex had a wide array of high impact power moves in his repertoire including clotheslines, atomic drops, suplexes or powerslams.
While he doesn’t have the Ultimate Edition level of articulation that would aid his clotheslines and powerslams, the Elite articulation scheme allows for pretty solid range of movements.
Lex Luger has:
- neck
- bicep
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbows (double-jointed)
- wrists
- wrist hinge
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Mattel has gotten really good about including fun accessories with figures. There were some viable options for Lex that weren’t included like an American flag or a sweated-out hair sculpt.
Instead, Lex comes up a little short with just swappable fists.
He does come with the legs for the BAF referee John Cone.
Worth It? Amazon has had fluctuating prices on Lex for a bit. He was as low as $18 before shooting up to near $30. I grabbed him when he went back down to $18. Lex doesn’t have the intricate accessories to make him worth $23 so getting him for under $20 was a good deal.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Lex gets a very solid figure for his SummerSlam 93 matchup, but a few more fun accessories would have put it over the top.
Where to Get It? Walmart had this wave stocked fairly well until actually clearancing it out. Your best bet now is to grab him from Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.