Predatorhunter's review of NECA's 18" RoboCop.

[predatorhunter]

Below is my modest review of NECA's 18" RoboCop figure, I hope you enjoy it, I wish I could provide pics, but I lack the gear right now, sorry.

Saturday couldn't get here fast enough after ordering this figure off of ebay last week, that was the day that it was estimated to arrive and it did. First off, let me go on record and say that this is my favorite figure right now.

NECA has captured the very esscense of Peter Weller with this creation, and I have even noticed some details that weren't presant on the 6" McFarlane version as well as some accurate detailing that Todd got wrong. Little things like bolt holes that weren't on the Todd version are all on the NECA rendering, as well as some detail on the shoulders located between the "peck" areas and the "half rings" (approx where his collar bones would be), Todd's are too narrow while NECA's are longer which is accurate to the film.

I can't say that I agree with the paint scheme, the McFarlane one features a stellar paint job, but after shooting the NECA with a gloss coat it improved it a couple of notches as the finish was too dull out of the box, i'll get to that more in a moment. As a self proclaimed RoboCop expert, meaning that I know every nook and cranny of the character's physical appearance from being obssessed with him in the 80's, I can't see a single major detail that was missed, save for some small parts that should be located on the very tops of the pistons on his feet, but they can be easily fabricated.

Articulation is great with a wide range of motion and quality construction of all the joint areas, I count 20 points of articulation on this which include...

Neck, shoulders, elbows, forearms, waist, thighs, knees, ankles and three points on each piston on the back of his calves that move up and down and allow the figure to be posed in very impressive film-accurate poses, I chose to pose mine in Robo's classic walking pose. The figure is heavy yet very stable, which is a relief, I hate figures that can't stand up on their own.

To elaborate more on the paint job, while I don't have a problem with the color scheme per se', it's more a matter of which film they chose to base it off of, Todd's looks more RoboCop 2-ish while NECA's isn't that far off the mark from the original film, primarily silver with blue-ish highlights here and there for depth and detail. So the paint job is fine, it just didn't gleam enough for my taste, but that was easily remedied.

***Word of caution, if you want to put a gloss coat on it, make sure you mask off the three recessed ridges around his stomach area, they were flat in the film so you don't want them to shine.***

Robo speaks several different phrases from the first film which can be activated by a switch located on his back, and there is a sound clip of his classic walking sound, but it should have been a little longer IMO, but that is so minor a point that it's hardly even worth bringing up. I usually take the batteries out of my figures anyway for fear of forgetting they're in there and then they get old and burst.

One point of regret is that NECA has chosen not to have his right thigh open to store his Auto-9 pistol, that would have been a very cool feature, but hey, what can you do? He comes with an extra interchangable right hand in an open-handed positon in case you want to pose him without his gun, which isn't even an option for me. ;)

In closing, this is an incredible figure that no fan of Paul Verhoven's classic film should be without, this was my most highly anticipated figure this year and it didn't disappoint. Tall, stoic, noble and fearlessly ready to uphold the law with his trusty Auto-9, get this guy on your shelf ASAP.

Now, it's on to McFarlane's 12" Battle Damaged RoboCop which I just ordered. :)

[gol]

is the paint job as a poor excuse for a paint job as it's on the endoskeleton?

I mean, my endoskeleton has some rough sprayed (battle damage) black on each leg, like if the chinese guy had to paint 50 legs/min. They'd better have not painted it at all.

[predatorhunter]

It's not nearly as bad as that. When you think about it, it's really no wonder why the Endoskeleton's paint scheme appears so poor, that character is high chrome in the film's and the plastic doesn't lend itself to that, unless one does his or her own repaint like our very own Badvenom did to his. For NECA to do that would have required more time and money thus NECA wouldn't have been able to keep the cost down to the usual $39.99, plus you have to keep in mind that they had to be mass produced as well.

Robo's color scheme, as it appears in the film, is much easier to replicate in toy form than the Endo's was, and they did a decent job on it in my opinion, like I said the only problem I had was that it was too dull looking, but a gloss coat shined it up very nicely. I initially was disappointed in the color until I realized that they were going for a part 1 look rather than a part 2 look like Todd did with his 6"er.

As a sidenote, I hold no ill feelings towards NECA for how the Endo turned out, the sculpt itself is fine, all that is required of us is a repaint, personally I like it when something isn't right with a figure that I buy because I have fun correcting whatever the missing detail(s) might be.

[gol]

I think that the metal paint on it isn't that bad, it's a matter of light - mine could be seen as metallic from distant.

I was talking about the slight battle-damage painting. It's light, and very badly done (just a couple of black paint sprays), they should just not have done it.

[predatorhunter]

Agreed, but with a little airbrushing skill and the right paint (Badvenom used a black base coat finished off with Alcolt chrome), it becomes a non issue.

[Mr. X]

I received mine yesterday in the mail.

I like the sculpt and paintjob.

Love the size.

I think I'm going to try and hunt down those Aoshima 12 inch diecast ones.

[predatorhunter]

I love the size, too. In fact ever since I started collecting the 18"er's, I rarely buy the 6 or 7"er's anymore unless it's of a character that I really love. I just find that the smaller ones just don't do it for me anymore, the last one's I bought were Sin City Series 1 and 2 because I love the movie.

Speaking of which, I wonder what our chances are of getting an 18" version of Nancy. ;)

I also wouldn't mind one of Yellow Bastard, either.

[gol]

Surely smaller mcfarlane ones look dumb next to a big neca figure (although mcfarlane does an amazing job on small ones, his big ones are.. well I have the big macfarlane predator and the head is cool but the body isn't that amazing and it can't even stand still on its base).

Problem for me is that neca only covers things I don't like.

[predatorhunter]

gol,
it's not even that the smaller ones look dumb next to the big ones, it's just that the WOW factor is gone from the smaller ones for me somehow, they're great figures, but their appeal has declined. When someone walks into my home theater room (where I have all of my figures on display), the first thing they notice, besides the large screen ;), are the large figures all over the place, I like that about them...they command attention, and compliments, from any visitor.

I don't know what you mean about your 12" Predator not standing up correctly, I have both the 12" Stealth Pred and the 12" regular Pred and they haven't so much as moved an inch since I bought them last year, they remain firmly attached to their bases.

Also, the only problem I have with Todd's 12" Pred's are the sculpted, raised netting that covers the body, the netting really should have been a completely separate element, other than that, I have no problem with them. I also took the liberty of adding my own mixture of 'Predator blood' (green, white and yellow flourescent Testors model paint) to the regular one and it really set it off nicely, you should give that a shot if you haven't done so already.

[gol]

I don't know.. I like big statues but I still like gashapon as well.

My predator (I actually had to for weird reasons), kept falling. Then my cats ate its tubes and so it went back in its box anyway :)

Yeah netting must be a nightmare for painters, I also have a predator elder minibust and the netting is as badly painted.

[predatorhunter]

Yikes, your cat ate parts of your Pred, that's just wrong! Don't feel bad, gol, I have three Pred's, one regular, one stealth and a second stealth still in the box.

I'd like to take this time to officially voice my concern/suggestion to anyone thinking of doing an 18" Predator, and assuming that they see this message of course...NO SCULPTED AND PAINTED BODY NETTING!! If the netting can't be done separately using filiment or another type of modeling line, just leave it off altogether and let us collectors find a way to fabricate it ourselves!

[gol]

you can be sure that when cinemaquette will do their predator, it'll have real clothing. It'll of course cost 50x more than the macfarlane one, but that's a detail.