I realized that most of my action figure purchases in 2021 have been AEW, as I quickly tried to get scale in that collection. But at the same time, I have a decent sized collection of WWE Mattel figures as well, and almost never write about them.
With that said, from time to time I will outline some recent purchases I've made, both in stores and on the secondary market. Let's take a look at some of the WWE Mattel figures I picked up in the summer of 2021...
This Jerry "The King" Lawler figure from Elite Series 82 is simply phenomenal. It portrays The King at the height of his WWF run in the mid-1990s, complete with his New Generation-era face scan and mullet. Of course, it also comes with an interchangeable set of hands, a crown and one of the nicest action figure robes I've ever seen. This figure is a must-have for my 1990s-centric collection and an amazing depiction of Lawler from this period of time.
The Santino Marella figure was quite a find at a flea market; for just a few dollars I picked up a 2010 figure that was originally part of the "Unlikely Allies" two-pack with Beth Phoenix. I love this figure because it depicts Santino at his most Santino-ish, complete with shaved sides of his head and a menacing unibrow. It's just... perfect, and I'm so glad I have it.
Shockingly, I've never owned a Mattel Rey Mysterio figure until this past summer. This one is from Mattel Basic Series 7. What I love about Rey is he's proportionately smaller than most other figures (as he should be), and this one has a brilliant white, blue and yellow pattern and a huge array of his tattoos.
Colonel Mustafa is a 2021 creation and a "Collector's Edition," according to Mattel. I found it a Toys 'R' Us and decided I needed to drop the $30 (Canadian) on it, because hey, you have to respect The Iron Sheik even when he's moonlighting as a military operative. This is a nice homage to the Triangle of Terror member, as he comes with soft-goods military fatigues that barely fits over his belly (similar to the real-life Col. Mustafa) and he has a green camo undershirt and khaki pants. He also comes with a beret that (sometimes) fits on his bald dome, interchangeable hands and those famous Iron Shiek curly-toed boots.
I've also never owned a Mattel Stone Cold Steve Austin (unless you count his Retro figure) and while this one is hardly my favorite, it was another cheap flea-market pickup. I believe this is from the "Then. Now. Forever" line from a couple of years back, minus the gold belt it's supposed to come with. Stone Cold has a maniacal smile on his face and he's strangely wearing gold knee braces.
I couldn't tell you exactly which Sin Caras I picked up here - they were hiding in a book store bin in cottage country for maybe four bucks a piece. I know that the white one is the original Sin Cara (Mistico?) and the reddish-purple one with a tattoo sleeve is the second Sin Cara (Hunico?), but I doubt these came from the same collection or anything. Still... two Sin Caras!
Another bookstore find was Roman Reigns, and while I have a few of his Mattel figures, this is certainly the oldest one in my collection. From what I can tell, it appears to be from his first Battle Pack with Seth Rollins and is quite basic, including the non-removable flak jacket. Still, nice to compare this one to the modern-day "Wreck Everyone And Leave" Roman that I own.
Last but definitely least, I needed to own a fig of The Patron Saint of Wrestling Figures Zack Ryder (a/k/a The Thousand Dollar Broski) and found this one at a secondhand store over the summer. This one appears to be from Basic Series 34, and comes with a QR code on the front of Ryder's trunks and the Z True Long Island Story logo on the back. Not a bad add to my rapidly-expanding collection.