RHINO ALIEN

Collecting figures has been very difficult in the last months thanks to the pandemic and add the crazy tax Mexico add to any online transaction and things are unreal hard and it seems they will not get better anytime soon. Despite of that i been able to get some of my preordered figures little by little and one of them is the Rhino Alien from NECA.

Part of the Kenner tribute, this guy is based on the very first 90s Alien action figure serires, a Xenomorph brith from a Rhino. Is not the crazyest ideas at all (not as wacky as the scorpion version) and the resulting figure was an extremelly cute little guy with chuby legs and a horn, cast on orange transluscent plastic.

NECA rebuild that character to creat this beast, using modern technology for impresive sculpt, articulation and paint (and price) for a monster that is not cute at all. The Rhino Alien is actually pretty huge and bulky he dosnt comes in a clamshell like the rest of her sisters, instead she comes in a big deluxe box perfect for the share weigth of the creature.

He is designed to be on all four tough he can stand on two legs with no problem at all. When in four he is a little bit taller than a standar human action figure, when on two legs this creature is towering, a head taller than the rest of the Aliens and even the Play Arts Kai figures. While on two legs tough is pretty easy to lose balance soo its better to have this creature on all four tough i love how unconfortable and awkard it looks on two legs, almost like a werewolf.

This Xenomorph is articulated on the jaw, neck, shoulders, double elbows, wrists, fingers, chest, legs, double knes and ankles. Unlike the Mantis Alien, this one use ratchet joints, soo the articulations are much more resistant and stronger tough is very limited in movement thanks to his design: the pipes on the back prevent the head to move to the sides, the spikes on the shoulders prevent the arms to move out and the big wings like construct on the legs always clash with his tail thingy.

Also, despite all the articulations, is pretty tricky to pose this Alien on all four. Like i say, the hips clash with the gothic designs on his legs too move the legs up front is pretty difficult, and the knes have the same issue, also while the arms are pretty long it requieres a lot of strugle to make all four limbs rest on the ground. And as a side note, his elbows articulations are kinda soft soo i am wondering how long they will resist support such heavy weigth...and the wrists dosnt give me a good feeling either. Despite being the bulkyest Alien, this can be more fragile than it seems.

Also, the original Kenner figure had this big hooves but this version have smaller feet and "normal" Alien hands with long and articulated fingers, again this makes me wonder if it was a good choice for such a heavy character.

The scuplpt is brillant, super detailed and full of intrincate design all over, mixing the organic with the mechanic perfectly. The abdomen is made with soft plastic for some reason and it have the big ribcage over it, wich means you can see theres something behind the ribs, almost like looking at a boiler with figure inside, the orange inside and the black ribs have a very spectacular effect. His legs also have a trully fantastic redesign with a very animalistc design with backward articulation and the tail looks menacing and pointing.

While the front of the creature is really good looking, the back is also worth nothing with thise big pipes behind. This pipes were present on the original Kenner figure and pretty much each section was present, but while the original was chuby and cute, this version is totally twisted, pointy, spikey and overall, much more menacing and violent looking.

The color is divided into two: gunmetal black in front and transluscent orange in the back. The metalic black starts to fade slowlly by the sides leaving the back totally orange. Add some ligth and this orange shines like its on fire and if the creature is on all four legs is gonna look like its front side is made with coal and his back side is burning on fire, almost like a creature made with molten lava.

If the design wasnt twisted and demonic enough, the color make it looks less like an Alien and more like a hellish demon.

His mouth have silver fangs around the checks and big upward fangs like a wild pig and a huge rock like horn where the eyes are supposed to be. The horn is intense black color and is actually pointy. The jaw opens to let his second mouth slide out. Sadly he is looking at the ground, soo this second mouth is a little useless compared to the big horn in front.

His skill is all cracked up and remidns me a cockroach too much thanks to its soft orange tone. For some reason this dome can be removed ro reveal his insides. The dome is only keept in place by the horn at the end of the head, but it dosnt move too much and the inside looks....well, kinda organic, like an orange brain. I guess the guys at NECA didnt want to lose the sculpt they did in there.

The monster have no base tough i wish they give him one....with a rod to conect on its chest or abs soo it can relive the weigth from the legs and arms but i guess is not that neccesary...i mean, if they didnt give a base to the Mantis Alien its pretty obvious this one can survive without one much better and theres no other accesory aside of his removable dome and the Dark Horse comic reprint in high quality paper.

Overall, this is quiet and impresive toy that looks really spectacular in any way its posed tough i still fear his articulations wont rests the weigth but i guess only time will tell. NECA did a great job like always and went beyond delivering such a perfect creature.

Now i am missing only the Gorilla Alien, now i really need him but there is also two other Aliens NECA hasnt anounced yet: the Bull and the Winged Alien. Bull was my favorite over the Rhino when i was  akid since he looked more demonic and evil, tough if NECA inyected such evilnes into the Rhino i really want to see wath they can do with Bull, and the Winged Alien....i dont even want to think how expensive and big that thing would be....