Pacific Rim hits theaters Friday, and I’ll be using my reviews this week to take a look at the last two figures in NECA’s line. Today I’m focusing on the only kaiju of the group, Knifehead. This is a figure I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately he fell extremely short of expectations.
Knifehead’s strongest asset is his sculpt. The kaiju in this film are definitely inspired by various Godzilla, Gamera, and other familiar giant monsters that trounce Japan regularly. Knifehead definitely gives off a strong resemblance to Guiron, only more realistic and not so much like a giant rubber suit. One thing I was particularly surprised to see were the two extra arms sticking out of his mid torso. I never noticed them in the movie trailers.
The creature’s body has a couple of interesting textures. Some parts are rough and bumpy, similar to the scaly skin you’d find on Godzilla. These scales cover most of his arms and legs, while the main body has an entirely different consistency of tiny parallel lines, like they built these monsters with 3D printers. The two textures make for a very interesting juxtaposition and definitely make Knifehead feel like he was produced in a lab.
As his name suggests, Knifehead’s head is the most interesting part of the figure. The general flat and wide shape where the eyes are set is similar to a hammerhead shark, while his spear head comes to a three-sided point. His teeth also have a shark-like feel with how they jut out of his mouth, but his tongue oddly is anchored to the palate and not the jaw. I don’t know if that’s true to the monster’s design, or just an engineering decision for the toy.
One definite surprise for this figure is the incredibly hard plastic they used on this figure’s head. Coupled with the extremely sharp angled edges, and you could actually hurt a person with this figure. Knifehead indeed. Continue to page 2…
I agree. And considering how cool his sculpt is, I would have gladly paid a few dollars more articulation in the arms (all of them) and the legs.
One positive is is lack of articulation makes it harder for it to do any shelf diving.^_^
the only thing i will say positively about his articulation is, as necryan mentioned, his stance is stable.
the figure is very solid though, and in the hands of a kid, he makes a fine villain. we roadtripped last week and my 9 year old had this dude to fight his chima hero factory fig and a 3 3/4 inch lion-o, and that worked out fine for him. me, i need more articulation than that.
i imagine for the average pose ’em and leave ’em collector, he’ll be a fine addition to the collection though
The thing about the “pose ’em and leave ’em” collectors is that they generally like being able to pose the figures. If it can’t do much beyond hitting the factory default, that’s a disappointment all around for pretty much everyone but MOC collectors.
Great review and excellent pictures. You just saved me however much money one of these things cost.
This guy needs to shoot shurikens form his lachrymal glands, though. };D
from what I understand, his sculpt was from the studio’s 3D files, so it’s a screen accurate as possible, but they had a hard time adding the articulation in a way that didn’t destroy the fluidness of it’s design… it was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation… they went for looks over function, sadly
Ok. Use logic when looking at this figures articulation. Ok now look at your other kaiju figures, Godzilla for example. It’s an ode to the