NECA 18" ALIEN - stiffness and leg problems with the figure??

[tankman]

Well I got another 18" version for my Xmas present (My third one). Its the cloudy dome variant and straight out of the box one of the arms is broken and the back of the head is not aligned properly to the skull. Do NECA actually have a QC department? I cannot belive out of three figures that all of them are defective in some way.

Dude that really sucks and as the sculptor of this piece it makes me very upset to hear fans are getting these figures and they break or have other BS problems. I have opened 4 18inch figures myself and two have mess ups. I bought one 9 inch figure and the left foot had a big gap away from the bottom leg. Believe me we want all the figures to be great and we had Chris over in China checking things out all the time. If he wasn't there God only knows what a mess it could be and we hope stuff like this will not happen but it does and what can you do but say oh crap man. In many ways we should have ditch the articulation in the legs on the 18inch figure on this one. There have been a lot of these guys break at the ankle and that hurts us in the end. I hear the HT's Aliens figure breaks and it's a 130 dollar figure. The China thing is at a place now days that you never know if you will get the figure you plan for fans to buy and all I can say is we hate to hear our stuff isn't consistent. This figure has stuck out with problems and I only hope that it doesn't happen to most who get this piece. I'm a huge fan of Alien and I want this figure to be great and when we sent it over to China all I could think is don't screw this one up China factory. Sometimes it feels like a real crap shoot and it is by far the hardest part of seeing your sculpture get made for production. Hell the sculpting is the easy part.

 

[Jmek]

Dude that really sucks and as the sculptor of this piece it makes me very upset to hear fans are getting these figures and they break or have other BS problems. I have opened 4 18inch figures myself and two have mess ups. I bought one 9 inch figure and the left foot had a big gap away from the bottom leg. Believe me we want all the figures to be great and we had Chris over in China checking things out all the time. If he wasn't there God only knows what a mess it could be and we hope stuff like this will not happen but it does and what can you do but say oh crap man. In many ways we should have ditch the articulation in the legs on the 18inch figure on this one. There have been a lot of these guys break at the ankle and that hurts us in the end. I hear the HT's Aliens figure breaks and it's a 130 dollar figure. The China thing is at a place now days that you never know if you will get the figure you plan for fans to buy and all I can say is we hate to hear our stuff isn't consistent. This figure has stuck out with problems and I only hope that it doesn't happen to most who get this piece. I'm a huge fan of Alien and I want this figure to be great and when we sent it over to China all I could think is don't screw this one up China factory. Sometimes it feels like a real crap shoot and it is by far the hardest part of seeing your sculpture get made for production. Hell the sculpting is the easy part.

Hi Kyle and thanks for your reply. I just want to say that the figure is hands down the best Alien sculpt so far and as a major fan a bit of a dream come true for me. In fact I'm mulling over getting another 18" version in the hope of a getting a perfect figure. It's a shame about the production problems as it is such an impressive piece but in saying that it hasn't put me off NECA as a company, you guys do produce beautifull stuff and at an extremely good price point as well so if there are faults it's not as much of a kicker as when a Hot Toys or Medicom figure falls apart. My HT AVP Alien has a big split in the neck and I've hardly touched the damned thing!

 

[tankman]

Hi Kyle and thanks for your reply. I just want to say that the figure is hands down the best Alien sculpt so far and as a major fan a bit of a dream come true for me. In fact I'm mulling over getting another 18" version in the hope of a getting a perfect figure. It's a shame about the production problems as it is such an impressive piece but in saying that it hasn't put me off NECA as a company, you guys do produce beautifull stuff and at an extremely good price point as well so if there are faults it's not as much of a kicker as when a Hot Toys or Medicom figure falls apart. My HT AVP Alien has a big split in the neck and I've hardly touched the damned thing!

Thanks and I would say get the figure from a store so that in the case it is messed up you can take it back. I've seen a few of them in the stores with the dome all dented in and all I could think is this sucks.
I waited a long time to get to get a crack at making an Alien sculpt that was film accurate and in most cases I got really close on this piece. I do wish I could have spent a few more days getting everything just right. For example the left foot is longer than the right but the right foot toes are thicker than the left. There are some other things but not many I could make better.

If I had the HT's figures and they split and break I would freak out. 150 dollars isn't cheap but HT's would hope when they send the sculpt over they wouldn't have their stuff break and split. Sometimes China will send the company test shots and the production pieces will be something different. Believe me Randy and Chris have a very tough job and they care very much how our stuff comes out.

 

[Randysgut]

yea out of all the aliens ive seen, i still like my 18 inch alien the best. i didnt have the problems witht he ankles as alot of people hvae been having , but in the knees. the leg just fell off and the inner piece that mkaes the knee bend, doesnt move. so he cant crouch at all which sucks.

 

[prefused]

really, all of my issues with this figure could've been resolved by including a base.
my 12" mcfarlane alien never ever fell over and broke since it had a nice base to keep it standing.
makes more sense to me if you're gonna make something so top-heavy and with tiny feet... guess that's just me.

i probably won't buy another one since Hot Toys is making a 1/6 version that actually fits with the rest of my collection.
**cough cough, hint hint, NECA**

 

[tankman]

really, all of my issues with this figure could've been resolved by including a base.
my 12" mcfarlane alien never ever fell over and broke since it had a nice base to keep it standing.
makes more sense to me if you're gonna make something so top-heavy and with tiny feet... guess that's just me.

i probably won't buy another one since Hot Toys is making a 1/6 version that actually fits with the rest of my collection.
**cough cough, hint hint, NECA**

Maybe I should have made the feet bigger but I tried to make it look like the real thing. No way would the boss let us do a base even though it would have been really nice to do. We almost didn't make the figure because the cost were so high.

 

[prefused]

Maybe I should have made the feet bigger but I tried to make it look like the real thing. No way would the boss let us do a base even though it would have been really nice to do. We almost didn't make the figure because the cost were so high.

if only there were a way to make the same figure, but use less materials so there's enough left over for a base and maintain almost the same price point...

Spoiler

make it smaller... say, 12" scale.
still not shutting up about it.

 

[abake]

Hey Kyle!
Cool to see you here so often!

I guess I'm lucky, I bought two of the 21" aliens and didn't have any problems with either.
At any rate, both the 9" and the 21" are among my favorite "toys". It really is an amazing sculpt.
As I said, you guys hould think about releasing this alien in 1/6 scale as a collector's special edition, with base, better paint apps and packaging, a closer look at QC and charge a more "premium" price for it.
I tell ya, you can't go wrong with alien!
Seriously, I think people would gladly pay more for a figure made from your amazing sculpt with higher overall standards. I think most (if not all) of us collectors understand that to get better QC, materials and packaging, you have to pay more. For the price I paid for your figures I couldn't be more pleased. To me they were simply amazing value, especially the big one.
If you take that same sculpt, make it compatible size-wise to other HT's figures, give it a simple but nice base (a grid-like surface like the Nostromo flooring), go to a higher quality manufacturer to avoid breakage issues, and put it all in a super nice packaging... man, I assure you everybody would pay top dollar for it.

Anyway, I love the work your doing on the aliens and I can only hope there will be much more to come!
How about and AvP alien? All you'd have to do would be to sculpt a new head. I'd be all over that!

 

[tankman]

Hey Kyle!
Cool to see you here so often!

I guess I'm lucky, I bought two of the 21" aliens and didn't have any problems with either.
At any rate, both the 9" and the 21" are among my favorite "toys". It really is an amazing sculpt.
As I said, you guys hould think about releasing this alien in 1/6 scale as a collector's special edition, with base, better paint apps and packaging, a closer look at QC and charge a more "premium" price for it.
I tell ya, you can't go wrong with alien!
Seriously, I think people would gladly pay more for a figure made from your amazing sculpt with higher overall standards. I think most (if not all) of us collectors understand that to get better QC, materials and packaging, you have to pay more. For the price I paid for your figures I couldn't be more pleased. To me they were simply amazing value, especially the big one.
If you take that same sculpt, make it compatible size-wise to other HT's figures, give it a simple but nice base (a grid-like surface like the Nostromo flooring), go to a higher quality manufacturer to avoid breakage issues, and put it all in a super nice packaging... man, I assure you everybody would pay top dollar for it.

Anyway, I love the work your doing on the aliens and I can only hope there will be much more to come!
How about and AvP alien? All you'd have to do would be to sculpt a new head. I'd be all over that!

I would love to do that and put it out for the 30 years of Alien in May. Who knows maybe I can talk Randy into it but Joel might say no way but you never know. I'd love to see that happen and it would be so cool. If it was up to me we would do all the Aliens. Joel himself told me that they sell really well. All I can say is I knew it. More more more I want more too and I love sculpting these guys. Takes a lot of time but boy is it worth it.

 

[abake]

Dude, to me you're the only guy with enough passion for the aliens and predators to really make them justice.
Hot Toys should hire you to do their aliens and preds as well!

 

[Sabres21768]

I agree. This really is the ultimate Alien figure for me.

This is one of those things that, as an Alien fan, you think you'll only ever get to dream about.

So, a huge THANK YOU to you Kyle for making this one happen.

 

[CelticPredator]

I'll just have to have this in hand for me to say that. I mean, i've had that happen before, I think the dome ruins the figure...but I might overlook that once I have it in hand. If I ever see it, i'll pick it up.

 

[prefused]

i have the 8" alien and the dome looks right to me. does the 18" one have a different dome, or something?

 

[CelticPredator]

I dont like how its shaped. Cant explain.

 

[IrishJedi]

I have this, and it's great. The legs are indeed a pain in the a**, though.

 

[Sabres21768]

I love it.

And it dwarfs the Hot Toys Aliens. Hell, it's almost as big as the Marmit Alien.

 

[abake]

You really should give it a go CP.
It is a very nice sculpt. Iunderstand your issues with the "man-in-a-suit" look and your misgivings about the shape of the dome, but it really is a must for aliens fans.

@sabres: I love those pics man! The repaint of the Marmit statue is mind-blowing.

 

[tankman]

You really should give it a go CP.
It is a very nice sculpt. Iunderstand your issues with the "man-in-a-suit" look and your misgivings about the shape of the dome, but it really is a must for aliens fans.

@sabres: I love those pics man! The repaint of the Marmit statue is mind-blowing.

The funy thing here is that the NECA Alien dome is way closer to the real one than the McFarlane on is by a long shot. If you tell me different you don't know what you are saying after all I sculpted both domes and know which one looks most like the movie. CP loves the McFarlane Alien and that is fine. I would say most of us die hard Alien fans would go for what I did on the new Alien figure. I rather have something that looks like master artist Giger than comic book artist Todd McFarlanes comic book take on Gigers work. Funny thing too is there are details I never got too on the McFarlane piece and it could have made it look more finished. My friend Craig Cambell remade the legs and told me he didn't give a ^^^^ about Alien and just made most of the details up. I would say if you are a big Alien fan that you would find this to be an insult. It is a cool figure but it's more like what HT's is doing and thats fine if you like that kind of take. I for one am looking forward to the HT's take on Alien. I know they will not do a movie accurate Alien but I bet it will be cool none the less. With others doing more accurate takes maybe artist takes on this figure are OK. I for one am happy as hell that McFarlane did what he did with the Aliens and Predators because now I can come in and do it the way I would like to see it done as I'm a huge fan of this stuff. The great thing is if you are a fan you are getting lots of great stuff to choose from now days.

 

[tankman]

I'll just have to have this in hand for me to say that. I mean, i've had that happen before, I think the dome ruins the figure...but I might overlook that once I have it in hand. If I ever see it, i'll pick it up.

If you do get it make sure it is the new one with the fogged dome look. I can't really stand the first run and still wish the secound run was better but it's way better than the first run. You can't beat 40 dollars and heck I've seen the 9 inch one for 13 dollars. The articulation on this new one is way better too. I get the feeling you might be a McFarlane fan boy and if thats the case most of the figures you love were sculpted by guess who? Those Preds you love from McFarlane were also done by guess who? NECA guys thats who. Some won't like our stuff which is fine but you are only screwing yourself if you don't like the company because that company is doing the things McFarlane use to do and that ticks you off. They love their sports stuff over there and they do great stuff with it. One day I bet they will get back to doing the things that made them in the first place. If not others will come in and do it and lets hope they can make your day like McFarlane does.
Like I said you have many chooses now days. Now get off your butt and get the NECA FIGURE NOW. LOL.

 

[-Super Hans-]

still got mine displayed proudly on my shelves. i actually didnt like it at first but its really grown on me and is now one of my favourite pieces. money well spent