ADA WONG

 In 2023 i started making reviews of my Resident Evil collection and i covered all the ToyBiz, Moby Dick and Palisades lines, the toy lines based on the original vision of Resident Evil before it changued genre, but for some reason i stop there and didnt talk of the rest of my collection and i think is pretty evident money has been short and i cant buy figures like i used too (thats why this years has been soo low on updates in here) soo i decided to review the second half of my collection, the figures based on the action era of Resident Evil.

After the wonderfully childish ToyBiz line, the stuning faithfull and huge Moby Dick line and the CODE: Veronica centred Palisades Marketing line we get the storm of Resident Evil 4, the game that changued the series forever and the Survival Horro as well (and almost make dissapeare the genre). Non of the already mentioned studios was around anymore (how fast times changues!!) soo while we were waiting for McFarlane Toys to do its magic, it was a pretty new and novice name that took the Resident Evil 4 licence: NECA.

Aside of The Nigthmare Before Christmas and a few movie lines, in 2005 NECA never before produced figures based on videogames soo collectors were curious to see wath they could do. And just in time for the game release, the serires 1 came to stores with 4 different characters: Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, Chainsaw Ganado/Dr.Salvador and the boss monster Verdugo. Four figures, just like Plisades did a year before and while i am not a fan of Leon at all (and back then i saw his figures hundreds of times) i didnt get him....and i regret it, because now is super expensive.

But i did get Ada Wong on her magnifiscent Anna Willaims cosplay. This figure is on scale with all pther NECA figures (i really admire how they stick with a single scale after 25 years) and match with McFarlane Toys as well. Is twice the size a ToyBiz figure but pretty smile for the Moby Dick figures but it fits perfectly with the Palisades collection tough it dosnt have the comic book style those figures style and deffinetly not the articulations either.

She can stand on he own perfectly once adjusting her legs and thats quiet a surprise gven how long are her legs and the high heels, but NECA balanced her perfectly. Now back then the "adult collector" market was completelly lead by McFarlane and his figures were mostly statues with very limited articulation soo al brands around followed that thrend pretty close back then and NECA was not the exception soo this Ada is a preposed figures with very few movement points.

She have a ball joint on her head that give her good movility tough the back of the hair gets in the way with the chocker on her neck. She have cut joints on the biceps that are extremelly ugly and evident looking and they broke the scullpt and are not specially usfeull either since her arms are pretty close to her body no mather how much you rotate the biceps and looks pretty awkard. She have basic articulation on her wrists that let her rotate her hands but again, its only usefull to adjust her gun. And laslty she have a ball joint on her rigth leg to open it to the sides and front and back in order to adjust her leg to make her stand. This articulation along side her ball joint are the most usefull ones to give her a little bit of movement.

The sculpt is really good, the pose with Ada huging herself, i pretty sexy and elegant and full of confidence. Her shape matches the character model and the face sculpt is really beautifull and reminds me the Succubus from Castlevania. She have no texture aside from her hair and the whole dress is made with soft plastic soo the leg can be moved freelly. And i mean the whole dress, not just the bottom part, the top part is also a soft plastic piece on top of the plastic figure and that gives helps a lot to make the sculpt stand out.

The chocker is made with soft plastic as well and somehow the ribbons can be posed a little bit. The dress is dark red (i guess for not making it looks too cartoony?) and it have a soft black airbrush to give deep to the shadows and details of the wrinkles on it, The butterfly and flower looks like...plastic stickers? Or maybe the plastic is printed? I dont know but i am impressed they are still perfect looking after 20 years.

The skin is pretty clen and have a very healthy looking look thanks to different and soft tones or orange mixed on it, to cast shadows much better and the hair is a mix of black and shiny brown to make it looks shine. Sadly....i dont know wath color the use for the ehad part but the face skin is painted and of course, very different to the rest of the body, very pale and this paint is also mizing with the hair in the inside part.

And while the nostrils, ears and lips are perfectly painted and looks very natural, the eyes looks kinda .....cartoon? The eye lashes are too prominent and plain somehow. Its odd but this difference in skin color and eyes painting dosnt looks too bad in person but in photos is very evident.

Her accesorys are her pistol as well as a tommy gun. But weapons have a very good sculpt and paint mixing gunmetal black with grey and gives it an extremelly convincing metalic finish. The tommy gun have also wood parts and looks as good as the metalic parts. I actually find it off they give her two weapons despite her being soo limited on artculations but i guess both works well with the sculpt.

And thats it....back then figures didnt have too much accesorys to be honest, specially no hands or extra heads. Is this figures good looking in 2025? I really dont know...the paint aplication as well as the statuesue nature of this Ada may looks prehistoric at first sight but back in 2005 it was quiet the opposite; this was a really worth figure of the character and a huge upgrade over the more childish Ada Wong from Toy Biz soo NECA really make evident they were pretty close to reach the same level as McFarlane.

ADA WONG & IVY

 

With the big succes that was the "Videogame Super Stars" line with Resident Evi and Resident Evil 2 and taking advantage that Capcom released Resident Evil 2 Platinum a year later - the PC port of the game - , ToyBiz expanded its line using the same tittle: Resident Evil 2 Platinum, and added more fgures to the collection in expectation of the eventual arrival of Resident Evil 3 (the wait felt eternal...).

Reelasing figures in 2 figures packs (except for bosses), the first figures on the new line was Hunk and Zombie. I never been too much of a fan of Hunk and the Zombie was just a generic one, reusing most pieces of the Maggot Zombie from the first line, so i skipp this first pack tough now i regret doing it.

The second figure was Ada Wong and Ivy, of course Ada had to be included since she is also playable for a short while in Leon game. Ada is the same size all human figures, smaller than your modern Figma figure, much more in escale than the old Kenner toys and she cant stand on her own ata all given the weird feet sculpt, she is sculpted walking in some way soo finding a balance spot for her is really really difficult.

She is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, legs, knes and ankles, all cut joints, even the shpulders soo theres not much option to pose her around, she have a very basic movement classic from the 90s. 

Honestly, along side Leon, i find this Ada figure the most dissapointing. Her sculpt is kind of weird....she is soo incrediblly muscly, with a wide shoulders line, muscle arms and her boobs and ass are huge, yet her face sculpt have almost no face features, soo generic and looking bland. The paint is very basic too and specially on the face it dosnt help her, is just.....basic, incredile basic, theres nothing badly painted on her face but just looks too much like a toy.

Her dress is made of real fabric tough, a first for a ToyBiz figure. I guess they didnt want her dress to get in the way of her legs movement but its the section that takes most of the attention with her. The dress and her wrist clock, is painted pretty ncie tough is not sculpted at all. 

She also have comes with a gun that fits on her hands barelly but thers not much to say about this gun, is just a generic pistol and also is the first figure in the entire lines that dosnt have any kind of action feature (no ugly lever on her back finally!!).

Now we go to the opposite side of the coin, the Yang of Ada´s Ying: Ivy. Ivy is big....like bigger than most of other creatures tough not reaching Tyrant or William size, this plant is actually pretty bulky and makes Ada look like an accesory, i am susprised they didnt packed Ivy all on its own.

This creature is articulated on its shoulders and legs, just standar cut joints tough the arms are made with soft bendy plastic with a wire inside soo theres many ways to move the antire arms and the vines around in different forms.

The sculpt in this creature is just beautfull, is just a beauty!! Is soo full of details with the muscly texture on its torso and arms and the open sections on its shulders, the octagon attern on the leafs on its head and the petails on its hands, the figure is soo rich in texture and details!!

The paint is at the same level of perfectiona s the sculpt, with pretty strong greens and darker greens to add shadows to the muscles and roots sections, the red tissue peeking out from in between the roots and the vibrant and strong irange of the flowers on its hands with some dark shadows to make each detail stand out is just beautifull. Also, the quality of the paints in the hard plastic of the body is the same as in the bendy arms, with matching colors wich is an impresive feat.

His entire head is amde in very soft plastic thats nice to the touch but also conect with tis action feature. Aside of the bendy tetacles and arms of this beast there is a huge button on its back (the only obnoxious part of the figure), push  it and the petals of his head open to reveal a vibrant orange inside with some yellow veins and red pistils coming out from its mouth!!

This 2 pack is like day and nigth, i was soo dissapointed with Ada but Ivy  is just such an impresive figure, the level of detailing and paint is actually more impresive than William and Tyrant and adding two action features on it makes it stand it a lot! They released another figure of Ivy later but it didnt reach the level of perfection this figure have and even 25 years later is still impresive.