Vault Review: NECA’s
Pacific Rim Trespasser

Vault

For those who haven’t seen Pacific Rim, stop reading this and go watch it right now!

OK, are we good?  So now you know that this is a figure of the first kaiju to attack humanity.  He seemingly appeared out of nowhere, trounced the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco, then for good measure he also destroyed Sacramento and Oakland.  Conventional weapons were pretty much useless, so after six days the US Government resorted to using three nuclear weapons.  This is what brought Trespasser down, but it also destroyed what was left of Oakland and the Bay area.

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If Trespasser looks familiar it’s because he shares the same body type with Knifehead, Scunner, and a few other kaiju.  This is because, in the storyline of the movie, the kaiju are all clones that are genetically created with specific traits.  This novel explanation also gives NECA a “buck” body system to base their figures on.

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Trespasser and Knifehead share arms, legs, tail, and even the main torso.  The biggest difference, aside from their heads and shells, is that Knifehead has an extra neck/shoulder piece that’s been added on top of the shared torso.  This is what makes up the difference in height between the figures, and also helps each character to feel a bit more uniqe.

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But even with that difference, the real personality comes from the head sculpt.  With his front facing eyes and wide grinning mouth, Trespasser seems to have a bit more human-like qualities to his design, while later kaiju are definitely more animal based.  It’s almost a shame we never got to see him fight a Jaeger and put that giant head-blade to use.   Continue to page 2…

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16 thoughts on “Vault Review: NECA’s
Pacific Rim Trespasser”

  1. Cool.
    Can I just axe why he has holes in his forearms? You’d think that would be some decent muscle loss right there?

    1. According to the Wiki it is two arms fused together. I still think it looks like a forearm with missing muscle in between.

  2. you’re starting to sound like beedo, brainlock. don’t ask the whys of biology, just enjoy the hugocity and sweenicity.

    cuz then you’ll get into oxygen requirements and diet, and ATP and mitochondria and everything goes to hell.

  3. On the subject of concept figures, Randy keeps saying his favorite Kaiju is Karloff. Usually his favorites get made, so there’s a good chance of seeing him. His upright body could also be used for a few other Kaiju. He also looks kind of like Groot from GOTG, lol.

    http://pacificrim.wikia.com/wiki/Karloff

    Then again his face was seen in the movie so he’s a little more than a concept 😛

  4. I thought the opening narration explained that a combination of heavy conventional weapons finally brought the thing down, no nukes required nor mentioned.

  5. you know, this line is one that evokes in me a certain type of wrath… not towards the toys themselves, no, but to a certain segment of the population who think that 4 inch toys are the only viable model for the future of action figures.

    i recently had a small dust-up over the idea, with the idea repeated that i said 4 inch weren’t viable at all, when that was only convincing some people of their own version of what i said… what i said was, 4 inch scales, 1/18 if you want to get technical, are a niche property, and not the main draw of the dollar spent on “adult collectible” action figures. one of the reasons i stated that 4 inch was limited was a line just like this one, where we’re seeing detailed sculpts, thorough articulation, and a reasonable price point (not to mention brick and mortar support, which is huge, but for this argument, i’m leaving that feather out of my cap.)

    i continue to contend, in the 1/18 scale arguments i heard, the economic liability of a line like the pac rim figs was a myth, a tale from a bygone era that just didn’t jibe in the new world… well, here we are. a great line, a great price, relative ease to locate… so i’d love to challenge one of the strident 1/18 scale folks to show me a 1/18th adult collectible that brings to the table what these figures do… detailed sculpts, tight paints aps, and durable articulation, at approx a $20 to $25 price range. cuz every time i see cool 1/18 scale figs, they’re less detailed, less articulated, and it goes without saying, far smaller, for this price range or sometimes even higher. some do feature lots of interchangeable bits, but that’s a feature usually tapped by lines even pricier than these giants. i’d love to see some actual existing product that presented their case for the 1/18 scale as well as this line presents my case for 1/12 (yes, i am aware that technically, this trespasser is about 1/453 scale, but who’s counting, right?)

    1. Doctor Who figure collectors are in the midst of this argument right now. I’ll admit Hasbro puts out some great 1/18 stuff (SW/MU/etc even TF), but those are really it. The last few waves of DW after they downsized have been questionable in sculpt, almost to the point of the horrendous 80s Dapol figures. Meanwhile, others are just eating them up, calling the complainers haters.

      at least we got a War Doctor (with alt heads!) in 5″. Too bad he’ll probably be the last. No Capaldi or classic Companions, as we KNOW there’s a Jamie sculpted, and a few other Classics. 🙁

      1. Truth be told I don’t follow the dr who line very well… so a m I reading that there’s a who contingent that want bigger more detailed figs? What is the current price point of the who line?

        1. The Doctor Who line has been 5″ scale for the past 8-9 years, ever since the modern series debuted. Last year, they started shifting to a 1/18 scale. Many fans wanted the figures to remain 5″, people like me wanted them even larger (and better. I buy them more for love of the property than the quality of the figures themselves), and of course there’s a vocal group screaming that 1/18 is the only viable scale for action figures now, so we should all climb on board, even though future releases won’t be compatible with what is already a very sizable collection.

          The 5″ Who figures typically go for $12-17, depending on variables (like some include audio CDs), with $15 and up being the more common pricing. The 3.75″ (and they’re on the small side of the 1/18 scale) actually go for around the same price, usually $10-15, with $12 and up being more common. In both cases, the prices tend to go up dramatically for short-packed or older figures.

          1. I was thinking I should have added that they went to 1/18 after Clara was introduced. Everything before that has been 5″. She’s really the major sticking point for collectors, as there are enough 11s out there in 5″. Except we now have Capaldi, who will be stuck in 1/18 along with any new aliens. :/

            but yeah, I’ve seen $15-20 for singles, which considering they’re imports, ain’t too bad. Most of mine have been bought loose on the ‘bay, so only a few bucks, each. Hurt’s Doctor I’ve seen list $20-25 but he does come with several accessories, including a McGann head. Only previous 8th Doctor was exclusive to a Full Set of Doctors, 1-10, along with a couple other variants in that set. (Except for blue 6, which was a retailer exclusive.)

    2. I agree with everything on your list with the exception of “relative ease to locate.” I can’t find these guys at any brick and mortar store, and the “standard” online retailers sell out of them pretty quickly. All of the ones you can find now are ridiculously over priced. I think this, however, further proves your point. If all of the traditional ways to get these figures is effectively negated, it proves that these things sell like gangbusters to collectors.

    3. 6-inch figures are awkward. They’re too large to have many vehicles and playsets, and yet still too small to make use of “soft goods” in a cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing fashion on a mass-produced scale. Also, their fan-base evinces a strange sort of chauvinism towards other scales at times (possibly due to insecurity arising from the 6-inch format being a relative newcomer in the toy-collecting world?)

      I’m not opposed to it by any means, and will buy the odd 6-incher from time to time (certain must-have exceptions such as SWB aside) but I really don’t see any reasonable basis for this bizarre fixation on a particular scale as the format for the “adult collectible”. If anything, that’s just unnecessary pigeon-holing.

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