NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

NECA Ultimate Tech Noir and Police Station Assault Terminator Review

There are three types of people in this world: people who say that The Terminator is better than T2, people who prefer T2 to the original (the correct answer), and weirdos who don’t like either and prefer snooze-fest movies like ‘Foxcatcher’ or ‘The Master’. I’ve seen both. Not impressed, guy who is wearing a sweater vest at a craft beer convention. But I digress, the first two James Cameron movies are masterpieces in sci-fi horror and action. NECA having the license decided to update their Terminator figures with the ‘Ultimate” treatment.

The original Terminator figures that came out five years ago had very limited articulation (none in the legs!), and NECA released a few different variations of the same character. Two different versions of Tech Noir and Police Assault: both normal and battle damaged. With these ultimate updates they added more articulation, accessories, and different heads so that you can choose which scene is your favorite without clogging the shelf.

Ultimate Police Assault Arnie is the iconic look everyone knows and loves. The dark sunglasses, slicked back hair, big guns, and leather jacket. The jacket has a few bullet holes in them but aren’t noticeable outright if you’re worried about the figure being flawless looking.

Tech Noir Arnie is an interesting and refreshing looking Terminator figure. When people think of this franchise they think of the sunglasses and leather jacket, but for the first half of the movie he was wearing the stolen the wardrobe of Bill Paxton and his punk rock friends. The outfit screams 1984 with his goofy graffiti shirt and rhinestone jacket.

NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

Both of these figures have a neat trick that NECA seems to have perfected with characters wearing coats. Much like the recently released Alien 3 Ripley. They essentially make a vest over their bodies and just have sculpted ‘coat arms’ to blend in. This is a way of not restricting the figures movement while still being accurate.

NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

Of course no NECA figure would be ‘Ultimate’ without a laundry list of accessories which include the following:

Tech-Noir Arnie comes with –
– Window packaging that has the Original Movie Poster
– Head with longer hair
– Short hair head with burned off eyebrows
– Head with eye damage after his shootout in the garage
– Handgun
– Uzi
– Two surgical scissors
– Battle damaged arm with exposed endoskeleton
– A second left hand that is open to replace his fist

Police Assault Arnie comes with –
– Window packaging from the Blu-Ray copy of the movie
– Head with sunglasses
– Head with exposed eye
– Head that is severely battle damaged
– Shotgun
– Machine gun
– Revolver
– A different set of battle damaged hands

NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

That added articulation to the legs is the unsung hero of these figures. I’m not a fan of sticking to one dynamic pose so it’s nice to see we can do more with them other than a ‘braced’ pose. Now while the articulation has been added they both only have single joint elbow and knee articulation. They are walking death tanks, not flippty-doo luchadores, so don’t expect them to be doing anything crazy.

NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

Gripes are minor with these guys. Police Assault has a tiny baby revolver that doesn’t look right and the elbow articulation is limited so he can’t hold his shotgun back to rest on his shoulder. Tech Noir can only grip the stock of his shotgun, not actually hold it in a pose that he could look like he is shooting it. I would also love to know how he can actually hold his scissors in any other pose then the one I have him in as they are actually just laying in his hand.

NECA Tech Noir and Police Assault Ultimate Terminator Review

Final Verdict: If I had to recommend only one essential Terminator figure I would say to go grab Ultimate Police Assault. It’s the look we immediately think of when somebody mentions ‘The Terminator,’ and has more menacing looking weapons. Don’t discount Ultimate Tech Noir if you have the extra scratch though. (He’s my personal favorite just on the unconventional outfit alone). Both figures are amazing in detail and quality and a large step up from the previous versions.

(David Boyce is a prize fighter from Pittsburgh. I’ve heard tales that he hosts a podcast called The Clouded Judgement Podcast. I’m still really not sure what a podcast is, but they sound fun!)

[adsense]

David Boyce

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top