Based on the outer box art, one might suspect that NECA‘s latest action figure variant based on Kurt Russell‘s protagonist in John Carpenter‘s The Thing was covered in frost and ice. The way the image is colored suggests Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining, just before he appears in that old photo. This is probably one reason why NECA has opening flaps on their boxes so people can see the actual figure through a window before they buy. Viewing it thusly makes clear it’s not a Kurt Russell ice cube, but a fairly similar figure to the two previously released, with differing accessories.
The base body remains the same: green pants and brown jacket. There is some frost deco, most noticeably at the creases, but it’s subtle rather than overwhelming. NECA’s mostly moving away from double-hinge elbows and knees, so these are disc and pin with sculpts that overlap and hide some of the joint. In a move away from soft crotches that hid articulation, MacReady’s is a solid piece (settle down, Beavis) with ball-jointed legs emerging. On the whole, I favor this change, though I’m not sure I prefer these elbows to the more elaborate double ball-and-hinge contraptions they came up with for Aliens and Back to the Future figures. Then again, sub-zero gear does limit natural mobility.
Dyna-mighty
The biggest change for this figure is that he has cross-straps with dynamite attached, as well as holsters for Molotov cocktails (included). There’s no obvious, easy way to remove the straps, but if for any reason this were the only MacReady figure a person could find and they didn’t like the straps, they seem like they’d be easy to cut off permanently. The figure retains his gun belt and holster (with removable gun), as well as interchangeable hands that include separate cuff pieces for the gloved hands.
He comes with two heads — the longhair version that seems to have a new, gritted-teeth mouth, and the hooded head, which does have extra beard-frost on it. Both are decent likenesses — if they don’t seem to be, just look at them from a different angle, and Kurt Russell is clearly there. Customizers could easily paint his hair gray for a more contemporary version. Heads attach via a barbell neck joint, and switched easily on the sample we received for review. As before, there can be a “neck gap” on the hooded head depending how it’s posed. For a figure with a stiff collar, however, he gets pretty good neck range of motion.
Head Casing
Again he includes the hat, which fits on both heads but looks better on the hooded one. It uses a ribbon for a chinstrap, and that fits around both heads’ chins without much fuss. Accessories include three green-bottle Molotovs, one wide and brown bottled version, and a regular green bottle, along with a lit flare, lamp with moving handle (not the same one as came with “Outpost 31” MacReady), and detonator with a handle that can pull up or push down. One of the gloved hands is specially sculpted to hold the flare, while he has right and left trigger hands to fire his pistol either way.
The Molotov holster under his left arm does limit what can be done with that arm quite a bit, pose-wise. Pose his arm upwards, fine, all good. Downward? There’s stuff in the way, albeit less if you empty the holsters, and they then have a bit of flex to them. It’s not really a big deal — if you don’t want this MacReady, there are two others without the straps. Chances are you’ll want to pose him about to throw one of the Molotovs anyway, or carrying the lamp, perhaps. This is a guy in a final battle, and not the sort to let an arm just rest by his side. The idea may be that collectors will buy all three MacReadys and mix and match their different parts to make favorite customs.
Clobberin’ Time?
We still await a Thing for him to actually do battle with, though at least one is coming. It’s no surprise why NECA started with MacReady, as he’s easy to do multiple versions of with slight costume changes, maximizing the use of the sculpt. The alien shape-shifter, however, looks totally different scene to scene, and requires costlier original tooling every time. For now, he can face off against any NECA or McFarlane figure in the same scale, just because he’s that badass.
Selling at around $36.99, he’s not pocket change, so not all collectors will want all three. If NECA ever makes the final battle Thing, however, folks will want this one to run from it. At least for the price he does come with a hefty haul of accessories. Got terrorist figures who need multiple Molotovs? Mac’s your man.
Take a look at the figure from even more angles in the gallery below:
