Tag Archives: neca

Jan 20 2014

Bioshock Infinite: Motorized Patriot by NECA

It’s been a long time since I looked at NECA’s Bioshock figures, but then this offering is only their third release in the line and it took them a long time to get it out. I make it no secret that Bioshock Infinite was my favorite game of last year and it’s probably single handedly responsible for getting me back into gaming again… and I’ve come back to gaming hardcore. Once I played Infinite I knew I had to have some figures and NECA obliged by giving us Elizabeth and a Boy of Silence. Now they’re finally upping the ante with one of the game’s “Heavy Hitters.” It’s the Motorized Patriot and he cannot tell a lie… he’s going to murder the shit out of you motherf’ckers in the name of Freedom.

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Holy hell, that’s one gigantic blister pack. It’s possibly the largest I’ve ever seen. While lesser companies would have buckled and put this guy in a box, NECA stood their ground and vac-sealed this plastic behemoth sonvabitch into a perfect prison of plastic. Because the bubble takes up the entirety of the package, the presentation here lets the bubble insert do the talking and the back of the insert has a little blurb about this guy. The Motorized Patriots were a major pain in my ass in the game. They were relentless and they took a ton of damage before dropping. Plus, once I got used to fighting one of them, the game would start throwing a pair at me. On the other hand, it was always fun to take control of them and make them fight for me. Anyway, I’ve been waiting to get this figure in hand for what seems like an eternity, so let me go find a razor blade and slice this guy out… And back! Opening the seal on a normal sized NECA figure usually produces enough glorious plastic fumes to make me feel like I’m going to pass out. Imagine what opening something this big is like? I seriously think I slipped into an altered state of reality for a few moments. That smell of plastic is what tells you you’re getting your money’s worth. Well, that and the fact that this thing weighs a ton.

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If you’re unfamiliar with the game, the Motorized Patriot is basically a robot. Think of it like one of those animatronic figures from the Hall of Presidents, only this one carries a chain gun and wants to give you a patriotic suppository made out of white hot lead. NECA did an amazing job crafting this guy into action figure form. His Colonial Era outfit is recreated all in soft plastic with rips and tears in the knees and right elbow to reveal his robotic joints. The overcoat is layered onto the figure and it’s damn gorgeous. The sculpt features all the little buttons, clasps, wrinkles and stitching that I’ve come to expect out of NECA’s superb detail work. The huge brush-style epaulettes are glorious and he has clockwork gears and wheels exposed on his back and hips. The figure also features a lot of useful points of articulation. I’m not going to run through them all, because it’s tough to see what all is there under the layers of plastic clothing. I originally didn’t care because I thought I’d be content to always pose him firing his weapon, but the truth is there’s a lot more fun to be had with him.

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Patriot’s portrait is a grizzly visage of George Washington with a cracked porcelain style mask and a powdered wig. His noggin is nestled in the high collar of the coat, but you can still get some good movement out of the ball joint in there. Creepy!

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Of course, one of my favorite things about this figure is the set of soft goods flags that come with him. Each one is crafted to look old and tattered. They come attached to poles, which fit into sockets on the back of The Patriot. You can leave them hang free like a cape or you can tuck them into the gilded loops on his back to make them appear more like wings. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen softgoods used this effectively to enhance the appearance of an action figure as these flags. They’re simply brilliant and they just look perfect on the figure.

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The Patriot features two extras: First off, you get a second head in which the mask and hair has been blown away revealing the robotic skull underneath. It’s made to look part metal but with a nose and jaw carved out of wood. There’s one fake human eye remaining and the other has been blown out of the socket. The skull matches the exposed robot joints on the body quite well, making for a great effect. The heads swap out pretty easily, although I thought it odd that that the post and ball joint is part of the head and not the body.

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The other accessory is his big ass chaingun. This weapon is a very cool piece and includes a working crank that rotates the gun barrels. On the downside, the handles are too big for his hands and the overall gun is ridiculously fragile. Those two things don’t mix well because you have to apply a lot of force to get the handles into his hands. The crank is designed to separate from the gun to avoid breaking, which is good, but the main handle isn’t, and that’s not so good. The handle on mine broke on the very first try to get it into his hand. In retrospect, it seems impossible for it not to break as it’s attached with such a thin point of plastic. I will likely be able to glue it back, and eventually I’m going to have to put a pin in there to keep it from breaking again. I think a swap out hand holding the handle that attached to the gun would have been a better way to do this.

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The Motorized Patriot retails for around $30-35 depending on where you get him. It seems right in line with NECA’s larger deluxe figures and yet it still feels like a pretty good value. Sure, I could bitch about the handle on the gun breaking. It’s a big deal and even in hindsight I don’t think I could have avoided it, but it is something that can be fixed. I could also probably take issue with his size as I think he should scale bigger when compared to Elizabeth or the Boy of Silence, but he’s so damn gorgeous I can’t help but love him. In fact, my only real complaint about this guy is I don’t have a Booker DeWitt figure to stand next to him on the shelf. NECA showed off an early test shot of a Booker figure a little while back. I do hope he’s still coming! I also still need to pick up one more Boy of Silence.

Jun 15 2013

Avengers: Iron Man Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Lest you thought that NECA’s impressive quarter-scale Captain America figure was a one-shot deal, I present to you the second in their quarter-scale Avengers series: Iron Man! Donning the Mark VII, my favorite armor in his wardrobe, Tony Stark arrived this week to keep my gigantic Steve Rogers company on the shelf. I don’t think this guy needs much more of an introduction, so let’s just get to it!

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Much like Cap, Iron Man comes packaged in a long window box, but this one has been completely redesigned to feature a red and gold motif to match the character. The window has some printed graphics, made to look like a HUD, that point out the LED effects. The back of the package features a little blurb about Stark in the Avengers and has a list of people who worked on the design of the figure.

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Slide the tray out and you’ve got some work to do. Iron Man is held in with tons of twisty-ties. By the time I was finished I had a ridiculous pile of twisty-ties and black plastic bars on the floor beside me. Apart from the pair of swappable fists, that’s all that’s in the box. I was surprised there wasn’t an instruction sheet about the electronics or battery changing or something. I think I may swallow all the batteries just because I wasn’t warned not to. As with Cap, the package is totally collector friendly and you can just put the figure back in the tray and slide him back into the box for storage or display.

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Ah, there’s a reason this armor is my favorite… it’s just gorgeous. I was a wee bit concerned that seeing it in this large scale might change my mind, but it’s only reinforced my love for the design. The mix of sweeping curves and angles scratches my itch right where it counts. The detail represented here doesn’t approach Hot Toys quality, but there’s plenty of fine touches to make it work. Some of the panel lines could have been cut a little deeper to be more convincing, but I’m only offering that up in an attempt to be critical of what is a quite marvelous sculpt. Iron Man stands at almost the exact same height as Cap. Some may point out that his legs are thinner, thus dispelling the illusion of a guy in a suit of armor. I can see that, but at this point, just about every Iron Man figure I’ve seen falls into this trap and I’m at the point where such things don’t bother me anymore.

The paint on the figure is excellent. The red is similar to that rich and beautiful stuff Hasbro used on their Iron Man 2 figures. It sports a  brilliant sheen and gives the Mark VII that great polished new car look. There are obviously different grades of plastic used here, some hard, some soft, but the red is consistent throughout the entire piece. The gold isn’t as brilliant as the red, but still works for me. The silver looks more like a brushed steel finish and it really ties the whole deco together nicely.

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One of the cool things about doing the Mark VII in this scale is the ability to do justice to his flight backpack. The figure has six hinged flaps, which can be deployed upward to give Stark a little extra flight power. Very cool!

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At this point, it’s worth mentioning that Iron Man feels like a far more delicate piece then Cap. Cap is a solid hunk of plastic, which I would have no problem swinging like a cudgel. Iron Man isn’t necessarily fragile, but there are more moving parts involved in the armor (particularly the shoulders and jet pack) and the smooth surfaces and metallic paint are probably more prone to scratches and dings. I have no doubt Cap would survive a shelf dive from the top of any bookcase and come away unscathed, Iron Man most certainly would not.

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Iron Man sports a decent amount of articulation. He’s definitely a giant action figure, although you don’t get the same range of motion from some of these joints as you would in your average Marvel Legends. There are ball joints in his neck, shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles. His arms feature bicep swivels and hinged elbows. The legs have swivels just below the hips, and double hinges in the knees, and his feet are hinged in the middle. His torso features what appear to be ball joints in the waist and torso, but apart from a little twisting in the torso, the movement here offers a lot of resistance, and quite frankly I don’t want to force it. As with Cap, the hip movement is probably the most restrictive, although you can still get a fairly wide stance. The foot hinges are useful because Iron Man is rather top heavy, so by bending the toes down a tiny bit, you can get him to stand quite solidly upright. His shoulder armor is hinged, and if you pop them out, you can clip them back on, but the clips are tiny, so I would not recommend stressing them. Ball jointed connecting arms might have worked better for the shoulders, allowing them to float, but what’s here still allows for an awful lot of arm movement. The bottom line: You won’t get this Iron Man into a punching the ground pose, but you can still get him to do some cool stuff.

Cap comes with two extra hands, both in fists. I’m not a big fan of swapping out hands unless it’s necessary for holding specific accessories. That’s especially the case here since the stock fists have the LEDs in them. Truth be told, I doubt I’ll ever swap the hands. Nonetheless, it is really impressive that NECA was able to deliver both lights in the hand repulsors AND allow for swappable hands.

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So, how about them electronics? Iron Man features four (I’m counting the eyes as one) independent LED lights. By independent, I mean that there are four teeny-tiny switches: One on his back, one on the back of his helmet, and one on each of his forearms, near the wrists. Flip these on and the light show begins. The Arc Reactor light in the chest is ridiculously bright and the eye lights are not too shabby either. The palm repulsors are yellow and a lot dimmer, but still quite adequate. He certainly makes an impressive display when all lit up.

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Like Cap, this figure is “limited” to 7,500. That may sound like a lot, and while the quarter-scale Cap was easy to get (he’s still available at most e-tailers), Iron Man seems to have sold like wildfire. His pre-order was sold out at my usual supplier, but I was able to sneak in a pre-order with the fine folks at Entertainment Earth before he sold out there as well. At about $90, he feels like a pretty solid value. I’m not just saying that because he’s huge. The quality of the figure is excellent and the electronics are surprisingly well implemented. In terms of engineering and construction, he’s a very different figure from Cap, and yet the two display wonderfully together. NECA appears to still be moving forward with the next installment in the line, a quarter-scale Thor, and while no pictures have been seen, the rumor is he has already been sculpted. He’ll certainly be more like Cap, although I’m hoping they go for a soft goods cape. NECA also does’t seem to be backing away from the outrageous claim that hey are doing a Hulk in this line as well!

May 3 2013

Robocop (Spring-Loaded Holster) by NECA

Last year I picked up NECA’s excellent Robocop figure and not long after they revealed another one at about the same price with a working holster in the leg. CURSES!!!! I usually cry foul when companies make me double-dip, but it’s hard to get mad at NECA or the prospect of having another Robocop figure in my collection. It’s not like Robocop figures are flying at me from all directions. Anyway, I’d say I bought this one more out of curiosity than anything else just to see how the holster gimmick turned out, and whether it could replace the figure I already have as the definitive version. We’ll take a look at the packaging first, and then I’m going to dive right into what will largely be a comparative look at both figures. Robocop vs. Robocop… FIGHT!

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While this figure still comes in NECA’s usual sealed clamshell, they did redesign the inserts since the release of my other Robocop. It makes sense to call attention to what is a new release, but honestly, I like the package design on the older release better. It was grittier and more in spirit with the original movies and it even had Murphy’s directives printed on it. This one has a somewhat cheesy top view of Robocop’s head making up the bottom insert, and overall it looks a lot more polished and sterile. Of course, none of this matters because the package will soon be in the trash. I’ll also point out that the new package includes a side panel with instructions on how to work the holster, because there is a trick to getting it closed properly. Also worth mentioning, Robocop is strapped into his tray with a bonafide zip tie, so make sure you have a good pair of cutters handy.

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Straight away, Robocop is a great looking figure, but he’s mostly the exact same figure as the previous release. That’s a mighty good thing, because I think this is a pretty amazing sculpt. As near as I can tell, the only thing that’s been changed on the figure is the upper right leg for the new holster gimmick. The pistons on his back legs seem to stay on better than on my original release, but it doesn’t look like they’ve been actually changed. Maybe NECA just used better glue. Suffice it to say, with the holster closed, the only noticeable difference between the two figures, is the little button on the back of the right leg.

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I will say that the consistency of the silver paint is slightly better on this newer release, but only slightly. I never really had a problem with the paint on the old one, but it did have some swirly bits on the top of the helmet, which this one lacks. I’m sure it’s probably more an instance of variances in QC than a deliberate change on the figure.

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As with the original release, this newer one comes with the same swappable right hand, which has the data spike deployed.

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And now we come to the reason we’re here… the spring loaded holster! You all know I love functional holsters on my action figures, but this one is a SPRING-LOADED functional holster. It’s one of the coolest aspects of the Robocop design, and no matter how good a Robocop figure may be, if it doesn’t have this feature, it seems like it’s missing something. Nonetheless, the idea of getting the feature to work in a 7-inch figure hardly seems feasible. Does NECA pull it off with this figure? Yes, they do… mostly. Flipping the switch in the back causes the front of the leg to snap forward and the side portion back, revealing the gun inside, and it all happens in an instant. Closing it up again is a tad more precarious. You only push on the front panel, and you have to use a fairly good amount of force. Once you hit the sweet spot, the side panel will come along and the whole thing will lock together with a satisfying snap.

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There is a little room for quibbling here. The gun, which is the same size as the gun included with the original release, sits pretty far inside the leg, so you really need to dig it out, and getting it back in can be a bit of a chore, since it has to sit just right in order for the leg to close up again. The side panel is held on by two pegged hinges and can be very prone to popping out, especially if you try to close it by any other means than ONLY PUSHING IN ON THE FRONT PANEL. It easily pops back into the hinges, but just looking at all the tiny plastic machinations inside makes me really nervous. It doesn’t look like it will take much to break any one of the tiny plastic parts that make this whole thing work. Now, with all that having been said, I really have to applaud NECA for not only getting this to work so well in a figure at this scale, but also for being able to contain the whole shebang inside the one leg piece without effecting the aesthetics of the toy beyond the small button on the back. Which brings me to…

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Articulation! Because everything involving the holster mechanism is confined to the one leg piece, this figure pulls off the exact same articulation as the first figure. In case you missed it last time, the arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips and hinges in the knees and ankles. The torso has a swivel at the waist and a ball joint in the torso, and the neck is ball jointed as well.

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You’d think the extra engineering would come at a price, but I picked up this version for around $17, which is actually a little less than I paid for the original release sans the springy holstery goodness. If you’re in the market for a Robocop and you have neither, I’d definitely recommend going for this one. Apart from the little button in the leg, it’s the same figure. The leg holds together so well, you can hardly notice it’s designed to open, and nothing else on the figure is compromised. The only downside is that I can see the holster mechanism breaking pretty easily, so caution is advised. Still, he’s an amazing figure for a very good price, but hey… it’s NECA… I would expect nothing less.

Apr 30 2013

Avengers: Captain America Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Yeah, I know, yesterday was Marvel Monday, but I’ve decided to keep the week going with a trifecta of Marvel stuff, because that’s just how I roll. The availability of space has always been at odds with my collecting habit. So, what do I go and do? I buy a goddamn quarter-scale Captain America figure, that’s what! It’s the first purchase that I’ve made in a while that had me starting to wonder if I have a serious problem. The saner voices in my head told me that buying this thing was against all reason, because I have nowhere to put him and he’s probably destined to hang out in his box by my Mezco Thundercats Mega-Scale figures. On the other hand, everything about this guy is EPIC, and I have a lack of willpower, and that combination is the unholy formula that brings us to today’s feature.

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Cap here is my first quarter-scale figure. Yes, I knew how tall he was when I ordered him, but it wasn’t until I got him in hand that I really comprehended it. The box is massive and it doesn’t waste a lot of space. I’ve included my 3 3/4” Hasbro Cap for comparison. I love the deco on the box; it’s colorful and really captures everything that Cap is all about. Given how huge the box is, I expected mine to be pretty messed up in shipping, but it’s pretty heavy duty and apart from a ding on the top and some scratching on the large window, it’s not bad at all.

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The back has a list of people who worked on the figure, not unlike you might find on a Hot Toys box, which is pretty cool because if something’s messed up you know who to blame. The box is totally collector friendly as Cap is just tied to the tray, which slides right out. A fair word of warning, the plastic fumes from a regular NECA figure are bad enough, now magnify that by about six times. When I pulled the tray out and the fumes hit me, I was afraid I was going to pass out and wake up 50 years later. Because… like Cap got frozen… and he slept a long time… the fumes… they were… ok, moving on.

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Out of the box and Cap is one remarkably solid hunk of plastic. There’s a lot of heft here. I could seriously wield this thing like a weapon and do a lot of damage with it. Just to further put his size in perspective, your average Sixth-Scale figure comes up to his belt! It’s amazing to me that the durability on this piece matches its size. If he weren’t so expensive I’d be tempted to grab him by the leg and drag him around the neighborhood and have adventures with him. But I wouldn’t want to wreck him by doing that. And also, I’m 40.

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Ok, so he’s big and he’s heavy… how’s he look? Fantastic! Let’s start with the portrait. NECA did a great job with the likeness to Chris Evans and the way the mask is sculpted there’s a lot of convincing depth to it, even though the whole head is molded in one piece of plastic. The flesh paint on the face looks solid and while there’s a little slop under his chin, the rest of the paintwork on the head is just about flawless. The wings and the “A” are all part of the sculpt and they’re meticulously painted in a high gloss silver.

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The rest of the costume is faithfully recreated with all the little loving details. Every tiny square millimeter of the costume is textured, giving it a seriously realistic look. In fact, I’ll go one better. The Cap costume in the movie looked a little too puffy, like soft padding to me. The texturing on this figure makes it look more rugged and credible, like there’s a body-armor quality to it and it would have a chance of surviving an engagement with an enemy. But besides the texturing all the little seams and stitches are present, and oddly enough, I think I’m most impressed by the sculpted teeth on the zippers. The gloves look great and even the treads on the soles of his boots are sculpted as if they’re a prominently visible part of the figure. I have zero complaints about the sculpt on this guy… it’s every bit as epic as the size of the figure.

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The paint is vibrant and gorgeous. The combination of deep blue, bright white, and the crimson captures everything that is Captain America. The extra little touches of silver on the star and epaulets and zippers and fasteners all really make the figure pop. However, the paint is not perfect. There’s a tiny bit of bleed around the red and white vertical striping on his torso. There’s also a little rubbing on the white vertical panel on his left side, thankfully behind the shield. There’s a few tiny marks of red spray on his belt. All these imperfections are minor to say the least, and pretty understandable when you consider the amount of surface space being painted here. I’m also reminding myself that this guy clocks in at under $100, and honestly, I’ve seen similar little paint issues on far more expensive pieces, so I’m not complaining.

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Cap comes with his shield (well, duh!) and two interchangeable hands. The figure is boxed with his fists on, while the extra hands include a right hand designed to hold the shield as if he’s about to throw it, and a left hand that’s just splayed out. The hands are attached with pegs and just pop in and out. The first time I did it a bunch of red paint flakes appeared and I freaked out, but they were just from the inner post. Phew!

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The shield itself is an impressive piece. The paint on the front surface is metallic, and while it’s not as vibrant as the Hot Toys shields, it is very attractive. I was worried whether NECA was going to be able to pull off an acceptable metallic paint job across a surface as large as this shield, but they certainly did. If you look really closely, you can see some scratches on the inner red circle above the star, but you really need to get in close to see those imperfections.

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The back of the shield is fully sculpted and features two permanently attached soft plastic belts. To get Cap to hold the shield, you just need to pop off the hand and slide the loops through the arm. Some may take issue that the hand isn’t actually holding the inner strap, but I think it looks fine the way it is, and the shield stays in place quite well.

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Cap has a ton of good articulation, but he is by no means what I would call “super” articulated. Make no mistake, this is an action figure and not a statue. You can get him into a lot of great poses, but some of his joints don’t have the same range of motion as you would find on a smaller figure with similar joints. Here’s what you get… There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. The legs feature hip joints not unlike Mattel’s DCUC style, which allows for a wide stance. You also get swivel cuts in the thighs. The torso features a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the torso. About the only joint here that isn’t terribly useful is the torso ball joint. It offers very slight movement, which is why I’m particularly glad that the waist swivel is there. Swivels in the biceps would have went a long way, but the ball joints in the elbows help a bit in their absence. Overall, what’s here is really good and serves to make Cap as fun to play around with as he is impressive to look at.

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And there you have it… am I at all sorry I bought this figure? Nope. Do I have any idea where I’m going to put it? Nope. In the end, my guts told me he was too spectacular to pass up, and now that I have him, I can say it was a great decision because I absolutely adore this figure. NECA supposedly limited this guy to a production run of 7500, but he’s still readily available at a number of e-tailers and his price hasn’t even begun creeping up yet. Quite the contrary, the MSRP was $99, but I got him from BBTS for $85. You get a lot of figure for that price, and while I was a little late at getting my Pre-Order in for the Quarter-Scale Iron Man, I’m hoping I can still get it fulfilled. If I do get Iron Man, I’ll likely pull a shelf out of one of my bookcases so the pair can be displayed as they deserve to be.

Apr 20 2013

Bioshock Infinite: Elizabeth by NECA

I’m back again with more Bioshock goodness from the fine folks at NECA, and this time, I’ll skip the long ramble about me and video games. While the Boy of Silence may have been an odd choice for the one of two figures, Elizabeth certainly is not. Short of making Booker Dewitt himself (which I hope they do!), Elizabeth is the natural choice. She is, after all, the entire reason you’re in Columbia, and she remains your companion throughout most of the game. I’ll confess to being pretty worried that BI was going to turn out to be one big escort mission, but the guys did a great job making sure that Elizabeth wasn’t a nuisance in the game. Quite the contrary, she helps you out a lot and while I rarely feel a lot of attachment for characters in games, Infinite got me to sympathize quite a bit with the leading lady.

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The packaging is almost identical to what we got for the Boys of Silence. There’s a printed insert unique to Elizabeth and the back panel has a picture of her with a blurb about who she is. Opening this one didn’t give me quite the heady rush of plastic fumes as yesterday, but it was still a nice little hit of the good stuff.

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NECA based their figure off of Elizabeth from late in the game where she cuts her hair and raids Lady Comstock’s wardrobe. I wouldn’t mind seeing a variant of her from before she changes out of her battle-ravaged garb. Then again that would require a whole new sculpt so I doubt it’ll be forthcoming, but this is NECA we’re talking about, so you never know!

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Elizabeth’s design is much simpler than The Boys of Silence, but NECA did a great job with what they had. The portrait in particular is pretty impressive. I think they got the face quite close, and I’m particularly impressed with the sculpted hair. The paintwork is also quite good, right down to her faint freckles. The eyes even have an eerie spark of life to them. Best of all the head sculpt captures all irresistable innocence and charm of the Elizabeth’s game model. She’s just adorable.

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Of course, the first thing one tends to notice about Elizabeth is that NECA used softgoods! Yes, she has a luxurious, deep blue velvety skirt, complete with some stitched fringe along the bottom. I tend to really like softgoods on my action figures, at least when it makes sense and when it’s done right, and Elizabeth’s skirt certainly meets both of those criteria. In the end, I just ask, “does it enhance the aesthetics of the figure?” Yes, it does! Besides looking snazzy, it’s a lot more forgiving than plastic when it comes to articulation.

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The rest of the outfit consists of her corset, which is very nicely sculpted, and her jacket, which is cast in a separate piece of soft plastic. The plastic corset hangs over the fabric of the skirt and the arms are sculpted as sleeves for the jacket. She is wearing her choker necklace from the game, and mine has the Bird emblem. I’m not sure if NECA varied up some of these figures to have the Cage, but you can barely see the emblem, so I doubt it would be worthwhile. Appropriately enough, she is missing half of the pinky from her right hand, although I’m surprised NECA didn’t sculpt the thimble, or just paint the end silver. The paintwork is simple but effective and the wash on her jacket looks quite nice indeed!

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Most would have been happy to use the softgoods skirt as an excuse to not sculpt the bottom of the figure, but not NECA. No sir, they not only sculpted her bloomers (I have an action figure with BLOOMERS!), but they also sculpted her little boots right down to the bows. If you look close enough you can even see the little painted scrollwork pattern on them. It’s just another example of how much love NECA puts into their work. You’re never going to see this stuff, but it’s there just the same!

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Elizabeth features a lot more articulation than I expected. First off, her head is on one of the best ball joints I’ve ever seen. You can really get some nice range of motion out of it. Her arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and elbows, and her wrists can swivel. Her legs feature a T-crotch with lateral movement at the hips. Her knees are ball jointed and her ankles swivel. It doesn’t look like it, but there’s also a waist swivel hidden under her corset and skirt! On the downside, Elizabeth is very difficult to stand in any pose other than straight, and even then she tends to topple over. In fairness, the instability is more a result of the character design than anything else. Those tiny feet were made to defy physics.

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As nice a figure as Elizabeth is, there are certainly some missed opportunities in the accessories department. Elizabeth doesn’t come with anything, and that’s sad because there were so many great choices. A quantum physics book, a Skyhook, a Vigor container, even a swappable hand where she’s pointing to open a tear. This is a figure that was really screaming for something. Oh, I know… how about a figure stand? She has pegs in her feet and she can’t stand up to save her life… seems like a missed opportunity there. Still, it’s hard to gripe when the figure itself is this good.

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In the end, it’s quite remarkable just how well NECA captured the Elizabeth’s in-game model for this figure. Everything from the portrait to the softgoods skirt is executed with a pinache that I think few companies could pull off. The figure ran me $20 at an online retailer, but I think that’s more because of demand and second-party scalping than anything else. I already have my Motorized Patriot on pre-order and I’m hoping that NECA turns out at least one more wave. We got to see what Booker DeWitt looks like in the game, so there’s really no excuse not to do the figure and complete this set.

Apr 19 2013

Bioshock Infinite: Boys of Silence by NECA

Get your blankets and milky ba-ba’s kids, because before I get to today’s review… it’s story time! About 15 years ago, I was a video game junkie. I mean, I was seriously obsessed. I found myself at Gamestop or EB Games every single Tuesday picking up whatever the newest releases were. Racing, RPG, Action, Shooter, it didn’t matter… I bought and played them all. Games consumed most of my life and my money and I even spent most of my time at work paying myself to talk about them on Forums (own your own business, kids, I highly recommend it!). Remember that ridiculous Steel Battalion game and controller? I was the sad, sorry sod that bought that! Fast forward to today. I own a 360 and a PS3. I still have my original Xbox and my PS2 hooked up, along with my Dreamcast. I still own hundreds of games. But it’s rare that I pick up a controller on any day other than my day off, and sometimes it’s because I feel obligated to. I don’t know what happened. Maybe my life became so saturated by gaming that I lost interest. Maybe the premature death of the Dreamcast (still my favorite console ever) broke my little gamer heart. That’s why sometimes I light some candles, bust out the Dreamcast, pour a lot of booze and sob like a sad, drunk baby while playing Crazy Taxi and Cannon Spike.

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But it’s always nice to know that when a game like Bioshock Infinite comes along, I can fall in love with gaming again. I played the game through in two marathon sessions, and immediately jumped back in to play it again. I took a day to absorb it all and then jumped back in for a third time to really go Achievement hunting. It’s been a long time since any game (or at least any game that didn’t have Elder Scrolls on the cover) captivated me as much as this one. And hey, it never hurts when there’s a toy tie-in, because we’re not here to look at video games, we’re here to look at toys. As is often the case, NECA stepped in to deliver that video game-action figure tie in. I’m going to start out today with a look at a Boy of Silence and then tomorrow we’ll check out Elizabeth.

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NECA does a great compromise between retail-friendly and collector-friendly packaging. The figure comes sealed in a clamshell with a printed insert. To get this guy out, you’re going to have to do some cutting, but if you want to have the best of both worlds, you can razor along the back of the package and get the figure out and return it without anyone being the wiser. I used to do this, but with space concerns being what they are, I’ve come to terms with the fact that most packages need to be pitched. I’m not terribly upset by it, as the package is nice looking and functional, but nothing I feel bad about destroying. I also can’t deny how much I love the choking rush of plastic fumes you get from slicing into a NECA package. Glorious!

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The back of the insert has a shot of the character and a little blurb about them, including one of the Columbian nursery rhymes. I heard the one about Songbird in the game, but I never heard this one in my travels through Columbia. As much as I adore Bioshock Infinite, I’ll confess that The Boys of Silence were kind of disappointing in the actual game. Spoilers! The production team seemed to be building them up a lot prior to BI’s release and seeing as how they were one of the only two initial figures released, I expected them to have a huge presence in the game. In reality, you don’t see them until you’re in the home stretch, and you only encounter a half dozen of them or so. I will grant you, one of them creates the game’s best (and only) “Oh crap, I just pooped the sofa” moment, which I’m not ashamed to say got me again on my second play through.

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Ok, so he’s out of the package and I gotta say NECA worked their usual magic when sculpting this creepy bastard. He’s got the remnants of what looks like a colonial school outfit, maybe? Whatever the case, the detail is crazy. The wrinkling of his coat and pants looks amazing, and the coat is sculpted from separate, soft plastic to give the figure’s sculpt some nice depth. Even the little things like the laces in his shoes look fantastic. One of his socks is pulled down a bit, but this bastard doesn’t give a crap becaue he’s got a fricking Tuba locked around his head. Yes, in case you didn’t notice, his head is enclosed in the ghastly trumpet-looking contraption and features all the little rivets and a sculpted cowl that runs around the neck. The coolest touch here is the old-timey padlock, which is sculpted separately and jingles around on the hook.

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The paintwork compliments the sculpt very nicely. All the little buttons are painted, as are the eyelets for his shoelaces. There’s a fair amount of weathering and muddy paint applied to his outfit and his hands are filthy. What’s particularly cool is the finish on the helmet, which replicates antique brass quite nicely, right down to the tarnish.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect with articulation. In the end, the Boy of Silence has a lot more than I imagined he would. His neck is on a ball joint, which does not allow for a lot of movement, but he can turn a little bit to the left and right and a little up and down. His arms have ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, although the wrists might as well just be swivels because the sculpted sleeves work against them. His legs feature a T-crotch with lateral hinges as well. It’s similar to the funky joints NECA used for Duke Nukem, but hey it works. Lastly, he has ball joints in the knees and ankles, and a swivel at the waist. Oh yeah, his mouth can open a little bit too, and yes it reminds me of Beaker from The Muppets.

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I paid $15 for this figure online and that seems about right, as NECA continues to deliver a lot of workmanship for a decent value (that’ll be a continuing theme here for the next couple of weeks, because it just so happens that I have a lot of NECA figures coming in to look at). I don’t know that The Boy of Silence is a “must own” figure, but NECA certainly fashioned him with as much love as if he were the main character of the game, and I really respect that. No, he wasn’t my first pick for a figure from Bioshock Infinite, but he does represent a nice example of the game’s outlandish and creepy design in figure form.

Tomorrow, we’ll check out Elizabeth!

Jan 3 2013

FigureFan’s Disappointments of 2012, Part 1

Ok, we’ve seen my favorites, and now it’s time to check out the turds floating in last year’s punchbowl. Again, this was tough, because I try to avoid buying things that look like they will be crap. So maybe the word turd is a little harsh in some cases. Almost nothing on this list is total crap, but everything here definitely disappointed me in some way.

TMNT Classics: Donatello by Playmates… The Classic Turtles are great figures, but they got upstaged on my “Favorites List” by the smaller modern guys in a major way. Nonetheless, Donatello represents here for one reason and one reason only, because of his mad eyes. Ok, I suppose that’s two reasons. The point is that by giving him wonky eyes, Playmates not only ruined the figure, but seriously marred the entire set. How can anyone appreciate their team of turtles on the shelf when Donny is standing there in the back looking like he got kicked in the head one too many times. It’s a crazy example of how one brush stroke can mar an otherwise excellent toy.

DC Universe All Stars: Superboy Prime… Besides turning out as a terrible looking figure, Superboy Prime earns Mattel a Disappointment Award for doing the bait-and-switch. The final product saw major changes from the pre-release images, and while that is bound to happen from time to time, the changes here made a great looking promo figure turn into a terrible release. Even worse, with hardly any brick-and-mortar stores actually carrying the DCU All Stars, I had to buy the figure online, so my disappointment wasn’t realized until I got the thing in hand and it was too late. It’s not often that I can say I regret buying a DCUC figure, but I certainly regret picking up Superboy Prime.

Marvel Legends: Extremis Iron Man… Because I only allowed each toyline to appear once in each list, this slot was a tight race between Extremis Iron Man and Future Foundation Spider-Man. In fairness, on its own this Iron Man is a fairly competent figure, but as soon as you put him up against some of the other figures in Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends line he comes up wanting. He’s too small, not terribly well articulated, and overall underwhelming. I kind of get the feeling that he was just here to fill a slot in a quick and dirty manner (that’s what she said?). And to keep the comparisons rolling, his paint and sculpting don’t even live up to many of the older, smaller and cheaper 3 ¾” Iron Man 2 figures. At least Hasbro released him in two versions, so that the crappy Stealth variant would make the regular one look better.

Duke Nukem by NECA… You’ve got to hand it to NECA, in an effort to be as accurate to the game as possible; they obviously wanted to capture the disappointment of Duke Nukem Forever in action figure form. And they did! NECA’s Duke features a solid enough sculpt, but the articulation is downright weird and the paintwork, particularly on the flesh tones, leaves a lot to be desired. And then there are the accessories. Sure, kudos for the cigar, which I promptly lost, but how can Duke come with just a handgun? Where’s his arsenal? And, no, the fact that he has feet doesn’t count as a “Mighty Boot” accessory. Duke should have come with a cool assortment of weapons, instead all he came with was disappointment.

Avengers: “Sword Spike” Thor… While most of Hasbro’s 3 ¾” Avengers figures were disappointments, this version of Thor earns a place on this list because he represented the ultimate in toy company hubris and laziness. Hasbro took what was essentially the exact same figure from the previous year, cut out most of its articulation, gave him a new shitty weapon and put him on an Avengers card. They even kept the same name, which in the new context made no sense because he now came with a halberd and not a sword. To add insult to injury, a lot of stores had this figure hanging just a few pegs away from the better articulated Thor-branded figure… on clearance! It’s the retail equivalent of Hasbro unzipping their pants, pulling out their Mjolnir and slapping us in the face with it.
Ok, that’s enough disappointment for one day. I’m going to take some Topamax and gin to level out my mood and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final five.

Mar 7 2012

Resident Evil 5: Executioner Majini by NECA

A little while ago I took a look at NECA’s Sheva Alomar figure from their Resident Evil 5 series and was pleasantly surprised. I got her as a stand alone figure because I liked the game and I wanted to see how far NECA’s stuff had come since the last time I bought one of their products. Well, I thought she looked kind of lonely on the shelf, and so when I stumbled across this brute from the same series, I thought I’d give her something to spar with. I actually picked up this figure quite a few weeks ago, but I’m only now getting a chance to open him up and see what he’s all about.

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As a rule, NECA’s sculpts are genuinely excellent and this big guy is no exception. Considering he’s just a deranged giant in ratty clothes with a potato sack over his head NECA had quite the challenge to make him into a visually appealing figure and I think they hit the nail right on the head. Heh, see what I did there? He has nails in his head. Ahem… moving on. This sculpt shows off an amazing array of textures from the coarse material of his head sack and the frayed fabric of his smock to the unbelievably realistic woodgrain of is axe-hammer. Even his Big & Tall Wranglers, which are mostly covered by his smock, are really nicely detailed. The nails hammered throughout his head are soft plastic, and unfortunately bendy, but overall they do look really nice, as do the two massive nails criss-crossing his back. He’s also stitched up all over the place.

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The paint apps on this figure are pretty drab, but thankfully he’s spattered with enough blood to add some color. The figure actually photographs a lot brighter than he really is. I think my favorite thing about this figures paint is his gloves. They look red, but upon closer inspection, you can see that they’re actually black and are just caked over with a ton of blood.

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My biggest issue with NECA has been their inconsistent articulation. Sheva overcame that problem and for the most part the Executioner does too. I’ll point out right away that he is completely static from the waist down, which doesn’t really concern me much with this figure. His legs are sculpted to provide a stance that gives him the best possibile chance of remaining upright while hefting his huge axe. Sure, leg articulation would have allowed for a bit more dynamic posing, but I don’t know that the joints would have held up under the weight of his weapon. From the waist up his articulaton is quite good. He can rotate at the torso, he has ball joints for shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps, hinged elbows and swivel wrists. His arm articulation allows him to hold the pole of his weapon with both hands, which makes me happy.

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The Executioner’s primary accessory is his big honkin axe-hammer thing, which is an amazing sculpt all on its own. Its actually taller than the figure and comes packaged in two pieces. The weapon has a huge blood spattered axe on one side and a giant meat-tenderizer on the other with sculpted chains wrapped around the whole thing. Its extremely top heavy, but you can still get the figure to hold it in a number of different poses. He also comes with three bloody meat hooks that are stored through the belt loops on the back of his pants. These are really cool extras, but unfortunately he can’t hold them because they’re too thin for his grasp.

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NECA has really won me over with these Resident Evil figures, so much so that I’m sure I’ll be picking up Chris Redfield before long. The sculpting and paintwork on display here is absolutely top notch and this dude makes one impressive display piece on my shelf. I’m also really hoping to see a second series which includes everyone’s favorite mutant bastard, Wesker. Either way, this is a great figure whether you are a fan of the game, or even if you just collect horror-themed figures.

 

 

 

Feb 20 2012

Resident Evil 5: Sheva Alomar by NECA

Collecting Video Game based figures isn’t really my thing. I pick up a few from time to time, but I don’t make an effort to hunt them all down. Nonetheless, having finally gotten around to playing Capcom’s Resident Evil 5, I decided I needed me some figures and NECA stepped up to the plate. I don’t have a lot of experience with NECA’s video game figures. I’ve been scared away in the past because a lot of them are basically just statues with some added articulation and I find NECA and McFarlane are just two of the biggest offenders in this category. After reading some reviews of the RE5 figures, the concensus seemed to be that these were bonafide action figures and not mere statues, so I decided to pull the trigger and give them a try. I really teetered between just getting the complete set of three (Sheva with Chris Redfield and an Executioner), but I found a really good deal on Sheva alone, and thought I’d test the waters first.

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One thing NECA has always been good at is their sculpts and Sheva here is no exception. Her face and figure are just as attractive as her in-game counterpart. Giggity! Her top half is fairly simple, as she’s just wearing a two-tone purple tank top and so a great deal of the sculpting has gone into her from the waist down, where here gear is kept. That sounded wrong, so let’s move on. Her belt features decorative tooling, ammo pouches and a fanny pack. Her right thigh has additional magazine pouches strapped to it and her left has a holster for her pistol. Her pants feature stitching and wrinkles and her boots are cowboy/biker style with stirrup-style straps and buckles. She’s also got a sculpted necklace, a communication rig on her right ear and some kind of armband device. Yessir, a lot of nice work went into this sculpt making it one impressive piece of work for this scale.

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NECA has been known to slip up with their paint apps from time to time, especially on their smaller scaled figures, but they’ve definitely been getting better and Sheva’s a prime example of that. The paint on my figure is overall quite good, with only a few notable blemishes. She does have a bit of inconsistancy between her right and left eyes, but it isn’t too bad. The tattoo on her left shoulder is crisp and very nicely printed and there’s really no slop to be found. The painted weathering and texturing on her gear is also quite impressive.

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Sheva has an admirable amount of articulation. Her neck and shoulders are ball jointed. She has swivels in the biceps and wrists. Her elbows are not hinged, but rather diagonal cut swivels that can imitate a hinged joint in some ways, but ultimately I would have much preferred a simple hinge. Her upper legs move up and down and feature lateral movement, her knees are hinged, and she has swivel cuts at the top of her boots. She can also swivel slightly at the waist. This is what I call an action figure! She’s loads of fun to pose!

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Sheva comes with three accessories: A Sniper rifle, an automatic pistol, and a knife. The pistol fits into the molded holster on her belt and features a snap down retaining flap. Egads, I love functional holsters! She can comfortably wield the pistol in either hand. The knife fits into the scabbard on her belt and she can hold it surprisingly well in her right hand, even though it’s clearly designed for the gun.  The sniper rifle is nicely sculpted, and despite having an ultra thin barrel, mine shows no evidence of warping.

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Sheva set me back a mere ten bucks plus shipping, which is certainly decent for a figure like this. I expected a solid effort, but what I got was a downright exceptional figure. The sculpt and paint here are absolutely superb and while there are a few funky designs to be found in the joints, I can have a blast putting her in all kinds of poses with her different weapons. I’m going to go ahead and say that this is one of the better figures I’ve picked up in a long while and certainly and I’ll recommend her to anyone who’s been a fan of the game and looking to represent it on their action figure shelf.

Feb 10 2012

Duke Nukem Forever: Duke Nukem by NECA

The last thing I want to do here is recount the tortured and well known history behind Duke Nukem Forever. Suffice it to say the game lingered in development limbo for nearly 20 years before finally shipping last year. The final product was not only disappointing but it was easily one of the worst games I’ve played in a long while. It was poorly designed, occasionally broken and just no fun. But worst of all the gimmicky gameplay seemed to entirely miss the point of what Duke Nukem was all about: Blasting the shit out of stuff. You could argue that the developers tried to reinvent the game for a new age, but the point is that Duke Nukem should do what he does best, shoot things and make quips. A old school style shooter in the mold of Serious Sam or something like that could have been a fun nostalgic romp, not the crap we wound up with.

Nonetheless, I love Duke Nukem. He’s an important part of my gaming youth. I even read his funny books. I was on board way back when the now defunct Resaurus was making Duke Nukem figures and so it was only natural that I would get around to buying NECA’s recent treatment. Let’s check him out.
If you’ve picked up any of NECA’s recent releases, then you know what to expect from the packaging. Duke comes in a compact clamshell with a printed insert. I like this packaging as you can easily razor along the back to get at the figure and then you can return him to the package without it looking like it was ever opened. They obviously had a lot of fun when writing the copy for the package and it shows. It even recommends you take him out with you for adventures like some kind of strange My Buddy doll. There’s no need to take Duke seriously and NECA certainly doesn’t.
The sculpt here is pretty good. Its a more realistic looking Duke than we’ve ever seen, which is a reflection of the better (and yet still dated) graphics from the recent game. The figure does have a bit of a hunched over look, but its nothing to get too upset about and in a sense I guess it stresses his whole ‘roided out gorilla look. The sunglasses are sculpted onto his face, but they’re done so well that they really do look like they could be removed. Speaking of his face, Duke sports a great little over confident smirk that suits the character really well. There’s not much to say about his outfit. He’s wearing a red wife-beater, fingerless gloves, blue jeans and boots. Its all nicely detailed right down to his iconic belt buckle. The ammo straps are sculpted as separate pieces and hang loose down near his belt to allow for his torso articulation. The flesh paint features a bit of a wash to give him a slightly dirty look, which I think looks rather good.
So let’s talk articulation. Duke has some seriously weird ass articulation. He’s quite poseable, but NECA devised some truly and inexplicably awkward designs for his joints. His neck is ball jointed, which is normal enough, although he has very little up and down movement. His shoulders are ball jointed, but might as well just be swivels because he has very little lateral movment. But then he’s got an additional pin joint just under the shoulder, which seems redundant. The figure would have been better served with a swivel cut here. The rest of the arms are pretty standard with hinged elbows and swivel wrists. His legs have normal movement at the hips with the addition of another oddly placed pin joint that gives his legs lateral movement. You then have double hinged knees and swivels in the ankles. Lastly, Duke can swivel at the waist and has an ab crunch in the torso.  I have no idea what happened here, particularly with the shoulders and the hips, but it seems like NECA went out of their way to needlessly reinvent some very conventional points of articulation. Like I said… weird.
I can’t say that NECA has ever been heavy handed in the accessories department, and Duke here is par for the course. You get an automatic pistol and a cigar. That’s it. It feels woefully light, considering Duke should be a one-man walking arsenal. Where are the trademark weapons from the game? Where’s the Devastator? The Shrink Ray is even mentioned in one of the quips on the package, but its nowhere to be found. How about a friggin Pipe Bomb or combat knife? You don’t even get his Boomstick. Resaurus’ figure came with a bunch of cool accessories, here you get bupkis and that’s almost as disappointing as the game. I’ll admit the cigar is a cool little accessory and he can even hold it quite well, but the lack of an alternate head with the ability to hold it in his mouth seems like a missed opportunity.
Duke originally retailed for around $15-17 and you can still grab him at most Toys R Us stores for around that price. I got him on clearance through an e-tailer for $10 shipped, so I’m going to cut him some slack. It really is generally a nice sculpt and the articulation is perfectly serviceable albeit oddly designed, but ultimately the lack of accessories hurts this figure a lot. If you’re really jonesing for a Duke figure I suppose this one ain’t bad, but you might be better off hunting down the old Resaurus version. It may be a much simpler sculpt, but its as a toy its a lot more fun.