Tag Archives: NECA

#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!

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#0643: Kyle Reese

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

KYLE REESE

THE TERMINATOR (NECA)

KyleReese1

For me, the Terminator franchise is similar to the Alien franchise in that I generally prefer the second film to the first. But, like Alien, I still have quite an appreciation for The Terminator. One of the coolest things it has going for it is Michael Biehn’s performance as resistance fighter (and unknowing father of humanity’s savior John Connor) Kyle Reese. Merchandise for the movies tends to focus on the second film, so Kyle’s been somewhat absent from the action figure form. He did get a couple of Minimates and a ReAction figure, so that’s cool. He also managed to get a single figure NECA, right at the very tail-end of their original run with the licenses to the first two movies. That’s the one I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KyleReese2Kyle Reese was released in Series 3 of NECA’s Terminator Collection, which was the line that replaced their Terminator 2 line after they picked up the first film’s license. The figure stands 7 inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. The Terminator stuff was something of a middle point for NECA in regards to articulation. They’re the first time that NECA really began giving their figures any sort of articulation. That being said, it was pretty much entirely on the upper half, leaving the legs mostly stationary. This can be a little limiting, and makes it especially hard to get figures to stand, but it’s not the worst thing ever. Interestingly enough, Kyle was actually sculpted with leg articulation, but it was removed in order to keep him stylistically the same as the rest of the line. Admittedly, it holds him back a little, but it’s understandable. Kyle is presented here in his 1984 look, specifically his first, green-coated look from the first half of the film. The sculpt is unique to this figure, although it appears that the face on this guy and Series 1 Corporal Hicks are at the very least by the same sculptor, if not variants of the same sculpt. His likeness is decent, if maybe not quite as spot on as some of NECA’s work. While the likeness is a tad off, the rest of the sculpt is absolutely superb. All of the clothing has great texture and small detail work and he’s accurate to the look from the film. The legs have been posed mid-stride, which works with the shotgun pose the figure is destined for. While they look pretty good, it’s really hard to keep him standing, which can be very frustrating. Paintwork is something that NECA’s made great strides to improve in the last few years. This puts Kyle at something of a disadvantage. He’s not terrible, to be fair. Most of the work is nice and clean, and they even managed to get the paint splatters right on his pants. But, they missed the stripes on his shirt, which is minor, but still a bit of a bummer. Also, there’s a certain degree of lifelessness to the paint on the eyes, which stands out in comparison to NECA’s most recent work. Kyle includes a shotgun (with a string to keep it attached to him, as in the movie) and the picture of Sarah that Kyle carries with him in the future sequences.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey! It’s the beginning of the onslaught of things I picked up while on vacation! I picked up Kyle here from the recently opened Rehoboth Beach branch of Yesterday’s Fun. I missed out on him (and most of NECA’s Terminator stuff) the first time around, and I was really happy to find this guy. Sure, he’s not quite on the same level as NECA’s most recent work, but he’s still a very good figure. A strong figure, all around.

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#0636: Endoskeleton

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

HEAVY GUNNER ENDOSKELETON

VERSUS THE TERIMATOR (NECA)

EndoVG2

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

EndoVG1The 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!

#0625: Dog Alien

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

DOG ALIEN

ALIEN3 THE VIDEO GAME

DogAlienVG2

If there’s a theme to any of my recent reviews, I’d say it’s “figures that are almost identical to figures I reviewed not long ago.” First Superman Red, then Ultron 2.0, and now it’s the Dog Alien. Of course, most of these figures have a pretty good reason for being so similar to each other, and as an added bonus, the reviews are also a heck of a lot easier for me to write. Yay for Ethan being selfish and lazy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DogAlienVG4The Dog Alien is the latest release in NECA’s subset of figures based on licensed video games. The idea behind the line is applying the more limited color palettes of vintage video games to some of NECA’s more realistic sculpts, affording them a chance to get an additional use out of some of their molds. The Dog Alien is over 9 inches tall (standing straight up) and features 39 points of articulation, plus a bendable tail. The figure is based on the appearance of the titular character in 1992’s Alien3 tie-in video game. Sculpturally, the figure is identical to the Aliens Series 3’s regular Dog Alien. Though it isn’t my favorite of the Xeno designs, there’s no denying that this is some of NECA’s finest Xeno work. Seeing as there are far less chances for re-use on the Dog Alien, I’m glad to see NECA found another use for this tremendous sculpt. Obviously, the real draw of this figure is the all-new paint scheme. The game which the figure is based on was a 2D side-scroller. Depending on which direction the alien was moving, it would be either blue or brown. The figure has replicated this idea quite expertly. When viewed from the right, the figure is blue, and when viewed from the left, he’s an orange-ish brown. The paint is handled in such a way that you can get a surprising amount of range without seeing the opposite side’s color. In addition, the paint is applied in such a way to really accent the strengths of the sculpt, and highlight many of the cool details that were easily missed on the regular version. The colors are bright and vibrant, and contrast quite nicely with the underlying black. The Dog Alien is packed with the same stand included with the standard version. I don’t find I need it, but it’s nice to have in case you want to do some more extreme posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was first announced, I really wasn’t sold on it. I’m already pretty iffy on the Dog Alien in general, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to have yet another one. But, up to this point, I’ve picked up every figure from NECA’s Aliens line, and it would suck to just skip one. So, I had quite the dilemma on my hands. A few weeks ago, I stopped by local toystore All Time Toys, just to look around, and they had happened to get their shipment of these guys in. In hand, my opinion of the figure changed completely. This figure really pops. It could have been really gimmicky, but the paint here is top notch, and produces an incredibly unique figure. This has gone from an item I thought I might skip to the highlight of my collection.

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#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)

RipleyJS1

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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#0571: Gipsy Danger – Hong Kong Brawl

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

GIPSY DANGER – HONG KONG BRAWL

PACIFIC RIM (NECA)

GypsyHK1

Certain movies just exude pure awesomeness. Pacific Rim is one of those movies. Seriously, giant robots fighting giant monsters. What more could you want from a movie? Well, if you’re me, action figures of said giant robots and giant monsters. But, that’s just me. Well, not just me, clearly, what with there being a whole line of such figures. So, why not look at another figure of the main giant fighting robot Gipsy Danger.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GypsyHK3Hong Kong Brawl Gipsy Danger was released as part of Series 5 of NECA’s Pacific Rim line. This is the 3rd Gipsy Danger to show up in the line (though the 4th I’ve reviewed here). The figure is just about 7 ½ inches tall and features 27 points of articulation. That’s a whole ten points more than the first two Gipsies, which is certainly impressive. The figure represents Gipsy’s basic look from the film, but if you want to get really technical, this figure is based on Gipsy during her Hong Kong battle with Otachi. Just in case the name hadn’t clued you in. Gipsy’s big selling point here was that she featured an all-new sculpt. Of course, that sculpt went on to be used as the base for the Anchorage Attack Gipsy, so I’ve actually reviewed a fair portion of this sculpt before. The head, upper torso, and left arm are different, of course, but they’re consistent with the pieces we saw on the AA figure. I made it no secret how much I loved the AA Gipsy’s sculpt, and my opinion of it continues on this figure’s sculpt too. The level of detail present in this sculpt is nothing short of amazing. It well and truly looks like someone miniaturized a real Jaeger. Fantastic work all-around. Getting to see the sculpted work on a more clean example of the design is really nice. Things like battle-damage can hide a sculpt’s flaws, so the fact that the sculpt of the cleaned up counterpart is just as great really means a lot. In addition to massive strides in the quality of sculpts, NECA has also made some tremendous strides in the quality of the paintwork applied to said sculpts. Gipsy’s paintwork is, well, maybe not as fantastic as the sculpt, but it’s still pretty darn great. The various insignias and smaller details are nice and clean (though with a touch of weathering, for realism) and the pearlescent blue is just as cool here as it was on the AA Gipsy. There are a few spots where bleed over crops up, most noticeably around the edges of the visor and chest reactor, but they’re relatively minor and only really noticeable under close examination.  This version of Gipsy is incredibly well-accessorized. She includes two sets of hands (gripping and fists), a fully-extended version of the chain sword, and …what was that last thing? Oh, right, a BOAT SWORD!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that’s kind of the winning piece here, not just because it happens to be one of the film’s cooler moments (which is really saying something), but also because the boat features the same level of sculpted and painted detail that the figure itself possesses. And that’s just downright impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, I totally skipped this figure when it was first released. Why would I need another normal Gipsy Danger? Well, then I bought the Anchorage Attack version and realized I was wrong to skip this one. Of course, by that point the HKB Gipsy had disappeared from most stores, so I assumed I had missed my chance on getting one. But then I was out with Super Awesome Girlfriend and we stopped by Toys R Us, because that’s just what we do. Obviously, said TRU had this figure, since I brought it up here. Anyway, I’m glad to have finally found this figure, and it’s just a fantastic update on the first Gipsy.

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Guest Review #0031: Sirius Black

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

SIRIUS BLACK

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (NECA)

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The following is a guest review by Jill Mardesich.  For more from Jill, check out her blog Future Music Educator Rambles on Life.

Hey there! It’s Ethan’s resident book nerd friend, Jill! Ethan got me this figure of Sirius Black from the movie version of J.K. Rowling’s book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Christmas this year. It’s been a while since Christmas… I’ve been busy. Anyway, Sirius Black, in case you do not know, is the God Father of the main character, Harry Potter. He was best friends with Harry’s father, James, and was framed for the murder of the character Peter Pettigrew, so spent the majority of Harry’s life in the wizard prison, Azkaban.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sirius2Sirius is designed off the look he has in the fifth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He stands approximately 7 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. He comes with one accessory, his wand, which is about 1 inch long and surprisingly detailed for such a small stick. It actually does look like the prop wand that they gave to Gary Oldman in the movie. He also has a black stand, but is fairly well balanced and can stand up without it. His jacket is molded from a very flexible, rubberized plastic, so his movement isn’t restricted by it, which is good because it isn’t removable. His face is quite life like and there don’t appear to be any paint flaws. His hair, which is a solid piece, is well placed to not interfere with the motion of Sirius’ head. My only complaints about Sirius are that his legs are a solid piece beneath the waist, which Ethan tells me is fairly standard for NECA figures at this time, and that his wand is loose in his hand. It’s very easy to lose such a small, dark piece of plastic and it is my greatest fear that the next time I look at him he will no longer have it. He also only has one “good pose” to place him in because his legs are locked and his elbows don’t bend, but at least it’s a cool, “magical fighting,” action pose. I’m not sure if his face is quite a “magical fight” expression, but he is still really cool in this position.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sirius Black was my Christmas present from Ethan this year, and he is the first action figure that I have ever owned. I was so excited about it. Sirius is one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter books, which will always hold a special place in my heart. I grew up reading them, and even skipped school to see several of the movies growing up. I was touched that Ethan would get me such a perfect figure to begin my collection. I think he looks really cool, and very accurate to the movie look.  I wish his legs were posable, but I like the pose that he sits in, so it’s okay. Overall, I love this figure and hope that future Christmas presents include more from this line! (hint, hint)

#0523: Romeo Blue

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

ROMEO BLUE

PACIFIC RIM (NECA)

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One of the coolest things about Pacific Rim (apart from giant robots fighting giant monsters) was the rich history of the Jaeger program of which the film gave us a few brief glimpses. Jaegers defeated outside of the confines of the main story had just as much effort put into granting them a unique name, design, and fighting style as those who were front and center. After three series of figures, NECA’s Pacific Rim line had covered all of the Jaegers who had a notable role in the film, so NECA has turned to those more minor Jaegers of which we only get a few flashes. The first was Tacit Ronin, and the second is the subject of today’s review, Romeo Blue! Romeo is one of the more visible of the minor Jaegers, appearing in the opening montage’s parade scene, as well as a brief clip of a fight later. So, let’s see how the figure turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RomeoBlue2Romeo Blue is one of the two Jaegers in Series 5 of NECA’s Pacific Rim line. Romeo marks the 4th Mark 1 Jaeger that we’ve seen in the line, which makes them the prevailing mark of Jaeger by far. The figure stands about 7 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation (33 if you count the extending left forearm). That marks the most points of articulation we’ve seen on a Jaeger so far, by quite a bit, and the figure puts them to great use, which is always great to see. Romeo has a brand-new sculpt, based upon his appearance in the movie. Initial designs for the Jaeger showed him with a three-legged, tri-pod style design, but the final film went with a more conventional two-legged look, so that’s what we get here. Ultimately, it’s a little less unique, but it makes for a pretty great standard robot design. Romeo’s sculpt is pretty much on par with the last few series of Jaegers. Going by the character’s design sheet and his two brief appearances in the film, the sculpt is very accurate to the source material. It’s all properly geometric, and it manages to look like something that’s actually built out of machined parts. The front fin, which is probably one of the more distinctive pieces of Romeo’s design, is a separate piece, glued in place. The glue on mine didn’t quite hold, requiring me to apply a little of my own. However, that’s a very minor issue, and it was easily fixed. Like yesterday’s Gypsy, the sculpt is handled in such a way as to not interfere with the movement of the articulation, which makes Romeo a lot more poseable than his predecessors (such as Tacit Ronin). It also makes getting him in a standing position a whole lot easier, which is definitely a nice change. No more shelf-diving! Romeo had one of the more exciting color schemes in the movie, and the paintwork here does a pretty great job of rendering that. Generally speaking, the paint is applied cleanly and evenly. The colors are nice and bold, and he’s got that really great pearlescent finish that we’ve seen on the last few Jaegers. The blue is, perhaps, a little too turquoise, but that’s minor, and it still looks pretty great. Romeo includes no accessories, but that’s pretty standard for the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When NECA first announced series 3 of Pacific Rim, and it featured Coyote Tango, my boy Tim and I were discussing the other possible Jaegers that could be made. The one the two of us were most anxious to see was good ol’ Romeo here. At the time, we never thought Romeo would actually show up in the line, given his limited screen time. So, I was thrilled beyond belief when NECA showed this guy in their Series 5 line-up. I ended up finding him at the same TRU where I picked up yesterday’s Gypsy, and I was super happy to get him. If I’m totally honest, he didn’t blow me away in the same way that Gypsy did. However, he’s still a fantastic figure, and he’s one of my favorite Jaeger figures so far!

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