HEAVY GUNNER ENDOSKELETON

VERSUS THE TERIMATOR (NECA)

So, I’m sure you all read my review of Terminator Genisys, right?  If not, what’s wrong with you?  How can you expect to keep up with the site if you don’t read every single word I publish here?  Geez!  Anyway, if you did read it, you’ll know that I really enjoyed the movie, which almost always leads to me wanting toys.  Sadly, the Genisys figures aren’t out just yet, so I’ll have to make due with some earlier Terminator stuff, just to hold me over.  NECA’s had the license to the various Terminator films (well, the first two, at least) for the last few years, and, like many of their licences, they’ve made use of the molds a second time as video game-themed repaints.  Unlike a lot of their other video game repaints, Terminator got a whole subline of figures, shared with other 80s sci-fi hit, Robcop.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of the handful of Endoskeletons released, dubbed the Heavy Gunner Endoskeleton.  I wonder what his schtick is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Heavy Gunner Endoskeleton was released as part of the Versus The Terminator line by NECA.  Yeah, I think it’s officially supposed to be Robocop Versus the Terminator, but the box doesn’t have the Robocop part, so…yeah.  The Heavy Gunner is one of three Endos released in this line, but he’s the only one to be released as a single figure.  He’s based on the design of the mounted gunner Endos from the game, but he can also work as a fairly standard Endo as well.   The figure is roughly 7 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation (not counting all the various pistons used to help with that movement.)  Structurally, the main figure is identical to NECA’s revamp of the Endoskeleton from their The Terminator line.  It’s easily one of the best renditions of the Endoskeleton available, so one can hardly fault NECA for using it again.  The detailing of the sculpt is phenomenal and the amount of effort put into making sure most of the pistons are actual working, moving pieces is nothing short of astonishing.  Also, while you might assume the figure is very fragile, based on the slightness of the design, he actually doesn’t feel flimsy at all.  He feels quite sturdy.  I mean, I wouldn’t suggest giving it to a little kid to play with, but it holds up to posing and such very well.  As with pretty much all of the “video game” figures that NECA’s released, paint is one of the figure’s defining traits.  While he shows a bit more pre-placed highlighting and a slightly flatter color palette, this Endo’s actually not too far off from a more basic model.  He won’t be passing for a real life robot or anything, but he’s certainly more grounded than what we’ve seen, giving a nice elegant simplicity.  The other big draw of this particular figure is his titular “heavy gun.”  He includes a minigun, which is actually just a re-use of the same piece from the Cyberdyne Assault T-800 from the T2 line, but it’s attached to a backpack style ammo case, and it includes an optional tri-footed stand to mount the gun, much in the same way it’s shown in the game.  The stand is, sadly, a necessity, as the figure cannot hold the gun without it.  However, he looks so cool all set up that I’m willing to forgive that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy is actually my first NECA Endoskeleton.  For a number of reasons, I never got either the T2 or Terminator versions of the figure at retail, and by the time I tried to fix that, they’d shot way up in price.  So, when these figures were announced I figured one of the Endos might make a decent enough stand-in.  It seems a lot of others thought that too, making this guy fairly difficult to acquire.  Fortunately, I came across one at nearby toy shop All Time Toys, which I was quite excited about.  I got this guy at the same time as the Dog Alien I reviewed not too long ago, and they made for quite an awesome pair.  Of course, now NECA’s come out with a re-release of the Terminator Endo, so this guy won’t really be a stand-in, so much as another Endo on the shelf.  But, hey, worse things have happened!