After the death of Apollo Creed at the hands of Ivan Drago, Rocky Balboa begins an intense training regimen to take on the powerful Russian boxer. Rocky heads to Russia, where he faces the opponent who would end his boxing career. Yesterday we shared our gallery for the new Rocky 40th Anniversary Series 2 Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago Figures. Today we’re back with the last two figures from series 2. Today we have a new set of photos from NECA’s Rocky IV wave, featuring Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago (red trunks).
The figures were supplied by Toyark sponsor Entertainment Earth. For this shoot we have over 55 photos and a review of the figures. Read on to check them out.
Related Entertainment Earth Links: NECA Series 2 Rocky Balboa, NECA Rocky and Mickey Puppet Maquette 2-Pack, All Rocky Collectibles
Rocky 40th Anniversary Series 2 Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago
Pros
- Another good Drago figure
- Rocky includes some fun extras
- Good likenesses on both figures
- Good articulation
- Nice details on the gloves and shoes
- Solid joints on both figures
Cons
- Rocky included two left hands
Overall
As with Apollo and yellow trunks Drago, these figures come packaged in nice collector friendly window boxes. The front features nice metallic foil art for the character, and a nice open window to see the figure and any accessories. The back of the packaging includes the poster for Rocky IV and a photo check list for Rocky Series 2. Each figure sits on a plastic tray with a few twist ties. Ivan Drago (red trunks) includes no additional accessories, but has a different head sculpt than the yellow trunks version. Rocky includes a flag accessory and an interchangeable bloody head sculpt.
These are two more solid Rocky offerings from NECA. Like the Apollo and yellow trunks Drago, these two features strong sculpts and good paint apps. The eye paint on these two are aligned more accurately, so that issue is gone. Rocky is a really strong release here, as it includes the draped flag accessory (last seen with the Video Game Rocky Figure), and an alternate bloody head sculpt. The head sculpts are pretty good here. The main head sculpt is more recognizable (obviously), but the bloody head sculpt is a great “getting clobbered by a giant Russian” sculpt.Paint work is pretty strong on Rocky, though the 5 o’clock shadow is a little odd looking. Some nice touches include the blood splatters on his trunks and upper body. Dragon comes in red trunks this time and has a meaner looking head sculpt, more fit for boxing photos. Paint work on Drago is just as good as the yellow trunks version, but his eyes definitely look better here.
The figure has decent articulation, allowing for some great boxing poses. The shorts on them hinder hip movement a bit, but I heated them (hair dryer) up and it gave a far greater range of motion. Joints were strong, with no noticeable looseness and no paint locking issues. The only gripe is that the Rocky included two left handed gloves. I swapped them out for the gloves from the Rocky III figure for this shoot.
The entire assortment wound up being really enjoyable to shoot. If you missed out on any of the original Rocky releases, these are definitely worthwhile pick ups. I am holding out hope for a 3rd series of figures. Check out some highlight photos below and the full gallery after that.
CompaniesNECAEntertainment Earth
CharactersRocky BalboaIvan Drago
Scale7 Inch