Toy Review – Alice from Resident Evil: Afterlife By Hot Toys

Side Note: I've been sitting on this one for a long time – since last October. The figure is so detailed and well done, but the flaw that I found frustrated the shit out of me at the time. I just wasn't sure how to approach writing a review. I love the figure, but it pissed me off.

The other night I sat down and did something I never do: I wrote a toy review at home on my own time. I'm okay with it and glad I got it done. I also found out that the issues were still annoying but maybe not as bad as I first thought. I mean, Alice has been standing on my shelf for over eight months now and is just fine.

So anyway, I hope you enjoy this one.

Oh, and the pictures aren't cropped because they were done on my neat-o Halloween backdrop.

            I probably shouldn’t have bought this toy. Not as much as I probably shouldn’t buy the Batman ’89 Hot Toys figures, but enough that I feel a little bad for it.

I love the Resident Evil movies and I’ve always been a fan of Milla Jovovich, so no problem there. I even liked the fourth movie a lot. Not as much as the first or third, but I did enjoy it. But when you’re shelling out over a hundo for a single action figure it should really be your favorite look for that character and while this is a close second, nothing beats Alice’s gear in Apocalypse.

But I wanted an Alice figure and who knows how long it’ll take to get one from the third movie or if they’ll even do one. I would imagine her more iconic look from the first movie will follow this one.

I think a big reason I went ahead and pulled the trigger on preordering this one from BBTS was how much I am kicking myself for not getting one of Hot Toys’ early Iron Man figures or the more recent Scarlet Johansson Black Widow. If you don’t pick up a Hot Toys release when it first hits you’re going to end up paying out the ass for it.

Hilariously, you can still buy this figure direct from Sideshow.

First Glance: I’ll say this for Hot Toys’ products – they will blow you the heck away right from the start. I still don’t know how I said no to that Iron Man at Atlanta Comic Con. Alice here is no different. The box is slick and once you open it up the figure is just mind-blowing from the likeness to the costume to the accessories.

Sculpt: This is the first time I’ve been able to directly compare two Hot Toys figures. I’m surprised at how different the body types are between Alice and my Abigail Whistler figure. They are immediately recognizable as two different females. By which I mean their lady parts are quite different.

Alice has whatever huge number of points of articulation Hot Toys puts into their figures. I can’t count. She has, like, ten in her neck alone. Barring costume restrictions I couldn’t find a pose a real human could do that this figure can’t. And the costume restrictions are only because I didn’t want to have to rearrange pants and stuff, not because the items couldn’t move or weren’t flexible enough.

The proportions of the body used match Jovovich's to the point that it almost seems to be a scan. I'm sure it isn't, but this is no generic female body, either. The legs are a harder plastic and articulated everywhere. I have no idea what they look like. They could be hot pink plastic and I'll never know. I don't even want to mess with trying to get all her gear off. What matters is they're the right size and shape and they bend in althe right places.

The torso is a soft plastic – almost rubber – over an armature. It bends in a bunch of places. I couldn't test the limits because of the corset thing, but the figure seems to again be as mobile as a human.

Unlike the Abigail Whistler figure, this one has hard plastic arms. This is because Alice has fabric to cover her joints. Her shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all covered and all move as much as humanly possible.

The head is the typical spot-on Hot Toys likeness. It's just creepily amazing. There is a magnet in the top of the head to allow you to switch between two different hair sculpts – one disheveled and one slightly more disheveled. There isn't a huge difference and I'm quite frankly a little baffled as to why Hot Toys even did this, but whatever. They both look good. They seem like they are going to fall off when you first put them on, but those things are secure. Alice's hairpieces aren't going anywhere.

It's also worth noting that as posable as Alice is, she also holds any pose you put her in. The joints are all very free-moving, yet stiff. I've had her standing in a sort of leaning strut on my shelf for months now and she hasn't shifted a centimeter from how I originally posed her.

Design: As far as actual paint applications there's not much to say. Both hair pieces have at least three colors and look very real. The facial details on the figure are just astonishing. Her eyes are painted with a super-glossy paint that glistens like real eyes. It's almost disturbing. 

There's just barely a hint of some makeup, plus glossy lip color.

The clothing is accurate to the movie. She has boots, leg warmers (I guess), super-tight pants, a super-tight t-shirt, her combat vest/corset, assorted belts and holsters, a heavy coat, and arm wrappings.

The boots are each one molded piece but don't look like it. The soles, eyelets, zippers, laces, wrappings, buckles, and seams are all very realistic. The painted details look great, but I feel like those straps under the knee should have some color. They shouldn't – check the movie – but it sort of seems like they should.

The pants and leg warmers look good. The leg warmers have that sock texture and are ragged at the top. The pants are a sort of shiny spandex and fit perfectly. I'm guessing they go down over the figure's feet, because they don't bunch or sag anywhere.

The t-shirt is a v-neck and fits well. Not much to say there. The vest things is amazing. Not only does it fit the figure perfectly and not interfere too much with movement, it is amazingly stitched and detailed. The front is crisscrossed with actual fabric straps and the back laces up. The arm wrappings are the same material as the pants with a black faux leather wrapped around it. They look great, but if you move them too much out of place they're going to be a bitch to fix. And you will have to move them a little out of place to slide out the pieces of plastic that were packed in between the arms and wrappings.

The holsters look outstanding. The belt sits low on the figure's waist and the holsters snap around the thighs and go up to the shoulders. Everything is sized well and fits nicely. There are two underarm holsters for the revolvers, two loops for the shotguns, and three loops for the sword sheath. The faux leather is weathered. And the whole rig is scary flimsy. The snap on the left revolver holster popped off the second I touched the figure. The stitching on the loop for the shotgun on the left just kind of fell apart the first time I tried to slide the weapon into place. I very carefully put all of the weapons into place after I took my pictures and haven't touched them since. I realize I could reasonably return the figure, but I didn't want to deal with the hassle. It's not like I'm going to be sitting on the floor having Alice fight The Dead or anything. She is purely shelf candy. Still, you should be aware of the delicacy of the belts.

The jacket is awesome – very neo-Russian. The fabric is tough and heavy and the collar is wooly and a bit complicated. There's a lining and a ton of buttons and pockets and detail. It looks really good, but I'm not going to be using it for display.

Accessories: Alice comes with a set of regular hands, a set of pistol grip hands, a set of open fist hands, a katana, a sheath, two shotguns, two revolvers, two MP5KA4 Submachine-Guns, two large knives, and a riot baton.

The hands are slender and detailed and switch in and out easily. The weapons fit in them securely.

The katana appears to have a die cast blade with a plastic hilt. The detailing is fantastic, from the lines on the blade to the wrappings. It fits snugly into the sheath, which is a simple black plastic that slides into the loops on the harness.

The shotguns and revolvers are made up of multiple functioning parts. There are shells inside the shotguns and the cylinder pops out of the revolvers.

The submachine guns are perfectly detailed to the point where I looked them up to find out what they were called and the picture looked exactly like the toys, down to the insignias. The clips are removable and have shells in the top.

The knives match and look nice and a little worn thanks to some good paint. The riot baton looks like a riot baton and has a shiny, metallic look.

Packaging: The box is a massive, fold-out ordeal with tons of graphics and a really classy feel. I am a huge fan of the fold-out window box and am always eager to see what kind of new designs Hot Toys and Sideshow will come up with.

Overall: This Alice is truly a work of art. Aside from the belts/harness, everything is just about perfect. From the way the two hair pieces line up with the front of the scalp to the facial paint to the fit of the clothes. Everything is the finest example of toy making skill.

4 out of 5

If you can get one without the faulty harness this is totally worth the money. Hot Toys' stuff is expensive as heck, but absolutely worth it. You will never find other toys as nice as theirs. You can still buy Alice direct from Sideshow or a bit cheaper at BBTS.

If you want to see a shitload more pictures, go check out my Photobucket.

-Phantom