“Alien life form. Looks like it’s been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it’s growing out of the chair.” — Dallas
A good while back, NECA dropped a bomb on fans of its Alien line by releasing an in-scale foam statue of the mysterious Space Jockey. It was expensive and enormous, and because it was just essentially a set piece, I really never imagined it being in my collection. Thanks to my loving wife for checking my Amazon Wish List, I now have the collection centerpiece I never knew I needed, and could have possibly missed out on.
Packaging
Packaging is virtually nonexistent. What you get is the brown shipping box and a chintzy-looking tag attached to the statue. I’ll freely admit that I am a fan of packaging and presentation. It’s very rare that I’ll keep something mint, but I always appreciate the work that goes into package design. This one was a bit of a let down.
Sculpt
In the original film, the Space Jockey (as he came to be known) is a complete unknown. This was before the internet and fandoms tried to explain everything, so we ended up knowing just as much about the Space Jockey as the Nostromo crew did. Dimly shot, frightening, and mysterious — the exploration of LV-426 in Alien is still one of my favorite scenes in all of sci-fi. Seeing it in 3D in my dining room next to my kid’s sippie cup tends to take away some of that feeling, but you really do get a better appreciation of all the pipes and do-dads. And it’s a beautiful sculpt to complement a beautiful design.
Standing at about 22 inches tall with a length of 33 inches, this thing is huge and is perfectly scaled with NECA’s 7-inch Alien figures. Being that it is foam construction, the details aren’t as sharp as they would be with a polystone statue, and a seam is slightly noticeable. It’s a great sculpt, no doubt, but it’s not quite as crisp as their figures.
Paint
I’m loving the paint work on this. It’s simple, but effective and clean. Metal looks like metal and bone looks like bone. Giger’s masterful bio-mechanical works were fairly monochromatic, and that’s what we get here. NECA is more than competent at tiny intricate details on its figures, but it’s also nice to see them pull it back when necessary.
Value
This sucker is not cheap. At $300, it’s by far the most expensive NECA item I own. The amazing sculpt, limited production, and sheer size alone puts it at a good value. I do think that some collectors might experience a lower perceived value once in hand. Being made of foam, this replica has nowhere near the heft of a polystone statue. Of course, given its size, it also costs half the price of what it could go for as statue. Still, holding it in hand (or with one finger even), you can’t help wonder if this is what $300 should feel like. Luckily, that moment passed by quickly. Once this was set in my display, there was no question. Only something this awesome can make the Power Loader and Alien Queen fade into the background. It truly is a centerpiece item and worth the price.
Thanks for reading!
