UFC Deluxe Series 1 Official Review!

Do They Live Up to the Hype? PdW2kX and MMAFigs.com Reviews UFC Deluxe 1!

Before the review starts, I would like to shortly address the fact that I am reviewing Series 1 before I review the first set of UFC Deluxe action figures, Series 0. This is simply because I have not yet been able to assemble a completed assortment of Series 0 action figures. Whenever that ends up happening, a review will follow soon after, so stay tuned.

Now, with that said: Jakks Pacific created quite a buzz when news first broke that it would be producing a line of UFC-branded action figures, but now that consumers have the product in-hand, how do the figures measure up to the competition? In today’s economy every dollar counts, and toy aisles are clogged with everything from Power Rangers to Gears of War figures, with almost every cartoon show, popular video game, and licensed character vying for your wallet. How well does Jakks Pacific capitalize on their momentum? Are the figures worth your money, and if so, which ones? How about facial authenticity, tattoo authenticity, playability, poseability, and logo placement?

MMAFigs.com is more than happy to answer these questions and more, as PdW2kX and MMAFigs.com proudly present an exclusive review of UFC Deluxe Series 1!

Our first figure is the hard-hitting French kickboxer, Cheick Kongo. Always one step shy of title contention, I’ve been a fan of Kongo for his KO-heavy style despite the fact that the man has developed virtually no ground game in his three year tenure as a UFC fighter. Kongo’s attire is based on his ball-blasting fight against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović at UFC 75. Kongo is, admittedly, one of the weaker figures of UFC Series 1. His trunks are all-black and lacking the red trim sported in his fight with Cro Cop, and while he does have a total of six logos, three of them are “Scrap” logos. To be fair, there are only two actual logos missing from Cheick’s attire, and those two are the same logo: a series of flags from around the world. In the end, I honestly can’t fault Jakks; they did the best they could with the attire they were given. Moving away from the trunks, I’m happy to say that Jakks included Cheick’s wrapped-up thighs and feet, with the feet having the red trim/outline missing from the trunks. Also, Cheick’s face is a dead ringer for the real deal. Despite my misgivings with the trunks, this is a great figure from top-to-bottom, especially when it comes to facial similarity. Fans of Kongo should be pleased, and fans of the UFC line won’t regret adding this figure to their collections.

Next up is the UFC Legend of Series 1, Evan Tanner. Tanner is sporting his UFC 51 attire, the event where he won the UFC Middleweight Championship and became the first Middleweight Champion since 2002. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that Evan is no longer with us. Despite a few ups and downs in his career, Evan won far more than he lost, taking home a W in 32 of his 40 professional fights. Add to this the simple fact that he was an incredible person, and you can see why I was definitely looking forward to this figure. Tanner sports an impressive eight logos: two “Believe” logos, two “Inspirit” logos, a “Spirit” logo, a “Meeka Sushi” logo complete with foreign symbols,  and a “Lightforce” logo. In the pictures I’ve seen, there appears to be another logo under the “Believe” logo, and it’s missing. I’m not able to make out exactly what the logo says, but this hardly detracts from the very detailed fight trunks. Evan’s Grim Reaper tattoo looks great, and the facial accuracy is a small step above Kongo: looking at pictures from the event makes it clear that Jakks nailed this one to a tee. While Royce Gracie had the added bonus of a cloth gi, the loving attention-to-detail given to this figure gives the “UFC Legends” mini-line another surefire hit.

Coming in at #3 on our review is Michael “The Count” Bisping in his UFC 83 attire. The figure sports an impressive nine logos, black trim on the left leg of his trunks, and red wrist tape. There was some early speculation that Bisping’s head was too large for his body, but now that I can judge the figure in-person I can safely say that the proportions are fine. Bisping has a large head in real life, and I feel that’s what Jakks was going for, and if so, that’s what they accomplished. There’s no way this figure will be mistaken for a bobblehead. Love him or hate him, Bisping is given the star treatment by Jakks, and as a Bisping fan, he’s a “dark horse” favorite of mine. This, in turn, makes our next figure, Mike Swick, a “darker” horse.

What I mean when I say “darker horse” is that my fandom of Bisping would seemingly make him an obvious choice for “best in the set”, but he’s frankly overshadowed by heavy-hitters like Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva. In Silva’s case, I’ve said multiple times that I’m such a fan of the guy that it borders on hero worship. Still, I like Bisping and I like his figure, so… “dark horse”. Mike Swick is a guy I have little to no familiarity with and have little to no fandom towards, so the fact that he’s one of the best in the set makes him a “darker horse”. The figure is based on his attire at the “Fight for the Troops” event that saw Swick defiantly proving just how much a threat he is in the welterweight division, courtesy of a thunderous thirty-three second KO over Jonathan Goulet. As said before I have little knowledge on the man nicknamed “Quick”, so I originally thought it was a bit cheap that the logo’s on the front of the figure’s trunks are the same as the logo’s on the back of his trunks, except reversed in position. After watching the fight, though, it’s clear that this is how the actual fight trunks were made, so I can’t fault Jakks for what ends up being more attention to detail. The only logo missing is a Full Tilt Poker logo, but with Full Tilt Poker now being banned as a UFC sponsor, that problem is out of Jakks Pacific’s hands. Once again the head detail is spot-on. While it likely won’t be the crown jewel of my or anybody else’s collection, this figure will surely stand out as one of the best of Jakks Pacific’s early efforts.

The top half of the series features big names like Kevin Randleman, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Anderson Silva. We’ll start out with Kevin Randleman, the first PRIDE figure of the UFC Deluxe line, and what a figure it is! Randleman’s figure is based on his attire from the PRIDE “Total Elimination 2004” event, where Randleman earned himself considerable fame and a spot in the highlight reels for years to come by becoming the first and only fighter (up until Gabriel Gonzaga) to ever knock out Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović in an MMA fight. Everything about this figure is great, and a real treat for fans of PRIDE and “The Monster” alike: the shorts, the hair, the facial authenticity, the back tats, the sneakers…the debut PRIDE figure had a lot to prove, and some would say that Kevin Randleman is an awkward choice to have as the first PRIDE-branded fighter, but in the end this figure is one of my favorites. I also like the fact that this figure has been given shorter legs but still retains the Heavyweight torso, because Randleman has always been a jacked-up 5’10”. Some early complaints were that his gloves looked like baseball mitts, but after watching the actual fight, Randleman’s gloves really were that big. While not the crown jewel of Series 1, the figure is definitely a heavy-hitter. And for those wondering, you are right in thinking that the first thing I did when I got this figure out of the box was Randleplex everyone else in my UFC Deluxe collection. How could I not?

Number six on our list is the world’s toughest self-deprecator, Forrest Griffin. Forrest has his classic “I’m going to get my face punched in and for some reason I’m going to like it” pre-fight grin, and his attire is based on his UFC 76 fight, a fight that famously saw Griffin choke out Mauricio “Shogun” Rua with fifteen seconds left before the final bell. Forrest is missing several logos, so the figure does suffer a bit from the front and back of the trunks looking bare. The figure does earn itself some points for having chest hair and Forrest’s perpetual 5 o’clock shadow. They even managed to work in Forrest’s ridiculously cauliflowered ears.  While the addition of the missing logos would have really made this figure special, it’s still a great pickup for UFC collectors and Forrest Griffin fans alike.

While he’ll always be one of my favorite fighters of all time, the first attempt at an Anderson Silva figure by Jakks Pacific takes the #2 spot on my list for two major reasons. First, his “ATM Network” logo is missing. This would be fine if it was some small ancillary logo, but it made up a large portion of his UFC 82 attire, which this figure is based on. Thus, the front portion of his left leg looks positively barren. Also, I dislike the fact that they’ve given Silva the Light Heavyweight torso mold. Even when Anderson competes at 205 pounds, he never really looks all that muscled up. When this figure is inevitably rereleased, hopefully it comes with a scaled-down torso. Other than that I’ve got nothing but glowing praise. The face is a perfect likeness, and Anderson sports some of his most-famous logos: the “Sinister” logo, the Anderson Silva Muay Thai College (more commonly known as the “Fighting Bumblebee”) logo, it even has the Rio/Brasa logo! The icing on the cake is the logo for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. It looks great, and I for one am surprised that Jakks was able to find a way to get it on the figure. Although I’ve yet to lay my eyes on the perfect Anderson Silva figure, this one comes closer than most and should certainly please fans of “The Spider”.

Coming in as my #1 favorite of the series is the man that launched it all, Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell. Jakks Pacific has called on “The Iceman” twice before, both times resulting in highly collectible figures that continue to go up in price on the secondary market. When you consider that the first Jakks Pacific UFC figure ever released was a Liddell prototype, you can see how this figure has a lot to live up to despite the newborn status of the Jakks Pacific UFC line. For the main line of UFC Deluxe figures, the only gimmick here is quality: Chuck reeks of it. Goatee and Mohawk? Check. Fully detailed Kempo and skull tattoos? Check. Signature “blue and ice” trunks, complete with multiple logos? Check and check. While Chuck’s figure clocks in at only seven logos, all seven are completely different: Oak Grove Technologies, The Pit, Iceman.tv, Sinister, Toe 2 Toe, TapouT, and Fry’s Electronics are all painstakingly recreated in the UFC Deluxe style. I would have liked Chuck’s beer gut as opposed to the standard Light Heavyweight torso mold, but that’s about it as  far as detractors go. This is one of Jakk Pacific’s most impressive efforts, and will likely set a benchmark for many series to come. It’s a must-have no matter who you are.

Despite a few misgivings here and there, overall UFC Deluxe Series 1 is an awesome, awesome set. While Jakks Pacific still has a bit of a ways to go in order to make the perfect UFC figure, it’s very refreshing and fills me with quite a lot of optimism to see that some of the mistakes in Series 0 are already being fixed. There are no mismatched skintones here, and bodies no longer get stuck if you bend them into weird positions. In regards to poseability and playability, I have this to say: this hybrid style that combines aspects of WWE’s “Deluxe Aggression” line and Hasbro/Toybiz’s “Marvel Legends” line has quickly become one of my favorite styles ever. While there is always room for improvement, Jakks Pacific has done more than enough to earn my trust as a buyer and earn my money as a consumer.

Fans interested in purchasing the Jakks Pacific UFC Deluxe Series 1 can do so with Ringside Collectibles, your #1 source for MMA and Pro Wrestling action figures. In fact, you can access the Series 1 page directly by clicking here. Remember that fans of MMAFigs.com get to take ten percent off of their order! Just use the code “MMAFIGS”.

And as always, remember to stay tuned to MMAFigs.com for the latest news, views, previews and reviews of all things MMA. MMAFigs.com is your #1 UFC Action figure & News source!