Let’s
just be honest – that first Knifehead
that NECA put out was not great. I gave it a 4 out of 5 when I
reviewed it ten months ago, but I hadn’t seen Pacific
Rim yet
and didn’t know how badly the scale was off.
Of
course, I did know that the articulation was bad. But I excused that
due to the price point. What I didn’t know at the time was that
Walmart had shown interest in carrying the Pacific
Rim line,
but only if NECA could deliver it at a low price point. That’s why
this first Kaiju was so small. Surprising absolutely nobody, Walmart
decided not to take up valuable space in its four square feet of
action figures and backed out of the potential deal.
Knifehead
isn’t my favorite of the Kaiju – that would be Otachi. But I have
developed a fondness for Knifehead since watching Gamera vs. Guiron
and realizing the inspiration for this guy. Here’s a picture of
Guiron:
Yeah.
Pretty awesome.
There
was a point where I considered stopping my Pacific
Rim toy
collection. I just didn’t need another line. But I reasoned that
there are only so many Jaegers and Kaiju and (as I mentioned in my
first Knifehead review) four or so series should take care of them.
As is typical of me, as soon as I made this decision I ordered
everything BigBad had in stock. Some of it came right away and a
couple of things were preorders, but I was thrilled when each of them
showed up; totally confident in my decision.
Even
if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have been able to resist when I
saw them at Toys R Us. And that would have sucked because everything
was way
more expensive, even including shipping from BigBad. Why is TRU so
damned expensive?
FIRST
GLANCE
This
thing is SO GIANT. I knew that these new Kaiju were being considered
“Deluxe” figures and had a higher price point, but I really
didn’t know just how much bigger than the original Knifehead this
one would be. It’s about 1.5 times the size:
It
makes a huge difference. Overall this one is very similar, but a more
detailed paint job and a load more articulation make the extra money
feel completely worth it. There’s a slightly different color scheme
on the newer version that I think looks much nicer. It’s more grey
and less brown. It contrasts the yellow markings in a much better
way.
PACKAGING
This
is the biggest clamshell I can remember buying. But that doesn’t
make it better. It’s still a clamshell and you guys know how I feel
about those. Of course, NECA couldn’t very well have put this
monster on a cardback and a box probably would have cost more. So
this is the best option. I guess.
The
graphics are nice and I like the “Kaiju” designation.
LOOKS
First
of all – keep Knifehead away from the kids. He is chock full of
sharp edges and pointy bits and is heavy enough to incapacitate a
mule. This is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the
most deadly toy I own.
NECA was not fucking around.
The
head sculpt is all ridges and sharp edges. You could literally use
this toy as a dagger to murder somebody. The folds of flesh around
the face almost as grotesque as the fleshy red lips surrounding
Knifehead’s mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. You could almost miss
the beady, vicious little eyes on the original figure. On this one
they stand out much more clearly and are pretty freaky. I love the
shape of the underside of the snout or whatever. It looks like an
ancient thing that has been worn and damaged over time. Very much a
natural creation.
The
mouth opens to reveal something that probably excited me a lot more
than it should have. A retractable tongue:
This
is both gross and delightful. It can be pulled entirely out of the
head for no good reason other than that you know that lots of people
probably would have yanked too hard on it and broken it out anyway.
It’s tough to get out of there; what with it being surrounded by
those sharp teeth. I had to use my trusty duct tape-wrapped
needlenose pliers. Once I had pulled it out it was easier to work
with.
Knifehead’s
torso is a long, thick wedge shape with a massive neck piece stuck on
top. The tail is rubber over a wire armature. There is a ton of
detail sculpted into this thing. The folds and wrinkles running down
the body hide the various seams and joints quite well.
The
weird and somewhat disturbing thing on Knifehead’s back almost
looks like some kind of secondary growth. The definitive separation
of the sculpt and the different coloration are clearly meant to set
it apart. The choice to give this piece an entirely different color
scheme – from skin to wash – was utterly bizarre; but so is
Knifehead. Like all of the claws on this figure, the talons on the
back piece are glossy black.
The
two sets of arms are quite different, which I appreciate over the
lower set simply being smaller versions of the main arms. I love the
separation of the ulna and radius. It’s creepy and weird and the
more creepy and weird you can pack into these, the better. The
smaller arms are much stumpier and more brutal. I can imagine
something being grasped by the large arms while those evil little
arms reach up and disembowel it.
Knifehead
has thick, substantial legs that support it surprisingly well. Even
with the tail elevated off the ground it’s fairly easy to stand
this guy up. The scaling on the thighs is very interesting, as it’s
very alligator-like and different from any other texture on the
figure. And this is a figure with lots
of textures. Every inch is covered with wrinkles, folds, and scales
and they vary across the entire surface of the skin.
This
is one of the best paint jobs I have seen from NECA. While I would
have preferred an undamaged version of Knifehead, I get that they
needed to distinguish it in some way from the original release. And
the blood does look excellent. It’s all standard paint, but it
almost looks fluid and shimmery. The rest of the figure has wonderful
washes over the various textures. The yellow markings – like the
blood – seem almost to be fluid and iridescent. But they’re just
bright yellow paint. The rest of the detailing – eyes, teeth,
tongue, claws – is all precisely applied and looks great.
ACCESSORIES
I
guess these Kaiju could have come with little ships or something, but
they really don’t need accessories. I will say this, though – if
a future Gipsy Danger doesn’t come with a battleship sword I’m
going to be very disappointed.
FUN
This
larger figure has a lot more articulation than the original:
Head
– swivel
Mouth
– hinge
Tongue
– I don’t know how to describe this
Shoulders
– ball joints
Elbows
– pivots
Wrists
– all four are basically swivels
Hips
– ball joints
Knees
– pivots
Ankles
– ball joints
Tail
– wire armature
Because
of the bulk and design of the figure, a lot of these joints are
somewhat limited. The large arms move around fairly well. The smaller
arms can only do so much. The legs are a bit restricted just because
of how Knifehead is built. And the tail’s thickness keeps it from
being too bendy, but it still moves a decent amount.
Basically,
there’s not a whole heck of a lot of posing you can do. But this is
still a great looking figure that is fun to play with. If you’re
careful.
Heck,
the mouth alone had me messing with it for a good ten minutes or so.
OVERALL
Knifehead
is a fan-fucking-tastic monster. If you collect monsters, you want
this. If you collect Pacific
Rim
stuff, this is the Kaiju you’ve been waiting for. It’s a massive
improvement over the original and well worth the difference in price.
I’m not a fan of the battle damage, but at least the battle damage
looks great.
If they produce a non-damaged version I’ll buy that and sell this
one.
5
out of 5
Be
prepared – Scudder and Trespasser have the same body as Knifehead.
It’s accurate to the movie and NECA has certainly stayed true to
that. But I will say this – I have Trespasser and it was not
immediately obvious that aside from the head it was the same sculpt.
As we’ve seen time and again in the Masters of the Universe
Classics line, paint can go a long way.
Buy
this guy from Amazon and help out Needless Things!:
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