Rey Mysterio Deluxe Aggression Series 20

January 31, 2010 | By More


Let me start by saying that I am not a wrestling fan. I know very little about who the current top wrestlers are and even less about the different leagues or franchises in that “sport”.

However, a staple in my toy box growing up were the single-piece plastic luchadores that even to this day can still be found at the various Mexican markets. These wrestling figures were pretty much an offshoot of the plastic-injected army men type of figures, and the exact same molds could be used over and over again to portray the whole Lucha Libre pantheon.

Over the years, a handful of garden-shed entrepreneurs produced their own assortments of figures, with their own unique sculpts and designs, but I always kept a soft spot in my heart for the ones who used masks, since those were as close to real life superheroes as a kid could get.

Masks have always been of special significance in Lucha Libre, and the trend was so popular that top wrestlers like El Santo and Blue Demon leaped over into the film industry in the late 60’s and early 70’s, cementing the idea of the masked wrestler as a multiple purpose pop-hero. Treaties have been written about the Lucha movies in Mexico, so I won’t go into more detail, but it suffices to say that the fascination with masked wrestlers is very deeply ingrained in the popular zeitgeist.

Fast forward over twenty-odd years later, I began noticing at stores that wrestling toys were undergoing a revival of sorts, after a fairly extended lull from the late 70’s to the early 2Ks with the Jakks Pacific product displayed fairly prominently at most of the stores I frequent regularly.

Since wrestling figures had dropped from my attention nearly to the same level as “real sports” figures (and I don’t find American Wrestling all that engaging to begin with), I dismissed them as just another toy fad. However, a couple of months ago, I went on my regular toy run at Sears, and something caught my eye in a flash of black and yellow.  Series 20 Deluxe Aggression Rey Mysterio.

I didn’t buy him then, but still, I thought the color pattern was neat, and it was pretty much the only masked wrestler I had ever seen from that line, so I started to mull the idea of getting that one character, as a curiosity.

The next time I saw the figure was at WalMart, but when I saw the price tag, I decided to get a couple more Star Wars figures instead, even though I recall my decision was surprisingly tinged with subtle regret.

The third time I saw the figure, I had a discount coupon of 20% in toys from a store catalog at home, so I decided to go back the next day and use it to get Rey Mysterio, but as luck would have it, it was January 6th, the last big gift-giving holiday in Mexico, and when I went back the figure was gone. I ended up using my discount coupon on yet more SW stuff.

Finally, last week, I went on my usual lunch-time toy run and, Lo and behold!, Rey Mysterio was staring back at me, half hidden behind Domo and Spongebob plush dolls at a Sanborns store. I then decided enough was enough and picked him up to the register once and for all.

My first impression of the Rey Mysterio figure is that it is massive. Like all of the Deluxe Aggression characters, Rey Mysterio is a fairly big toy, clocking about 7” high and very well articulated. The material used for his construction feels very solid and sturdy, which adds to the tactile enjoyment derived from manipulating him into various poses.

Rey Mysterio is depicted wearing a pair of loose, baggy trousers, wristbands, elbow pads and his trademark mask. Although Rey uses several individual masks, in different color patterns, they all retain the same basic traits, most prominent among them a big cross fleury (a cross whose arms end in fleur-de-lys shaped tips) over his brow. The color scheme for the series 20 release of Rey Mysterio is a halved black and yellow pattern that I find very striking and aggressive.

As a whole, the sculpt on most Jakks Pacific figures tend to rest on the slightly bland side of things, as most of their figures tend to reutilize pieces and that means they have to remain fairly generic, but that doesn’t mean they lack any merit by themselves. Both the baggy trousers and the muscle-bound torso and arms have been used in previous characters, but still they are all have sharp detailing and harmonic proportions.

The most impressive part is the masked head, as it is a fairly dynamic sculpt of Rey Mysterio roaring in a menacing, chinstrap-flapping, uvula-straining manner. Also, with every tiny stitch and embroidered seam sculpted onto the mask, the amount of detail here more than makes up for the smooth textures found on the rest of the figure.

The Deluxe Aggression line has the best articulation model among the Jakks wrestling based lines, occupying a spot somewhere in between Mattel’s DC Super Heroes and Hasbro’s Marvel Legends lines. Rey Mysterio has the following articulation spread:

Ball jointed neck. Excellent motion range all around, which accounts for subtly nuanced poses.

Peg & hinge shoulders. Again, excellent motion range on both sides.

Upper biceps swivel. A very good replacement for the sideways swivel at the elbows.

Hinged elbows. Very good, almost  90° bend.

Swivel & hinge wrists. Free 360° rotation from a cuff cut, and good in-and-out flexing of the palms from a hinge at the base of the thumb.

Swivel waist. Free 360° swivel.

Hinged Torso. The basic ab-crunch hinge, with fairly good range of motion.

Ball mounted hips. Surprisingly similar to what the 3.75 inch scale G.I. Joes use, providing a fair range of movement.

Upper thigh swivels. These are extremely useful joints that allow great flexibility to the poses Rey Mysterio can achieve.

Hinged knees. These bend up to roughly 70°-75°, which is actually fairly good range, although not stellar.

Peg & hinge ankles. These have decent forward bending and extending and also provide 360° swiveling.

About the only things I would have liked to see done better in Rey Mysterio’s articulation were the knees, which as they are work decently, but all the same, could have benefited from a peg & hinge joint or a double hinge to offer better range.

Rey Mysterio is molded out of flesh colored plastic for arms and torso, yellow plastic for the head, right leg and waist piece, and apparently black plastic for the left leg. This means that the black half of his costume is black painted over yellow plastic, offering good coverage and a very neat, sharp color separation.

The face is very well painted and has fairly impressive paint applications inside the gaping mouth, as well as the trademark pale contact lenses Rey wears in his performances. The black half of his mask is painted neatly and the cross on his forehead is painted bright red. My only complaint here is that the yellow half could have used a warm yellow wash to bring out the texture detail on the mask a little bit more.

The torso and arms of Rey Mysterio are covered in tattoos, all of which are very complex and neatly tampographed onto the plastic, even though some of them extend over articulated surfaces. Only the shoulder tattoos tend to break up when the shoulder disks are not precisely aligned, but this is a minor complaint and at least the paint doesn’t rub off the joint with use, which is a positive mark for me.

The trousers have also extra painted details. On the Left leg Rey has printed the number “619” along the outer seam in a bright yellow medieval font, while on the right leg there is the word “Mysterio” printed in the same style font as in the left leg, placed above a skull and mask motif and underneath a repetition of the “619” cipher (which, as I understand, is actually the area code for the San Diego suburb where Rey hails from).

As far as accessories go, Rey Mysterio comes with a couple removable elbow pads, made of very flexible black rubber and an action accessory in the form of a “denting chair”. I was expecting the chair accessory to be, well, and actual functional folding chair with a flexible membrane affixed to the seat frame, but in reality this is a box with a movable inner face-sculpted plate that is pressed onto the flexible rubber covering and locks into place to simulate a dent, all sculpted into a faux-chair frame.

To Jakks credit, the gimmick works, but I found it to be less than impressive, especially considering that none of their figures have hand sculpts that actually allow them to hold accessories (Rey’s right hand is sculpted as a closed fist and the left hand is sculpted with palm extended).

In the end, I am very satisfied with this Rey Mysterio figure, even to the point that I might pick up a few more figures with different outfits, which should not be too lengthy an endeavor now that Jakks lost the WWE license to Mattel. Bottom line Rey Mysterio is a nice looking, fun toy to have.

Errex Score: 96/100

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Category: Other Television, Toy Reviews

About the Author ()

I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.

Comments (3)

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  1. Engineernerd says:

    I have to say the tattoos are pretty well done. I think that is one of the areas wrestling figure have really improved in recent years. I’m sure more and more tattoos and a greater public acceptance of them has helped as well.

  2. Engineernerd says:

    I looked over a Mattel version of Rey tonight in the store. I have to say I don’t think the new one is any nicer. If anything the head looked like lesser quality in the sculpt and paint.

  3. Errex says:

    I was thinking just the same about the Mattel versions I have seen. The head sculpt on that one does look somewhat off, and the action feature, albeit possibly fun, just left me cold.

    I still would like to see the so-called Elite or Entrance Greats versions from Mattel before passing judgement on them.