Mattel WWE Elite Wave 43 – Kofi Kingston Review

Should The New Day make it to July 20th still holding the WWE Tag Team Championship belts, they will have officially beaten Paul London and Brian Kendrick’s 331 day title run.  Will they do it?  I can’t imagine them dropping the belts until at least Summerslam, personally.  They have consistently been the most entertaining WWE act for the better part of this year.  If New Day does lose the belts, they at least deserve to lose at a high tier Pay-Per-View like Summerslam.

For the uninitiated The New Day consists of three members: Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E.  There have been a few Elite figures of Big E and Kofi previously, but none of them in their matching New Day outfits.  In Elite wave 42 we got Xavier Woods, in this wave we get Kofi, and the next wave will include Big E.  At that point I’ll officially have an Elite New Day team on my shelf … probably just in time for the WWE to break them up too, at least from the looks of it!

Kofi comes packed with his jacket and a “Real Mega Dad of the Year” sign.  The jacket is pretty self explanatory.  I’m glad they gave us the removable jacket option, so you can display him in his entrance or ring attire.

Confused by the sign?  Back before New Day started their current Tag Team Championship run the belts were held by Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, The Prime Time Players.  At that time Titus had recently won the MEGA Dad Awards “Celebrity Dad of the Year” for 2015.  The New Day would come to ring holding up the included sign claiming that Kofi, a father of two, was the real Mega Dad of the Year.  Check it out here, if you haven’t already seen it.  The sign is a pretty great reference, but I just wish Xavier had hands better designed to hold it.

Kofi’s likeness is really good.  He has a nice expressive facial expression, and I’ll never run down when a company opts for that over neutrality.  His ring attire’s paints are pretty well done.  There is a little slop here and there, but overall they did a nice job with it.  I also like how they gave him thicker calves to simulate the thick pants and boots he wears.

Being on an Elite body he comes with the typical issue they all have that they can’t get into too many convincing wrestling moves.  The hand options aren’t always ideal either.  He has a fist and an open hand, so at least he’s able to hold a mic.  Maybe it’s time for Mattel to consider swappable hands?  Hasbro has started including these pretty consistently in their Marvel Legends line, so I’d think for a wrestling line this would be a no brainer.

I care more about the wrestler than the toy.  So while Kofi isn’t perfect, he is another member towards me completing my New Day team.  And why does that excite me?  Well, because NEW. DAY. ROCKS! NEW. DAY. ROCKS! NEW. DAY. ROCKS!

If you are looking to complete your New Day action figure team, Kofi Kingston and the rest of Elite 43 are currently available on Amazon.