Last year, director Andy Muschietti and actor Bill Skarsgård teamed up to bring Stephen King’s terrifying novel IT to the big screen. Previously, the story was adapted for TV and featured actor Tim Curry as the murderous clown; Pennywise. While there was initial resistance to the idea of remaking IT, horror fans were quickly jumped on board after the trailers. Fans were treated to a creepy and genuinely scary take on the story, which focused on The Losers’ Club as kids. The upcoming sequel will tackle the second half of the story as the, now adult Losers’ Club come together to take on Pennywise one last time.
For their first release from Stephen King’s IT (2017), NECA Toys focused on an Ultimate version of Pennywise. Offering three head sculpts, interchangeable hands, a red balloon, and the SS Georgie paper boat, this is a nice release that keeps Pennywise scary, but doesn’t spoil much of the film. NECA sent along the figure for us to check out. After the jump you can read my review of the figure, and see 50 high resolution images in the gallery.
IT (2017) – Pennywise Ultimate 7″ Scale Figure by NECA
Pros
- Outstanding head sculpts
- Really solid overall figure sculpt
- Excellent paint work
- Nice accessories
- Good articulation and range of motion
- Easy to swap out parts
Cons
- Balloon string can be a little tricky to get into the hand
Overall
The flapped window box uses the popular first poster for the film on the front flap. The back of the box showcases the assorted portraits and accessories. Pennywise is packed on a simple plastic tray. A single twist tie holds the figure in place. Pennywise includes a smiling portrait, a static portrait and a scary portrait, an extra set of interchangeable hands, a red balloon with a bendable wire string, and the SS Georgie Paper Boat.
When originally revealed, it was clear that NECA likely had really nailed the creepiness factor of Pennywise. The look of character in the film was a bold departure from the 90’s version. From the vintage styled white clown suit, the unsettling red smile that overlap his eyes, the Pennywise design proved to be a big success. NECA went with an all plastic sculpt with softer vinyl used on some of the frills to allow for a better range of motion. Pennywise has double jointed knees and elbows here, a double ball jointed neck, waist swivel, ankle articulation and more. This all comes together nicely, and doesn’t detract from the look of the figure. It also makes for some great posing opportunities. All of the parts swap out easily and snap into place nicely. Joints are solid with no paint locking or noticeable loose connections.
Using sculptor Trevor Grove to craft the portraits really paid off here, as his likenesses on all three head sculpts are outstanding. I enjoyed that each portrait works to represent specific spots in the film. While the creepy smiling portrait is my go-to look, the other two are handled just as well. What brings the portraits, and the overall figure together, is the great paint application throughout. On the head sculpts, the red make up paint is clean, with sharp edges and no noticeable bleeding. The eyes are aligned well, also featuring a clean application. The costume has that slightly dirty look to it, with a few paint washes over the whites to really bring out the sculpted fabric texture.
Accessories included here are soft plastic SS Georgie paper boat and a red balloon. Both of these feature prominently in the films marketing and are some of the most iconic imagery from the IT stories as a whole. The boat look great and has a nice sharp stamp with “SS Georgie” on it. The red balloon features wiring in the string, which helps to make the balloon look like it’s floating. Take extra care when inserting the end of the string into the pinching hand, as it’s a tight fit and I had the wire pop through the string at the bottom. I suggest heating up the hand just slightly prior to placing the string in and you should be fine.
For fans of the new IT film, and horror fans in general, this Pennywise is a must own. The figure has a great creepy look to it, well done portraits, with some excellent paint work. Check out some select photos below, and see the full photo shoot after that.
Some of the backgrounds featured in pics below are from Extreme-Sets.com. Enter code TOYARK at checkout and get 15% off your order!
