NECA Aliens S1 Xenomorph Warrior Review

NECA has outdone themselves with this version of the Xenomorph Warrior.  I get a bit neurotic with Alien figures, specifically the Xenomorphs.  Why do you ask?  I think it goes back to McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs days.  McFarlane made some really nice looking Alien figures, including a dog alien from Alien 3 I particularly enjoyed.  The only thing I did not enjoy about the dog alien was how easy it was to break him.  Aliens have tiny parts which was never helped by McFarlane’s brittle plastic.  Snapped limbs were almost a rite of passage into collecting the Movie Maniacs line.  I have fond memories of McFarlane stuff that was broken in the package.

With this Xenomorph, NECA appears to have done all the right things.  First of all he is HUGE.  Compare his size standing straight up with most other Alien, Predator, or even Prometheus action figures.  He’s slightly taller than the Engineer who already towers over most of my other figures.  With this mass it gives them the ability to give him larger and more solid joints.  I’ve posed this guy in a ton of stances since getting him and there was never a time I thought any of those joints were going to break.  The articulation on the warrior is rock solid.

Any joint you can think of that another figure from NECA might be missing is on this Xenomorph.  He has both double elbows, double knees, shoulder and hip balls, bicep swivels, ball jointed head, opening jaw, ankle, wrist, and toe articulation.  On top of all this he has a bendy tail that you are free to pose however you want.  They also found a surprising way of giving him a huge range of movement in his hips by making the sculpted crotch area soft plastic.  This is incredibly effective for getting the Xeno into crouching positions.

The Xenomorph Warrior is all black plastic with brown highlights painted all over his body.  It’s a pretty simplistic approach but works extremely well.  Down the line there will also be a blue colored Xeno in one of the two-packs.  Finally there is the Genocide (it’s a comic) two pack of a straight black and a flat red Alien.  I believe all of these will use the same sculpt as this, but the blue one will be slightly modified with bodily damage.

There really isn’t much to watch out for with this action figure.  As I mentioned it is very sturdily made while still being highly articulated.  I would just take it easy on some of the leg joints because as with most highly articulated figures those joints may start to get loose as time passes.  I’ve put mine into quite a few poses and for the most part the joints are still holding up well, so don’t be too concerned about loose joints.

When I tell you the price on these you may freak … this figure can be had for between $15 – $18 if you shop around.  That is not a typo.  I say this a lot but you really can’t find this type of quality for so cheap.  In fact you would probably spend more on the secondary market trying to track down some lesser quality McFarlane Aliens.  This is one of those examples where the reuse (different colored reissues that are planned) is done smart and saves the consumer money.  If you are an Alien series fan I would suggest this figure over any other out there.  Go check out Amazon if you want one, but get a move on because I can’t see these staying on the shelves as word and pictures gets out.

NECA has a pretty incredible amount of exciting stuff that came out this month.  This first Aliens series as well as the ninth Predator series have are hitting shelves.  In addition people have been picking up Rambo, Pacific Rim, and Lone Ranger figures and saying mostly good things.  Check back as we plan to have a look at the Colonial Marine action figures next!

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