NECA Endoskeleton Review

[Azog]

James Cameron captured the heart of many fans when Terminator appeared in theaters in the early 1980's, and that attraction to the end of days continued through 3 installments. NECA/Reel Toys getting more and more reknowned for their 18 inch action figure creations has produced an 18 inch action figure based on the Terminator Endoskeleton as it appeared in Terminator 2 : Judegment Day.

<div align=center><img src="http://www.azogscollection.com/endo/endo4.JPG" alt="" style="border: none;" /></div>

This is an amazing figure, so much articulation, and of course a dead online likeness to the movie machine. Articulation points include mounth, neck, shoulders, upper arms, lower arms, wrists, fingers spine, back, hips, upper legs, lower legs, feet, and ankles.

One thing I was worried about was the figures ability to stand on its own, because of the top heaviness, plus the feet are tiny. Not an issue, the Endoskeleton stands firmly on its own which standing straight up, however its difficult to get him to balance in different poses.

<div align=center><img src="http://www.azogscollection.com/endo/endo15.jpg" alt="" style="border: none;" /></div>

The cool factor of the figure comes in the light up eyes, that are activated by a panel on the side of the head. The eyes shine brightly and are powered by the included/replaceable battery.

<div align=center><img src="http://www.azogscollection.com/endo/endo3.JPG" alt="" style="border: none;" /></div>

The paint is basically one color, silver metallic, with hints of white and black for shading.

<div align=center><img src="http://www.azogscollection.com/endo/endo11.JPG" alt="" style="border: none;" /></div>

Another interesting point of interest is the multitude of hydraulic sockets that NECA had to produce to make the Endoskeleton screen authentic. Every point of articulation has some hydraulic action, that makes the figure come to life.

I am very impressed with this figure and highly recommend it to any fan of the movie or toy collector. It will be a great subsitute for those who can not afford the higher end, Endoskeleton Statue being produced by Sideshow Collectibles.

[Collection King 13]

That looks cool!

[CKinSD]

azog another great review of a heck of a piece there.

[Zurbaran1]

Nice review Azog. That looks like an awesome piece and it's going to be a hell of a lot more affordable than the high end stuff out there right now.

[Mr. X]

I have the McFarlane Movie Maniacs one and man, does that one look crappy. Especially the paint apps. Gonna get rid of it for sure.

I'm, definitely interested in this one and the Robocop one that's coming out soon.

Isn't there a high end of the T-800 that's all metal? If so, which company releases it?

[Gir]

Sideshow and Cinemaquette are both making high-end ones.

[Mr. X]

Sideshow and Cinemaquette are both making high-end ones.
Wow. Pretty much out of my price range. lol

[Mr. X]

Azog, can we please get a full body shot of the Neca one?

As many as you can post.

[Azog]

I will try and get one up by weeks end, this piece is in my office now...

[BadVermin]

I wasn't thrilled with the NECA paint job, so I re-painted mine. I ended up buying two of them. Painted one chrome, the other is an old battle worn version. These are really amazingly great toys, I counted 68 moving parts. 68!!! The head sculpt is a little off, but thats more of a nitpick on an otherwise stellar sculpt. You can really get a nice range of motion out of the joints and they feel very sturdy and strong. I'm not worried about snapping his limps off. The light feature turned out perfect, it's very bright red, and the switch is completely hidden, you would never know it was there unless you touched it. It comes with a total of three hands, two slightly open hands (with joint), and one pistol grip hand which holds the gun well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/BadVermin/Terminatorcopy.jpg
Chrome Version with stand.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/BadVermin/Redeye.jpg
Close-up Chrome version w/lights on (going sell it on ebay)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/BadVermin/gun.jpg
Gun re-paint

[BadVermin]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/BadVermin/Chrome.jpg
Battle Worn Version

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/BadVermin/chest.jpg
Close-up Battle Worn

[Gruson]

Your repaints made a bad looking piece look good!

Either repaint it like BadV did or save your money for the Sideshow piece.

[Mr. X]

What's he cheapest place to get the Neca one anyways, besides Ebay?

[predatorhunter]

Hi, guy's, great review Azog! I posted my own little review of this figure at another site, I cut and pasted it here and would like to know what you all think of it, it doesn't feature pics, though, I also modified it a little to fit in this thread.

Here's my modest review of NECA's 18" Endoskeleton, enjoy...

Never let it be said that NECA skimps on detail, every hydraulic (which actually work), cable, piston, joint, nook and cranny has been reproduced and results in a truly imposing figure. As soon as I unpacked the box from the other box that the ebay seller put it in, I couldn't get it out of it's box fast enough! I undid the twist ties that bound it to the cardboard backing faster than ever before! :eek:

Put simply, no Terminator fan should be without this one!

I would even go so far as to compare it to the models that were used in the film itself, minus the ultra chrome finish, which is my only complaint about the figure...it isn't shiny or metallic looking enough. It boasts a pretty standard high gloss silver paint that resembles neither metal or plastic but something in between. But I suppose, if your truly a brave soul, you could fix that by applying chrome automotive paint to it. If you goof, though, that's an expensive goof that could ruin the figure if you aren't careful. I'm not willing to try that, so i'll leave it be. Although, I am amazed at the job you did on it, Bad Vermin! What did you use to paint it if I might ask? Despite what I said above I would be willing to give it a shot.

One of the most striking features about the figure are the red light up eyes, which are both bright red and are of equal brightness, in fact when you look at them directly straight on, they act almost like tiny flashlights that are super bright! When activated by a button on the side of the head, it suddenly comes alive and truly looks as if it's scanning the landscape, looking for it's next human victim in the war against man and machine. One minor complaint, the eyes don't stay on long, they only stay on for a few seconds before turning off, just long enough for you to quickly stand back and admire it.

The features of the phase plasma rifle have all been captured, just as you see in the opening of the film when he steps on the human skull and the camera pans up. The figure has no problem standing up on it's own, but beware if you decide to bend one leg into a "walking" position, the figure becomes unstable and could fall over. The construction is sturdy, to be sure, but one tumble from a shelf could be disastrous, resulting in many peices breaking off i'm sure. As Azog pointed out, the feet are tiny, but they are also not proportioned to the rest of the figure IMO, no doubt this is so the figure could stand up, NECA had no choice with that I suppose, that's a very minor obvervation, though.

Flexability is great with a large amount of articulation points, as I said almost all of the major hydraulics work on this figure, so when you pose it it really stays in proportion to how it actually moves in the film. It also comes with a second attachable right hand so that you may choose to pose it without the rifle, but let's face it, why would you want to do that? ;) Most amazingly, when you turn the head right or left, the hydraulics that attach the head to the inner chest cavity actually pull up on the mechanisms inside the chest which really gives you a sense of the anatomy of this killing machine. :tu:

Mouth opens up and down with small hydraulics that extend up into the cheek bone areas, a detail that could have easily been either left out or cheated, but once again NECA comes through.

Which brings me to the head, man, there are some eagle eyed folks over at NECA that did not miss a single solitary thing! Every line, every tiny hole is there, of course this includes the Endoskeleton's CPU port on top of the skull made famous by the SE of the film. I even tried examining the head with a magnifying glass and it holds up, almost frighteningly so.

I'd like to know what you all think because i'm thinking of starting my own site that features nothing but reviews of the figures I buy.

[gol]

A nice alternative is aoshima's endoskeleton, which can still be found for around $100. It's smaller, but almost full metal (with plastic hands unfortunately), and it's quite important to know it's metal and to have that cold feel.

Now between the 'small' sideshow one, the 1:1 version, and the cinemaquette one.. mmhh.. really I'd like to get the cinemaquette one because they gave it a great pose.

Note that the aoshima endo's posability is zero (for the legs). So it kinda sucks to have it standing up like a dummy, and even there it still needs the base stuck up its ass not to fall :(
Also, no lit eyes, but you can live without that. Actually I like the flashing eyes of the sideshow 1:1 head, but the soundclip that goes with it is so lame (like coming from a star wars movie) that I never switch it on.

[Azog]

Great points predatorhunter , for $30 bucks its worth it to have as discussion piece, they really should have done a base with him to hold him up...

[Mr. X]

I prefer an action figure than the statues so no Sideshow or Cinemaquettes for me. They way out of my reach in terms of price anyways.

Is the Neca one the biggest scale as an action figure right?

How tall is the Aoshima one? 12 inches? Is it this (https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/toystan.asp?Queryid=pr752)? Is that the same scale? Or is this another one?

It's a toughie since the Aoshima looks prety nice and it's diecast.

But I like the Neca size more.

Which to buy? Oh.

[gol]

It's the aoshima indeed, but the base behind looks different (probably an old pic, or they made a new base), and it has been out for years.

It's much smaller. Comes in clean & weathered edition - I bought the weathered because the color looked better. But maybe the clean is better afterall. Both have different guns I think - but the gun is lame anyway.
The aoshima is more a statue than an action figure. And remember that the hands are fixed-pose plastic ones (with a spare one for the gun).
But I can't directly compare since I don't have the neca one yet.

[Mr. X]

If it's been out for years, it's weird how it's listed as a pre-order.

[gol]

ok I got my neca endo, and I must say, while it does have the wow factor (it's cool to play with), it's very light, bends, and only when you handle it you understand that the aoshima metal one is not a toy :)

I mean, the neca one is cool, not expensive, but it's a toy and it's not worth more than it costs. I only half-agree about the details, there's a lot of detail but a lot of things left out/merged together.

[lance j]

holy crap what kind of paint did ya use that looks great .and what did ya have to mask to do it

[IndyTaz]

I know this is an old thread but I just purchased a NECA endo as I was so inspired. So I could do the same thing. Anyone know what paint was used?

Cheers
Christian