NECA Aliens Series 11 – Toyark Photo Shoot

Series 11 of the long running Aliens action figure line by NECA is now available. This assortment is a bit of a mash up wave, with figures from three different eras of the franchise. First up is the long awaited action figure of Joan Lambert from the original Alien film. She includes standard and terrified head sculpts and is outfitted in her Nostromo space suit. Next up is the Xenomorph from the popular Dark Horse Comics Aliens: Defiance story line. The final figure is a blue repaint of the Big Chap Alien, an homage to the classic Kenner translucent blue Alien Warrior. These three figures were the first wave available as part of the NECA Alien Club. As such, they included the first three pieces for the classic Kenner UK pop-up cardboard diorama. These pieces attach to form a large diorama play set for your figures.

I ordered the set directly from the Alien Club, and have a full gallery and review. Read on to see my thoughts on the figures and the pop-up diorama pieces. There’s also over 55 photos to check out as well!

Aliens Series 11 by NECA

Pros

• Great new head sculpt on the Defiance Alien
• Defiance Alien has really good articulation
• Stand included with Defiance Alien
• The blue Alien Warrior looks great with Kenner or Thermal Vision Aliens
• Two good head sculpts for Lambert
• Paint on Lambert’s portraits are handled well
• The dio is surprisingly nice in hand

Cons

• The Space Suit for Lambert (and all the Alien humans) limits articulation
• Can be difficult to balance the Defiance Alien

Overall
Each of the three figures is packaged in the usual clamshell packaging used throughout most of the Alien line up. Each package features artwork and a design based around the line that corresponds to the figure. The Defiance Alien uses all new art based on the Dark Horse comics that the figure is based on.

This wound up being an enjoyable, if a bit of a basic “mash-up” wave for the Aliens line. The Lambert figure has been a long time coming and is absolutely worth picking up for those looking to get another figure from Alien. Though the Nostromo Space suit mold has gotten quite the work out since being introduced, with Lambert it fits perfectly. It would be really nice to see some of the humans from Alien get non-space suit versions, but that doesn’t seem likely. Paint work on Lambert is handled really well and the head sculpts do a pretty good job of capturing the likeness of actress Veronica Cartwright. Articulation is ok. But, like all the Nostromo Suit releases, the bulkiness of the sculpt hinders range of motion a bit, especially in the elbows. The blue Alien Warrior is essentially a translucent blue version of the Big Chap Alien mold, with a few articulation upgrades thrown in. If you’re into the Kenner homage line, then this is a fun addition to that growing collection. Joints were strong and I didn’t run into any QC issues on this figure. It does have a nice fading gradation on the dome. The Defiance Alien is another fun Xenomorph to add to the creature collection. The new head sculpt is stellar. Eagle-eyed fans will immediately notice the nice touches, such as the additional rows of teeth inside the mouth. NECA used their Alien Isolation version of the Big Chap here, and updated the color scheme to feature a mix of dark bronze, black and very dark blues. The design of the legs on this mold always gave me some issues getting it to stand. The bendable tail definitely comes in handing for balancing the figure, or you could use the included figure stand.

The highlight of this assortment, for me, was the pop-up diorama pieces. These are based on an old cardboard playset released by Kenner in the UK. This assortment include pieces 1, 2 and 3. The connect together to form a full diorama scene for the Kenner homage line (or your original Kenner Aliens if you have them). It’s sturdy and colorful and the figures fit well in the display.

Check out some highlight photos below and see the full gallery after that.

Some of the backdrops used here are by Extreme-Sets.