NECA continues to crank out figures based on the Alien franchise, and hitting stores now is an Aliens-themed wave including Vasquez, Frost, and a concept version of the Xeno. As this seems to be an ever-expanding line with regular releases, I’ve had to focus my collection on characters that have appeared in the film, so today we’ll just be checking out Vasquez and Frost. Enough jibber-jabber! Let’s get down to it!
Packaging
I think NECA makes the best mass-market packages in the business, and it’s no different here. It’s your standard clamshell with some awesome toy photography and interesting bios on the character. One day I’d love to see the twist ties gone, but that day hasn’t yet come.
Sculpt
Private Jenette Vasquez
As the tough as nails Smartgun operator, fan-favorite Vasquez was definitely my most-wanted figure from this wave. The likeness is pretty strong (and spot-on in certain angles), but I can’t help but feel that it’s slightly off. Even so, it’s an amazing-looking sculpt. The sculpt is Vasquez in full-on battle mode with the headgear sculpted on. Her hands are sculpted in a way that it’s obviously only meant to hold her weapon. I have no problem at with that. While Frost is essentially the same sculpt as the other male Marines, Vasquez appears to be all new. She’s scaled perfectly and her distinctive look really pops on the shelf.
Private Rico “Frosty” Frost
Frost is your classic Star Trek “red shirt.” He doesn’t do much of anything other than get fried by his own teammate. His only real contribution to the story is that his death leads to the loss of all the confiscated ammo cartridges. But is he a worthwhile figure? Oh yeah. I’m all about building up the ranks, and this sculpt is just amazing. As noted, this is really no surprise if you own Hicks and Hudson, but why mess with perfection? Frost has a new webgear and the head sculpt looks great.
Paint
The paint on both figures is top notch. The cut lines are nice and clean and I had no trouble finding figures with straight eyes. As with each Marine, they’ve personalized their armor and webgear to match the films. It really is a great touch and lets you feel like you’re buying something new, rather than just a rehashed figure with a new head. One thing to note is how clean they look. These guys get pretty filthy running around LV-246 shooting up Aliens, but as there is no weathering at all to speak of, they look like they just jumped off the transport ship.
Articulation
This is your standard NECA articulation with no surprises at all. Included is a ball-jointed head, pin and disc shoulders, elbows, and knees, ball/pin and disc hips, rocker ankles, pin wrists, waist cut and an ab joint. All the joints are nice and tight and you really get a lot of range of motion with the ball-jointed heads. They really do need to upgrade the wrist articulation so that you can get more realistic poses with their rifles.
Accessories
NECA is still killing it with accessories and it’s no different here.
Vasquez
Just like all the marines, she comes with a removable shoulder light, but the big item here is, of course, the smartgun. It’s huge, perfectly sculpted, and awesome. The weapon is meant to be attached to her gear and swivel around, but getting it put together properly was a little tricky and no instructions are included in the package. I had to hit the Fwoosh forums to get it figured out, but it seems to look okay now. Getting the gun into her right hand was also a bit tough, so if you’re in doubt, just use some heat to soften up the plastic; you don’t want to force anything with NECA figs. She also comes with a blast effect that can be plugged in to the barrel of the gun. It’s a great addition and I hope NECA starts including more of these in the future.
Frost
Frost is fitted with his own webgear and light of course, but he also includes a removable helmet, sidearm, flamethrower, and the bag he used to hold everyone’s ammo — which was a great touch by NECA. This is my first Marine with a helmet, so I was pretty excited. The sculpt is great and it doesn’t look overly large when he’s wearing it — as is often the case with removable hats and helmets.
I love this line and it’s probably my favorite on the market right now. If you’re a fan of the series and aren’t planning on picking these guys up — then man, I just don’t know what to tell ya.
Thanks for reading!
