Keeping Hicks company in the dropship is Private William Hudson, as played by Bill Paxton - the man who (like Lance Hendrickson) has the honour of being killed on screen by an Alien, Terminator and Predator.
Like Hicks, Hudson was released singularly and then as part of a 2-pack with the Brown Alien Warrior. The Hudson head in this 2-pack was a re-sculpt and included the USMC helmet.
We are reviewing the single carded version here.
Hudson is another superb sculpt by NECA. In fact it probably exceeds the sculpt on Hudson, purely for the fact of the emotion they captured on Hudson's face - you can almost hear the words "game over man" coming out of his mouth.
The Armour is again the modular armour over a basic body and is distinctly different to Hicks with some variety on the strapping and pouches. It is really worth looking closely at the amour to appreciate the detail - look for the eagle wing badge.
If you compare Hicks and Hudson side by side the noticable different is a bandage sculpted onto Hudson's left arm. Other than that they share the same body sculpt with those variations built into the armour.
Paint is really well applied once again with the exception of a chip on Hudson's cheek on the version I received - one of the risks you take with any action figure bought remotely. There is a grime wash built into the skin tones, but the armour is a lot brighter - possibly intentionally assuming Hicks is longer served than Hudson.
Hudson's armour contains loads of little decals. There is a skull and cross bones on the chest, along with the name "Louise". And on the rear are a pair of cartoon eyes on the right shoulder and then the text "Contents under Pressure, Dispose of Properly" - all of which is screen accurate.
Hudson comes with the standard issue Pulse Rifle, and the larger tracker that he uses in the film in his role as a Tech. He also comes with a shoulder light & camera that slots into a hole on his rear left side, with a wire then coming out and down into his belt.
Articulation is disappointing. The head rotates and can look up and down. The arms can move out to the side by almost 90 degrees on a ball joint. The elbows however are stiff and are sculpted in such a way that they impeded their own movement - and like Hicks, two handed weapon poses are impossible.
The leg joints are promising with ball jointed hips, jointed knees and rocker ankle joints - but are too weak on the hips and ankles which means Hudson continually slips into the splits, or falls forward. I had to install Hudson onto a Kaiser figure stand to support him from the waist.,
Five stars for sculpt, five stars for paint, but only 2 stars for articulation - the more frustrating issue being the lack of stability. Looks great in an Aliens display with the other Marines. 3 out of 5.
