I’ve been super-stoked about Pacific
Rim ever since I first heard Guillermo del Toro mention it. I
don’t have the Godzilla fetish that some do, but I certainly love
giant monsters. Same thing with robots. But the main draw for me was
del Toro himself. I have yet to see a project of his that I thought
was anything short of magnificent, so the idea of this guy making a
big-budget movie about giant robots beating the mess out of giant
monsters was awesomely appealing.
That was before NECA (or Guillermo del
Toro, for that matter) had shown us any monsters.
Once I saw the full trailer for the
movie:
I knew I was going to be blowing money
on yet another of NECA’s lines.
Finding the initial series of figures
was both exciting and disappointing because I wasn’t expecting them
so early and because the store also had the first series of NECA’s
new Aliens figures. That’s a pricey day. I resisted the urge
to buy all three Pacific Rim figures and every Xenomorph they
had. Instead I got one set of the Aliens and two of the
Pacific Rim figures – the Kaiju, Knifehead and Crimson
Typhoon, one of the robots the movie refers to as “Jaegers”.
First Glance: I love the
design of this monster. Like all of the Pacific Rim Kaiju I
have seen so far it is familiar without being overly derivative. The
figure is a big, chunky piece that is satisfyingly large compared to
the Jaegers.
Articulation: I don’t
envy the designers at NECA for having to figure out how to articulate
this guy. He has a bizarre shape that all has to work together and be
able to stand up. I’m honestly not sure how satisfied I am with the
end result, but I do understand it.
Jaw – pivot
Shoulders – swivel
Elbows –pivot
Hips – swivel
Knees – pivot
Tail - bendy
It drives me kind of nuts that the head
doesn’t move. But I am glad that the jaw does.
The shoulders are where it becomes
clear that this figure is really more of a statue than an action
figure. While they do swivel, the way they are cut means they look
crappy when they are moved. The sculpt of the musculature creates a
very specific seam. The elbow pivot is slightly more forgiving.
It drives me a nuts that the little
arms don’t move.
The hips are sculpted differently from
the shoulders, as more traditional action figure swivels. They aren’t
as dependant on the surrounding musculature and look more natural
when posed. The knee pivots look fine, but the ones on my figure are
loose. Not terribly so, but there are certain stances they won’t
support.
The bendy tail is sturdy and flexible.
It looks great and doesn’t have the cheap feel of some other bendy
material. There’s a good range of motion and it holds poses. I’m
not too worried about the interior wire breaking, either. It feels
solid.
Sculpt: The sculpt on
this figure is absolutely fantastic, which is part of the reason why
the articulation is lacking.
The head is pretty much terrifying. The
sharpness of the beak or whatever is menacing and awesome. The
articulated mouth looks great, with actual depth and layers rather
than just a flat sculpt. I do kind of wish the tongue was removable.
The tusks on either side of the neck
are solid and give the creature an even more menacing look. They are
attached to a sort of carapace on the creature's back that has a
slicker texture than the rest of the figure and just adds a lot more
dimension. It's kind of weird and out of place, but not in a bad way.
In a monster-y way.
Knifehead has wonderfully textured
skin. It’s somewhat reptilian, but reminds me a lot of sharks. I
think that’s because the overall look of the creature is very
shark-like (which, of course, makes me think of Sharktopus and how
much of a crime it is that we do not have a Sharktopus action
figure). Every inch of the figure’s body is covered with sculpted
detail. The most impressive thing about it is that it is very hard to
detect the seam between the hard plastic body and the bendy tail,
even once you know it is there. I’m not usually in favor of mixing
mediums, but if you’re going to do it this well it’s okay.
The articulated arms and legs look very
good. The shoulder joints aren’t great, but the elbows and knees
are very tightly seamed and look good. I particularly like the way
the knee joints were done. The limbs all terminate in nasty-looking
claws that are very distinct from the digits and have a smooth
texture.
The most noticeable seams on this
figure are the ones between the smaller, non-articulated arms and the
body. I don’t think they’re as bad as they seem, it’s just that
you would expect static limbs to be much more tightly joined.
Coloring: The paint job
reminds me an awful lot of the toys from the American Godzilla.
That’s no knock. While the movie was total garbage, the toys were
actually quite good. I’ve managed to hang on to the 24” Godzilla
for years now. Granted, the tail and one of the arms are in need of
gluing, but that’s from four or five moves and the recent attention
of Lil’ Troublemaker (who has seen several of the real Godzilla
flicks but will never see Amerizilla if I have anything to say about
it). The thing still roars and is just a nice-looking big toy.
Anyway, Knifehead’s skin is very
similar to Amerizilla’s. There is a lighter, flat basecoat with a
darker, glossier, more vibrant coat on top to resemble scales. It
looks very good and manages to evoke a feeling of mass despite the
figure’s relatively small size. Also, there is no discernible
difference between the paint on the hard plastic body and the bendy
tail.
The detailing is all tightly done, with
no bleeding or splotching. The claws are a glossy black that stands
out very nicely against the skin. The tusks and teeth are a bright
white that comes off as very menacing and the pink of the maw and
tongue looks great. Obviously I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I
don’t know the function (if any) of the yellow markings or how
accurately the toy represents them. They’re a bit too bright for me
and make Knifehead look too video game-y. But they also present a
nice contrast to the claws and skin, so I don’t hate them.
Oh – almost forgot Knifehead’s
beady little eyes. They’re under the crosspiece, hammerhead-looking
thing on his noggin. They’re well-placed, baby blue, and extra
creepy.
Accessories: Knifehead
comes with a pair of little, plastic mittens.
Just kidding. Those are to protect his
smaller arms during shipping. He has no accessories, which is fine
because what does a monster need? Of course, if I see the movie and
find out he breathes fire or shoots lightning out of his ass or
something I’m gonna be mad that he didn’t come with a little
attachment. But I think when you have a gigantic knife for a head and
a mouth full of razors you might not need any of that junk.
Packaging: Ugh it’s a
clamshell. But that’s how NECA rolls most of the time, so whatever.
I will say this for the clamshell – it seems to preserve that
treasured New Toy Smell better than a regular blister card.
One extremely odd thing about the
packaging for this series is that – unlike NECA’s other releases
– the artists that worked on the figure are not credited. It’s an
odd omission. That’s one of the things I have always respected
about NECA.
Value: $14.99 is a steal
for the figures in this line.
Overall: Yeah – the
articulation isn’t great. Except that for fifteen bucks, it’s
fine. Look at comparably sized Japanese releases – most notably the
Monster Arts stuff. They are absolutely loaded with joints, but cost
eighty to ninety bucks. It’s crazy. I mean, I still want at least
one really badly, but when you look at those and then look at
this guy for fifteen bucks it’s a no-brainer.
4
out of 5
This is a very solid figure of a
kickass monster. It gets me stoked about the future of this line.
I was talking to the Oncoming Josh
about this the other day and I made what I think is a pretty solid
point. He said that he hoped NECA would get to make all of the
Jaegers – the robots. I pointed out that the Prometheus line got a
lot further than I thought it would considering how poorly the movie
did and was received. I mean, it didn’t tank, but it didn’t
exactly set the world on fire. I think Pacific Rim will at the
very least do better than Prometheus, even if it isn’t a
mega-blockbuster success (which I hope it is). I don’t think there
are more than five or six Jaegers and Kaiju, so three or four series
or maybe a two-pack (which Toys R Us always seem willing to take from
NECA) should get the job done.
-Phantom
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