NECA Pacific Rim S3 Cherno Alpha Review

In Pacific Rim we get a fairly short glimpse of what Cherno Alpha can do in combat.  He gets a few punches in but is shortly after destroyed by the Kaiju duo of Leatherback and Otachi.  Cherno’s pilots probably get the most awful looking death in the movie as well when the hull is ripped open and they are mercilessly drowned by Leatherback.  I can watch people get ripped up, shot, stabbed, and all the gore in the world but holding somebody underwater is something I can’t handle.

* – Sorry I don’t have a Leatherback yet, so for the time being this is the alternate dimension where he fights Knifehead, Trespasser, and any other monster I have lying around!

Cherno Alpha is a Mark-1 Jaeger, and at the time of the movie events (roughly 2025) the oldest one in existence.  It should come as no surprise that Chero is a Russian Jaeger riding off the stereotype of giant brutish Russian men ala Zangief, Ivan Drago, Nikolai Volkoff and Vladimir Putin.  The Jaeger is piloted by a husband and wife combo named Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky.  Cherno is a bruiser.  He’s slow, heavily armored, and packs quite a punch.  We get to see a very short glimpse of his strength in the film before everything goes wrong.  They show just enough of Cherno to make him the Boba Fett of Pacific Rim.

Lest we forget this wave includes two deluxe sized Kaiju, but Cherno alone makes this wave the best so far in NECA’s Pacific Rim series.  I’ve never seen these guys in stores and Cherno Alpha is the first one to sell out any time the figures pop up on Amazon.  It seems like this third wave is a shot in the arm for the property now that NECA has strayed from the concessions they made for Pacific Rim action figures to go mass retail.  I got the Kaiju first and though it couldn’t get better than those guys.  Once I got Cherno and Coyote in hand that all changed, the Jaegers are completely badass!

The interesting thing about Cherno Alpha is that he has almost the same amount of articulation as the original Gipsy Danger.  Unlike Gipsy though, Cherno’s design allows him to take full advantage of most of his articulation points.  A lot of Gipsy’s issues stemmed from having parts of his armor restrict full joint movement.  This is also something I will have to go into with Coyote Tango’s review because he has some of the joints (like a bicep swivel and thigh cut) that I think would have made Cherno perfect, but are unfortunately blocked by the sculpt.

A nice little addition NECA added to this figure was to allow him to open his hands.  Cherno has a pretty solid base so he’s great at holding things.  Although I did try to put Gipsy in his arms, and … well even Soviet technology has its limits!

One other feature included with Cherno is almost an “action feature” of his spring-loaded arms.  They aren’t actually spring-loaded on the figure, but you can pull them out and they add about a half-inch of arm length.  It’s a nice little touch that probably didn’t need to be included but is appreciated when you see it.

If you were a Cherno Alpha fan (and let’s be honest, we all are) then you will not be disappointed with the justice NECA gave him in this wave three release.  He’s bigger than any Jaeger action figure currently released, not only in height but the figure has some nice heft as well.  While he slightly crossed the NECA $20 threshold (MSRP is $20.99) he’s still an incredible value for what you are getting.  He’s also an affordable figure with a completely original sculpt, and you don’t see that too often these days.

If you want a nice Cherno Alpha for yourself, grab it off Amazon.  As of now he’s Prime eligible and only $20.99!