Hey guys and welcome to an all-NEW installment of Figure Friday! Today we take a look at the Walmart Exclusive WWE Then, Now, Forever Elite Sami Zayn!
Before I dive into his review I just want to say quickly that I do read your feedback on my columns and really appreciate the feedback. I would just like to clarify that I have been a collector since I was very young and enjoy the hobby of collecting. I’ve kept up on the latest figure trends for most of my life and it’s led to a lot of opportunity such as writing for WrestleZone. There really are no product placements in these columns unless a company happens to reach out and ask me to write about some of their products. I honestly just pick my favorite figures out of the sets that I pick up online or at the store and write about them as I figured collectors like myself would rather know about the good ones than the bad. I agree I can be and should be more critical, which I will be in this review. Please keep the feedback coming as it truly helps me improve my content!
Moving on, this Sami as well as the others in the set, including Macho Man, Earthquake and Typhoon were all a random surprise at Walmart this past week. We had seen these revealed at San Diego Comic Con back in July but didn’t know quite when they would be surfacing until someone happened to notice them at Walmart recently. There are other sets appearing at Walmart right now, such as a few WWE Elite 3-packs and a new Mattel retro throwback to the old WWE Hasbro figures from the 90s.
Looking at Sami in the packaging he comes in the typical Elite style box; however, it is a white color scheme like all the TNF figures at Walmart. I personally really like the white packaging as I feel it is clean and really stands out on the pegs. Sami comes with his t-shirt and hat. On the back is just some little information about him as well as whom else is in the series as I listed above.
Taking a look at Sami out of the box I’d like to say this is probably my favorite Sami Zayn figure to date. The head scan looks just like him in my opinion. My only complaint on his face really is that they painted a thin white line on his lips, which I assume are supposed to be his teeth? I don’t think this detail was necessary, as it looks kind of goofy. I don’t even know if you can see that in my photos below but it’s not the first time Mattel has done this as they did it with the Elite 41 Dean Ambrose figure as well. I really like the serious head scan as his previous figures were yelling. I much prefer the serious scans than the screaming/yelling ones.
Sami’s figure is pretty detailed as he his wrist tape, boot designs, socks and even chest hair, even though I don’t think his chest hair is that thick in real life. His attire is pretty detailed, too, which is cool. It has the checkered designs on the left side, even on his kneepad, as well as his logo and other designs on the rest of the tights. Speaking of the kneepads and even the elbow pads, neither of them should be on this figure. I don’t know the last time I’ve seen Sami wear elbow pads, probably not since his NXT days. As for the kneepads, his pads are under his tights, not over. I did this with his last figure and will probably do it with this one as well, but you can remove the kneepads. The elbow pads are easy to slide off his arms so don’t worry about those. To remove the kneepads you will need to boil some water and put Sami’s legs in there for thirty seconds to a minute to soften them. Then you can pop off his boots by simply pulling at the joint where the boots meets his leg. Then just slide off the kneepads and pop the boots back on and let it cool so the plastic hardens again. The kneepads do NOT interfere with the checkered design on his tights as Mattel thankfully painted that on his tights as well if you were wondering.
The fact Sami comes with a cloth shirt is really nice, as Mattel has been skimping out on cloth shirts lately. I was very pleased they decided to give him a cloth shirt as well as his hat. I believe the hat is the same mold as the one that came with an Elite of Batista awhile back, but this one is darker in color. The hat fits snuggly to his head, as there are little holes for his ears to slide into, making the hat grip his head better. The shirt fits nicely, too, as there’s a Velcro strip in the back that seals it up. The accessories make this figure that much better honestly.
If you can overlook the minor errors, such as the elbow pads and kneepads, even the chest hair, I’d say this figure is really nice. A lot of people missed out on his Elite 40 figure so this is another opportunity to pick him up. You can only get him at Walmart as it is a Walmart Exclusive so be sure to check your local stores!
If you’d like to check out more of my figure photography and would like to keep up with the latest figures give me a follow on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube! Be sure to tune in to another new episode of Figure 2 Photo this Monday showing how I made the Sami and Breeze photo above!
Remember, if you have any suggestions of newer figures you’d like to see me review or have anymore feedback please comment below!
Thanks and I’ll see you next week!
Figure Friday WWE TNF Elite Sami Zayn
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