Actually, in-hand the dome issue isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. In fact, in some ways it's actually more movie-accurate than the previous white-dome release, as the fact that the alien was mostly shown in poorly-lit scenes made it really hard to notice that his dome was translucent anyway. For years I always thought it WAS black, honestly. And if you look close enough, you can still see the skull underneath.

That said, my Target had 4 of them on the shelf, and the black spray seemed consistently applied on all of them. So it's not like some were lighter than others.

Looks good!
Any QC issues? Stuck joints?

Shockingly, no. Joints are all fine, nothing too loose or tight, nothing warped or broken. Well, one of the little elbow spikey things was curved sideways, but a little hot water fixed that right up. The figure stands pretty well on it's own, even without the tail's help. The inner jaw is a little floppy (at least on mine), but with a little fiddling it stays in place. The Egg, Chestburster and Facehugger are all good as well.

However, I DID notice that some of the figures had what appeared to be a light-colored scuff mark on the "nose" part of the dome, so I would look closely at any figure you find in the wild just in case. It's hard to see, however, since the figure is packaged standing sideways. I got the only one on the shelf that didn't have this mark. It's possible that it's actually NOT a scuff and instead is a build-up of glue under the dome. Not sure either way.

Also, someone informed me that these figures have actually been delayed and really aren't supposed to be at retail yet...apparently the ones I found had "slipped" by and gotten to the store somehow. That said, I was at a different Target today and found some there as well, so it seems this is widespread...at least in my area.

I think Big Chap and Annabelle are just limited stock releases at this point. The main shipments of them are delayed. My Target got Chap, but not Annabelle. My friend's Target got Annabelle but not Chap.

Okay, so I just got lucky. :)

Good news about the QC.
I saw a couple of reviews, and people seem to be generally pretty happy with this one.

Well, my Target received 2 of these this weekend, and unfortunately both ended up having QC issues.

The first one I got had a deformed/poorly molded upper left arm, which is of course the arm you can't see in the box. The shoulder had a massive crescent shaped divot in it, and the details on the arm were very shallow and soft with almost no depth. It also had a deformed foot, and most of the joints were stuck. Extremely stiff elbows, knees and mid torso. I didn't even bother with the hair drier since I already decided pretty quickly that it had to go back. A shame really, because everything else was perfect.

So, I took it right back to the store, returned it, and got the second one. The second one wound up being worse than the first. The dome at the front (which I could not see in the box), was attached poorly and had a huge spot in the front that should not be there. The hips were also crooked for some reason and could not be adjusted. The same joints as before were also stiff. I returned it this evening. I'd rather keep my $30+ and wait for more to arrive later in the year than settle for these problems. I photograph my figures regularly and these kinds of defects are magnified in photos and would drive me nuts.

I'm pretty bummed as this was my first Neca purchase of the year and I had high hopes for this one. I've been waiting patiently for Neca to bring us an improved "big chap" 1979 Alien since I picked up series 4 in 2015. Still some of my favorite Neca figures that I own. This has been a hole in my collection for close to 5 years and I couldn't wait to finally have the original xeno to accompany my Ripleys. Unfortunately it looks like my wait will have to continue a bit longer.

Now there are positives, I don't want this to be an entirely negative post.

QC nightmares and frustration aside, I was impressed with this release. The paintjob is great, the new articulation is a huge improvement, the sculpt seems better. Details like the teeth seemed crisper and more defined. The limbs weren't warped by the packaging. The box is huge. The new egg is spectacular, I love how it includes the base with the tentacles/roots. The new facehugger and chestburster are also excellent, both look screen accurate. These accessories all seemed to have perfect QC compared to the figure itself.

I apologize for this long book of a post, I just needed to vent after having some terrible luck. Hopefully I find a good one later in the year because I refuse to give up on this.

Dude, don't apologize for a long post. It was your experience and it's cool to read stuff like this.

Sorry to hear about your QC issues. I looked over all of the Xenos at my Target very carefully (even using my cell phone flashlight) and made sure I picked the best-looking one. Of course, you're never sure exactly what you're going to get until you get it out of the box, but I lucked out and nothing was amiss. Hopefully the next batch you run across will yield better results.

My Target got 3 of him in on Friday, but now that I'm out of a job until possibly Sept, I had to forgo him.

It's amazing how NECA can't seem to get on top of these QC issues.

I've picked up two of these, one was for a family member, with no issues worth mentioning.

You'd think that NECA would have ironed out those QC issues that has plagued them for years but they still can't. My Ultimate Ahab had a deformed left arm from the packaging when I got him and there aren't any replacements left where I'm from.

Saw six of these at my local Target while grabbing a few supplies before they all disappeared. All six had perfect boxes but damaged figures. two with snapped legs, one with a snapped arm at the shoulder, two with a broken hand and one with a broken foot. Very disappointing. Looks amazing. I figured I'd pop in here to let people know to look over their finds to make sure you don't get stuck with a dud, but it seems it's known already.

Well, back to retirement. Cheers!

Again, nothing warped or fucked-up with my Big Chap, other than that one thing on his elbow that I straightened out with hot water. Sorry to hear you other kids are running into issues.

Again, it's impressive how subtly improved the sculpt is. Beat-for-beat its the same, but with more depth. Like the little bands of flesh that stretch out from the mouth and down along the bottom jaw. On the 2014 release they were good but on the new one they're even detailed. And the teeth look SO much better! Everything just has more definition, but again, it's subtle.
https://news.toyark.com/wp-content/u...mate-032-1.jpg

Hey! I remember you! You should start posting again.

I noticed this right away with the defective ones for the brief time that I had them in hand. I never owned any of the previous versions (the 2014 one was notorious for breaking so I never got it), but this new one does have a better sculpt. The details are much more refined. I could tell right away it was going to look great in photos which is why it really pissed me off that the QC issues ruined it.

Neca needs to find a more foolproof way of attaching the dome to the head at the factory. There's still too much room for error with it.

I noticed that another round of the Ultimate Big Chaps have been showing up in Target and Walmart recently, and the dark paint issue on the dome seems to have been addressed, as it's far more transparent in the front, making the "skull" structure plainly visible now.

Unfortunately, this has revealed a QC issue that the darker paint on the original release managed to obscure. I picked up one of the brand-new Big Chaps and noticed that, because the dome is clearer now, you can see that the nose of the "skull" is one of the areas that they used to glue the dome down, and as a result you can see the dried glue under the dome all around the nose. It's REALLY noticeable and kinda ugly, honestly.

I exchanged the figure for another one and encountered the same problem, and ultimately ended up returning it. For now, I'm settling for the original Ultimate from a few months ago. It just looks better overall, as while the darker dome wasn't perfectly accurate, it DID hide the glue while still remaining at least partially transparent if you look close enough. Besides, in the movie (due to the lighting) it looks black anyway.

It's a shame, as otherwise the more transparent dome on the new release looked really awesome, but that glue on the inside of the dome's "nose" kills it. Sadly, I didn't think to take a pic, but I might hit up another Target tomorrow (looking for GI Joe Classified figures) and maybe I'll try one more time. If I do, I'll be sure to post a few pics.

BTW, other than the lighter paint on the dome, this new release is otherwise exactly the same as the initial Ultimate. Paint seems the same, joints were firm, etc.

NECA dose it again...
Really Really nice

Interesting that they changed the dome already. I've heard they also changed the design of the hip joints as well.

The visible glue on the nose under the dome was a problem with 2 of the 3 that I've bought and returned already, and those were the earlier ones with the black dome shading. About a month ago I tried one from Walmart and it was even worse than 2 from Target. I've not seen any new ones since. It sucks that because of how the figure has to be packaged you can't see the most important parts until you open it.

Here's a shot of the new figure. Third one I've seen and the nose looks like shit (although not as bad as the first two I've seen). Dammit.
http://www.toyark.com/attachments/60...801_233446.jpg

And yes, you're actually right about the new hips! The hips are no longer directly connected like NECA's usual setup, they're each a separate ball peg similar to how Hasbro does their hips. Great decision on NECA's part, as the hips are far more stable now. This is big news, as people have been wanting them to fix their default hip joints for ages now.
http://www.toyark.com/attachments/60...801_234028.jpg

Yeah, that "nose spot" sucks. It stood out right away to me on the earlier ones I returned. It ruins the look. I don't know why NECA can't find another way to attach the dome so this doesn't happen.

At least the new hip joints should eliminate NECA's ongoing problem of loose hips and uneven legs. It's about time they addressed this.

And holy shit, look at all that glue coming out of his nose! If NECA made the dome clip-on instead it would prevent them from ruining the figures like this.
http://www.toyark.com/attachments/60...802_111842.jpg

I'm not sure I'm understanding what the problem is. The picture of the Xeno head with the dome on looks fine to me. What am I looking for?

That stuff on the inside of the dome all around the nose isn't the sculpt, it's shit-tons of glue. In-hand it's very noticeable.

That glue is unacceptable. What a shame they can't seem to get this right.