ringsandplaysets

Well this ring kind of sneaked into the internet without much fan fair or announcement and was a shock to me when it was brought to my attention. There was a lot of speculation about this. How big was it really? Was it the RSR? Was it the ESR? Are the posts metal? Are the posts caving? Is it cheaply made? Well hopefully I can answer those questions for you today. The curiosity built in me as I waited just a few days before I finally decided (finally) to make my purchase. From the pictures I saw it looked like the good old RSR that I have grown to love. But one could not be sure. With a new company it could have easily been made with cheaper parts but the only way to really find out was to get it in hand.

Well it arrived today in the mail in a generic brown box. No graphics or anything fancy what so ever with text that said Wrestling Ring Play Set Made in China. Upon unboxing it I found that it was indeed the Jakks RSR clone with a few very minor tweaks. The first thing you will see is that it has the same construction of all the 2^nd generation releases of the RSR. That meaning the base is already assembled with 3 connectors and four corner post mounts that are all screwed into the ring base. I notice no real difference in the quality of the plastic compared to the RSR parts either.

The first difference that caught my eye is that the ring base has a slightly different cut. It has a puzzle piece seam perhaps for the purposes of making it fit together better (Figs INc on Left , RSR right).

Next you can see with the Figures Inc Ring placed over top of the RSR base the two are the same size.

Now the big question that was left was the ring posts. I wrapped the bottom post piece which was plastic and identical to the original (See comparison Pictures below to the Jakks Rocky RSR). This was expected. One nice thing is that they did include the little rubber pads on the 8 bottom ring post supports. One small advantage of this compared to the Jakks RSRs is that the rubber pads come pre installed which saves you a bit of time from set up. The top post which was RUMORED to be plastic was what I opened up next. The bundle, wrapped in foam and plastic had a bit of heft to it. Good sign. It was cold from being outside. Good sign. And they are indeed diecast metal! As you can see once again we have a RSR 2^nd Generation parts which were the better ones that I claim to have never seen cave. Now anyone that has had an RSR in the past may have noticed that the metal posts have multiple parts. The bottom peg (which was an added retrofitted part to fix the caving post issue of the original release) is a separate piece as well as the three loops where the turnbuckles attaché to the post. Well on the Figures Inc. posts those parts are slightly more loose that the original version and if you shake them you can hear them move around a bit more. So the metal parts may have a slightly lower quality. But in my honest opinion from handling them this is not of concern to me. I was surprised to see that under the ring base they actually took the time to remove the Jakks Branding and replaced it with their own. Same goes for the ring steps.

I just wanted to show that the ring is completely compatible with the Jakks RSR canvases. So this is good news if you just wanted a modern white post RAW 2014 like ring (come on you know that is what they must have been going for here). The great news about this is that his means that the ring works with all the other Jakks RSR lay sets: Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, Money in the Bank, and Classic Steel Cage.) As you can see the ring steps are the same construction as Jakks.

So my favorite detail of an upgrade on this version of the ring are the turnbuckle pads (caution: don’t get too excited). They are in no way visibly different from those released on other RSRs but of course they are without logos but what is different is that they come pre stuffed. Now for anyone that has had the privilege of putting together an RSR fresh from the box, you know how tedious and time consuming stuffing 12 turnbuckle pads can be. Well laborers at the Figures Inc. factory have done that for you.

It is hard to tell on camera but when you have them in hand you can see there is slight difference with the turnbuckles themselves. They are indeed made of metal and the hardware is identical to the 2^nd Generation RSR turnbuckles. What is different is the black covers. Now on the Jakks rings they were a thin malleable plastic. It slipped over the buckle fine but if you wanted to take it off you had to unscrew the hook to slide it off. If you go back to the original plastic ones that were released as ring gear for the Hardcore Ring they were the same with a split down the center. On the Figures Inc. ring the cover is made of soft rubber almost like a rubber band. One of the benefits I can see is that it can slide off over top of the hooks if you want to take them off without much effort but are tight enough that they won’t fall off. You can see how they have been cut and are not all the same size. So there is some variation. Also they clearly smell like rubber.

Now I saw that someone had written that the picture posted on the vendors website made the post look like it was caving. Well as you can see on mine the posts look fine. I would be willing to bet whoever put together the promo picture on the website did not put the ring together right. I know that if you don’t put the posts all the way in the hole this could explain that error. I also suspect they did not know how to assemble the ring by the fact that they clearly put the ring skirt/canvas with the elastic draped over the outside of the post and not the inside (which could make the ring a bit off too).

So if you are still worried about caving posts there is a little insider tip that I always employ when setting up an RSR for the first time. That is to unscrew the turnbuckle hooks. Unscrewing them, much like on a real wrestling ring, lengthens the size of the turnbuckle and reduces rope tension. Now this doesn’t make a huge difference but I still recommend it if for no other reason than the fact that over time the elastic in the ropes will lose tension and stretch. And when this happens you can tighten the turnbuckles to compensate, giving your ropes a few more years of play. For those of you that care, the white ropes do not have ties and are just like RSR ropes and come with the metal connecting bracket which I always hide behind the turnbuckle pads. Is it sturdy? I say yes. And as you can see it supports my cat Moogurt how took some pretty vicious bumps in it. The skirts are made of that same vinyl black material on other skirts. The canvas has a thin padding which to me seems somewhat slightly thinner than the other RSR canvases.

Also comes with a small instruction insert for assembly. The instructions are well written with a few exceptions. When putting together the ring I always recommend reversing step 2 and 1. Put your canvas/skirt combo on the base first before adding the bottom “legs.” My other gripe is that they are perpetuating misinformation. They label the 12 turnbuckle pads as “turnbuckles.” And they lable the 12 metal turnbuckles as “metal hooks.”

So if you never had a Real Scale Ring and wanted one, could never find an affordable Elite Scale ring, are ready for a ring that allows you to perform a suplex with your figures without hitting the ropes (take that Mattel Basic Rings!), or even if you have all the Jakks RSRs and just want one with a set of cool white posts and black turnbuckle covers then I would say pick this up. I do recommend that instead of going directly to Wrestling Superstore to purchase it that you look it up on their Amazon store. I have heard they can gouge you on shipping prices through their site and on Amazon it only charged me $9 for shipping. Please enjoy the pictures below. Notice I have shown some shots of the ring with a custom pair of ring skirts from my collection. Note if you are thinking of purchasing skirts for this ring, select Jakks RSR versions as they are the exact same ring!

Punjabi Prison

I have been waiting to buy this set since it was first released about a year ago. I love wrestling rings and I love even more ring accessories. Gimmick matches are by far some of the most fun to reenact in play. The reason why I never bought the Punjabi Prison is cause I’m a Real Scale Ring man and this wasn’t made to fit the RSR. Well since this play set went on sale for $22.45 at Toys R Us I decided the price was right to buy two to combine and make a real scale Punjabi Prison. So I simply bought tow of these play sets to expand the cages to fit the RSR. I used twisty ties (mainly the ones that came in the set’s packaging). Putting the set together was not the easiest thing to do. The directions are easy but the clamps on the sides of each cage panel are so hard to snap in. The cage itself is really cool. The inner cage is a bit too short for the RSR but I’ll deal with it. The sliding door mechanism is awesome and works very nicely. The post color is great and the painted accents really make it look like bamboo. The set even came with knotted ropes to aid climbing over the top. The size of this thing after being customized is truly breath taking.

Official Scale The Cell

Yeah that’s what its called on the box. A strange name if you ask me. Official scale the cell ring is more descriptive if you ask me. But lets not nitpick. When I heard that Jakks was coming out with an official scale cell I was hopeful but the proto photos left me sadly disappointed. I thought it looked to small on the inside and hated the girders as corner supports due to the in accuracy. This was about a year ago (last summer). So I quickly went to work on making my own real scale Hell in a Cell. Well when I heard that Wal*Mart had put these bad boys on clearance for $30 I couldn’t resist. I mean that price is worth the ring parts alone. So to my luck last month as I traveled home for Easter, I stopped into the WM Super Center in Central Square NY and they had it on sale for $30. Now on to the review.

The in person hands on feel of the cell is much more satisfying than the proto pictures were. I was pleasantly surprised by the product but it is of course not with out flaws. As you can see here there is a crap load of parts to this ring. So this is not something that could be easily put to getter by the young fans. But that’s fine. Except for the fact that THEY DID NOT INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS!!!! I mean come on Jakks! What were you thinking!?!? I have pretty much mastered how to set up the RSR but the first time I did it, it was slightly confusing. So if this was your first RSR you were probably a bit lost. Then there was the cage. I mean I was lucky enough to figure it out but it was a bit confusing to figure it all out the first couple times.

The ring is solid and it was nice to get an official set of Jakks RAW HD ring skirts. But I must admit they are less than stellar. I just don’t like where the black logo stuff is shiny and then you can see the fabric where there is no black logo stuff. I don’t know I understand how logo application works but this is unnecessary if you have professional application processes, and I am sure Jakks could have made this cleaner. Another compliant that I have had is the size of the skirts. Every ring since the original RSR has had a skirt that was a bit too bulky if you ask me. I mean you can see how it just bulges on the ground instead of draping nicely down. The other big complaint I have is why this skirt was released in this set? I don’t know about you guys but I have never seen the Cell used since WWE RAW went HD. Another compliant is the ring posts. They are black. IF the ring is to represent RAW HD they should be silver. Now I know they have the ability to make silver posts cause they did it for the rocky RSR so what’s the story here? One may argue that they wanted the you to be able to recreate the classic Cell matches but that doesn’t make sense with the ring skirts. So instead they did this hybrid release to just confuse me.

Now I have already mentioned my dislike for the inaccurate corner supports. The ring also has these strange plastic things that attaché to the bottom of the ring post. The purpose is I guess to physically attach the ring to the cell. If you ask me this is completely unnecessary and looks tacky. Fortunately they are removable and they don’t interfere with the ring’s function. Only problem is is that they are kind of necessary to complete the ring mats that were included. Let me make a point to say I love the ring mats, They are very cool, soft, and even have ring mats like the old school WWF ring mats had. Un fortunately due to there shape, you pretty much have to have the corner plastic things to prevent a gap in the padding. The other thing I don’t like is there size. For my money I would like them to be a bit wider. All things considered they are miles ahead of Jakks first ring mat that came with the Metal Vengeance Arena.

The Cell itself is just as described on the box “HUGE.” They made sure to not skimp out too much and included a number of functions and gimmicks. First and important thing was function. They made all four sides of the cell with hinges so you can open the set up for play. This is very important for a toy. There is however a slight drooping of the cell roof when you open a side but this isn’t too horrible.

I do however recommend that you close up your cell if you plan to play on top of it. This will ensure that the cage can support your figures better. The Cell has a working door which is a necessary component. I mean how else could the guys it in the ring? And how could we forget the role the cage door played in the very first Hell in a Cell match?

Generally I am quite satisfied with the Cell. There is a bit of cramping when it comes down to doing some out of the ring action but over all it is do able. The cell is quite tall and doesn’t limit you from doing off the top rope maneuvers. Though if you are attempting to do a superplex you may have some trouble.

But if you bought the cell you must have done so cause you want to do some crazy top of the cage high spots! One detail that I like is the center support girder. A memory that has always stuck in my mind was watching Taker and Foley step over that thing at the King of the Ring. There are two main gimmicks on the cell. The first one is the diving off the cage gimmick. This is obviously supposed to be to recreate the Mankind dive. If you ask me this is completely unnecessary. I mean I think we can all manage to throw our figures off the side with out the help of a mechanical gimmick. The reason I don’t like this is the cell is left with this gaudy unrealistic looking handle to be used as a catapult. But I have to admit it is kind of fun to see how far you can launch your figures. I may simply cut the handle off to give the cell a more realistic look. The other gimmick is the breaking cell panel. Now I have to say I am very impressed that Jakks did enough research to put these two gimmicks in the approximately accurate locations. This gimmick works very nicely and is more necessary than the other. They made a very neat and simple slide bar for this trap door that works great and is quite discreet as not to mess with the look of the cell.

Now for a bit of a fix up discussion. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review (anyone still reading? any one still remember the beginning of this review? lol) I was upset with the proto pictures due to the girders and the size of the inside of the cage. My anger was due to the fact that I thought the large Jakks steel steps would not fit in. Well when I got it in person I was able to see that you could fit the steps. Kinda. They fit but its very tight and awkward. But tight and awkward is better than not at all. This was important to me because in the original cell matches the steps were always left on the ring.

Upon further analysis I discovered that it was not the cell alone that was causing trouble with the steps but it was instead those black plastic floor support things that pushed the steps out slightly. I quickly got rid of these as I saw no use for them any ways and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Since the steps cover the seam of the ring mats it makes the area look very clean. You can also move the mats around with the ring steps to make the use of the corner floor pieces completely un needed. I would also like to not that the cell is free standing and does not need to be attached to the floor. You can lift it up and have it suspended from the rafters if you so wish. And I may be doing this in the future so stay tuned. In closing I was pleasantly surprised by the cell once I got it out of the box. If you have not yet got a RSR I would recommend it but be prepared to put it together with out instructions. And if you see it on sale at WM then there is no excuse but to jump up on that deal.

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Arena Playset

Hey guys and welcome once again to another review brought to you by RingSkirts! The beast of a play set retails at TRU fro about $59.99 and it weighs in at over 7 pounds. And let me tell you I think it’s a pretty nice starter set for anyone that is getting into wwe figs. If you’re a jakks collecting veteran this may not appeal to you quite so much. But for me I’m a fan. I have wanted this kind of raw stage ever since they re did that cardboard raw stage from the old raw is war one to the newer trapezoid screen one. Unfortunately I never found that one so I jumped at the chance to get this. Yeah it’s a bit annoying that it isn’t the HD stage but then again when this was being conceptualized the HD stage was yet to be seen. This is such a great way to get stared in a collection as it has so many cool accessories that are often hard to find and even has 2 figures to get stared. A great gift for any young WWE fan if I do say so myself. Now since this is a pretty big review I’m going to do things a bit differently. I will now show some pictures with review captions piece by piece.

Packaging

Let me start off by saying I truly love the box that this came in. It really reminds me of being a kid. I remember look at big ticket toys like this and dreaming in the toy isle while waiting for my parents to shop. IT details all the little cool things that are included and even has crazy captions like the noise a camera makes “action!” or randy Orton with a chair wrapped around his head “huh?”, or how about Cena entering the stage saying “YO!” but my all time favorite is good old JR “Slobernocker!.” LOL got to love it. It’s also interesting to note that the packaging is labeled for English and French.

As you can clearly see, one of the main flaws in this set is the size of the retaining wall. Way to small and there really is no excuse for that. I mean would it have hurt them to make it big enough to surround that ring? Well it doesn’t bother me all that much as I just plan to use the wall parts to expand my wall so it will finally perfectly fit my RSR arena. Some interesting notes about these parts are they are not the exact same as the famous “metal vengeance arena.” You will first off notice that the curved pieces are not included. Also the flat pieces are not single. They are a double piece that is molded together. So the mold has been retooled. Also absent are the little electrical outlets on the crowd side of the barriers. I included some comparison pictures of the metal vengeance barriers for reference.

The ring is just the same ring that we have seen in the cell ring and money in the bank play set. You can even see the grooves under the ring to be placed in those play sets. I really don’t like the posts personally as they are more WCW style and not the kind that WWE has used in the last 30 years. It’s nice that they gave you both RAW and SMackdown Logos for the skirts. Only thing is they only gave you red ropes. I’m not a big fan of the blue canvas but its not horrible. The ring is far better than the SAR as its actually big enough to play in. But its still to small for my tastes. Once you go RSR you never go back. So due to my feelings the ring is up for grabs on ebay if any readers are interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220275139818&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=012

The accessories in this set are basically all you need to get started and then some!!! I mean just look at that spread 2 chairs, not 1 but 2 tables, an announce table, regular ladder, tall ladder, microphone, and a camera. Now there is a little bit of a disappointment in the detail of some of these as they have no extra color added. The tables are solid brown and the camera is solid black. I think this works for the camera though as it doesn’t need all the blue and grey detail. So I’m happy with that. The announce table is probably the biggest disappointment. I show in comparison pictures how the black strip detailing was left out. At least they didn’t leave out the WWE logo. It’s also sad to see that they didn’t throw in the two little monitors that fit in the table. That’s truly a shame but what can you do.

The catapult platform is very reminiscent of the WWF Attitude ring catapults. This really isn’t anything special. It’s neat that they made groves for the chair legs to fit in but I really don’t see a purpose for this at all. The box cover shows CM Punk leaping into the ring off of the platform and I defy any of you to do this. You can’t it’s impossible. I tried a few times and the fig just topples over or occasionally does a sweet dropkick.

The cardboard dioramas are a nice little addition to the set. I love how detailed they are. so many fans, signs and even section markers. The stairways to the upper levels are also a very cool touch if I do say so myself. The JR and King station is a bit weird if you ask me. I mean why would you want that? I would rather use the figures myself. I mean its just odd. I mean they don’t even sit in that area of the arena. I guess they kind of did when they put the announce booth at the top of the stage but still it wasn’t there. I do like the three dimensionality of the whole thing. The little corner protruding table with a Cena WWE magazine is a nice little touch too. I really liked that they remembered the six mini side screens as well.

The stage itself is very nice. Not perfect by any means but at least it’s not cardboard. The tron it self is near perfect. I wish we could have had a more generic screen print in it. The Raw screens on the base are a bit blah. Would have looked much better if it had the flaming raw background in it. My only real complaint about the stage is it is missing the corners on the side screens. I’ll have to whip up something to custom that up. Also the ramp is way to tiny but as you can see I found a way to rig the old good ramp on the stage. I think this really pulls the stage together.

Lastly we got 2 figures with the set. And with the rising cost of figs this is a great bonus. I have been wanting a Cena in denim shorts so that was a nice get. He is kind of plain and has you cant see me wrist bands. The Batista is good to but unfortunately they only gave him elbow pads and no knee pads. Over all I think it’s a nice little set. A great set if you are just starting collecting and it’s perfect for anyone that is looking for a first ring. It’s no RSR mind you but I can make skirts for any sized ring ;). But seriously if you are starting a WWE collection this is a great booster to get you started. I mean ring, stage, tables, ladders chairs… and two of the biggest stars in the biz today!!! You can’t go wrong with this set.