Sometimes
it takes me a while to get around to reviewing action figures,
especially if they are in some way retoolings of figures I have
already reviewed. This is why I have essentially stopped reviewing
Masters of the Universe Classics figures (although I am considering
starting up again since this is the last year). It’s also why it’s
taken me something like six months to review this guy.
For the
record, I like the idea of Xenomorphs having different appearances
based on the creatures they hatched out of. I’ve had this
discussion enough times to feel like it needs to be addressed;
possibly even as an episode of the Needless Things Podcast. But for now
I’ll just say that I think it’s a neat concept and I enjoy seeing
the Giger design applied to varying biological entities.
This
particular Xenomorph is probably what most would consider to be the
baseline creature. While Prometheus
showed us different, this is the first one we as an audience saw and
it hatched from a human. I think to most it is considered the
primary, neutral form.
I bought
a couple of the Warrior Aliens that NECA released
and was quite pleased with those. I had to have this one because it
is the original, because of the translucent head and the skull
underneath, and also because black just seems like the right color to
me. As I’ve mentioned before, I saw Aliens
before I saw Alien.
In the modern age we have not only the internet to reference
high-quality behind-the-scenes pictures and records of the actual
props used, but also high-quality toys that are based on those very
props. The lengths that some toy manufacturers go to in order to
recreate the exact looks of movie monsters, props, and costumes these
days is incredible compared to what we saw in the eighties.
So back
when I saw Aliens
and for years after, I never realized they weren’t black. And it’s
not because I’m like Stephen Colbert and don’t see color. It’s
because I only ever saw shitty VHS transfers of both of the first
movies and just had no idea. It wasn’t until Alien
3, and/or the Kenner line
that the thought of multicolored xenomorphs even occurred to me.
Heck, I didn’t even know they were called xenomorphs at that point,
although there is some debate about the usage of that term. I just
like anything that begins with an “X”. The Quadrilogy DVD set
gave the species' binomial names as Internecivus raptus, which means
“murderous thief” and sounds awesome.
Without
getting too
hyperbolic (me? NEVER), I think Giger’s design is one of the
greatest monster designs of all time, if not the
greatest. My own internal debate on that is that xenomorphs look way
more awesome than Greys, but that they don’t scare me as much on a
purely visual and primal level. At the same time, if I came face to
face with either in real life I think I would have the same reaction
– to cry and curl up in a ball on the floor. Both species are just
as likely to put things in me that I don’t want in me, but I
suppose the Greys’ invasion is generally more survivable.
I’m
going to stop now and review this figure.
FIRST
GLANCE
That
skull, man. And it’s not just the skull. It’s the translucent
dome on top, too. It’s such a creepy, unearthly look. The rest of
the figure is fairly familiar for those of us that purchased the
Warrior Alien from the first wave.
PACKAGING
It’s
a clamshell. You know me and how I feel about clamshells. They’re
ugly, they’re dangerous, and they’re a pain in the ass to open.
NECA does a great job with the graphics, but it’s still a piece of
paper shoved into a dangerously sharp plastic casing.
That’s
a fine bio. What else could you really say about this particular
figure? Looking back on Alien
and taking it in on its own with none of the following movies is
interesting. Nothing was explained. All of this batshit crazy stuff
was found and six human beings met horrible ends. There was no origin
story for the xenomorph. This wasn’t even its home planet. And the
sole surviving human (and her cat) fly off into an unknown and
dubious future in an escape pod at the end. They aren’t rescued. It
just ends.
So
my point is that there’s literally nothing else to say about the
alien. Which is creepy and disturbing.
LOOKS
Obviously
NECA did an amazing job with this sculpt. There’s no denying that.
This figure captures the mad detail of Giger’s design in a way that
no other merchandise (aside from the previous Warrior) has. I
remember thinking that Kenner’s Aliens were incredibly detailed
(and they were for the time), but NECA’s are almost dizzying. I
still really like McFarlane’s slightly stylized take on the
creatures (and NECA will have a tough time beating their excellent
Dog Alien), but these are truly excellent.
The
top of the skull is transparent plastic with a white spray
underneath. You can see all of the details of the inside, as well as
the human-like skull at the front that is so damned creepy.
Of
course, you can’t actually see any
of this in my pictures thanks to the flash, but it’s all there in
person.
The
lower portion of the head is all tubes and ridges. The jaw is hinged
and has a couple of ribbed tubes that extend back and connect to the
figure’s back, which is a really neat detail. When the jaw is
opened it reveals the tongue within, with the secondary set of jaws
at the tip. This is another occasion where a toy has revealed detail
I was unaware of – that the tongue is whitish. This, to me, seems
much more gruesome and disturbing. The tongue is on a little slider
and can be pulled in and out, though it’s difficult to get to.
That’s fine by me because I prefer that over some big lever
sticking out of the figure’s head.
Side
Note: I usually think of that little mouth as the interior jaws, but
in poking around the internet looking for references for this and
other upcoming Alien figure reviews, I saw this repeatedly referred
to as the xenomorphs’ tongues. Which is icky and more disturbing,
so I’m going with it.
The
torso consists of two layers of insanely detailed plastic. The upper
portion features the ribs and dorsal protrusions in the firm but
pliable plastic used in most action figures nowadays.
Like the
Warriors, the upper central protrusion can be removed to allow for
more head poses.
The
lower abdomen is a soft plastic sheath that covers the hip joints and
ascends up under the upper abdomen. It’s just as detailed as the
rest of the figure and the colors match the rest exactly, despite the
differing materials used.
The
tail is highly detailed soft plastic or rubber over a wire armature.
It looks fantastic and poses nicely. I’m very curious to see how
all of the bendy parts on modern action figures hold up over the
years. I know I had a number of bendy toys when I was a kid in the
seventies and by the eighties had a number of rubber toys with broken
wires inside them. It’s worth noting that this xenomorph features a
sharper, more needle-like tail rather than the flatter, blade-like
tails of the later aliens.
The
arms and legs are nicely detailed and I’m sure we’re going to see
them several more times over the years (which I have no problem
with). Every part of the aliens looks like a portion of a killing
machine, but the spurs on the backs of the elbows seem particularly
menacing to me. Although I guess if you’re close enough to see
those in person you have other, more pressing problems.
Aside
from the top of the skull the paint is fairly uniform. The base
plastic is black and there’s a wash of grey all over the figure to
bring out the details and create texture. It looks great and – more
importantly – is uniform across the figure. There aren’t any
spots where it seems too thick or thin. The wash is evenly
distributed throughout.
ACCESSORIES
The
xenomorph does not include any accessories. That's somebody else's guitar.
While
it might have been neat to pack in a facehugger or an egg or a
Chestburster, I really feel like I got my money’s worth with just
the alien. Maybe NECA will release a mini aliens pack with all of
that stuff, kind of like they did with the excellent Predators skull
pack.
FUN
As
beautiful as the figure is, I feel like the real accomplishment is
the amount of articulation NECA was able to build in, as well as how
useful that articulation is. Every joint feels like it has the
maximum range of motion except for maybe the hips. If the legs could
move up a bit further you could get a true crouch out of the figure.
But there’s really no way to have done that and maintain the
profile that is created by the soft lower abdominal piece. As it is,
that ingenious piece of sculpting creates a great look and allows for
more functionality than would otherwise be available.
The
hinged jaw is a bit loose, but it stays put well enough. The tongue
extends as far as it needs to and is honestly a little gross to touch
and manipulate. Everything else works nicely and – bottom line –
this figure can achieve far more poses than the movie version ever
could or did.
The
nature of the joints and the build make it a bit difficult to achieve
a truly neutral standing pose, but that’s something I’m not
really interested in doing, anyway. These figures from NECA are fun
to mess around with and tend to stay on my desk for a good length of
time.
OVERALL
Well
done, NECA. I can’t imagine getting a xenomorph figure that beats
this one in combining aesthetics and playability. There’s just not
much more to say.
5
out of 5
Go
buy one and help us pay the bills!:
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