Tag Archives: NECA

#1079: Pvt Vasquez

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

PVT JEANETTE VASQUEZ

ALIENS (NECA)

vasquezneca3

No one likes Aliens more than me.  Okay, that’s probably not true.  A lot of people like Aliens, and some of them are pretty devoted.  I’m pretty sure the original Queen model is still in the possession of a private collector.  I can’t really top that.  What’s my point?  Right, I like Aliens.  I like Aliens a lot.  I’ve been absolutely loving the plethora of new Aliens-themed merch this year.  After virtually none for most of my lifetime, it’s been a refreshing change.  I think NECA’s Aliens line is perhaps my favorite of all the Aliens stuff, since they’re killing it not just in terms of line-up, but also in the level of attention granted to each individual figure.  In honor of the 30th anniversary of Aliens, they’ve been pulling out all the stops, and giving us a couple of figures that had previously been thought off-limits.  One  of the most anticipated new releases is today’s focus figure, Private Jeanette Vasquez, perhaps the most pivotal character still left un-released.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

vasquezneca1Vasquez is part of Series 9 of NECA’s Aliens line, which has been entirely devoted to the anniversary of Aliens.  It’s been a little while since we’ve gotten an all Aliens set, so I’m pretty happy about that.  The figure is about 6 1/2 inches tall, which is about right for Vasquez’s height compared to the rest of the line, and she has 26 points of articulation, plus a moving eye retical, and 6 points of articulation on the smartgun.  That’s a whole lot of articulation!  Vasquez is sporting an all-new sculpt, and it’s a really impressive one at that.  Every time I think NECA can’t top themselves, they turn right around and do just that.  Seriously, this is easily one of the best NECA’s ever done.  Heck, it’s just one of the best action figure sculpts I’ve seen, period.  Her build is just right, the armor is perfectly translated, and the level of texture on things like the bandana is nothing short of amazing.  Perhaps the only slight issue might be the likeness on the face, and even that’s just a slight issue.  It’s more than clear who this is, but there are some angles where she’s just a little off.  It’s more than acceptable for a translation into sculpted action figure, though, so I’m not complaining.  This sculpt is really impressive.  The paintwork is pretty good too.  There are a few small details, such as the tear drop tattoo under her eye and the “Adios” written on her gun, which are missing, but everything else is phenomenal.  The headband stands out again, with the pattern being very well-rendered, but as a whole, she’s just a very sharp looking figure.  Even the eyes look good, and those throw most companies.  Vasquez’s main accessory is her smartgun, which is the same as the one included with the Alien Day Kenner Ripley figure, just with the arm attached.  Fortunately, Vasquez’s hands are actually molded for the gun, so she doesn’t drop it all the time like Ripley tends to.  Vasquez also includes a removable shoulder lamp (the same as the previous Marines), as well as a blast effect piece for her gun.  The blast effect is a lot of fun, and I hope we see more things like this with future figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ever since Vasquez was shown on Alien Day, I’ve been anxiously awaiting her release.  Unfortunately, she hit stores right as I was in the midst of a move, meaning I had no time to go looking for her.  So, I had to wait until things had settled a bit.  I found her at my new local TRU, which was very exciting.  Vasquez is a fantastic figure, the best of NECA’s Marines (no small feat, let me tell you).  I’m really happy to have her, and round out my Marines just a little bit more.  Now I just need a Drake to go with her…

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#1039: Raphael & Michelangelo

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

RAPHAEL & MICHELANGELO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (NECA…ish)

Raph&MikeyNECA

Wait a second!  Didn’t I just say yesterday that I never found the other half of the NECA Ninja Turtles?  Fear not dear reader, this feeling indicates only that you are still sane.  No, I never did find those other two Turtles.  Well, not officially, anyway.  I’ve spoken once or twice about bootlegs, unlicensed action figures, usually produced by chinese factories as a way of making a quick buck.  They tend to be very cheaply made, and rarely can they be mistaken for any official product.  It does happen, though, especially if a factory producing figures for an American toy company decides to make use of some of the molds they have lying around to earn a little extra profit.  That’s what happened to NECA.  In 2013, it had been a fair while since NECA had lost the license to produce TMNT figures, and the main four had all shot up pretty far in price.  Slowly, more and more of these figures began showing on eBay, shipping from China, and selling at lower prices than usual.  As it turned out, these figures were clever forgeries of the real deal, created by one of NECA’s ex-factories.  While the initial bootleg Turtles were just straight recreations of the official NECA figures, the already unlicensed nature of the the figures quickly opened the door to variations of the NECA figures in the usual cartoon colors (which NECA had not legally been able to use).  Needless to say, I came into possession of the remaining two Turtles, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

RaphNECA2These two are one half of the set of bootleg Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, patterned after the NECA releases.  As noted above, the bootlegs were available in both comic and cartoon color schemes (referring to the color of the bandanas).  These two are the cartoon color versions (though the two versions of Raph are the same).  As far as anyone can tell, the bootlegs are only available in the tube style packaging, likely due to them coming from the factory that produced that run of figures for NECA.  Both figures stand 5 ¼ inches tall and have the same 30 points of articulation as the official figures.  One thing I did notice is that these two have a tendency to pop apart at some of the joints, due to the slightly softer plastic that was used.  Like their official counterparts, Raph and Mike use the same body as Don and Leo.  There aren’t any sculptural changes that I can find, apart from some of the native texturing on the skin being a bit smoother.  The official Raph and Mike had unique heads, which is true here as well.  Raph sports one with a squinting, angry scowl, perfect for his more intense nature.  Mike, meanwhile, gets a much lighter expression, wide-eyed and smiling, RaphNECA2encapsulating his role as the team’s resident goofball.  Mike’s head is probably my favorite of the four, just for sheer expressiveness.  The changes between bootleg and official are most evident in the paintwork.  Obviously, Mike gets an orange bandana instead of the usual red.  It’s a minor change, but especially noticeable if you’re like me and the other three have red.  Raph’s bandana is more or less the same shade as the official figures, though it is a bit glossier in finish.  In fact, both figures as a whole are glossier than the originals, no doubt due to cheaper paint.  The greens of their skin are also a bit yellower than the official versions, and brown pads and belts are noticeably darker.  The black details have also been made a bit less striking, especially on the shells, and the accent work on the shading is a little more heavy handed.  As they are emulating the more bare-bones releases, Raph and Mike each get just their basic weapons: a pair of sai for Raph and nunchucks for Mike.   

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When these bootlegs first started showing up, I was tempted to pick up some of them, since, as noted yesterday, my NECA Turtles were incomplete.  However, they tended to only be sold in sets of four, so I never got around to getting them.  Back in June, I was out with my brother, and we stopped by a local retro game store, who had just gotten in a set of the cartoon colored versions.  While I would have prefered the comic ones, just for the sake of matching the two I already have, I figured these two were close enough.  Perhaps one day I’ll paint Mike to match the rest.   but right now I’m happy to have all four, even if it is through questionable means.

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#1038: Leonardo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

LEONARDO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (NECA)

LeoNECA1

Hey, remember how I reviewed one of NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles yesterday? Well, guess what! I’m reviewing another one today! I know, it’s a total shocker, right? Okay, maybe not. Yesterday, I looked at Donatello, my favorite of the Turtles. Today, I’ll be looking at the Turtles’ leader Leonardo, who’s a definite fourth for me. But, I still bought the figure, so I guess that doesn’t really matter.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LeoNECA2Leonardo was also released in the first series of NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. Like Don, he was available in a clamshell, tubed, and in a boxed set with his three brothers. This figure is the clamshell release. Leonardo is 5 ¼ inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. As I noted in yesterday’s review, all four of the NECA Turtles shared the same body, so most of Leonardo is exactly the same as Donatello. Seeing as Donatello was a pretty impressively sculpted figure, that’s hardly an issue. Leo does have one minor change to the body; there is a pair of sheaths for his swords affixed to his back. These sheaths are just as nicely sculpted as the rest of the figure, and add a cool touch of individualism to Leo. Leo also gets a unique headsculpt, with gritted teeth and an overall determined looking demeanor. It’s a good expression for Leo, and makes him instantly distinctive from Donatello.  For the most part, Leo’s paint is more or less identical to Don’s. There are a few minor differences, but none that are intentional (barring the obvious inclusion of his teeth and the sheaths). Leo’s paint does seem just a bit sloppier than Don’s, but that’s the sort of thing that will vary from figure to figure. All three releases of Leo included a pair of katana, which are very impressively rendered. The bottom of each hilt can be removed to allow for an easier time getting Leo to grip them, and they fit great in his hands or the sheaths on his back. The clamshell release also added a pair of open palm hands, a pre-mutation Leo (same as the pre-mutation Don), and a stand that looks like a portion of sidewalk, complete with a fire hydrant. The stand can connect with the one included with Don (as well as those included with the other two Turtles) to form a neat little diorama.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Don, I found Leonardo at a nearby FYE (though not on the same trip). At the point I found him, I’d more or less given up on finishing the set, but was happy to find him regardless. Despite the fact that Leo isn’t my favorite Turtle, this is still a really fun figure, just as good as the Donatello figure. Leo was the last NECA Turtle I found, and the high cost of the other two on the aftermarket meant that for 9 years I’ve only had half of the Turtles on my shelf.

#1037: Donatello

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

DONATELLO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (NECA)

DonNECA1

For someone who never had a huge attachment to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I sure do seem to have a lot of figures from the franchise. What can I say? I’m a sucker for cool toys, and there are a lot of really cool Ninja Turtles toys out there. For most of their 25+ year run, the Turtles toys have been handled exclusively by Playmates, but in 2007, NECA put out a set of Turtles based on their original Mirage Comics appearances. Today, I’ll be looking at NECA’s take on my personal favorite of the Turtles, Donatello!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DonNECA2Donatello was released in the first series of NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line, and he (like the other three Turtles) was available three different ways: single-packed (clamshell), single-packed (tubed), and in a boxed set with the rest of the team. The particular figure being looked at today is the clamshell version, which means he includes a few extras that the other releases didn’t have. The figure stands about 5 ¼ inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. All of the Turtles from NECA were sculpted by the Four Horsemen, based on Eastman and Laird’s original depictions of the Turtles. The four figures shared most of their parts with each other, with the heads (mostly their expressions) being their only distinctive features. This is true to the early depictions of the characters, so it makes sense. The sculpt is definitely top notch, not only capturing the distinct look of the art, but also offering a lot of really great texture work (which is far better handled here than it is on the Playmates equivalents). If I had one complaint, it would be the length of the neck; it seems just a tad longer than it should be. Donatello’s head sculpt is calm and pensive, which is pretty a good choice for Don’s personality. On top an already awesome sculpt is a very impressive paintjob which, in combination with the sculpt, really helps to sell this as the comics design for the character. The colors are nice and bold, and the black accent lines are sharp, and place just right to make it look like an inked drawing. All of the releases of Don included the basic gripping hands and his signature Bo staff. The staff is a really nice piece, and it spits at the middle to make it easier to get it in his hands. The clamshell-ed Don also gets a spare set of open hands for wall-climbing, a container of T.C.R.I. ooze, a small pre-mutation Don, and a stand that looks like a section of street. All of these are just as well-sculpted as the main figure, and the stand in particular is a really fun piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Don was the first of the NECA Turtles I got. The single-packs were rather difficult to find at the time, so I was quite happy when I found this guy at my nearest FYE. This was actually my first real introduction to NECA, and it’s one heck of an introduction. This is a fantastic figure through and through, and there’s definitely a reason that these guys are so demanded after the fact.

#1035: Ellen Ripley – Fiorina 161 Prisoner

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

ELLEN RIPLEY – FIORINA 161 PRISONER

ALIENS (NECA)

RipleyCubed1

Hey, you know what movie I love? Aliens! By extension, you know what movie I hate? Alien3 of course! Now, I know what you’re thinking: If I hate Alien3 so much, why do I keep buying figures from it? Well, there’s at least a part of it that’s about it giving me more time to air my grievances with the movie. It could also have something to do with that fact that, as bad as the movie may be, there were still a few interesting designs. Mostly, though, it’s due to the fact that I have an action figure addiction which cannot be stopped. That seems to be the cause of a lot of things in my life, if I’m honest. Anyway, today’s particular figure is NECA’s fifth version of Ellen Ripley, based on her appearance in the aforementioned film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleyCubed2This version of Ripley was released in the 8th series of NECA’s Aliens line, which, as I noted in my Weyland Yutani Commando review, is a series totally devoted to Alien3. The figure is just shy of 7 inches tall and she has 25 points of articulation. Rather than giving us different figures based on various parts of the film (like the Alien Ripleys), this figure kind of rolls her two main prison looks into one. She has two sets of arms and a removable vest for both jacketed and unjacketed looks. The pieces swap out well enough and provide two nicely distinctive looks, making it almost a bit surprising that NECA didn’t go for two separate figures. I’m hardly complaining, though. The inclusion of two sets of arms was fortuitous for me, since the left hand broke off the jacketed arm while I was removing Ripley from the box. Nothing a quick dab of superglue couldn’t fix, but be careful unpacking her. This Ripley gets an all-new sculpt, which is, overall, pretty good. Perhaps it’s a bit of personal bias, but I don’t find this sculpt to be quite as good as the Series 5 Ripley, especially when it comes to the facial likeness. While I won’t deny that there’s a lot of Weaver in there, the whole face seems just a bit pinched. That said, there’s still some awesome detail work on her shaved head, and the rest of the body is both well-proportioned and very impressively textured and detailed. This definitely feels like the same person from the last two figures. Let’s talk about the paint. So, overall, the paint on the figure is quite good. The clothes all have lots of subtle work to bring out the sculpted textures, and the overall work is very clean and sharp. The skin even has the tiniest bit of airbrushed red to make her look a bit more lively, which is a fantastic touch. There’s one major issue with my figure, and it’s one I didn’t actually notice until partway through writing this review: her face detailing is skewed just the slightest bit downward. It’s seriously slight. So slight that, like 99% of people wouldn’t even notice. However, it’s enough to throw off the likeness a bit, which may be at least part of why I haven’t warmed to this sculpt like I did the prior Weaver sculpts. In addition to the spare arms, Ripley includes a flashlight and the torch used to lead the Dog Alien to its demise. Both pieces are very impressively sculpted, and both fit nicely into her right hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually found Ripley at the same time as the Commando, but I ended up passing on her at that time. Of course, then I found the remnants of the series at a couple of TRUs, and was kicking myself for not picking her up the first time. Fortunately, my closest TRU got in a case and I was able to score the last Ripley they had. I don’t like this figure as much as the Aliens version, but then again, I never really expected to. As a figure on her own merits, she’s pretty solid. If nothing else, I’ve got a nice little set of Alien3 figures that I can just pretend are a few more “concept figures.”

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#1011: Weyland Yutani Commando

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WEYLAND YUTANI COMMANDO

ALIENS (NECA)

WYCommando1

Frequent readers of the site will no doubt be familiar with the fact that Aliens is, like, my favorite movie ever, since I think I’ve brought it up once or twice. Now, there’s a lot of contenders out there for my least favorite movie ever, but I’d say one that’s consistently high on that list is Alien3, the direct successor to Aliens. It’s a movie that goes out of its way to bury just about every trace of its predecessor, which kind of doesn’t fly with me. The movie isn’t entirely without merit, though. It does have a sort of cool Xenomorph design, and it also gave us the subject of today’s review, the Weyland Yutani Commando. For those of you with less of the Aliens mythos memorized than me, Weyland Yutani is the universe’s resident evil corporation, who spend the first three movies ruining people’s lives for the sake of capturing an alien specimen. At the end of Alien3, the commandos are sent in to acquire the alien embryo that’s been gestating inside of Ellen Ripley.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WYCommando2The Weyland Yutani Commando was released in the Alien3-themed eighth series of NECA’s Aliens line. The figure stands 7 ¼ inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation (counting the articulated arms on the backpack). The figure’s look is based on the handful of commandos we see at the end of the movie. They all had more or less the same look, and this figure has been designed to allow some slight tweaks seen on the movie’s commandos. The Commando’s look is certainly a different one. He combines design elements from both of the prior films. The overall design of the suit is similar to the pressure suits from Alien, though this figure shares no pieces with any of the pressure suited figures, which actually surprised me a little. The sculpt does an awesome job capturing all the little details in the quilted patterns of the suit, as well as all of the stitching and wrinkles. It’s very impressive. In addition to the Alien-inspired cloth bits, there’s also a few armored bits. While they’re fairly unique, there’s a few bits that definitely look like the Marines from Aliens (which makes sense, since they’re paid by the same parent company). The shoulder armor in particular looks similar, but even the two grenades on his torso look like beefed up versions of the ones carried by the Marines. The helmet is the figure’s most unique trait. Despite being seen on WYCommando3numerous commandos, the helmet is remarkably hodge-podged-looking. The helmet is done via three separate pieces attached to a fully-sculpted underlying head, which looks quite impressive, and makes the whole thing look quite realistic. It would be nice if the face guard were removable (since I think it looks kind of doofy), but seeing as there’s no on-screen examples of it removed, it’s perfectly excusable. NECA figures are generally very well painted, and this guy is no exception. Not only is the base color work pretty clean, but there’s also a lot of really great accent work, which really makes the details in the sculpt pop. The Commando includes two goggle pieces, for both open and closed configurations, as well as a pulse rifle done in all black, and a knife. To aid in customizing the figure a bit, there’s also a sheet of decals, to give the figure a bit more personality.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t sure I wanted this figure, what with not being much of a fan of the movie it comes from. However, I came across him at a Toys R Us while I was out and about, and I liked him enough in person to warrant picking him up. He’s got an interesting design, and he ends up making for a pretty awesome figure. I guess I can just pretend he’s some sort of expanded universe character….

#0990: Mark Hamill

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

MARK HAMILL

THE SIMPSONS: 25 OF THE GREATEST CELEBRITY GUEST STARS

MarkHamill1

It’s a rather rare occurrence for one toy company to deliberately design a toyline with the express purpose of directly emulating and continuing another company’s toyline.  But, that’s what NECA did when they picked up the Simpsons license for the property’s 25th anniversary: they put together a line of figures deliberately designed to emulate the style and scale of Playmates’ World of Springfield line, despite it having been years since World of Springfield had ended.  It’s worth noting that NECA did have a much more focused aim than Playmates, placing a direct focus on The Simpsons’ plethora of celebrities who had guest stared as themselves.  The line introduced 25 new figures for collectors to add to their Simpsons displays, including today’s figure, Mark Hamill!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MarkHamill2Mark Hamill was released in the second series of NECA’s The Simpsons: 25 of the Greatest Celebrity Guest Stars line.  He’s based on Mark’s guest appearance from the Season 10 episode “Mayored to the Mob.”  The figure is about 4 ¾ inches tall and he has the same 4 points of articulation that would be sported by a standard WoS figure.  Sculpturally, Mark is tasked with two things: capturing his look from the show, and capturing the style of the Playmates figures.  These can be slightly conflicting ideals, since the Playmates figures weren’t always 100% accurate (though they were always very close).  Ultimately, I think this figure does a good job balancing the two aesthetics.  He’s about as good a 3D rendering of the 2D design as you’re gonna get, and he also manages to fit in pretty seamlessly with prior offerings.  Hamill is just wearing a fairly generic button-down shirt and a pair of khakis, <which is one of the outfits he wears in the show.  The other is the more distinctive Luke Skywalker outfit, but something tells me that there would have been some legal issues with trying to do that look, which makes this the more preferable design>.  The likeness to Hamill is admittedly filtered through the usual Simpsons style, but it should be pretty clear to most fans who this is supposed to be.  The paintwork on Mark is pretty basic and straightforward.  Lots of flat color work, which is befitting of an animated design.  Everything is pretty clean, and he matches up pretty nicely with what’s seen on the show.  Mark Hamill includes no accessories, which is a little sad, since accessories were one of the defining parts of the WoS line.  Obviously, he couldn’t come with anything Star Wars specific, but a microphone or I don’t know, a fork in reference to the “Use the forks” gag would have been pretty amusing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I mostly skipped the World of Springfield line, I also mostly skipped this line while it was at retail.  I did occasionally eye up one or two figures, but I’m honestly not a huge Simpsons fan, so I never felt a big pull to get them.  However, I do remember “Mayored to the Mob” being one of the few episodes of The Simpsons that I saw when it was still current (mostly due to Mark Hamill being in it).  Back when ToyFare magazine ran their article proposing potential celebrity guest stars who might be made in the World of Springfield line (this was the same article that revealed that it was Stephen Hawking who would actually be getting a figure), I was rather disappointed to find out that the Mark Hamill figure shown was just a custom, and no official figure would be made.  So, when NECA finally released the official figure, I really kept meaning to pick him up, but never got around to it.  While taking advantage of my local MovieStop’s going-out-of-business sale, I came across this figure for under $3, a price at which I definitely wasn’t passing him up.  Is he the most exciting figure of all time? No, he’s a normal guy in normal clothes, and he’s not even all that posable.  That being said, he’s perfect for the style NECA was going for, and he’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for when I bought the figure.

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#0941: Space Marine Lt. Ripley

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

SPACE MARINE LT. RIPLEY

ALIENS (NECA)

KenRipley3

A little over three weeks ago, it was Alien Day, a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Aliens, the greatest movie of all time. There was lots of awesome stuff going on to celebrate (I even got to see Aliens on the big screen!). NECA, who’ve been making Aliens figures for several years now got in on the fun by offering an exclusive figure in partnership with Toys R Us. So, without further ado, here’s Space Marine Lt. Ripley!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KenRipley1Ripley is a part of NECA’s ongoing Aliens line. She was a special one-off exclusive, so she’s not officially part of a specific series. However, she falls in between Series 7 and Series 8 as far as the timeline of releases goes. So, we’ve got Ripley from the first movie, Ripley from the second movie, and Ripley from the third movie’s in Series 8; what version of Ripley is this? Well, it’s not Ripley from the fourth movie, that’s for sure. This Ripley isn’t based on a movie incarnation at all: she’s instead based on Kenner’s Lt. Ripley from their ‘90s Aliens line. NECA started using Kenner variants in their Predator line when they started running out of movie designs, so it’s not a huge shock to see them go that route with Aliens too. This Ripley stands 7 ¼ inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. Since she was meant to be a figure that could be turned around relatively quickly, most of Ripley’s sculpt is the same as the Series 5 version of the character. That was a fantastic sculpt, and is perhaps one of my favorite NECA sculpts to date, so the reuse is far from a bad thing. There are still a few minor nits, but the good outweighs the bad by like a whole lot. In addition, the Kenner Ripley was based on the same basic design as the Series 5 Ripley, so the sculpt really isn’t far off. To help seal the deal, Ripley gets one additional add-on piece for her bandana, which does a suitable job of capturing the Kenner piece, while at the same time fitting right in with the rest of the sculpt. The rest of the changes in design are handled via the paint job, which I must say is quite impressive. The ‘90s were a truly garish time for fashion, and Kenner’s Ripley was not unaffected by this. However, despite not toning down the colors all that much, NECA’s managed to make Ripley not look super ridiculous. To the casual fan, she’s a fairly serviceable normal Ripley, but a toy fan should be able to instantly recognize the reference. The original Kenner Ripley included a huge freaking flamethrower thing. To properly replicated this would have required a whole new tool that wouldn’t have been useful for too much else. So, instead of that, this Ripley gives us our first look at the Smartgun that’ll be included with Series 9’s Vasquez. Ripley has a little trouble holding it, since it’s not what her hands are designed to hold, but it’s an awesomely sculpted piece. Also, as a neat little throwback, the figure also includes a reprint of the comic included with the original Kenner Ripley (These really need to be put out in a collected edition of some sort).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy, was getting this figure an ordeal. I hit up my local TRU on Alien Day with no luck finding this figure. I also had no luck finding at any of the nearby TRUs for the next two weeks. In addition, it sold out of TRU’s online store in a few hours, and then the product page disappeared, so I had no luck there. However, patience persevered, and TRU listed more stock online, allowing me to get the figure. Yay. I’m glad I got this figure. Sure, I have most of it already, but it’s an incredibly fun variant, and a wonderful throwback to my very first Aliens figure.

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#0924: Guardian T-800

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

GUARDIAN T-800

TERMINATOR GENISYS

PopsT8001

“Protect her, Kyle Reese. Protect my Sarah.”

Terminator Genisys, the fifth installment in the Terminator franchise, was released last summer to mixed reviews. I kinda liked it (actually, I liked it a whole lot), but it seems I was in the minority. Oh well. On the plus side, NECA picked up the license to make action figures from the film, and spared no effort in making them as awesome as possible. Back in the fall, they released a pair of figures inspired by the film’s 1984 sequence, and back in January they added one more figure, another variation of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Pops” T-800, to the line. I’ll be looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PopsT8002The Guardian T-800 was released as a stand-alone figure, though he’s technically the second “assortment” of the Terminator Genisys line. He ended up hitting around the same time as the Ultimate Sarah Conner figure. The figure is about 7 ½ inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation. The first Guardian T-800 was based on his brief 1984 appearance, but this one is based on his later 2017 look. While the 1984 look had some cool moments, the bulk of the film is spent in 2017, and Pops’ look there ends up being more definitive, so it’s nice to finally have this one.  As I guessed, this figure has more than a few parts in common with the earlier version; he gets a new jacket, arms, and head, as well as a slightly tweaked shirt piece for the torso. The head is a pretty important change: in the film, Pops is damaged and can’t accompany Sarah and Kyle in the time machine that takes them from 1984 to 2017. He has to get to 2017 the long way ‘round, resulting in him aging 30 some years (and giving the filmmakers a plausible reason for the T-800 aging in sync with Arnold). The new head gives us the aged T-800, and, more specifically, an older Schwarzenegger. In my review of the 1984 T-800, I noted that the likeness was just a bit off; I’m happy to say that’s not the case with this version. That’s definitely Arnold, displeased scowl and all. There’s a second head, which features battle-damage (a thing no Terminator seems to be able to avoid); it’s the same basic sculpt as the normal head, but with a bit of the Endoskeleton skull poking through on the right side of the face. The underlying skull is very nicely captured, and has some fantastically sharp detail work, resulting in the damaged head being my favorite of the two. The new shirt cover also features a little bit of damage, though it’s not quite as revealing as the head. His jacket seems to have avoided being damaged, but it’s certainly not lacking in detail. In the 30 years he spent waiting for the other two, Pops seems to have gotten over his fixation on leather, and moved onto something a bit more laid back. The texturing on the jacket makes it look quite realistic, and also makes it clear that it’s a totally different jacket from the prior figure. The paint on this figure is a step up from the already pretty great work on the 1984 T-800. The basic work is nice and clean, and there’s some fantastic accent work on the jacket and hair. Also, he’s got the best looking eyes I’ve seen on a NECA figure, or any small-scale figure for that matter. In addition to the extra head, Pops also includes a stump to replace his left arm, which can be a little difficult to swap out, but is a pretty cool piece otherwise. He also has a shotgun; it’s different from the 1984 version, which is nice for variety’s sake, but bad because he has the same hands as the 1984 version, which makes holding the gun slightly difficult.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I was right on the ball with the first two Genisys figures, why the delay with this guy? I honestly can’t say. I mean, I was definitely looking forward to this figure; he was the one I wanted the most out of the three figures in the set. However, my usual stores for NECA figures didn’t get this guy for whatever reason, and I just never got around to ordering him online. I ended up finding him at Toys R Us, while looking for the Alien Day Ripley figure (which I didn’t end up finding). Now I feel a bit bad for not tracking him down earlier because he’s just a fantastic figure, start to finish. It’s a shame we aren’t getting a John Conner for him to do battle with, but I’m just glad to have gotten him.

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#0861: Sarah Connor

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

SARAH CONNOR

TERMINATOR 2 (NECA)

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The first time I really noticed NECA was when they kicked off their pretty awesome T2 line several years back. The line actually had a pretty decent run of figures, but, aside from a single Kyle Reese figure towards the end of the line, they mostly stuck to the killer robots from the future. That meant that one of the franchise’s key characters, Sarah Connor, was sadly missing. Recently, under their “Ultimate” heading, NECA’s gone back to some of their older lines, making some slight adjustments to prior figures to make them fit with current offerings. For a first in the Ultimate sub-set, they’ve released a totally new figure, offering a Sarah figure to go with the recent Ultimate T-800.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SarahConner2Sarah Connor is the second “Ultimate” figure in the Terminator 2 line. She’s a single release, though she shipped right around the same time as the second version of the Terminator Genisys T-800. The figure stands 6 ¾ inches tall and she’s got 24 points of articulation. Technically, she should be little shorter to be in scale with the T-800(Linda Hamilton’s 8 inches shorter than Arnold in real line), but she’s really not that far off. As noted in the intro, Sarah is not a re-tooling like prior Ultimate releases; she is instead an all-new sculpt, handled by Adrienne Smith. Her basic look is her black tactical gear from the mid-point to climax of the film. It’s easily the character at her most distinctive, so it’s well-chosen. The proportions on the body are pretty much spot-on, including Linda Hamiliton’s impressively toned arms. Seriously, she was jacked, and so is this figure. Her clothes are incredibly well detailed, with tremendous texturing, and just the right amount of weight. To ensure the best poseablity for the torso, the webgear is a separate (non-removable) add-on piece. It has the same great work seen on the rest of the body, and some amazing little touches, such as the unfastened buckle at the top of the vest, which looks like it’s really a separate piece. She also has a separate belt piece (also non-removable), SarahConner3complete with a sheath for her knife. Like the Ultimate T-800, Sarah includes three different heads: Ponytailed with hat and sunglasses, ponytailed without hat and sunglasses, and hair untied (once again without the hat and sunglasses). Some people have complained about not getting another head with the ponytail and sunglasses, like she’s shown on the front of the box. While it’s a shame that look isn’t represented, if we could only have three heads, these are the three I want. The hat and sunglasses head is my favorite of the three. The likeness is the best here, the hat is fantastically detailed, and while the sunglasses aren’t quite as clean as the T-800s, they still look pretty cool. The other two heads are no slouches either, doing a nice job of capturing Sarah as she progresses through the movie. Sarah’s paintwork is pretty solidly handled; all the base colors are where they should be, and there’s some nice work differentiating the blacks of the various parts of her outfit. The heads show a bit of slop around the hairlines, but the overall paint looks quite nice, and I was especially impressed by how well the eyes turned out on the two non-sunglassed heads. In addition to the extra heads, Sarah includes an m4 carbine, a colt 1911, and a knife (complete with a sculpted tassel at the end) that fits perfectly in the sheath on her belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Sarah at the same time I got Chopper, though she was more of an impulse buy than a planned purchase. I was a little underwhelmed by this figure when viewing her in the packaging, but once I had her out and posed her a bit, I really came to enjoy the figure a whole lot. She’s a worthy companion piece to the T-800 to be sure, and I’m happy she finally got made.

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