Tag Archives: Aliens

#0750: Alien Warrior

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ALIEN WARRIOR

S.H. MONSTERARTS

AlienAVP1

What’s this? Another Alien review? On my site? Why, that’s just unheard of! …Or, maybe not. So, what’s different about this review? Well, amongst other things, it’s a figure based on a movie I don’t like. Yeah, this here is one of the Alien Warriors from the first Alien vs. Predator film, a movie that’s only real saving grace is that it’s not as bad as its own sequel. In fact, it’s not a bad movie, just a mediocre one. That doesn’t seem right for Alien vs. Predator, which should really be a “go big or go home” affair. But, alas, we got the film we got, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see another. Sorry, this is actually supposed to be a toy review! Let’s get on to the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AlienAVP2The Alien Warrior is a part of Bandai’s S.H. MonsterArts line, and was released as a standalone item in early 2014. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall (a little taller than Bandai’s Big Chap) and has 63 points of articulation. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on the Alien vs. Predator design for the Alien Warrior. It’s interesting that they opted to release this version of the alien so far after the movie instead of something more iconic, such as the Aliens version, but if I had to guess, I’d say AvP’s probably just the cheapest of the licenses to procure. I find that each successive iteration of the Xenomorph design after Aliens loses a little of what made the first two designs work, and in particular, I found the Xenos in AvP to be too skinny and waaaaay too slimy and goopy. While this figure does strive to be an overall fairly accurate translation of the design, I find it changes a few minor things that result in a much better end product. For one thing, the details and texturing feel much sharper here than in the film, which is definitely a change I appreciate. In addition, it seems they’ve shrunk the size of the head ever so slightly, so that makes the body feel less skinny by comparison. In general, the sculpt has some incredible detail work and there’s some really great touches that they could have gotten away with leaving out, like the fully sculpted head under the dome. That’s something we don’t see in the movie, but they put it there anyway. Also, like the Big Chap, the knees and the tip of the figure’s tail are made from die-cast metal, which is a cool little, easily missed touch. The figure also has the signature Xeno inner-jaw, though the instructions tell you to remove the whole outer jaw to get it out (side note: looks like they got an actual translator for the instructions on this one. It makes for a more professional end product, but I must admit to missing the just slightly off English of the Big Chap’s instructions. Oh well.)  The paintwork on the figure is pretty much what you’d expect on a figure of a Xeno; it’s black with silver highlights. The dark brown transparent dome is definitely a cool look, and I was quite happy to see that the fully sculpted head was also fully painted under there. The Alien Warrior includes an alien egg, a chestburster, two sets of hands in splayed and closed poses, and a display stand, which, like the Big Chap’s, seems a little out of place with this figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting me the Big Chap for Christmas, my boy Tim got me this guy as a birthday present. Though I don’t love the movie, and I’m not a big fan of the Xeno design as it’s presented in the film, I actually really like this figure a lot. He’s a ton of fun to pose, and the tweaks Bandai made to the design make it a lot better looking. Definitely an awesome addition to the collection!

AlienAVP3

#0741: Power Loader

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

POWER LOADER

ALIENS (NECA)

PowerLoader1

Okay, everybody, you should know the drill by now. Ethan’s got a new Aliens toy and he’s all excited. Were he not showing restraint, every sentence in this review would be all caps and end in 34 exclamation points. Because this sucker’s pretty darn fantastic.

Two years ago, when NECA’s Aliens line was only just two series into its run, before we had any large items and before the Sigourney Weaver likeness rights were secured, NECA teased fans at how great this line could be. They confirmed that the Alien Queen would be joining the line, but when Toy Fair rolled around, the Queen’s sculpt wasn’t ready to go, so they put something else in the case. The Power Loader, the exo-skeleton perfect for telling female dogs to get away from people. It was the first real indication that NECA might be working on securing Weaver’s likeness and succeeding where every Aliens line before had failed. I mean, why make the Loader without Ripley? Then the Queen and Ripley were shown and solicited and released, and this one just seemed to slip through the cracks. Fortunately, NECA had not forgotten, and was hard at work getting the Loader released. And now it’s here. Let’s do this!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PowerLoader3Like the Alien Queen, the Power Loader has been released as a deluxe entry in NECA’s Aliens line, filling the gap between Series 6 and 7 of the main figure line. The Power Loader has made its way into several pieces of Aliens media over the years, but this one is definitely based on its debut appearance in the 1986 movie. After getting the downright enormous Queen figure, the Loader is actually a little more compact than I had expected. Once I placed it next to Ripley, I was certain that it was properly scaled, but it is definitely compact. It stands roughly 10 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation, as well as eight actual, working pistons. The range of motion on anything outside of the arms is mostly pretty limited, but that’s true to the film design as well, so one can hardly complain. The sculpt on this piece is nothing short of amazing. For starters, it’s a really great recreation of the machine from the movie. But, just looking at it from a purely aesthetic standpoint, every piece of it is carefully crafted and full of tons of detail; it looks like a working machine.  Adding to that, a variety of different materials have been used to craft it. The main base is hard plastic, but the hoses and tubes, as well as the padding and straps in the spot for the PowerLoader4operator are made from a soft rubber, and the tracks on which the pincers move are all made from metal, so you don’t have to worry about breaking them. If there’s one negative, it’s the netting material used on the top of the harness part. In the film it’s a metal grate sort of piece. It’s forgivable, though, since that sort of piece seams infeasible at a smaller scale, and I definitely prefer slightly inaccurate to broken. The paint on the Power Loader does a great job of accenting the already awesome sculpt. The various small details are all nice and sharp, and there’s plenty of weathering to help make it look more like an actual machine and less like a hunk of plastic. It’s truly outstanding work. The Power Loader is designed with NECA’s Series 6 Lt. Ellen Ripley in mind, so it fits to her pretty well. PowerLoader5Getting the harness to fasten is a bit of a pain, but it stays alright once you get her properly placed. Also, although the Loader includes a spare set of hands for her to hold the controls, getting her hands to hold said controls without popping off of the wrists is virtually impossible. I managed to get the left hand alright, but I just let the right sort of hover there. It makes for easier posing anyway. For those curious, the Loader is really only designed with this particular Ripley figure in mind, so other NECA figures won’t fit right. I’ve included a shot of their recent Adam West Batman operating it, and you can see he’s really squished in there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was meant to be my main birthday present from my parents this year, but it ended up getting delayed a few times (which I was actually kind of expecting). It just arrived last week, and I can happily say that it was absolutely worth the wait. Ripley looks right at home piloting it, and the Alien Queen’s shelf presence increases ten-fold when facing off against it. If there’s one must-have item from NECA’s Aliens line, this is definitely it!

PowerLoader2

#0686: Bishop – Queen Attack

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BISHOP – QUEEN ATTACK

ALIENS (NECA)

BishopHalf1

If you thought we were done with the awesome coverage of toys from the greatest movie ever made, you were sadly mistaken. There’s always more Aliens stuff to cover. Always.

Back in Series 3 of NECA’s Aliens line, they released the always reliable Artificial Person assigned to the Sulaco, Bishop. When I reviewed that figure, I made mention of the tooling more than likely Being a one-off for that figure, and jokingly remarked that the only re-use I could see it getting would be if they did a “half-Bishop.” Well, umm, NECA seems to have done just that. Let’s look at the figure now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BishopHalf2Bishop is another figure from Series 5 of NECA’s Aliens line. For those of you less familiar with Aliens than I, the figure replicates Bishop from Ripley’s definitive final battle with the Alien Queen. The Queen makes her presence known on the Sulaco by impaling Bishop with her tail and tearing him in two. Fortunately for Bishop, he’s an artificial person, so this proves non-fatal, allowing to pull off a pretty sweet heroic rescue later in the fight. It’s a pretty darn important part for him, and it accents Series 5’s final battle Ripley pretty well. The figure is about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 12 points of articulation, which is actually really impressive for a guy who has no lower half. Bishop actually uses less of the first Bishop’s sculpt then you might think. He just uses the arms, with the head, torso, shirt, and robo-guts all being newly sculpted. The new parts are very nicely handled. The shirt was a ton of texture, and you can even make out the tear in the front where the Queen’s tail ripped through it. It’s actually sculpted flat on the back, which looks a little odd when viewed head on, but it makes it so that he can be laid down correctly, which is definitely a good thing. The guts are appropriately goopy, and I appreciate that they are somewhat articulated. The head features a pretty BishopHalf5decent resemblance to Lance Henriksen, and it’s definitely got Bishop’s alarmed look from the scene down. I had a few issues with the paint on the first Bishop figure, mostly with the head. This figure tends to do a bit better in that area. The first Bishop’s eyebrows looked sharpied in place, which really hurt the likeness, but this figure has a more appropriate set of details. The eyes on this figure still possess the outline present on the first Bishop, but the actual eyes are handled much better. The outline is actually okay by me, because it helps bridge the two figures a little bit, and it’s really not that noticeable here. The rest of the paint is quite well handled. He’s appropriately messy looking, but in a controlled way, so he looks like what we saw on screen. Now, this figure is literally only half the man that the last Bishop was, but the cost is still the same. In order to make up for that, NECA’s given him one of the best accessories we’ve seen in this line: a face hugger and egg*. Both pieces are based on their Aliens designs, which are slightly different from those in the preceding film. The face hugger is sculpted in a sprawled out pose, and features a posable tail, which really goes a long way. Both the face hugger and the egg are tremendously well-sculpted and painted, and they look pretty much spot-on to the props from the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bishop was another piece of the set of Series 5 figures I got from my parents for my birthday. He’s more than a little over-shadowed by the Ripley from this same series, due to really being an accent piece instead of his own figure. That said, he accents really well, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to actually have a half-Bishop figure. That wraps up my reviews of Series 5. It should be noted that series also contained single releases the two Xenomorphs from the Aliens: Genocide two-pack, which are essentially the same figures. If you’d like to read my review of that set, head here.

*As I was looking over my previous Bishop review, I noticed that, in addition to asking for a half-Bishop, I also suggested that the last Bishop should have included a face hugger accessory to make him a bit more worthwhile. Neither thing is really all that out there as an idea, but it is amusing that I brought both up before.

BishopHalf4

#0685: Lt. Ellen Ripley

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

LT. ELLEN RIPLEY

ALIENS (NECA)

RipleyAliens1

Okay, guys, you read the title. You saw that picture. You know what I’m reviewing today. Are you prepared for what is about to happen here? I mean this totally seriously. Are you prepared? Okay, let’s give it ago. I think I’ve maintained my composure for a while, without freaking, so I’ve lulled everyone into a sense of ease. Good. Let’s move on.

*Ahem*

HOLY CRAP, NECA TOTALLY WORKED OUT THE LIKENESS RIGHTS DEAL WITH SIGOURNEY WEAVER AND NOW THEY’VE MADE RIPLEY FROM ALIENS AND I TOTALLY HAVE IT IN MY POSSESION AND I’M REVIEWING IT AND THIS SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!

I think I’m good now. Sorry, I’ve been holding the excitement in for a little while. Umm, so I’ve just gotten my figure of Ripley from Aliens, my favorite movie of all time, and now I’m gonna review it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleyAliens2Lt. Ellen Ripley is part of Series 5 of NECA’s Aliens line. After going completely to Alien for Series 4, they’ve switched back over to figures from the second movie for Series 5. Yay, more Aliens toys for me! Ripley is presented here in her Xeno-hive-exploring get-up, from the climax of the film, when she goes to save Newt. It’s really the go to look for Ripley from Aliens, so it’s definitely the one to lead with. The figure stands roughly 7 ¼ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. Like Series 4’s Jumpsuit Ripley, this puts her at the same height as all of the Marines produced so far, and a little bit taller than Series 3’s Bishop. That’s definitely appropriate for a figure representing Sigourney Weaver, who is 6 feet tall. Ripley’s sculpt appears to be mostly new; the only parts that look to be re-use are the forearms, which are from Jumpsuit Ripley. And, seeing as they’re the same actress’s forearms, that seems pretty excusable. The rest of the sculpt is really, really good. It’s not perfect; the arms seem just a touch lanky and the neck’s a little on the thin side. However, those are minor issues, especially compared to what the sculpt gets right. The overall proportions are pretty spot on, and the figure is covered in detail work and texture. The ammo-belt and watch are both add-ons, which actually surprised me a bit, especially on the watch. Now, the key piece of a Ripley figure in this day and age is the likeness. NECA did a pretty great job on both Series 4 Ripleys, so the pressure was definitely on here. Prototype shots had me a little worried, but the final product blows all that away. Easily the best likeness in the line. This IS Ellen Ripley. Well, facially, anyway. The one thing that holds it back just a little is the hair. It’s not bad, but it seems just a tad too big. Hair is difficult, so NECA’s still done an admirable job here, getting it as close as they did. Moving onto paint, I feel it RipleyAliens3important to note that, while this is the best paintwork we’ve seen in this line to date, it’s not without issue. The biggest issue, for me, is the eyebrows. They’re set too hi, and they’re too at ease, which isn’t appropriate for Ripley at this point in the movie. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it is somewhat noticeable. In addition, the right side of the hair ends just a small fraction shy of the sculpted hair. It’s not noticeable from 90% of viewing angles, but when it’s visible, it looks a little goofy. Lastly (and this one’s really minor), the stains on the shirt stand out just a bit too much from the normal shirt color. Some fading would have been nice. Those issues aside, the paint on this figure is truly amazingly handled. This Ripley makes the switch over to the more realistic flesh toned plastic that NECA used on figures like Rambo and Dutch. It has the semi-translucent of real skin, and avoids loss of detail and the extra thickness added by paint. The end result is an astounding improvement to the Marines and Bishop. Ripley is packed with her signature pulse rifle/flamethrower combo. It’s a key accessory for this look, and it’s wonderfully executed. The piece is actually two pieces, bound together, and the pulse rifle even has the tracker taped to the top, just like the movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I’m sure it’s no surprise that I’ve been anxiously awaiting this figure’s release ever since the prototype was first shown off. My wonderfully supportive parents were nice enough to get me Ripley (along with the rest of Series 5) for my birthday. The figure wasn’t here quite in time for my actual birthday, the sheer awesomeness of the figure more than makes up for that. I noted in my review of the Series 4 Ripley that NECA had set the bar pretty high for this figure. Well, I’m happy to say that this figure has cleared that bar with room to spare. This is the finest piece the line’s had to offer!

RipleyAliens4

#0652: Vasquez & Battle-Damaged Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

PVT VASQUEZ & BATTLE-DAMAGED ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

VasquezXeno1

The first wave of Toys R Us exclusive Aliens Minimates have the notoriety of being one of the few  series in recent years not to get any purely exclusive sets. Instead, the series is a “Best of” series of sorts, being used to bridge the gap between Series 1 and 2 of the main line. It also gives us our first look at two of the Marines who will be showing up in Series 2. One of the two is Smartgunner Vasquez, packed facing off against another pesky Xenomorph.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as a Toys R Us exclusive set, though, as with Hudson, Vasquez will be appearing in Series 2 as well.

PVT VASQUEZ
VasquezXeno2Vasquez is one of the movie’s two Smartgunners. We got the other half of the pair, Drake, in Series 1. However, Vasquez is definitely the more central of the two, so she was the one everyone was waiting for. Like Hudson, this same figure (more-or-less) should be turning up in Series 2 of the specialty assortments. Pvt. Vasquez features additional sculpted parts for her hair/headpiece, and her chest piece. The chest piece is the same as the one used for Drake, which is sensible re-use, since they had the same armor in the film. She still has the standard issue shoulder lamp, though it has some difficulty staying put, which is rather annoying. The hair/headpiece is new to Vasquez and…well, it’s not quite as good as I’d hoped. The hair seems to be too bulky and to sit too high to accurately depict the close-cropped hair the character sports in the film. If it were just a smidge on the smaller side, I think it would look a lot better. I’m also disappointed to lose the articulated eye-piece, as that was one of my favorite things on Drake. The thing about the sculpt is that it’s really hard to get an accurate read on the quality, mostly due to…the paint. The paint on this figure annoys me. It’s not sloppy. In fact, it’s quite clean and sharp. Her fatigues are nicely detailed, and her armor has most of the appropriate graffiti. I’m also glad to see they got her skin tone correct. I like having a diverse VasquezXeno7selection of skin tones. So, what’s wrong? Well, for starters, her hair is just the wrong color. Yes, Jennete Goldstien has red hair. However, she very definitely didn’t have it while playing Vasquez. The hair here is far too light to be accurate. Also, her face, while well-rendered, is too low-set, making the hairpiece look even higher up than it already is. Also, she’s got lipstick, which isn’t accurate, and her expression is far too friendly to ever be Vasquez. As far as accessories go, Vasquez makes out alright. She includes the smartgun, which is the same as Drake’s, and works just as well here as it did there. She also has a spare hairpiece, without the headset, but it has the same issues as the main piece. Lastly, she has the now standard clear display stand.

BATTLE-DAMAGED ALIEN

VasquezXeno10Oh boy, another Alien! Yeah, it’s cool that they keep making them available, but there’s really only so much you can say about what’s essentially the same figure over and over. So, like all its alien brethren before it, the Battle-Damaged Alien has sculpted parts for its head, torso, tail, hands, and feet. This one’s a little different from the last two versions of the Battle-Damaged Alien; he’s been given the closed-mouth head. That’s different enough. Aside from that, the rest of the pieces are all the same Xeno parts we’ve seen before, though that’s certainly not a bad thing. Have you seen the other Battle-Damaged Aliens? Good, then you’ve seen the paint on this one too. It’s Identical. I still wish that DST would mix up the blood splatters a little bit, but I guess that won’t be happening. This Alien includes a clear display stand AND a newborn Alien. Well, the newborn could really go with either of the figures in the set, but I figured, since Vasquez had other stuff, it made sense to put it here. It’s a fun little piece, with a surprising amount of detail. It’s a cool pack-in!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, yeah, I was gonna wait on Hudson and Vasquez, but…I didn’t. That worked out okay for the last set. This set? I’m not gonna lie, it was disappointing. Vasquez is supposed to be the draw here, but she’s rather weak. After the slam dunk that was Drake, it seemed like this one should be no trouble for DST, but that didn’t prove true. Perhaps the Series 2 release could fix the hair color, at the very least, but it’s nigh-impossible that we’ll see the sculpt of the hair fixed. It’s a shame because, from the neck down, this is a tremendous figure, but that head really drags the whole thing down.

VasquezXeno9

#0645: Hudson & Screaming Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

“CPL” HUDSON & SCREAMING ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

HudsonXeno1

The first series of Aliens Minimates covered a lot of bases in terms of major characters, but there were definitely a few key characters missing. Fortunately, the Toys R Us assortment and Series 2 are doing their part to fill some of those holes. The TRU series has added two new marines, including today’s focus, the shell-shocked Marine Hudson, who is packed with another Alien Warrior variation.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the TRU assortment of Series 1 of Aliens Minimates. As of now, both figures are exclusive, but Hudson is already slated to appear in Series 2 at specialty stores.

“CPL” HUDSON

HudsonXeno2So, let’s get something out of the way right now: Hudson isn’t a Corporal, he’s a Private. The package totally gave him the wrong rank. But, I’m probably one of the few people to actually notice such a thing, so, whatever. Hudson is probably one of the film’s more memorable Marines. He’s got a fair bit of screen time, and, whether you like it or not, his panicky personality sets him apart from the rest of the crew. Anyway, he’s pretty important to the film and the line would feel very incomplete without him, so it’s good to see him turn up here. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Hudson features additional sculpted parts for his helmet, chest armor, and boots. These parts are all the same as those used on the Series 1 Marines and Weirzbowski. This is sensible, given that the armor was standard issue in the film. Hudson continues the trend of the removable shoulder lamp, which is a nice option to have. His is a little looser than previous versions, but it stays in place alright. The armor is all stuff we’ve HudsonXeno3seen a few times before, but it’s no less impressive than it was before, and it still does a great job of translating the real deal into ‘mate form. Hudson’s paintwork is pretty decent, but it does have a few nits here and there. The basic armor detailing and underlying fatigues match up with the rest of the Marines, which is good. The chest armor has most of Hudson’s distinctive graffiti; it’s cleanly applied for the most part and helps set him aside from the others. Hudson wore a cover on his helmet in the movie, which featured a slightly different camo pattern and an 8-ball on the back. However, the figure just has the standard issue helmet. It’s not the worst thing ever, but it is just a little disappointing. The likeness on the face isn’t spot-on to Bill Paxton, but it’s a lot closer than the other Marines in the line, so that’s good. On the accessory front, Hudson has an extra hairpiece, a standard issue pulse rifle, a facehugger, and a clear display stand. The rifle and facehugger are the same ones we’ve seen before, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The hair is one of the standard male hairpieces, first used for Marvel Series 27’s Ultimate Iron Man. It’s too long to really work for Hudson, and it’s definitely painted too lightly to be Paxton’s hair. But it’s the thought that counts, I suppose.

SCREAMING ALIEN

HudsonXeno5Well, I guess it wouldn’t really be an Aliens set without another Alien, right? So, here’s this one. But this time he has a new hat—err, I mean, he’s screaming! That’s sort of different. Different enough when you’re dealing with army builders, anyway. For the most part, this figure is more or less the same as the other Aliens. It has sculpted pieces for the head, torso, tail, hands, and feet. The pieces are as well sculpted as always, so that’s good. This figure uses the “attacking” head, but it lacks the inner mouth piece, giving it the screaming appearance hinted at in the name. The figure’s paint is pretty much identical to all the prior Warrior and Attacking Aliens the line’s offered. There’s plenty of painted texturing and such, which keeps the figure visually interesting.  As far as accessories go, the Screaming Alien only includes a clear display stand. However, this is totally on par with prior Aliens, and it’s totally reasonable, given how many sculpted parts the figure has.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When it was announced that Hudson and Vasquez would be available in both this line-up and in Series 2, I had planned to just wait for the later release. Then I saw these guys at my local TRU and I caved. Big shock, right? Hudson’s a pretty good addition to the line. He has a few minor issues, but he’s an important character, and he’s good overall. I’m curious to see if the Series 2 release might fix one or two of the issues here. The Screaming Alien isn’t really that different from the other Aliens, but it’s different enough to add a little bit of variety to your horde of Aliens. And isn’t that the dream?

HudsonXeno4

#0613: Ripley – Compression Suit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

RIPLEY –COMPRESSION SUIT

ALIENS (NECA)

RipleySS1

No movie toyline is every truly complete without a bunch of variations of one of the film’s main characters. Sometimes they’re manufactured by the toy makers, resulting in strange neon colored variations, aimed at capturing the attention of small children (which has been known to work…occasionally). However, there’s been an increasing trend towards variations that are accurate to the source material. NECA is pretty big on these, especially when they get ahold of a major actor’s likeness rights. When they managed to get Arnold Schwarzenegger’s likeness from Predator, they released five variants of the character right off the bat. Now that they’ve gotten Sigourney Weaver’s likeness from the Alien films, and it looks like they’re going to be approaching her figures a similar fashion. I looked at the first version of her the other day, and now I’ll be looking at the second version, from the very same series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleySS2Ripley was released in Series 4 of NECA’s Aliens line. The series is devoted completely to the 35th Anniversary of Alien, so all of the figures are from that particular movie. The figure stands about 7 ½ inches tall and features 24 points of articulation. The first Ripley figure depicted her in her jumpsuited look, which was her primary look from the movie. This one is based on her look from her final confrontation with the creature, while in the Narcisus. It’s not the look most would associate with her for the movie, but it’s a strong second, being from a rather pivotal scene of the film. As an added bonus, it gives NECA another opportunity to use the compression suit body into which they’ve put so much work. Surprising pretty much nobody, the figure uses the same pressure suit body as Dallas and Kane (she also has the same hands as Dallas). Ripley’s suit was just a slight bit more streamlined in the film, so she doesn’t sport the front piece of armor (not sure what it actually is) and she also doesn’t have the holster strap for the flare gun. The helmet is RipleySS3similarly streamlined, being pretty much the same as Dallas’s, but without the head lamp. Under the helmet is a Ripley sculpt that is completely different from the one on Jumpsuit Ripley. It’s different, but I honestly can’t say if it’s better or worse than the other sculpt. It’s still got a pretty good likeness of Weaver, and the hair has been sculpted to more properly fit within the helmet. This ends up making the figure look a bit more goofy with the helmet off, but she looks great with the helmet on, which is the preferable outcome. Ripley’s paintwork is a little more simplistic than the other two compression-suited figures, but this is once again accurate to the movie, where Ripley’s suit is only used within the confines of the ship. Though it may be more simple, it’s hardly a bad paint job. In fact, it’s probably one of NECA’s best. While the suit is all white, NECA has made sure to include some slight variation in color and finish, providing quite a bit of dimension to the figure. The head also features some incredibly clean work, with no slop or bleed over, and some nice smallerRipleySS6 details. Ripley includes the harpoon gun, which figures prominently into the last moments of the film and has both opened and closed-hook harpoons, as well as another version of the film’s other survivor, Jonesy the cat, this time in a frightened pose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ripley is the last piece of the Series 4 set I ordered from Big Bad Toy Store. While I think the other Ripley is still the standout of this set, this version is incredibly solid. Like Dallas, she makes use of the strong compression-suit sculpt we saw on Kane, but doesn’t suffer from Kane’s drawbacks. Also, and this applies to this whole series, the paint here just seems like a huge leap forward compared to the previous three series of figures. All in all, this a fun figure, and definitely a must for anyone who’s an Alien fan.

RipleySS8

#0612: Dallas – Compression Suit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

DALLAS – COMPRESSION SUIT

ALIENS (NECA)

Dallas1

While Alien may not be quite up to the same level as its sequel Aliens (at least in my mind), it’s still a tremendously well-made film. One of the greatest aspects of the movie was its incredible design work. H.R. Giger’s main creature design tends to get a lot of the focus, but the film also had some awesome work on the human side of things, such as the incredibly memorable space suits, worn by three of the main characters during the exploration of the derelict ship. NECA first brought the suit design into their Aliens line in Series 3, where it was worn by the ill-fated Kane. Now we’ve gotten another of the trio, with the Nostromo’s well-meaning captain, Dallas.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dallas3Dallas was released in Series 4 of NECA’s Aliens line. Like all the others in this series, he’s from Alien, and is meant to somewhat commemorate the film’s 35th anniversary last year. The figure is about 7 ½ inches tall, and he has 24 points of articulation. As noted in the intro, Dallas is presented here in his Compression Suit look. It’s a pretty distinctive design, and a few of the character’s key scenes occur down on the planet, so it was well chosen. Rather unsurprisingly, the majority of Dallas’s sculpt is from Series 3’s Kane figure. Seeing as the suits in the movie are just palate swaps of each other and they’re bulky enough to hide the figure of the wearer, it would be silly for NECA not to use the parts they already had sculpted. The re-used parts are just as good here as they were on Kane. The body features a ton of texture and detail, and the add-ons for the armored parts add a nice bit of dimension. Dallas gets an all-new head, and, though you might miss them at first, a new set of hands. The hands are pretty much the same as the ones on Kane, except the poses are reversed. It’s a nice touch and it allows for a neat bit of variety. The head is a fairly Dallas4decent sculpt; the Tom Skerritt likeness isn’t as spot-on as the Sigourney Weaver was, but it’s passable (though, I can’t help but see Tom Hanks in that face. Not sure why.) In general, the head feels a little less defined than the rest of the sculpt. Fortunately this is fairly hidden by the helmet. Speaking of the helmet, it should be noted that it has the same two piece design as Kane’s. The bottom portion is the same piece (though it sits a little closer to the torso than Kane’s does) while the top is a slightly tweaked piece, showing an undamaged version of the helmet. Paint is where Dallas really gets a leg up on Kane. While things certainly aren’t perfect (especially when it comes to the face) the amount of bleed over is a lot lower, and the detailing and texturing looks superb. And the biggest improvement: he’s not sticky! Yeah, Kane was rather tacky is some areas, which isn’t a good thing, but Dallas suffers from none of that, showing that NECA’s really committed to learning from their mistakes. In addition to the removable helmet, Dallas also includes the same flare gun and flashlight that we saw with Kane.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dallas was part of the set of Series 4 figures I ordered via Big Bad Toy Store. I can’t say the guy was super high on my want list, but I’m pleased to have him. He takes what was good about the Kane figure and improves what was bad, resulting in an overall very solid addition to the line. I can’t help but feel it’s a little unfortunate that he got placed in this series, as I’m sure a lot of people will end up overlooking him in favor of the two Ripley figures he’s packed with. And that’s too bad, because he’s really one of the best figures the line has offered so far, at least as far as quality is concerned.

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#0610: Ripley

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

RIPLEY – JUMPSUIT

ALIENS (NECA)

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As faithful readers of the site know, it’s no secret that my favorite movie of all time is Aliens. So, it’s probably not a huge shock to find out that I’m rather fond of Alien, the film Aliens sequel-izes, as well. Granted, I don’t view it with nearly as much reverence as its sequel, but I appreciate it for what it spawned, and I think it’s a tremendously well assembled film. When NECA made their announcement that they had managed to acquire Sigourney Weaver’s likeness rights, they quickly followed up by confirming that the first Ripley figure in their Aliens line would be based on her debut appearance in Alien. Now, that figure is finally here, and I’m really excited to see how it turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleyJS2Ripley was released as part of Series 4 of NECA’s Aliens line. Series 4 is the first series in the line not to feature any figures from Aliens, as well as the first series not to feature any of the titular creatures. There’s no need to fret, though, because a) Series 5 will be making up for both of those things, and b) Series 4 suffers in no way for the lack of either of these things. NECA has taken advantage of Alien’s 35th anniversary, and has offered three figures based on that film’s designs. This particular Ripley represents her in her main jumpsuited look, which she sports for most of her screen time. The figure stands just shy of 7 ½ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. It’s refreshing to see a female figure that isn’t dwarfed by her male counterparts (in fact, she’s taller than Bishop, and the same height as Hicks), and it makes this an accurate depiction of Ripley as portrayed by the 6 foot tall Sigourney Weaver. Ripley has a brand-new sculpt (in fact, she’s the only figure in this series to get one) and, simply put, it’s phenomenal. She has great proportions, tons of detail, and the articulation is very nicely worked into the sculpt. When NECA did Bishop in the last series, I had a few issues with overlay piece used for the torso part of the jumpsuit. I was somewhat concerned about those issues cropping up here. Fortunately, NECA has made sure they didn’t, and have tweaked the overlay part to be two pieces, allowing for a more form fitting look and avoiding the slight diaper-like appearance of Bishop’s waist. The overlay allows for a bit more dimension, and they’ve done a wonderful job of sculpting the collar of her uniform shirt so that it just barely shows RipleyJS4under the jumpsuit. Now, we all know that NECA can do an awesome job on the body, but the real pull here is that, for the first time ever, we got a Ripley that’s actually allowed to look like Sigourney Weaver! So, how’d they do? If I’m totally honest, when I first saw the sculpt, I was a little underwhelmed. Sure, it bore a resemblance to Weaver, but it seemed off. After taking the figure out and viewing the sculpt in three dimensions, my opinion’s changed greatly. This is definitely Sigourney Weaver. At least the face is, anyway. The hair, I’m not 100% sold on, though I’d chalk that up to the impossibility of perfectly replicating something so fluid in a solid medium. Also, this may seem like a weird thing to comment on, but I’m really impressed by the hands. Like, I looked at them and immediately thought “wow, those are Sigourney Weaver’s hands.” It’s something that’s really minor and easy to overlook, but it really adds a lot to the figure. Ripley’s paintwork is, while not flawless, pretty darn good. Application is nice and clean, and there’s some great detail work on the patches on her jumpsuit. The face is pretty decent for the scale and the price point, but the edges on the eyes are just a little off, and there’s a little scratch on her nose. Nothing too major, though. She does seem a little on the clean side, but it’s fair to say she’s supposed to be from earlier in the film, and would therefore be a little less messy. Ripley includes two accessories: a flamethrower and Jonesy the cat. Both pieces are excellent additions to the figure. The flamethrower is superbly sculpted and painted and fits quite nicely in her hands. Jonesy is pretty decently sculpted and features ball joints at the neck and tail, allowing for some decent movement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been patiently waiting for this figure’s release ever since it was announced. I picked her up, along with the other two figures in the series, from Big Bad Toy Store, as soon as they got her in stock. This figure is fantastic. It does a wonderful job of translating the character from the film to three dimensions and gives us our first shot at a character that the line couldn’t be complete without. Sure, it’s not the version from Aliens that I’ve been oh so anxiously waiting for, but it’s more than enough to hold me over until that figure comes along. NECA has done a tremendous job with this figure, and they’ve set the bar pretty high for the Aliens version in Series 5. Here’s hoping that one’s just as good!

*Ripley also has the added notoriety of being the 3000th unique figure to be added to my collection!  That’s a big number!

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Custom Action Figures and the Dilemma of the Replacement

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General and tagged with , ,

Having been an action figure fan pretty much my entire life, I perceive popular culture in, perhaps, a different way than some.  In many cases, my enjoyment of certain entertainment is almost directly linked to just how much I want to have its heroes and villains in articulated plastic form.  This in many ways stems from my parents willingness to whisk me to a nearby toy store shortly after seeing a movie so that I could acquire a figure of my favorite character.

However, while I may be willing to buy action figures of just about anything, toy companies are hardly going to risk producing such an item for every piece of entertainment.  Inevitably, there will be holes in the collection that cannot be filled with an official product.  Sometimes it’s a single character who is just too obscure to warrant a figure, or is tied up in some sort of rights issue.  Other times, it’s an entire property that gets overlooked.  And sometimes, it’s just that the property isn’t available in your preferred style.

For many, this simply means that there is an item you will never own.  But for the more intense, devoted collector, there’s another fix: the custom action figure.  Customization of action figures has existed for a good long while in the world of collecting, and it can take many forms, ranging from a simple part-swap or repaint to a figure with extensive uniquely sculpted pieces.  For many, how extensive you go is based purely on your own personal talent.

This far into this article, it’s probably not a huge surprise that I myself have ventured into the world of custom action figures.  I worked in a variety of scales and styles, but the largest focus by far was Minimates.  My love of the line is no secret to those that read the site, so it’s not really shocking that I felt the need to increase the ranks of my collection.  As a plus, the fact that parts were completely interchangeable and most of the design relied on painted or printed details made assembling them with quick speed a relatively easy task.

I’ve mostly given up customizing to focus more on pure collecting, and, of course, this very site.  However, I was quite proud of a few of my sets of Minimates.  One in particular was my set of custom Aliens-themed Minimates, which was one of the more expansive sets I completed, created over the span of a week or so in the summer of 2009.  There were 10 figures in all: Ripley, Hicks, Newt, Vasquez, Gorman, Hudson, Burke, a Xenomorph, and Bishop in both standard and battle-damaged varieties.

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If you’ve been keeping up with my reviews, you’ve probably caught the news that Diamond Select Toys is currently producing their own official set of Aliens Minimates.  This is a fact I couldn’t be happier about.  Aliens is my favorite movie of all time, and Minimates is one of my favorite toy lines.  Combine the two and I’m in toy heaven.  But, that does sort of bring up the lingering question: What do I do with my customs?

Well, I should definitely start off by pointing out that not all of the characters I made have been added to Diamond’s line just yet.  Hicks,Burke, and the Xeno are the only ones with direct replacements currently.  The line has a Ripley, but it’s not the same iteration of her costume as the one I made.  However, the version of Ripley I used, as well as Newt, Vasquez, and Hudson will all be joining the line with Series 2.  The “half Bishop” has already been shown as a prototype and is set to be included with the Alien Queen.  That leaves Gorman and regular Bishop, both of whom have been heavily implied to be in an upcoming assortment of the line.  All of these figures will have proper replacements soon enough.

For now, how about a look back at the three that have already been “replaced?”

AliensCustoms4Burke was really the first at the axe.  For the most part, my custom was assembled from unaltered pieces of official ‘mates.  The body was from one of the X-Men Origins Wolverines, and the vest was from another.  Throw in a hairpiece from one of the movie Tony Starks and a face decal designed by me, and there you have it.  Liberties were taken with the style of the shirt and vest, due to my not wanting to ruin the only copies I had of these pieces.  I also recall really not wanting to have to paint a flannel pattern.  I’m still really proud of the face on this guy.  The expression just turned out so well.  I don’t mind the face on the official version, but I do miss this guy’s more panicked look.  At the end of the day, the official version wins, and my custom will likely be disassembled so that the parts can finally make their way back to their rightful owners.

AliensCustoms5With the official version being one of the earliest released official ‘mates, the Xenomorph came under fire pretty quickly too.  My Xenomorph was a later addition to my set.  When I created the original figures, I still wasn’t entirely comfortable with sculpting new parts wholesale, as would be required by the Xeno, so I put it off.  I eventually built up my skill a bit, and this was the end result.  I won’t lie, this figure has aged the worst of the set by far.  I was happy with him at the time, but the sculpting really didn’t hold up, and  he is devoid of many of the proper Xenomorph details.  The figure is also essentially a statue and rather brittle, making this one of the easiest replacements of the bunch.

AliensCustoms2The last replacement is perhaps one of the most difficult to go through with.  Hicks was a custom I put a lot of thought into, and one of the figures with which I was most pleased after finishing.  Some of the details of the uniform are a little muddled, and the armor isn’t quite what it could be, but I was particularly proud of the head.  I love the official version, but I wasn’t sold on the included hair piece.  As you can tell from the pictures, I’ve already replaced it with the same piece I used on my custom.  I was also quite proud of the likeness on the face, something I feel the official version was just the slightest bit off on.  Ultimately, the sculpted armor of the official version wins it some serious points, and it has a much more polished look, but it hasn’t quite surpassed my original like the others here.

That’s all for this particular side bit.  More than likely, I’ll come back to this a few times, as DST replaces the rest of my customs.  Until then, I guess my Aliens Minimates collection is just a little bit more complete than everyone else’s!