To all Steemers watching for updates in my blog, yes, I know it's been nearly a month since I last posted anything. I apologize for that since I've been very busy with my college stuff, and I just defended my thesis proposal.
But now I'm back!!! To continue with my Aliens toy line reviews, I give you NECA's Aliens Xenomorph Warrior! NECA actually released two color versions of this figure, a brown and a blue version. I only opened the former.
To shed some light on the in-universe monster, the Xenomorph Warrior is obviously the more aggressive and intimidating version of the Xenomorph seen prominently in James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens. Gone is the translucent dome that once covered the original "Big Chap" Xenomorph in the first movie. Comparing Big Chap and the Warrior, the latter did not bear the former's human skull face; the Warrior now had spiky ridges protruding from front to back of the dorsal portion of its skull. If I'm not mistaken, behind the scenes, the Warriors originally had the translucent domes. But due to the rigorous roles the Warriors had in the film, coupled with the risk of the dome falling off and breaking, the crew decided to remove the domes altogether.
NECA again has replicated the icky, but now more spiky-looking, appearance of the Xenomorph Warrior. As you can see, to preserve the clamshell packaging, I cut it at the sides to open the seals.
While this was actually released before the 35th Anniversary Xenomorph figure, NECA already put the gloss on their Aliens figures.
The articulation of the Warrior is basically the same as the 35th Anniversary Xenomorph. My figure had one of the common problems of NECA figures: jammed articulation joints.
The shoulder joints in my figure require some additional torque to be moved, but I rarely do it due to risk of breakage. Unlike the Big Chap, the arms of the Warrior feature curved "blades".
Also similar to the 35th Anniversary Xenomorph, the pelvic portion is made of molded soft plastic/rubber in lieu of the past V-shaped cuts for hip articulation; another similarity is the torso mold. I think the brown paint was a little too much.
Big Chap had more human feet. The Warrior's feet are now more monster-like with the thumbs now perpendicular with respect to the feet.
Also, Big Chap had six digits in its human-like hands. The Warrior's have five with the index and middle, and the ring and little digits paired together, which looks like the Vulcan salute in Star Trek, only grasping.
The figure features a bendable tail, most likely fitted with an aluminum wire to keep it sturdy.
The spiny protrusion at the base of the Warrior's nape is removable in case the head needed to be tilted upwards.
(trying to capture the dark, intimidating stare of the Warrior, hehe)
The Warrior's gnawing teeth is more revealing than the Big Chap figure. Here, you can also pull out its famous second jaw. Unfortunately, the paint job looks like they just dipped it in ivory paint and all went, like, "Deal with it".
Sure, the soft plastic/rubber pelvis makes it look more realistic but it also makes it difficult to do a crawling pose. This is the best I can make of it.
I wouldn't recommend displaying it like that for long periods of time, as the mold could deform.
In Aliens, some of the Warriors were black, brown, or blue-colored. In line of this, NECA made a blue color variant. I chose not to open it.
To be honest, I like the blue one better.
I got each figure for $24. Released four years ago, prices vary from $18 to more than $40. Common issues still include NECA's quality control.
See my review of NECA's Alien 35th Anniversary Xenomorph (Big Chap):
https://steemit.com/photography/@gabriel.knight/toy-review-neca-alien-xenomorph-35th-anniversary
Thank you very much for reading! Give an upvote and follow me 