NECA has been knocking it out of the park with their Predator line for years, and now they have been giving the same treatment to their Alien/Aliens line. Today I am taking a look at the recently released Aliens 2-pack, featuring Hicks vs. a battled-damaged Xenomorph warrior. This is the second release for both of these figures, but this time we have a few changes.
First, we will get all the details on the Aliens warrior with the exclusive battle-damaged head and chest burst. In series 2, there was a normal, blue alien warrior released; this is the same figure expect for his amazing head sculpt and the added chest damage. In these pictures we have the series 2 Xeno vs. the 2-pack Xeno. From the neck down, they are pretty much the same figure. If you have any of NECA’s Xeno warrior figures, you know how detailed the body sculpt and paint job are. He features over 30 points of articulation and stands over 9 inches tall, though he is a little shorter when posing him in a normal Xeno warrior pose. He also as a long bendable tail.
Even though I already have this figure, I cannot help but fall in love with it all over again. The gruesome detail in his exploding head is so good that it almost turns my stomach — and that is a great thing! We see his “face” being blown off to one side. We also get a sculpt of the inner mouth screaming in pain. The head explosion paint job is a mix of different greens on what appears to be a somewhat translucent plastic. The chest burst is made out of the same translucent plastic and features the same color scheme.
Now we will look at the man responsible for the battle damage: Corporal Dwayne Hicks. First, I will get my one negative out of the way: I love the sculpt of the screaming Hicks helmeted head, but I do not like the paint job on his face. If you look at the first Hicks figure, you can see how much more natural the paint looks on his face. I will say it’s not as bad as it looks in the pictures; the lights are not his friends. And maybe if the first Hicks was not so amazing, I might not be that bothered. Luckily it doesn’t ruin this figure. I am still very happy to own this guy.
It would have been cool if the helmet could come off, but, alas, it does not. It does, however, have some amazing detail all over it, from the paint job to the extra details, like the hanging chin strap, camera, and helmet mic.
His body is 100 percent the same sculpt as the series 1 Hicks. He features over 30 points of articulation, and mine came with solid, tight joints.
On the front and back of his chest armor are his personalized “decals.” Now, I am not sure if it’s every figure, but my new Hicks has better paint detail on his armor as opposed to my series 1 Hicks.
The last part is my favorite part of NECA’s Aliens Marine figures: all those wonderful toys! Hicks comes stacked with goodies. Included in this pack is a pulse rifle with shoulder strap, a shotgun, a shotgun holster, a motion detector, a shoulder lamp, and a welding torch.
Honestly, I still have no idea how NECA keeps putting this much paint detail and articulation in these figures, yet can keep them under $18 each. If you only can buy one Hicks, I still say go with the series 1 Hicks, but if you can swing it, you should grab this set too. They really look great together in some battle poses. Plus, you could always pop another head on this body and have yourself another Marine to fight next to Hicks!
