LOS ILUMINADOS MONK

 After the huge succes of both Resident Evil 4 game and its action figures set, NECA proof it was capable of produce figures almost at the same level as McFarlane Toys (they sure use the same limtied articulations) and it didnt take them long to expand the set with a series 2, this time completelly focused on the enmies of the game.

The very first figure of the series 2 was Los Iluminados Monks, a set of four monk enemies, each one with a different weapon like a scythe, a shield, a spike ball with a chain, and each one of them looking different with one with his head fully bald, another one with his hood one, another one with a skull metalic mask, another one dressed in red....but sadly, since i wasnt pretty fond on the game and its human enemies (i was actually pretty salty about the game back then), i only got one of them; the leader of the group dressed in red, just because he was the coolest looking.

This nameless guy is in scale with everything NECA has always done soo he fits perfectly with most action figures line and he can also stand on his own perfectly and have a very good stability. Sadly, this is mostly a statue, even much more than Ada since he can only move his shoulders, elbows and wrists. The Elbows have a ball joint soo they cna move up and down and to the sides but the elbows articulation is just a cut articulation soo they can only rotate but at the same time this cuts completelly the sculpt since the wrinkles of his outfit stop matching once you move the elbows.

The wrists can rotate and thats it, this limit the pose options awfully since his entire torso and head and legs are just a single piece of solid plastic, not even his bots can move but given the situation, it would had make no sence articulate his feet. Both the rope and the baner at the front and the back of his body are made of soft plastic soo thats a very nice touch.

The sculpt is really good since the robe flows perfectly around his non existant anatomy and all the wrinkles are very realistic looking, tough the face is completelly hidden, the animal skill on top of his head is deffinetly the best part of th entire figure since the sculpt is both ncrediblly realistic but the paint job on it is outstanding too, with a boony yellow color mixed with lots of browns to high light the scarct and details as well as the impresive horns.

The entire body is red with a shade of black to give shadows to the robe and this includes the baners in front and the back that have details in golden and the Los Iluminados crest in front. The hands are extremelly pale, with blue vains on them and looks very plastic but i think tha fits the characters and the blue eyes peeking under the animal skull looks much better in person than in photos since the painted details are soo tiny.

He have a single accesory tough; a crossbow made of wood and metal with an arrow on top of it. The design of the weapon is really ancient looking and the details of both sculpt and paint looks very good. This item fits perfectly on both his hands as the pre-sculpt demands it but he can hold it with a single hand as well.

I didnt take too much pictures of this figure because, theres not much going on in here. I mean, the paint and sculpt are good and the animal skull is extremelly cool looking, but from the entire series of figures this is the most boring one despite the bring colors. The lack of articulation dosnt help either but overall, he is not very fun at all. I think this figures work moch better as a pack tough, the entire groupd of Los Iluminados monks together, each one looking different to the next....but as a single character this guy is pretty forgetable and i am not sure NECA can be blamed for it since he didnt looked too much like a Resident Evil monster at all.