Review : T800 Guardian NECA, Terminator Genisys Wave/Series : N/A Released : September 2015
Price : £19.99
The NECA Terminator Genisys range saw 3 figures released across the back end of 2015. With the movie not performing as expected in the cinema, the figures suffered a similar fate. The range comprised of a first "wave" of two figures - the T1000 Terminator in Police disguise, and the figure we are reviewing here - the T800 Guardian Terminator from 1984. These would be followed a couple of months later by the "Pops" T800, the older version of the titular character.
Like many of NECA's newer licences, the Genisys figures arrived in a cardboard window box. The box is predominantly a red design, depicting the infra red view of a terminator and throughout the box art you can make out Terminator Endoskeletons and Hunter Killers. Contrast on the box comes from a black flash that circles the bottom quarter of the box. On the front, it is this black band that contains the Terminator Genisys logo, the character name and a circular logo depicting the Endoskeleton Terminator Skull. Above this, and through the clear cut out window, is the figure itself.
Round the sides, the red theme continues with a repeat of the logo at the top of the spine, the skull mid way and the character name on the black band at the bottom. On the back and offset to the right is a panel that details some characteristics of the T800, with strengths, weaknesses and "interesting facts". Directly under this panel are two insert showing the T1000 figure as "also available" and next to him the "Pops" T800 and this one is labelled "coming soon". The bottom black panel on the reverse is populated with three images of the actual guardian figure.
Out of the box and The Guardian sits in a plastic tray, and that into a grey back panel - which at closer inspection contains a number of read-outs and targeting scopes, again reflecting the technical view of an active Terminator. The Guardian comes packed with just a single accessory, a shotgun, and no swap-out parts. This is a big difference in this release vs the other two in the range - with the T1000 and Pops Terminator coming with significantly more options to amend the look of the figure. There is an element of feeling "short changed", but when you look at the movie there is very little NECA could have included, other than that very creepy smiling head.
The Guardian stands exactly 7 inches high, bang on with most of the other Arnie figures that NECA have given us in recent years.
The sculpt is the usual high quality and perfect likeness we would expect from the NECA sculpting team. They have still managed to inject some personality into the facial expression, with Arnie exhibiting a very subtle grimace. It is these facial expressions, capturing the actors mannerisms, that is keeping NECA ahead of the competition.
Sadly the paint, on my version, wasn't as good as the head sculpt. The eyebrows and the front of the hair line had paint missing, so you were simply seeing the flesh tone underneath. They had also completely missed the hair around his ear on his right hand side, making Arnie look like he had been attacked by an angry barber.
The clothing is fairly standard and quite plain, with a hooded jacket sculpted over a plain grey T-shirt. The jacket has some nice sculpt and paint detail, with a bronze zip to the front and on the back of the arm cuffs, even though you don't really see them. Same with the zips on the back section of the upper arms.
The jacket is coloured in a slightly glossy effect, so naturally picks up it's own detail. There is no paint wash on either the jacket or t-shirt. The trousers are a cargo type effect, and again like the top half of the figure they do have loads of detail worked into the sculpt and there is a very subtle wash to bring out this detail. The trousers, and the black shoes, would go on to be re-used fully for the Pops version of the T800.
Articulation is always a fine balance on a NECA figure between preserving the looks, but allowing the figure to get into some variant poses. The Guardian is no different, and the joints are all really well disguised at first look.
The head, on a ball joint, will rotate fully round and look up and down as well as being able to cock to either side. The ball jointed shoulders withdraw under the jacket when raised, and the arms can be raised to almost a 90 degree angle to the body. They also rotate to go above the head. The elbow joints are a single 90 degree bend, but they do also rotate, as do the wrists, which allows the Guardian to hold his shot gun in that familiar position that we see in the movie.
The waist swivels and, unlike many figures, can rotate a full 360 degrees. The hip joints are well hidden, but not as manoeuvrable as other ranges - so the Guardian won't sit, or kneel particularly well. The knees are single jointed also, not double like we are finding more and more on this scale. There is then an ankle joint, although this is restricted by the trouser leg and can only really shuffle a bit either way to square of the stance.
The only accessory to speak of is the Shotgun, which is really well sculpted and painted in at least three different colours, all of which are perfectly applied with no bleed or drips. It fits snugly into the right hand and can then be cradled, if you wish, in the left hand to that mid-rift firing position. My only gripe with the gun is that I am already getting paint rub on the barrel from the hand.
The T800 Genisys Guardian is by no way a bad figure. In fact it suffers more because of the high bar NECA has set with other releases in the same price bracket, and indeed in the same range. The paint issues are factory problems, and if I had the opportunity to look through a few I would find out without issues. The problem with the figure lies with what is not there.... an alternative head maybe or alternative weaponry.
There are certainly better, and more iconic Terminator figures out there - for example the Ultimate T2 Terminator at just a fiver more. In terms of a score, I give the Genisys Guardian a safe 3 out of 5, just behind the older "Pops" version who benefits from more packed in options.
