05 Tyrant Happy Halloween!

Hey everybody Happy Halloween! I decided I'll treat you all to a short review of Neca's Resident Evil Tyrant figure. One thing I'll say right of the back is he is like 10 inches tall, and looks very accurate to the videogame.  Some people on the internet review Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers, but I decided to stick with a video game theme to conclude this month.  Maybe next year I'll do some well known slasher genre characters, but let me get started on this review first.

Tyrant stands at nine and a half inches tall, and towers over my other figures on the shelf. He does have a very interesting sculpt. Like the game parts of his body have armored tissue, or exposed organs like a heart. Neca again goes all out and doesn't disappoint with its accuracy towards detail. He has a see through heart, armored skin for his left arm, and veins going all over his body. A cool piece of detail is his head which has a growth coming out of his right hand side that looks like a hanging artery, or tentacle. 

Compared to the Castlevania series the Tyrant figure lacks in the articulation department. His leg articulation is just swivel joints right above the knee.  He has chest articulation that can turn 360 degrees. His right arm just has a ball hinge joint at the shoulder. His left hand which is bigger has a ball hinge at the shoulder as well, but the three fingers on his hand each have a swivel joint at the base of them. They can each turn 360 degrees.  His head is not held on by a  ball joint or hinge, but rather a peg that plugs into his head. The peg is a ball joint in his neck however.  This gives him decent head movement.

He only comes with a massive black base for him to stand on. To get him to stand without it is probably impossible so the base is extremely needed.

In conclusion this figure size and sculpt are the best aspects this figure has. Its articulation in at a minimum, and it needs the base to stand. For a Neca figure this is yet another work of art. Articulation for a Neca figure is special. Usually they are like this figure moving statues. However in the past year their figures have been gaining more points of articulation.  I recommend this figure for any fan of the Resident Evil game series. I give  him a 8/10.

That does it for this short review hope you all have a great Halloween, till next time this is Papadavigi signing off.

04 DRACULA

                It's the end of October, and to end the Neca Castlevania line I will take a look at Dracula. This is the only figure from this series I know of to have variants. A variant for those who do not know, is just a different characteristic for the figure. This could be paint, accessories, or even sculpt. For this figure the variants are an open mouth head, and a closed mouth head. I have happened to pick up the closed mouth version. He has much to talk about so I'll get right to it.

                Dracula stands at eight inches tall, and has his share of details. The face sculpt and paint is very thorough. His clothing is similar to Alucards, but it doesn't seem to show off the detail as good as his did. Instead of details that pop out, this figure uses solid colors such as flat black, and reds covering sculpted details. He does have some cool paints apps, such as the gold on his shirt, or his black fingernails. The color is not bad though, because Neca did a great job at bringing a video game character to us in a physical model.His cape like Alucards also interfers with articulation, which really stinks.

                    Dracula's articulation is the exact same as  Alucards around twenty points (see Alucard review below).  The hands are not movable however due to the forearm's sculpt.  Basically he has a ball jointed head, ball hinges for the shoulders, elbows, swivels at the forearms, and hands. His waist is a swivel joint. Dracula's hips, and knees are hinge joints, and his boot is a ball hinge. 

                  
                        Besides his sculpt and paint apps, the Dracula figure comes with vast accessories.  He comes with a Peeping Eye, a Bat, a Stop Watch, and a stand for either the Bat or Eye. The Peeping Eye is a purple eyeball with an golden chain attached to it. It looks really cool, and is a enemy in many Castlevania games. The Same can be said about the bat. The bat is a very common enemy in the game series. The sculpt is impressive, from its head, to its wings a real work of art. The Stop Watch is another sub weapon and one of the coolest in the set.  It has a real metal chain painted  with a mirrored chrome finish. It also can open up to show its clock face which is a really cool feature. These are all great additions to the set, but it only comes with one stand. The stand can be used to hold the Peeping Eye or the Bat. I choose to put the eye on the stand because the Bat can at least "stand" by itself the eye just rolls all over.

                  In conclusion this figure isn't the best, but it has some good qualities like its head sculpt, and accessories.  Its articulation is the same as Alucards, and it suffers the same problem of having obstacles hinder the movement.  His cape as cool as it is, also makes it hard for him hard to stand correctly.  I recommend this figure to the diehard Castlevania fans, or fans of vampires.  Like I said he isn't bad, but nothing stands out like it did with the other figures. I give him a 7 out of 10!

Well that does it for my review. This was NECA's  Dracula from the Castlevania game series.  Till next time this is Papadavigi  signing off.

03 ALUCARD

          

          Were over half way through October and who better to talk about than Neca's ALUCARD figure. Alucard made his mark in the Castlevania game Symphony of the Night, and is the son of Dracula. If you did not see it all ready Alucard is Dracula spelled backwards. This figure has much to talk about so let's get right to it.

            Alucard stands seven and three sixteenth inches tall, and has twenty points of articulation. He has a wide variety of different joints giving him much movement capabilities. However because of the sculpt, and clothing the articulation is hindered. He has a ball socket head which is almost unmovable because of the hair, and cape. The cape also effects the two ball hinge joints for his shoulders. His arms have ball hinges for the elbows, swivel at the forearm, and a swivel for the hand. He has a swivel joint at the waist as well, this lets his legs go completely around. His legs have a hinge joint at the hip, hinge joint for the knee, and a ball hinge for the boot. 

            The details on this figure are outstanding. I'll start by talking about his head. His hair is really cool, and features a extension as if the hair is being blown by the wind. It may sound lame, but it looks neat. His face is very pale and almost has a girly quality to it, but not bad. The paint job is well done especially in the eyes. His cape has solid black on the outside, and a bright white on the inside. Holding his cape together around his neck is a real metal link chain, the chrome gives it a beautiful realistic effect. His jacket is black with gold panted pieces on it, the inside of the jacket has a stunning black and white design on it. Underneath that  is his main clothing which is crafted and painted to look like there are many buckles, and buttons. The cloths of this character  give him a lot of depth. His swords sheath is the same color scheme as the rest of his main body, but the chains holding it to his belt are real, like the one above it. Necas' use of the real metal for the chains is a very nice touch.  His boots are painted with a shiny black finish. This gives it a realistic effect of freshly shined shoes. 

            He has been well equipped with a great deal of accessories. Alucard comes with his sword, a bottle of holy water, Roast beef, and Cross or rosary take your pick. The sword is awesome, and besides decent paint, is made from hard plastic. The hard plastic gives it a sturdy look, and feel because it doesn't bend easily. The holy water bottle is ok, two aspects make this item cool. One, its a sub weapon from the game like the dagger, or axe. Two, the detail is very good it has bubbles in the bluish water, and there is a small cross at the bottle's top. The pot roast looks just like the one from the video game. It is a big piece of meat on a silver serving dish. The small cross or rosary is a unique piece. Its cross shape is awfully cool, and features yet another metal chain at its top. 

            In conclusion I can now see why this figure is the most sought after. He has outstanding detail, with decent articulation. When you add that to his sweet accessories he becomes an awesome figure. His movement may be hindered but it's not to bad, just looking at him the thing is amazing. I recommend this guy for fans of the Symphony of the Night game, or fans of the franchise. He might also be likable to those who collect vampire figures, since it is Dracula's son.  Oh boy speaking of Dracula he's next. I give Alucard a 10/10!

Well that does it for my review. This was NECA's  ALUCARD from the Castlevania game series.  Till next time this is Papadavigi  signing off.

02 SUCCUBUS

            This Succubus is from the Castlevania game called Symphony of the Night which is arguably one of the best games of the franchise.  The only time one sees her in the game is a small boss battle in an underground cavern. Such a small part of a large story, but her impact was great. Ever since then there has been Succubi in most games after this point being mainly small enemies.  Now Neca takes this game icon and  develops it into a action figure, but is it worth picking up? 

            Ok first off this is the only female figure in the Castlevania Neca line, and I must say,  they really captured the character well. She stands a little under seven inches. Her base raises her to almost a equal height to Simon, however her wings easily give her an extra inch and a half. Sculpt and details are topics I will certainly always praise Neca for, and this figure is no exception. From her hair with its flowered band, to her thong,  every section is well crafted with a decent paint job. One aspect that needs to be talked about is her clothing. In the video game, she has no top, and  exposes her breast. Neca takes a leap and produces this figure with a removable top. Mine had a dab of glue holding the (lets just call it a bra) bra on, but when I removed it the breast were painted. This shows that they even took the time to work on a aspect of the character that not every buddy will like. I myself keep the top on, I just feel it adds more character to the piece.  Paint with these figures varies, some figures I have are panted well and some are let's just say different. This figure has a lot of little pieces to be painted and my piece seems to have been a good product. The only problem might be her painted  eyes which make them look a little off, but  it is not a big deal for me. 

              This figure is a beautiful sculpture, but that is basically all it is. Unlike Simon who had around twenty points of articulation, the Succubus only has seven.  She has a ball and socket joint for the head, which is hindered by her hair. Her arms can only go up and down, it is possible for them to go three sixty, but they are hindered by her wings.  Her wings which look fantastic are ball and sockets and can go in and out, and up and down giving it some freedom. The last points are her legs. At the top of her boots are swivel joints giving her legs the ability to turn. 

            In the accessory depart she only comes with three items an axe, a base, and a Flee man. The axe is detailed well, with marking on the blades faces, making it look experience in battle. It is a sub weapon in the games and can fit in Simon's hands as well. The base is a very good accessory to keep handy because getting her to stand without it is a hassle. If you do get her to stand, the slightest movement will send her toppling over.  The last one is the Flee man, which is a common enemy in the game series. It is a very impressive sculpt with a grand paint job.  It has no articulation, but looks stunning anyway.

           In conclusion this figure is not the best and by far isn't the worst, it is more around the seventy percent margin on the cool list. I happen to enjoy this figure a lot, alone she's a build of a hot girl with bat wings (showing boobs optional haha). But with the rest of the set, or even with Simon she looks even better. I'm not going to lie the articulation compared to Simon, and the rest of the series is weak. The Sculpt is very good, and captures the character perfectly. Its accessories are just the base, axe, and Flee man, which are all very cool. The figure can stand by itself, however I do advise the use of the base or she will be falling over a lot. I recommend this figure for diehard fans of the game. It has no playability, and is simply a shelf piece. However Neca's pieces are normally movable statures (Such as the Conan line that has about six points of articulation if that.), not action figures. So I can't penalize it that much.  I give it a 7/10.

Well that does it for my review. This was NECA's SUCCUBUS from the Castlevania game series.  Till next time this is Papadavigi  signing off.

01 SIMON BELMONT

For my first review I'll take a look at NECA's Simon Belmont from the video game series  Castlevania.  Simon is beautifully sculpted, and the paint job is amazing words cant do it justice, it has to be seen (watch my video below). What surprised me is that for a NECA figure he sure does have a lot of articulation, and accessories. Usually there figures are like statues that only have limited movement, in my next review I'll show an example of this. Anyway with Simon that is not the case at all, he has a full range of movement.

     

     Simon stands at a height of seven inches, and has a total of nineteen points of articulation. His head is on a ball joint, and has the ability to go completely around, but his hair and shoulder pad come in contact limiting movement The arms are on  ball hinges, the left arm is hindered by the shoulder pad.  The left arm has a extra swivel joint at the top of the bicep, this joint is not on the right hand side. There is then a swivel joint at the elbow and a ball jointed hand.  The chest is a swivel joint as well, and it only turns side to side.  The legs are full of articulation too. He has a  swivel at the hip, thigh, hinge joint  at the knee, swivel at the shin, and ball joint for the feet. This gives him great flexibility, and a wide range of possible posses.
The sculpt and paint job  is amazing! from the hair, to the eyes it is a work of art. The armor he wears is also very well painted and really gives you look of metle and leather.  The look is imitated from the box art of Castlevania I, we only get a glimpse of his back so I'm guesses NECA took some liberties. I'm not complaining it came out most excellent.

Simon comes with eight accessories a dagger, sword, whip, candle, jar, crucifix, mace, and an extra hand. First is the dagger, this may be small but the paint job is great. The same can be said about the sword, what makes it stand out is its deep red paint that looks like jewels. You would think that these two are soft but if fact they are very hard plastic, and store on the figure in his sheaths.  Next is the candle. Any fan of this franchise knows about the candles, you break them and you get hearts, or money. It wasn't necessary for NECA to make it, but it's part of a larger plan. Each Castlvania figure comes with sub weapons or goods that one would find in the game. So It all works out and even by itself it looks fantastic. Next is the crucifix which is simply a cross painted blue and white, like the dagger it's a sub weapon from the game. It also comes with a Jar, which is a power up in the game. The jar is painted a copper color with a cork colored lid.  All these little pieces are molded , and painted with great detail. The figure also comes with an extra hand (closed fist) this hand is able to hold either one of the two whips, sword, dagger, or crucifix. All these things so far are awesome, but what is Simon Belmont known for? Exactly his whip known as the Vampire Killer, and it's up graded version the chain whip aka the mace. The mace is awesome it has individual chains linked together. This makes it look realistic, and really stand out. I believe it is made from real metal too. The ball however is just plastic but looks sweet anyway.  Finally is the whip. The whip is by far the biggest accessory, and is just plain bendable rubber. Like I said it is bendable, but there is no metal wire in it so it will not keep the shape u bend it in. I should just say its flexible. That concludes the accessories.

 

        In conclusion the figure has some bad aspects such as the common use of swivel joints, but NECA pulls it off with this figure. The sculpt and paint application is very first-class. What really makes this figure a great buy besides the above mentioned is its accessories. The dude comes with everything! The figure In my opinion is nostalgic. The likeness, and weapons makes one think "oh Castlevania!" and that's what collectables are suppose to do. I recommend this figure strongly for fans of the videogame franchise, and if you are a NECA collector take my word for it and grab this guy while you can.
FINAL VERDICT 10!

 Well that does it for my first review. This was NECA's Simon Belmont from the video game Castlevania.  Till next time this is Papadavigi  signing off.