A little over a year ago, WWE was truly onto something special as it stumbled upon something organic that was fresh, exciting, and was getting wrestling fans reinvigorated with the product again. Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista all in the same night to capture the WWE World Title, and The Shield turned their backs on The Authority to face the wrath of a reunited Evolution. It was a good time to get back into WWE.
Mattel has released five Elite versions of Randy Orton, but his attire and look have changed so little over the years that I hadn’t felt the need to get an updated figure until the sixth one — in Elite 35 based on his Evolution reunited days. Is “The Viper” a hit or does this new figure just bite? Let’s find out.
Packaging: The standard Elite packaging here with the cool blue and grey with minimal stats on the back. I miss the bio write-up of the respective character, but I do appreciate the specific match attire reference even if it isn’t always accurate. More on that later.
Likeness: The figure has a pretty solid likeness of Orton. The slight smirk in the head sculpt is a nice touch. As you’d expect from one of the major players in the WWE, Mattel has Orton’s body down pat. You could argue that, of the numerous wrestlers, the parts seem tailor-made with him in mind.
Paint: I mentioned the package references the figure’s ring attire, which is great unless you care enough to see what Orton actually wore at Extreme Rules 2014 and see it’s a dull black. I’m perfectly fine with the more colorful blue, though. I had some very light white paint marks on the back of the tights, but the logo and design came out fine, so I won’t complain.
Mattel is still trying to figure out the right amount of paint applications for wrestlers with nearly shaved heads like Orton and Triple H, and I’m honestly not sure they can get it better, but it’s not quite as close as Orton normally keeps his hair now. I never noticed until doing some research, but Mattel even included Orton’s wedding finger tattoo, which is a nice addition that only the hardcore fan would notice was missing.
Scale: Orton is billed at 6’5″ to Roman Reigns’ 6’3″, while John Cena’s 6’1″ and Daniel Bryan’s 5’10” Reigns’ scale is a bit off, but Orton is scaled correctly, which you can best appreciate when you have Orton squaring off against Bryan. The height differences in the various wrestlers is one of my favorite aspects of Mattel’s line.
Articulation: Orton has the standard Elite articulation, although, like my HOF Eddie Guerrero, mine had a bit of a floppy chest. It’s an annoyance and hopefully Mattel is working on making every joint tighter. They’re wrestling figures, so over the course of time, loose joints could be expected for those who play with them, but they don’t need to come out of the package in “pre-used” condition.
Like most Elite figures, Orton can simulate any move, and I had a lot more fun than I expected posing him. The fluid articulation always helps make the Elite figure some of the best figures to play around with, and Orton was definitely no exception.
Accessories: Orton doesn’t necessarily have a lot of obvious accessories, which is why the majority of his figures have come with shirts. Mattel has flip-flopped on the material used for these shirts, though, but thankfully this version is made of cloth, not the hard plastic “coat-like” shirts.
I really dug the 2014 edition Evolution shirt, and this has all the little details like the snake winding around the Orton skeleton arm. For the record, I always favor cloth over plastic, and this is another reason why. It fits the figure like a shirt should without any issues with the shirt design transfer.
Worth it? This is a very solid Randy Orton figure. If you’re like me and haven’t felt the need to grab each and every Orton figure that’s hit shelves, this is a good addition for your collection thanks to the colorful tights and the sweet Evolution shirt.
As the Shield/Evolution feud was one of my favorites in the last five years, I’m probably gonna be on the hook now for getting the Elite 35 Triple H and Elite 33 “Blue-tista” Batista.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Where to get it? Elite 35 is pretty widespread at stores these days. Toys R Us is probably your best bet to find him (although they went from having the best price with Elites to the most expensive at $22), but you can also stumble upon him at Target stores. The only catch is they are swamped with Elites 33 and 34 as well. The best price currently is from Amazon, which has him at $20.
