Review – Resident Evil Vector

This Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City – Vector* action figure caught my eye at ToysRUs and just had to go home with me. Looking at the action figure in the packaging I immediately thought of the two DC Direct Killzone action figures that I reviewed last year (Helghast Sniper review here, Helghast Assault Infantry review here) and the memory of those two toys — both excellent “articulated statues” — made me grab Vector. Mistake.

Packaging

Attractive, minimal, and easily forgettable. The Resident Evil Vector package is a simple clamshell with a few pieces of paper and it works. Nice photos, clean type, easy to read all of the information, and the action figure pops nicely on the pegs in the store. There’s nothing all that exciting . . . but then there’s nothing exactly bad about the packaging. I tossed mine as soon as I had the toy out of the package.

Sculpt

This is where the Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City – Vector* action figure really shines. As you can see in the photos, NECA spent a lot of energy on sculpting all of the tiny details on the action figure. From the soft plastic cowl over the head to the texture sculpted into the suit to the small pouches on the belt and battle vest every detail is there and awesome. Just holding the figure I found myself following the lines of the sculpt and I’m quite impressed with how much work went into the design.

And it’s not just the figure itself that’s sculpted beautifully. The knee pads and shoulder pads are separate pieces that are slipped down over the figure and firmly in place — looks like these pieces were added before the figure was completely assembled — while the rifle, knife, and pistol are also all tightly sculpted. Wesitron’s review at Infinite Hollywood (review here) is well worth a look if you want another opinion on the toy and accessories, but I’ll just simply say now that I agree with his assessment that these accessories are excellent.

Articulation

For me, this is where the Resident Evil Vector* action figure goes horribly wrong. Now I don’t know if it’s that I got a figure with extremely tight joints or if I’m just nervous after my recent negative experience with the Play Arts Kai Armored Batman (posted here), but something’s got the toy’s joints from being as useful as they should be and it’s seriously detracting from the fun value.

Playing with the toy I find:

• Head – There’s a ball-joint under all of that, but the extremely cool cowl design restricts the head movement so that all Vector can do is look side-to-side. I cannot get any up/down motion out of the joint.
  
• Arms – Swivel/hinge shoulders, hinged elbows with swivels just below the hinge, and ball-jointed wrists. And all of that sounds good, but despite Wesitron’s ability to position Vector holding the rifle two-handed (see the review at Infinite Hollywood) I can do no such thing. That’s what makes me think mine has joint problems.
  
• Torso – Another thing that makes me think my toy has problems is that Wesitron reports Vector has an ab crunch while I can find is a swivel at the waist. And the vest, while cool, isn’t removable so I cannot see what’s going on beneath it.
  
• Legs – Swivel/hinge hips, double-hinged knees (one of which is locked in place), boot tips that swing up a little, and swivels above the ankle and rocker ankles all sound good. Sound good. Unfortunately, the locked knee and sticky/tight joints in the leg leave me unable to get any cool poses out of the toy. I really think I got my hands on a dud, because again looking at Wesitron’s review I see poses I cannot duplicate.

Closing Thoughts

I think that between this review and Wesitron’s review at Infinite Hollywood you can get two dramatically different opinions on the Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City – Vector* action figure. I loved what I saw in the package, but the reality — for my figure — is that this is a huge disappointment. While the two DC Direct Killzone action figures that I reviewed last year (Helghast Sniper review here, Helghast Assault Infantry review here) were more statue than toy, it’s toys like this Vector that make me think that there are times when fewer joints is a good thing. After all, if Vector was designed more like the Killzone action figures he would be more dynamic and have fewer things to go wrong.

I do not have a lot of experience with NECA action figures, but this particular action figure was a bad experience and makes me less excited about the company’s other offerings. Fortunately, the Iron Maiden: Final Frontier Eddie action figure (review here) was fantastic and I have another Iron Maiden action figure to open so I’m not completely done with NECA. I just hope that the next toy of theirs that I open is incredible; I don’t think I can handle another disappointment like this from a company I don’t know much about. That could seriously affect any future toys I may consider buying from them.

Philip Reed also has a Bioshock action figure by NECA that he still hasn’t opened. Maybe that should be next on the review block.