I've been anxiously awaiting the release of the Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey WWE Elite series action figures, and finally found some that were freshly stocked on shelves this week. However.. I ended up leaving the store with only one of these figures instead of both. Why you ask? Let me show you..
First up is the Nia Jax figure. I like everything about this figure. Incredible likeness, superb sculpting, interchangeable heads, and the articulation is great with most of the joints hidden nicely. Like many action figures however, I'm a stickler for quality. Check out what I saw upon closer inspection..
The Nia Jax on the left is the figure I purchased. It's beautiful and a dead on likeness. The second I saw the Nia pictured on the right though, I knew something was amiss. She actually looks a little more tired than the other figure. This is because eyes were actually painted too high and totally changes the look of her face! The end result gives her some nice bags under her eyeballs. The eyes on Nia #1 look so good because the were actually painted on a rounded surface which gives them proper depth.
The paint on the lips were also sloppy and outside of the lines, further changing the appearance of her face. You wouldn't think such a small detail could make such a big difference, but it really does. In addition to the sorry paint on the eyes and lips, there were black paint spots on the neck and sloppy painting on her rhinestones.
Next up is the Ronda Rousey figure. I had such high hopes for this figure, but it fell short for me in more ways than one.
The first thing is the outfit. It doesn't look bad mind you.. but I was so hoping for a figure with the Kilt, leather jacket and Rowdy shirt. You know the one.. the outfit she wears an an homage to Wrestling great Rowdy Roddy Piper. Still, this outfit also camouflages the points of articulation nicely, so I was ready to buy it. Until I took a closer look that is.
Right off the bat I could tell something looked off, and it was poor Ronda's hairline. It's way too high and totally changes her appearance. I swear.. there must have been an error of some sort on the master mould, making her hair sit too far back on the head. What's more, it was a defect that was obvious to quality control, because they made a feeble attempt to correct the error. You can see where they painted the side of her head with the same color paint, in a sub par attempt hide the mistake. I know there are paint variations in action figures, which is why I always compare multiple figures and pick the cleanest looking figures of the batch. However, this ridiculous excuse for an 'Elite figure' has the same shoddy craftsmanship on every single figure I've seen. I've even seen other reviews and showcases online where they don't even mention it! If I was Ronda Rousey, I'd be super ticked off. Heck.. I'm ticked off for her!
Other than that major problem with the hairline, the face on this figure was somewhat of a decent likeness. They even included the mole under her left eye. I think the smile throws it off a bit, but maybe that's just because I'm not used to seeing her smile like this. I think a smirk or frown would have cinched it perfectly.
So while I'm perfectly happy with my Nia Jax fig, I'm bummed that I'm going to have to wait and see if they make another version of a Ronda Rousey figure that looks better than this latest incarnation.
Other than that major problem with the hairline, the face on this figure was somewhat of a decent likeness. They even included the mole under her left eye. I think the smile throws it off a bit, but maybe that's just because I'm not used to seeing her smile like this. I think a smirk or frown would have cinched it perfectly.
So while I'm perfectly happy with my Nia Jax fig, I'm bummed that I'm going to have to wait and see if they make another version of a Ronda Rousey figure that looks better than this latest incarnation.