Collector’s Corner: Mattel WWE Elite 71 In-Depth Review (Photos)
On this week’s installment of Collector’s Corner we take an in-depth look at the epic WWE Elite 71 set featuring:
- Drew McIntyre
- Jeff Hardy
- John Cena
- Big Show (Flashback)
- Adam Cole
- Nikki Bella (with Chase variant)
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The Packaging
Each Elite in the set comes in the standard style WWE Elite packaging with the white/black design scheme with their image and name on the sides. Followed by an image of the highlighted wrestler on the back with stats and info plus whom all is in the set.
Drew McIntyre
Drew is a pretty awesome figure, especially if you missed out on his NXT Elite at Target not that long ago. This one is very similar but his attire logos are different than his previous Elite, plus this one has swappable hands and heads! This Drew comes with a head with his hair in his face, which is awesome to recreate his menacing entrance, not to mention he has one of the RAW tag team titles from his title run and his entrance jacket. He also comes with a similar head to his first Elite with his hair back.
Overall, Drew is a decent figure and I like it much more than his NXT one as the heads on these are really nice and the neck isn’t as thick as the NXT version. My only gripe with this figure, and it could just be mine, is that his heads pop off so easily that they can almost fall off, which obviously isn’t good. His neck does look a tad long, too, but looking at images of him he does have a long neck. I still recommend this one to his NXT Elite, but just be aware of the head issue in case yours has that, too.
Jeff Hardy
Let me say from the start that Jeff’s figure is really nice. I wasn’t as excited to get his but once I opened it I was super impressed. His attire is super colorful like his Elite 67 was and he comes with two alternate heads, which is awesome! You may want to buy three of this figure just to have all three heads featured. He’s also the first Elite Jeff Hardy to feature the towel tucked into his back pocket, which is a detail Mattel has missed for ages. Glad to finally see it featured on him as it looks excellent. And of course he has swappable hands to recreate his taunt.
Overall, Jeff is really nice. People may be annoyed to see another Jeff figure but honestly it’s one of his best. Super detailed from all his tattoos to his face paint to his attire. Just an overall awesome figure and I highly recommend picking him up if you’re a Hardy fan. I’m definitely going to look into buying a few more to have the other heads featured.
John Cena
John is probably the weakest figure of the set as it’s practically identical to his Elite 64 figure but it does have a new head scan with his new, longer hairdo. Not to mention his belt is a different color, too. He comes with a hat, which doesn’t fit his head due to his long hair, a cloth t-shirt and his rubber green armband as far as accessories go.
Overall, the figure is nice if you didn’t pickup his Elite 64 one, but if you did you will probably not be too interested in this one other than the new head sculpt.
Big Show
Big Show is another one of my favorites in the set as it’s an Attitude Era flashback of him with his hair in a ponytail. He also does not feature his singlet and rather just his black shorts, which is really cool as it’s different than all his other figures. He comes with a cloth shirt as well as the Attitude Era WWE Championship and swappable hands to recreate the chokeslam!
Overall, I love this figure. This is back from his early days when he only had the little tattoo on his leg and they captured it well. His new head scan is great, too. The giant, swappable hands are a great touch as well and the belt of course is awesome. If you don’t have that belt I recommend picking this figure up even more. If you love collecting the Attitude Era figures you should not skip out on this one.
Adam Cole
Adam Cole is my favorite in the set as his figure is just fantastic. People were complaining about his hairline as it’s a little high compared to his previous Elite but it’s still an awesome figure in my opinion. This is an all new facial expression for him to recreate his “Bay Bay” taunt to go with his hands. He also comes with the “UE” hand gestures and regular open hands as well. He also comes with a cloth Bay Bay shirt, the UE armband (which should be on his right arm), a black elbow pad and the most sought after piece with this figure, the NXT North American Championship. The belt looks fantastic as this was Mattel’s first rendition of it, which will make this figure so sought after.
Overall, a fantastic figure in this set. Very well done, the new hands and NXT NA Championship especially, really make this figure special. If you didn’t pickup the UE 3-pack then pickup this Adam Cole as it’s that much better. Highly recommend it.
Nikki Bella
Nikki has two versions in this set, one being the Chase. The Chase version is her red attire while the main release is the Beallalution attire from the Evolution PPV. I prefer the Bellalution one as it has a lot more detail on it, from her trunks to the logos on her hat and shoes to name a few. Her new head sculpt on both looks nice, too. Not to mention they comes with a cloth half-shirt that rips open to recreate her entrance taunt, which is a neat bonus accessory.
Overall, Nikki looks good. I prefer the main release (Bellalution) to the Chase, which you can see both versions below, but it’s nice for a follow up to go with Elite 68 Brie Bella. The Bellalution version is at least a different colored attire than any we’ve had of her and the small details really make it special. If you want the Chase I recommend getting her on Ringside as the female figures are usually the hardest to find, especially if it’s a Chase.
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Collector's Corner: Mattel WWE Elite 71 In-Depth Review (Photos) – Wrestlezone
