NECA TF2 Series 2 Heavy Review

It feels like a lifetime, but it really has only been about six months since the first series of NECA’s Team Fortress 2 line came out.  For those that do not recall the first series included the Pyro and Demoman in their red team outfits.  This was followed a few months later by the series one figures in their BLU colors.  This brings us to the end of August and the Heavy and Soldier have finally arrived, making us four out of nine for a complete TF2 cast.

Will we make it to the end?  I hope so, but those BLU figures I see sitting on the pegs at FYE worry me for the longevity of the line.

The first thing you will notice when you find the Heavy is that this figure lives up to his name.  His clamshell is twice the size of any other figures in this line.  And it isn’t just him taking up the space in the packaging, NECA decked this guy out with accessories.  He includes his minigun, a shotgun, and two alternate hands made to hold the aforementioned shotgun.  Sorry folks, he does not come with a “sandvich” after all it is still an unlockable and not part of his original load out.

I was a little apprehensive as to how these would turn out, but my fears were laid to rest today.  The Heavy turned out great and he looks like he jumped right out of the game.  All of the detail is there including the five-o-clock shadow.

NECA put some interesting articulation on the Heavy.  The first thing I noticed was the huge ball elbows.  These work really well because the character has almost gorilla-like proportions.  The elbows enable him to hit mostof the  gun holding poses while simultaneously keeping his in-game proportions.  The other interesting choice is in the hips.  He almost has reverse ball joints here.  What it accomplishes is that it seems to smooth out the hip sculpt, (which again keeps him game accurate) and provides a better center of gravity since he will most likely be holding his giant gun.  The rest of the articulation is pretty par for the course, but when you really investigate these guys there are a lot of hidden moving parts.

I had a few concerns going into this wave based on the previous releases.  My biggest concern was that the figures would have issues standing.  The first series’ figures had tiny ankles that were just not able to support their top-heavy frames.  I’m happy to say that the Heavy has larger ankle balls, and is able to stand quite well.  Luckily with the heavy you also have the option of having him rest over his minigun which can provide a lot of support; especially if his ankles get loose over time.

The other concern was the paint.  Prior releases chipped very easily, and the first time you use joints they will shed a good amount of paint.  This still will happen so you do need to be careful when handling these guys.  The Heavy fell a few times while I was posing him and some of his skin scraped right off onto my backdrop!  Past the easily removed paint is an amazingly detailed figure.  All of the bullets on his sash are individually detailed.   His vest, pants, shirt, and shoes have all of the tiny details painted in.  Being a video game character and having more defined lines makes it easier to spot paint slop, but for the most part the figure is very cleanly painted.

These are big figures and packed with a good amount of accessories so they end up going over the normal NECA price of below twenty dollars.  You can get these in the range of $21 – $26, so while not bargain priced they are still a great deal.  The in-game codes are also back so if you get in early you may be able to sell them to cut into that price a bit … people still love hats!

BONUS HATS!

Grab yourself a Heavy over at Amazon if you feel so inclined, I don’t think you will regret it.  The first series can also be bought if you want to get caught up as well!