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.
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 001
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 002
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 003
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 004
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 005
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 006
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 007
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 008
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 009
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 010
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 011
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 012
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 013
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 014
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 015
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 016
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 017
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 018
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 019
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 020
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 021
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 022
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 023
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 024
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 025
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 026
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 027
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 028
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 029
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 030
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 031
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 032
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 032 1
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 032 2
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 033
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 034
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 035
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 036
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 037
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 038
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 039
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 040
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 041
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 042
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 043
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 044
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 045
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 046
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 047
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 048
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 049
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 050
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 051
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 052
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 053
NECA Big Chap Alien Ultimate 054
CompaniesNECA
CharactersBig Chap Alien
Scale7 Inch