INTRODUCTION:
"If you smell....what the Rock IS cooking!"- Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an accomplished American actor, producer, singer, and professional wrestler.
Born in California and raised between New Zealand and the U.S. states of Hawaii and Pennsylvania, Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, where he won a national championship on the 1991 Miami Hurricanes football team.
He later played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League and was cut two months into the 1995 season. This led him to follow in the footsteps of his father Rocky Johnson and his grandfather 'High Chief' Peter Maivia to become a professional wrestler.
Anyone who grew up watching wrestling during the late 1990s Attitude Era will remember the Rock for not just his in-ring abilities, but also his larger-than-life persona and charisma in being the self-styled 'People's Champion.'
From the crazy off-ring interviews to his signature moves (People's Elbow, Rock Bottom and the eyebrow), its arguable that the wrestling world has never quite found someone to fill in Johnson's shoes. He has the ability to just electrify the room with his presence, and succeeds in whatever it is he sets out to do, be it wrestling or acting.
The Rock can play a 'heel' (evil character) and pull out all the textbook "villainous moves" within the world of WWE but the adoring fans will still cheer on for him, quite simply because he gives 110 per cent in what he does and adds passion, grit and determination to his game.
Johnson has had 17 championship title reigns in the WWE, including 10 as a world champion, winning the WWF/WWE Championship eight times (seventh reign was as WWE Undisputed Champion) and the WCW/World Championship twice. He won the WWF Intercontinental Championship twice and the WWF Tag Team Championship five times.
My late grandfather used to watch WWE matches with me after school almost every week when I was a teen, a memory I hold dear to and cherish till this very day. You'd have to see it to be believe it, a greying, mild-mannered old man shouting excitedly; usually screaming at the wrestler who was oblivious that he was going to fall victim to his opponent's signature move which will more than likely end the match.
My grandpa's favourite moments? Old WWF Hardcore matches, especially when steel chairs are involved. He'd look at me with that flicker of fire in his eyes and with his hands waving wildly in the air shout "chair shot, chair shot!" and true enough, minutes later a wrestler would fall victim to a painful chair shot to the head.
Which is why when S.H Figuarts came out with the WWE legends figures, I had to get me The Rock. Some figures just remind you of simpler times, the ones you wish you could relive as you get older. I also got Stone Cold, which I'll be reviewing next :)
PACKAGING- 8.5/10
As a collector, one of the biggest challenges I face is managing the limited space I have at home to store my figures as well as the accessories/boxes that come with them. For this reason, I really, really like what S.H Figuarts has done with the WWE line- they've managed to package the figures in a compact collector's box without compromising the accessories that come with them.
And the box in itself is collector-friendly as it comes with plastic trays and compartments where you can store the figure away if you're not displaying it.
ACCESSORIES- 8/10
The Rock comes with:
- three sets of heads with different expressions,
- one pair of poseable hands
- three pairs of fixed-pose hands
- one microphone.
FIGURE- 8/10
The Rock stands at 6.25 inches tall which puts him just slightly shorter than some other 1:12 scale figures, but its not too much of a contrast. Some collectors have complained that the figure is too skinny and that The Rock should have been portrayed in bulkier manner. I beg to differ.
Yes, The Rock is a BEAST- fit, muscular and makes Vin Diesel look tiny in comparison but don't forget that during the height of his career in the WWE, he was quite lean, fast and agile compared to his opponents. I believe that this version of The Rock, minus the tattoos on his left chest is accurate as it depicts how he looked during his time in the WWE circa 1999-2002.
S.H Figuarts did a swell job on bringing out The Rock's likelessness with the head sculpts, perfectly encapsulating his famous expressions during his career in WWE.
ARTICULATION- 8/10
The Rock is definitely fun to play with, and the cool thing is that you can get him to do all his signature poses and wrestling moves.
His thigh joints aren't still like Stone Colds, but a word of caution: be careful when switching leg poses, as the joint that attaches the legs to the lower part of the torso is quite thin and can break quite easily if too much force is applied.
POSEABILITY- 7/10
The Rock certainly has no problems posing, but it sometimes can prove quite tricky to get him to stand in a normal position. But other than that there are no complaints here.
VALUE- 8/10
Get this figure if you're a fan of The Rock, or the old school WWE back during the Attitude Era. You can get him at Big Bad Toy Store for US$49.99 (RM222.21) or browse Ebay for a good deal.
OVERALL SCORE- 7.9/10
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