So The Terminator is a pretty awesome film. There’s no disputing that (unless you’re Harlan Ellison, but that’s another story). The film put director James Cameron on the road to superstardom (for both good and bad), helped cement Arnold Schwarzenegger as an action star, and pretty much made the 80s that much more awesome. Oh, and we also got tons of cool merchandise and figures. A few years back, NECA put out two variants of the T-800 in its Tech Noir garb. While it was pretty cool, the figures suffered in the “double-dip” department, and had a lack of articulation. Now NECA have reissued the figure in their Ultimate line, complete with new articulation and accessories. The third time really is the charm.

Packaging:

The T-800 comes in a collector-friendly windowbox packaging, recreating the poster art for the film. The back of the box features shots of the figure, done up in “Terminator vision” with numbers, targeting reticle, etc. The flap on the front of the box opens to reveal the figure standing against a backdrop of the bridge from one of the film’s early chase sequence.

Sculpting/Paintwork:

If you’ve been keeping up, NECA almost never fails to please with its paintwork. The figure is done in the same way as the previous Tech Noir figures, with the same great paint applications, showing off the dirt and grime of the outfit, as well as the zippers and studs. The pants have been given a great dark wash to bring out the wrinkles and texture. The shirt features a great recreation of the graffiti. The headsculpts are also nicely painted, with the bloody version looking as accurate to the film as possible. There are a few small smudges here and there, but overall it’s amazing what the folks at NECA are able to do.

Like the paint applications, the sculpting is amazing. The wrinkles in the jacket and pants, along with the studs, are faithfully recreated here. There’s even a real metal chain that loops through the epaulette of the jacket (you just learned a new word). The headsculpts of Arnold are amazing throwbacks to 1984, hair and all. The weapons are likewise nicely painted and sculpted, again with some great details. The damaged right arm again recreates the look from the scene in the movie perfectly, right down to the little piece of loose flesh that overlaps the endoskeleton in a closeup shot. Simply awesome. Any problems with the sculpt overall would be centred around the elbow articulation. Speaking of which…

Articulation:

The Ultimate Tech Noir T-800 features 25 points of articulation. The head is on a balljoint, and can move up and down, side to side and rotates left and right. The shoulders are on pin-and-socket joints, and can move up and down and outward. The sculpt doesn’t allow for the figure to move into a full T-pose, but that’s nitpicking. What isn’t so nitpicky are the elbow joints. The way the jacket is sculpted, the elbows can only bend under 45°, and can rotate side to side. This is kind of disappointing when you swap out the right arm later on. The hands are on balljoints and can rotate all the way around with no problems.

The waist is on a balljoint, but with the way the figure is sculpted, there’s no ab crunch. Not a big deal, since if it was included, the jacket would fly up at the back. The legs are on pin-and-socket joints, and can move up and down, in and out, and rotate at the hips. The knee joints are nice and tight, and can bend roughly 45° and rotate. The bootcuts can be rotated left and right, and the ankle joints allow the feet to rotate and some bending.

Accessories:

First up we have three interchangeable heads for the T-800. The first head is Arnold from his arrival at the club, the second is from when the car in the alley gets blown up, and his hair is singed. The last one is from getting shot in the eye. As mentioned before, all three are wonderfully sculpted and painted. The heads are easy to swap out, and fit nicely on the balljoint. The same can be said of the interchangeable left hand, which has the trigger finger. The right arm is where things get complicated.

While it can easily be swapped out, it’s more or less relegated to being bent at a right angle because of the jacket sculpt. And while you might be thinking “So what?”, you find out that because of the limited movement of the elbow joints, attempting to recreate the surgery scene will prove difficult, as the figure can’t move his arms closer together. What’s also kind of hard are the two pairs of forceps included. Being the exact same sculpt, the figure can’t quite hold either one in its left hand, leaving you to have to fiddle with trying to make it seem like he’s holding them, or that they’re attached to the right arm. It’s a neat idea, but the execution isn’t quite as satisfactory.

As for weapons, the figure comes with the shotgun stolen from the police cruiser, as well as the modified AMT Hardballer Longslide handgun and Uzi. Great sculpting and paintwork, although they may be warped when you first get them, so have a hairdryer ready. The figure can hold the weapons in either the regular right hand, or the swapped-out left hand. The shotgun is done in a softer plastic, so you don’t have to worry too much about breaking it or the hands as you try to work them into an acceptable grip.

Overall:

So, it’s another great figure from NECA, but is it worth it to buy a third time if you have the previous two figures? Well, if you want the added articulation, swappable heads and extra accessories, this is definitely worth an upgrade. If you missed out on the previous figures, it’s a no-brainer to grab this one. The weak elbow articulation and lack of a way to properly hold the forceps is kind of a downer, but this is still an amazing figure. I’m definitely excited for the upcoming Police Station Assault version. Again, we’ll see if that one is worth the double-dip.

Big thanks once again to Northmen Collectibles for making this figure available.