I had a different review planned for today, but I seemed to have misplaced the accessories. So while I search for those this weekend, I thought I’d tide you all over with another Pacific Rim figure. This time I’m taking a look at the new battle damaged Knifehead. While he’s not quite the perfect kaiju in the line, he’s still a bazillion times better than NECA’s first pass at the character.
I’ll talk about this a little more in Trespasser’s review, but since I’m going to talk about the sculpt of the figure then I had to mention it here also. NECA does an amazing job of reusing a figure’s tooling. Every time I see a new Dutch figure, it still feels like a new thing instead of a repaint. It happens that NECA is able to use this talent with some of the Pacific Rim kaiju. In the storyline of the movie, all the kaiju are basically clones, many of which use the same base body with various alterations. This is pretty much a perfect scenario for any toy company. But even with the similarities, NECA has done an amazing job of giving Knifehead and Trespasser their own unique feel.
NECA’s original attempt at the figure also feels like a completely different character, but in a bad way. This diminutive little monster looks like Son of Knifehead. Their bodies have the same shape, in a general sense, but even that’s not entirely the same with this new kaiju buck. Instead of one molded piece, new Knifehead’s body consists of four different parts.
This really allowed for a much more detailed design and improved articulation where he needed it. The whole body is textured, but now there are distinct differences between the rock-like armor and softer scaly areas. That’s not even counting his backpack shell. Knifehead is now so bulky that poor Gipsy doesn’t look up to the task of taking him down. (Luckily, NECA has already announced they’re making a new Gipsy. YAY!)
There are so many good things going on with this figure, but I think one of the best has to be the new paint job. The figure itself is in a dark gray plastic with the familiar yellow tribal marks running down his body. There’s also the glossy black claws and some nice brown weathering on his back, all of which come together nicely and will make the non-battle damaged figure look great. Continue to page 2…
man, i usually hate rebuying a character for an upgraded version… and i still don’t care for the idea… but NECA has upped the ante so far over the gen 1 pac rim figs that these just can’t be passed on. can’t wait to see the rest of the reviews here man!
side note: seeing both of the godzilla models up there, it’s almost hilarious that the matt broderick creature was at one point considering the ‘zilla. he’s a cute kaiju creature, but he’s not even ballpark godzilla. and now, w/ these upgraded kaiju from pac rim, neither ‘zilla stands a chance!
OOH!! almost forgot, you’ve seen the photos of scunner, right? YAY!! more kaiju!!
and now, a question: since you’re also buying into the lovely monsterarts line, let me ask… if you could get the monsterarts team and the NECA pac rim team in a room together and get them to cross pollinate each other’s lines, what traits would you want them to share/abandon?
I actually really enjoy the design of the US Godzilla, but there’s absolutely a reason why he’s known as “Godzilla In Name Only” in certain circles of the fandom.
At least he had some minor redemption in the surprisingly decent Godzilla: The Animated Series.
I LOVE this Knifehead, all except as you mentioned that his head can’t move!
I hope with Scunner they consider allowing you to move his head looking straight up to do a swimming pose, or back facing forward for the walking pose.
just ran across these at my LCS yesterday, and holy CRAP the size difference is droolable!! LOVE IT!