Back in 2014, as part of Aliens Series 2, NECA released their original Big Chap Alien from the original Alien film. Since then, the Aliens line has seen tremendous growth and has become one of NECA’s best selling, and longest running, properties. As the line has grown, advancements have been made in how NECA articulates their Alien Xenomorphs, greatly improving the range of motion of the figures joints. For the 40th anniversary of Alien, they are revisiting the Big Chap Alien with an Ultimate 7″ Scale Figure release. NECA has updated the articulation and paint scheme, and included a newly designed Alien Egg, a new Facehugger, and a Chestburster. The figure is scheduled to begin shipping out to retailers in February.
Our friends at NECA were kind enough to send along a very early sample of the Alien 40th Anniversary Ultimate Big Chap Alien. I have a full photo gallery, and a review of the figure. After the jump, check out my thoughts on the updates, a rundown of what’s new on the figure, and of course my hi-res photo shoot.
Alien 40th Anniversary – Ultimate Big Chap Alien 7″ Scale Figure by NECA Toys
Pros
- Sculpt is still excellent
- Updated articulation is a big improvement
- New paint deco works well
- The Alien Egg is fantastic looking
- Facehugger is different from previous releases
Cons
- The front of the dome looks a little too dark
Overall
The new Big Chap Alien comes packed in a collector friendly flapped window box. The front flap features the iconic poster for the original film. On the back, you can see assorted photos of the figure and included accessories. The figure and most of the accessories sits on a plastic tray, with an additional try for the Egg base. Included are the Big Chap Alien, a Facehugger, a Chestburster, and an Egg with a base.
The Big Chap Alien is well worn territory for NECA. From the original release, to paint variations, to 1/4 scale figures, the Big Chap design has always proved to be a fan favorite. So, for this review, I’ll mainly focus on what’s new. For most fans, the biggest question is going to be about articulation and range of motion. For the Ultimate Figure, NECA made an immediately noticeable amount of changes. For starters, the knee and elbow joints have been redesigned. With the elbows, you now get a double jointed arm. Swivels have been removed at the biceps, and moved to the elbow joints. The legs, overall, look to be new sculpts. The knee joint has been enlarged, and the legs adjusted to compensate for the changes. The ankles one the originals didn’t offer much in the way of poseability, and those have been ditched in favor of rocker ankles, allowing for more better positioning and making standing poses more natural. The hips design has been updated to better hide those joints without sacrificing range of motion. Other updates include a new dome, more accurate teeth, and a newly sculpted tail. The dome is perhaps a bit too dark at the front, obscuring the bone structure underneath. In addition to all of that, the paint deco has been completely updated, with more paint washes, and better overall coloring.
The Egg is an all new sculpt, and is much larger than the Eggs we’ve seen as part of their Aliens releases. It’s closer in size to their old light up Egg with launching Facehugger (though I don’t have that in hand to do a proper size comparison). The big addition here is the new base for the Egg, adding the organic tentacles. The Egg itself has no bottom, so it is meant to connect solely to the base. It looks fantastic overall. The new Facehugger is closer in design to the 1979 version, with more gaunt fingers, and a more slender overall look. The Chestburster looks to mostly be the same as the ones we’ve seen before, with a more bloody paint deco.
This is, overall, a really nice release for the 40th anniversary of the film. If you’re looking for a better version of the original Big chap figure, then this has enough updates to it to make it worth upgrading. The new articulation is fantastic, the updated paint deco looks great, and there are enough add-ons to make it a solid “Ultimate” release. Check out a selection of photos below, and the full gallery after that.
Advanced Look at the Alien 40th Anniversary Big Chap Alien Ultimate Figure by NECA – Toyark Photo Shoot
I think the egg is more similar to the Covenant egg in size, not the launcher one. That one is huge.
Great set, love the green light pics, nailed tone of movie.
looks great, but are the hip joints loose? All of my recent aliens have loose hips and fall constantly.
The figure looks beautiful and is a great update to the original. I have the 2014 release and the dome is colored white in the areas that are colored black-ish on this release (front and rear). Is one version more screen-accurate than the other? Great photo shoot by the way, Joe. Like Tony said, you really nailed the lighting and the look of the egg chamber from the first movie.
That said, I really have to address what is clearly a ongoing pattern of false advertisement on the part of NECA. For all of these ultimate re-releases they keep boasting about "all new sculpts." They even say it on the product description page this figure on their website:
We’ve given a deluxe upgrade to the Xenomorph known to fans as “Big Chap,” with an all-new sculpt standing over 9” tall.
Yet by Joe's own observations in his review, this is the exact same sculpt as the 2014 release. Why does NECA continuously insist on doing this? Claiming the sculpt is all new when it actually isn't seems like an underhanded way to entice people to buy the figure if the articulation update alone isn't enough for them.
Thoughts?
That said, I really have to address what is clearly a ongoing pattern of false advertisement on the part of NECA. For all of these ultimate re-releases they keep boasting about "all new sculpts." They even say it on the product description page this figure on their website:
We’ve given a deluxe upgrade to the Xenomorph known to fans as “Big Chap,” with an all-new sculpt standing over 9” tall.
Yet by Joe's own observations in his review, this is the exact same sculpt as the 2014 release. Why does NECA continuously insist on doing this? Claiming the sculpt is all new when it actually isn't seems like an underhanded way to entice people to buy the figure if the articulation update alone isn't enough for them.
Thoughts?
I believe the white cloudy dome from the 2014 is a little closer to accurate, but the cloudiness of that is a bit more opaque than it should be. It should be closer to the new one, with much less dark on the front of the dome. On the new one, the factory probably got a little too heavy handed with the black paint on the dome, and that may vary a small bit from figure to figure.
I never did say it was the exact same sculpt, as I make specific mention of newly sculpted areas. I just said the sculpt is still good, as they do seem to share some pieces. Is it a 100% new mold? Probably not, but it's not a simple repack/repaint of the 2014 release. There are clear differences between the two figures. The upper arms, legs, tail, feet, parts of the head sculpt are all newly sculpted. What seems to be the same are mainly the hands and torso, as there was nothing that needed to change there to accommodate the updates.
Those pictures are fantastic. I might have to pick this guy up despite no longer have a place to put my Alien figures.
BTW, I missed this pic. You replicated the pose the alien was in when it was hanging upside down from the ceiling right before it got Brett! Genius shot, dude.
The darker dome is actually a bit disappointing to me. I think the white translucent one is far more creepy looking. I wonder if a head swap would work?
A better solution might be to head up the head sculpt with a hair dryer around the dome. That may loosen the glue enough to remove them and swap just those. I haven't tried that though, so use extra care and heat incrementally so it doesn't mel the plastic dome.
BTW, I missed this pic. You replicated the pose the alien was in when it was hanging upside down from the ceiling right before it got Brett! Genius shot, dude.
Any chance we could see a side-on shot comparing the two? I can tell it's an entirely new head sculpt with a more streamlined design making it less bulky.
Yeah, I'm really torn about the dark vs. light dome thing. I found this pic of the original Big Chap suit used in the 1979 film (displayed at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington), and it does indeed seem that the dome on the new NECA Ultimate figure is not accurate.
BUT, as Joe pointed out, while the dome on the original 2014 release is closer to being accurate, it's also off as the cloudiness is too opaque. Sadly, the new Ultimate figure went too far in the opposite direction.
I'm definitely going to pick this one up since I love me some Alien but the dome color is a bit of a letdown.
Excellent gallery as always. It feels like this ultimate version has been in the works for a long time.
My biggest concern is quality control. I still don't have on original 1979 alien in my collection, so I'm really counting on this release to finally fill that gap in my collection. I've had to make due with the isolation version as a stand in. From what I have seen and experienced, neca has not had a good track record when it comes to xenos and QC. I never did pick up any of the ultimate Aliens version because every one I saw at Target looked really sloppy, warped, and even broken in the box.
With this release, my specific concerns are the paintjob and especially the attachment of the dome. I've seen way too many instances of previous domes being crooked, misshapen, or ruined by excess glue smeared all over them. I really, really hope I can find a good sample of this guy when he drops.
Now for the positives, the improved articulation is nice to see. The new egg and facehugger look fantastic, It's about time we got the original designs. The paintjob of the skull under the dome look improved, I agree that the front of the dome does look a little too dark, perhaps that will vary. Sometimes these early samples from Neca are different from what we see in stores. We saw that with the H2 Myers last year.
Thanks! Yeah it looks like they pulled the lips back! Subtle but effective!
The original Big Chap Ultimate photos had the entire dome transparent. I prefer it that way rather than the darkened front and back.
Also doesn't the darkening make it look different from the new 1/4 big chap?
First time poster and big Alien fan.
Wonderful photos and review, thanks!
I really like the improved articulation, and it's a bonus that the new knee joints made the legs slightly shorter, as the earlier figure's legs were just way too long.
What I'm not too keen on is the dome's paint apps (as everybody else has pointed out, the blackened front is exaggerated) and the huge teeth...
The dome and the underlying painting of the detail remind me of the MM5 McFarlane figure. And that's not good.
As for the teeth, it seems to me they just made them bigger, because the upper lip looks the same as before, i.e. slightly curved down to actually cover the teeth. Unfortunately, that messes up the entire look of the face, and makes and already problematic profile even more problematic with the upper teeth jutting over lower teeth.
Also, the dome isn't placed properly, the front should cover the ribbed detail. So, all in all, the head is a mess!
It seems to me that the only "resculpting" done was to accommodate the improved articulation and the bizarre decision to make the teeth larger, with absolutely no regard for making it actually more accurate.
Full Thread: NECA Ultimate Big Chap - Exclusive In-Hand Gallery
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