Review – Iron Maiden Final Frontier Eddie

The Iron Maiden Final Frontier* action figure is my first purchase in the series, but it’s such a fun action figure that if I see more of this series in stores I’ll very likely buy one or two of them. It’s an odd choice for a line of figures, but NECA has done a fantastic job making this work as an action figure and I’m impressed with the sculpting and paint of the toy.

A Seriously Great Sculpt

Click on each of the photos here to enlarge the shots and get a closer look at Eddie. I don’t have a lot of experience with NECA’s toys and what I’ve got here tells me that they really sink some skill into their work. From the sculpted meat to that wicked head every detail looks incredible; I especially love the addition of the soft plastic blood vessels that connect the arms to the torso; nice touch!

And the Paint is Perfect

I took a few close shots of the Iron Maiden Final Frontier* action figure’s head because the head has some of the best paintwork I’ve seen on a mass market action figure this year. The brain, the teeth, the eyes . . . yeah, they’re all gruesome and gorgeous and NECA won a lot of points in my book when they attempted and succeeded at so many complicated and perfect paint apps on such a small space. This might be one of those rare instances where the paint complements and improves on an excellent sculpt.

I think the photo directly below is a good example of the wonderful paintwork that NECA sunk into the action figure. It’s really garish and disgusting, and if this is typical of the quality of paint that NECA applies to their action figures then I have really been missing out on great works of art and beautiful toys. I think I may have to try another NECA action figure very soon just to see what else I’ve been missing by not closely following their work.

Articulation

If there’s one place where I’d have to give the Iron Maiden Final Frontier* action figure a slight downcheck it would be in the articulation department. What we get isn’t unacceptable, but after the quality of the sculpt and the paint I have to say that I expected a little more when it comes to “points of articulation.”

• Head – Eddie’s head sits on a ball-joint while the lower jaw is hinged, allowing you to pose the toy with the mouth open or closed.
  
• Torso – There’s a swivel joint just above the armored plate at the waist. This may actually be a ball-joint, but if it is then the armor is limiting the movement to a 360-degree swivel.
  
• Arms – Hinged-balls at the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivel wrists on each arm work okay, but when I first opened the toy the hinges were fused with paint and it took some real pressure to crack the paint. I thought I was going to rip one arm off, but in the end I got all of the joints working okay.
  
• Legs – The hips swing straight out to the sides, the knees are hinged, there are cut joints at the thighs, and the ankles are hinged-balls that have very little up and down motion.

Yeah, none of that articulation is exactly bad, but after the work sunk into the paint and sculpt of the Iron Maiden Final Frontier* action figure I was expecting more from the articulation. That’s probably unfair to NECA, though, and even with the fairly limited poseability — those hip joints are really restrictive — this is still a fun action figure.

Closing Thoughts

I’m happy I found this Iron Maiden Final Frontier* action figure while I was in the Boston area last week, but the one problem with the toy is that it looks so great that I now want to go after more in the series. The $15 price point felt just fine for the size and quality of the toy, and if you like the pics here and are okay with the articulation then I say go grab this guy now; I can’t see this sticking around for long in any store.

Great work, NECA, and I am ready for more of your action figures. I guess I’ll head out and explore the stores soon . . . if I can figure out which stores around here even carry NECA’s action figures.

Philip Reed will definitely try another NECA action figure soon. He has one in the closet that should get opened before the week is over.