Knifehead’s paint job is very basic. Most of the figure is molded in that dark gray/coal color, with only highlights being the exception. Areas like his claws, teeth, mouth, and eyes have been painted in. There are also long yellow stripes encircling the figure. I think they’re supposed to be an energy-like effect, but the ones on the figure look more like tribal markings.
I saved the worst for last. I was extremely disappointed to discover that this figure has terrible articulation. His jaw, elbows on the large arms, and knees are hinge joints. His large arms have swivels at the shoulders, while his legs have ball joints at the hips. And his tail has a bendy wire. That’s it.
What’s even worse is that I don’t understand what the decision process was for the few joints he does have. With how the figure is designed, I can kind of understand not articulating the head, and the bendy wire tail is fine. But the ball joints at the hips are so restricted by the sculpt that they only function as a V-crotch swivel. They would have been served much better at his shoulders, giving him a little more poseability. And not even articulating his smaller arms is a crime.
Out of the three figures NECA has produced, Knifehead is sadly the worst. While his sculpt is great, and he looks pretty good standing around with his MonsterArts kaiju brethren, his limited articulation really hurts the figure. Barely being able to pose, much less pull off a dynamic stance, puts him more in line with McFarlane figures than some of the quality products NECA has been putting out recently.
-Vault
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