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NECA Alien vs Predator Requim

  

"The following is a guest review.  The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

We have a new guest reviewer tonight, Seth Conroy aka Elder_Predator2, who is covering a couple of the smaller Alien figures.  I've had tons of great coverage on the Hot Toys sixth scale AvP stuff, but I personally haven't even seen any of NECA's stuff.  Tell us all about the, Seth!







Packaging: ***1/2
The package is an ordinary clamshell. Nothing fancy. The Clamshell has full color photos on both sides, and one photo with the character’s name. On the back there is a small sheet that has a phot of the Alien, Predalien, and the Predator. There are a few twist ties that hold the figure in the package.

Sculpt: ****
These are by far the best sculpts I have seen of an Alien in a long time. I think that they even trump Hot Toys. The sculpts are 100% spot on. Every wrinkle on the prop is on the toy. The inside of the mouth is sculpted with the utmost attention to detail. The heads are just a thing of beauty. The McToys Aliens always had wimp little heads and tails, but these are perfectly to proportion. There’s not much I can say. The entire body on both figures are highly detailed. The teeth are individually sculpted on both figures too. There is a sculpt variant in the Predalien, the mandibles are either open or closed and that’s it, no changes to anything else.

Paint: Alien *** ½; PredAlien ****
The paint aps are extremely accurate to the actual movie prop. The Predalien’s body is spot on. The figure’s body has a bunch of various shades of tan, gunmetal, and gray The same goes for the Predalien’s head. The inside of the mouth is even painted with great detail. The teeth are painted a really dull shade of metallic gray. The tails underside is painted in various shades of tan, and brown while the top of the tail is painted in gunmetal with steel highlights.

The alien warrior has a base main coat of black. The body, tail, appendages, and head’s details are highlighted with gunmetal. A few tubes on the neck are dry brushed with copper., and the forehead is painted with a semi-gloss gunmetal. The hands and feet are molded in a neutral gray, while the forearms are molded in a black. The hands don’t blend at all with the forearms. The same thing goes for the teeth, really dull metallic gray.

Articulation - Predalien ***; Alien Warrior ****
The Predalien has very few points of articulation. She has a ball jointed head and shoulders. The mouth is on a hinged joint. The biceps are cut joints just like the wrists, hips, and thighs. In all she has 12 points of articulation. I personally am not a big fan on cut joints, mainly because if you turn the lower part of the thigh the upper part of the thigh will not match up with the sculpting on the lower thigh. The joints are nice and stiff, but not too stiff. The joints feel nice and sturdy.

This is where the Alien really shines. He has a whopping 19 points of articulation. He has a ball jointed neck, hips and sternum. There are cut joints for the shoulders, biceps, wrists and thighs. The Alien has a hinged jaw, elbows, knees, and ankles. Again, I really don’t care for the cut joints on this figure, or any figure for the reason as stated earlier. My favorite joint are the jaws because they are brand new to the 7-8 inch Alien line.

Accessories: N/A
Unless you count the stand that comes with the figures there is nothing else. Series two on the other hand will consist of Predators, so you know there’s gonna be a boat load of accessories.

Fun Factor: Predalien ***; Alien Warrior ****
If I could I would give the Alien Warrior more stars, but I can’t. They are just so cool in every aspect. The alien is really fun to pose on my desk. Even though the PredAlien is in pretty much a set pose, it still is fun just to look at her in amazement because of the detail, paint aps, and because she’s a PREDALIEN.

Value: ****
For 12.99 + tax they are well worth the price. The detail in the paint and sculpt are just like something you would expect a high class toy company like Hot Toys to produce for hundreds. I know that a lot of online retailers are raising the prices on both, if you can get them between $12.00 and 20.00$ four stars. Anywhere higher it would be three stars.

Things to Watch out For
There’s nothing really to watch out for with these guys. They are built nice and sturdy, although I don’t recommend dropping them off of your roof. No accessories to loose or break either. The base’s pegs can snap off if the figure, while attached to the stand by the pegs falls off your shelf.

Overall ***1/2 Both
These are by far the best Alien figures I own to this day. The bendy tails are really cool. The moving jaws are also really cool. The figures will be the pinnacle of somebody’s collection for awhile. The paint aps., the sculpt, and the new articulation head are all great. For the price it’s a great deal. Just really great works of art.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ****
Paint - Alien *** ½; PredAlien ****
Articulation - Predalien ***; Alien Warrior ****
Accessories - N/A
Fun Factor - Predalien ***; Alien Warrior ****
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/2

Where to buy-
Online retailers include:

- Time and Space Toys has them for about $16 each.

- CornerStoreComics also has the singles at $16, or the pair for $28.

- Amazing Toyz also has the singles at $16, and the pair at $28.

 


Figure from the collection of Seth Conroy.

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