The first-ever NECA product I ever own is none other than the big monke himself, King Kong! As far as characters go, King Kong is one of those monsters that you gotta treat with respect; he's more than just a rampaging beast that people are scared of; he has layers that would help him connect with everyone around him easily. This is something that I especially loved with the Peter Jackson King Kong reboot and the Legendary-produced Kong: Skull Island; they see King Kong as more than a big monkey and treat him like a God-like being of sorts. While NECA's prior versions have been based on specific versions, this is a new take on the guy, and it's a figure that is courtesy of my friend Illiniguy34!
Here we have King Kong in-hand. As far as the anatomy is concerned, it captures the way a big gorilla like him would look, with the right amount of chunk for the body in contrast to his long arms and his somewhat stumpy legs. The sculpting of the figure is also done well, with the fur/hair sculpted to give it a realistic look while also contrasting it with the bare pecs and the bare parts of the face, hands, and toes. The paintwork is done beautifully, with a brush to accentuate the detailing to further help the fur/hair pop even more. There are even scratch marks on the flesh of King Kong to show how rough the fights are when he goes against monsters as big as him. Since this is an organic character, having the sculpting fit nicely with the cuts used for the articulation can be hard, and while there are some noticeable gaps or seams, I think NECA did a good job overall. It's also a heavy piece, thanks to the quality of the toy as well as the materials used in them.
Head sculpt is insanely good, with the paint work added on them as well as the sculpting used to make the toy look like a living creature. The flesh wounds, eyes, and the mouth with the teeth, tongue, and gums are painted and sculpted gorgeously. As for the articulation, King Kong can move his head around on a ball joint where the head connects and a bigger ball-type joint where the head moves on the body. The arms move front and back, in and out, swivel at the biceps, and bend at two points at the elbow while also swiveling at the wrist as well as hinging at it. There is a diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at two points for the knees, and swivel as well as hinge the ankles. So you can have him with a chest-beating pose as obligated for all King Kong toys (and any gorilla/ape/primate toy) to pull off.
You can have him be in a knuckle-dragging pose if you want, but I will admit it doesn't have the same naturalistic look that Transformers Apeface and Optimus Primal can pull off. Even he's realizing he can't do it as well as those two.
For reuses, this is the magazine cover repaint that has King Kong based on an old-school first appearance where the artwork is more stylized in terms of coloring on top of how it mimics the oil-paint look for the pink and...green?...in his face as well as the yellow on the right shoulder. It's all about the aesthetics and the light shading used to make the artwork pop nicely without the use of filters and the like; old school artstyles can be very fascinating for that alone! Oh and I forgot to say but he also has an alternate head and open hands...
...and here he is with his alternate angrier head and open hands as he is now sandwiched in-between two other toys that will share the review spotlight later this week! You can have him ready to intimidate any unlucky travelers in Skull Island as he prepares to push them down before punching their sad asses into a pulp! Of course, he can't do that with Master Chief and Arcee because they're needed for a review each! So overall, NECA King Kong is a great way to delve into their line of premium action figures while also discovering that they're actually more affordable than expected! With so many licenses to delve into and me not sure of where to start, Ernie was kind enough to provide me the king of the jungle as a sign of encouragement! Maybe a classic Godzilla would be more than helpful to give some symmetry.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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