Post by Micro on Sept 7, 2011 14:52:47 GMT -8
Whether you collect a couple, dozens, or hundreds of figures, the fact remains: You really need a ring! Without one, your wrestlers just don't have a place to compete in. The ring should be the center piece for pics or displays and helps a collection seem complete. Fortunately, Mattel provides different rings at various price points. Some are simple Basics, others have entrance ramps, accessories or action features. Best of all, Mattel's commitment to quality transfers over to the rings as well. All of the ones I've put together are better than Jakks' earlier versions.
At the top of the list, there's Mattel's premium playset: The Elite Scale Ring!
I bought my ESR about 6 months ago but didn't have any room to display it. So it sat in its box until I finally cleared up enough room to put it all together. I also have an old Hell in the Cell RSR from Jakks so I needed a lot of free space to keep these out. I was tempted to keep my RSR as my primary ring but as you'll see, Mattel's product once again takes the lead. When they set out to make a full-scaled ring, Mattel didn't play around and make something cheap.
First, let me comment on the packaging and price. Mattel's ESR box is compact and space-efficient while the Jakks RSR boxes are like small suitcases in comparison! Also, the ESR is priced perfectly. After spending $120 on a RSR, I was afraid at how much a new ESR would cost me but it turned out to be less than half the price. To be fair, the Jakks RSR's do come with the full-sized accessories like floor padding, steel cages, elimination chambers, and MitB scaffolding. You do get a lot of value but the price point makes it hard to get more than one type of ring. In this case, less is more since I don't have room to display the full Hell in the Cell cage and the ESR is built sturdier with nicer details.
So, let's look at the ring itself...
What you get is a perfectly scaled replica of the RAW ring. It comes with a ring mat, a separate ring skirt with all the WWE logos, and a set of rubber turnbuckles. The red elastic ring ropes are nice and tight. I feel the RSR ropes are a bit loose and wobbly in comparison.
Aside from the standard aesthetics, this ring is built to be very sturdy. My RSR currently has the cage disassembled, so only the inner four legs are holding it up and the weight of the corners cause it to fold and bulge in the middle. Also, one of the legs is suspended in the air so the ring isn't as stable as it should be. The ESR, however, has twelve leg posts underneath that support the entire frame and keeps it perfectly level. Despite the tighter ropes, the corner posts are pretty strong. In contrast, I feel that my RSR corner posts are slightly warped inward now. Time will tell if the ESR posts will hold but if the Basic rings are any indication, these posts are built strong.
The ESR also come with some subtle details that provide their own authentic action features. First, the turnbuckles are soft rubber pads that can be removed easily. The RSR can also do that but it requires a little more work. The ESR rubber turnbuckles simply unfasten like the championship belt straps. It's worth noting that instead of making the entire pad out of rubber, Mattel went the extra mile to add a plate with the fastening posts made out of hard plastic. This makes it easier to fasten/unfasten as well as more durable. It's a small detail but it's nice for your heel characters to be able to resort to their dirty tactics of exposing that steel corner!
Another great touch is that the ring skirt is a separate piece from the floor mat, like in real life. The RSR ring skirt was attached to the mat and it didn't hang down right. The ESR ring skirt attaches to the corner posts where it's held nice and taut. It's cool to see that Finlay can finally utilize his full arsenal of roughing up his opponents using the ring skirt! It's small details like this that really make this ring shine, IMO.
Also, I can finally see why other collectors keep asking this of Mattel: PLEASE make more ring skirts/rope sets for this ring! I'd love to have Smackdown, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, ECW, and WCW themed rings!
Now, let's look at the only extra accessory that's included: The steel ring steps...
Keeping true to authenticity, the top half of the steel steps can be pulled off and used as a weapon. A few nice details are the handles along the sides for better gripping!
Finally, let's look at the sheer size of this ring, it's huge!
I read how some collectors said that this ring was too big and, at first, I felt the same. A single figure looks tiny in there all alone. As I added more figures into the ring, though, I began to appreciate its sense of scale. There's plenty of space to display all sorts of action in the ring without feeling cluttered. There's room to maneuver your camera around to get the right poses for pics too. You can set up an eight-man tag match and it will look great, even when all hell breaks loose!
On a related note, I tested out the ring's playability by trying out a few action figure suplexes and body slams. I was pleased to find that the ring has a nice, solid "Thunk" sound to it!
The size of the ring also makes it possible to display an entire collection. I'm running out of shelf space, so it's nice to know that I can put a large group of figures inside the ring for special displays.
Finally, to put the sense of scale into perspective, I took some comparison shots with a couple other rings for reference. First, the regular Mattel Basic ring which looks so tiny next to it!
Here's the Jakks RSR placed side by side. As you can see, the ESR is only a bit larger, not as dramatic a difference as I thought it would be. I can't believe how old and dirty my RSR looks now, I'm so glad I'm upgrading it!
Overall, the Mattel ESR is an awesome ring and definitely worth the price of picking up for some serious displays. If you're only going to get one high-quality ring, and have the proper space for it, I highly recommend this one. I'm really glad to finally have it set up!
At the top of the list, there's Mattel's premium playset: The Elite Scale Ring!
I bought my ESR about 6 months ago but didn't have any room to display it. So it sat in its box until I finally cleared up enough room to put it all together. I also have an old Hell in the Cell RSR from Jakks so I needed a lot of free space to keep these out. I was tempted to keep my RSR as my primary ring but as you'll see, Mattel's product once again takes the lead. When they set out to make a full-scaled ring, Mattel didn't play around and make something cheap.
First, let me comment on the packaging and price. Mattel's ESR box is compact and space-efficient while the Jakks RSR boxes are like small suitcases in comparison! Also, the ESR is priced perfectly. After spending $120 on a RSR, I was afraid at how much a new ESR would cost me but it turned out to be less than half the price. To be fair, the Jakks RSR's do come with the full-sized accessories like floor padding, steel cages, elimination chambers, and MitB scaffolding. You do get a lot of value but the price point makes it hard to get more than one type of ring. In this case, less is more since I don't have room to display the full Hell in the Cell cage and the ESR is built sturdier with nicer details.
So, let's look at the ring itself...
What you get is a perfectly scaled replica of the RAW ring. It comes with a ring mat, a separate ring skirt with all the WWE logos, and a set of rubber turnbuckles. The red elastic ring ropes are nice and tight. I feel the RSR ropes are a bit loose and wobbly in comparison.
Aside from the standard aesthetics, this ring is built to be very sturdy. My RSR currently has the cage disassembled, so only the inner four legs are holding it up and the weight of the corners cause it to fold and bulge in the middle. Also, one of the legs is suspended in the air so the ring isn't as stable as it should be. The ESR, however, has twelve leg posts underneath that support the entire frame and keeps it perfectly level. Despite the tighter ropes, the corner posts are pretty strong. In contrast, I feel that my RSR corner posts are slightly warped inward now. Time will tell if the ESR posts will hold but if the Basic rings are any indication, these posts are built strong.
The ESR also come with some subtle details that provide their own authentic action features. First, the turnbuckles are soft rubber pads that can be removed easily. The RSR can also do that but it requires a little more work. The ESR rubber turnbuckles simply unfasten like the championship belt straps. It's worth noting that instead of making the entire pad out of rubber, Mattel went the extra mile to add a plate with the fastening posts made out of hard plastic. This makes it easier to fasten/unfasten as well as more durable. It's a small detail but it's nice for your heel characters to be able to resort to their dirty tactics of exposing that steel corner!
Another great touch is that the ring skirt is a separate piece from the floor mat, like in real life. The RSR ring skirt was attached to the mat and it didn't hang down right. The ESR ring skirt attaches to the corner posts where it's held nice and taut. It's cool to see that Finlay can finally utilize his full arsenal of roughing up his opponents using the ring skirt! It's small details like this that really make this ring shine, IMO.
Also, I can finally see why other collectors keep asking this of Mattel: PLEASE make more ring skirts/rope sets for this ring! I'd love to have Smackdown, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, ECW, and WCW themed rings!
Now, let's look at the only extra accessory that's included: The steel ring steps...
Keeping true to authenticity, the top half of the steel steps can be pulled off and used as a weapon. A few nice details are the handles along the sides for better gripping!
Finally, let's look at the sheer size of this ring, it's huge!
I read how some collectors said that this ring was too big and, at first, I felt the same. A single figure looks tiny in there all alone. As I added more figures into the ring, though, I began to appreciate its sense of scale. There's plenty of space to display all sorts of action in the ring without feeling cluttered. There's room to maneuver your camera around to get the right poses for pics too. You can set up an eight-man tag match and it will look great, even when all hell breaks loose!
On a related note, I tested out the ring's playability by trying out a few action figure suplexes and body slams. I was pleased to find that the ring has a nice, solid "Thunk" sound to it!
The size of the ring also makes it possible to display an entire collection. I'm running out of shelf space, so it's nice to know that I can put a large group of figures inside the ring for special displays.
Finally, to put the sense of scale into perspective, I took some comparison shots with a couple other rings for reference. First, the regular Mattel Basic ring which looks so tiny next to it!
Here's the Jakks RSR placed side by side. As you can see, the ESR is only a bit larger, not as dramatic a difference as I thought it would be. I can't believe how old and dirty my RSR looks now, I'm so glad I'm upgrading it!
Overall, the Mattel ESR is an awesome ring and definitely worth the price of picking up for some serious displays. If you're only going to get one high-quality ring, and have the proper space for it, I highly recommend this one. I'm really glad to finally have it set up!
