What, Pacific Rim again? Yes, Pacific Rim again. NECA just released Otachi, a figure big enough to be its own wave. It also represents a triumph of design - as a monster, she was just too big for an in-scale figure, but somehow NECA has done it again!
Otachi was a gigantic, vicious Category IV Kaiju, directly responsible for the deaths of the Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha crews - she took down Typhoon by tearing out the cockpit with her claw tail, and her acid spit critically damaged Cherno Alpha before Leatherback could finish it off. She took part in an epic battle with Gipsy Danger - the one with the boat weapon - and, after trashing Hong Kong and shrugging off losing her tail and tongue, was finally defeated when Gipsy cut her in half with a sword. While flying in the upper atmosphere. Amazingly, it turns out that Otachi was pregnant, and her young tried to thrash around and eat another character, but ended up dying, strangled by its own umbilical cord.
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From the epic Pacific Rim movie! Our newest boxed, ultra-deluxe kaiju action figure is the hotly anticipated, fan-demanded Otachi. One of the most deadly Category IV kaiju, Otachi is capable of flight, and can spit an acid corrosive enough to melt everything from office buildings to the armor of a Jaeger!
This massive, extra-detailed figure measures nearly 18" long and almost 7" tall, and is to scale with our Jaeger action figures. It features over 30 points of articulation, including a fully articulated tail, plus an interchangeable tongue that can be removed to equip a sculpted "acid spitting" effect, and a bonus "Baby Otachi" figurine.
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Anyway, this figure is huge. How huge, you ask? She's too big for my photography sets! So, to make up for that shortcoming, I took a couple of full-body shots on my coffee table, including one with my cat for scale. Poor kitty.
PACKAGING: ****
Otachi comes in a huge window box, which is the current trend for Kaiju figures. It shows her off pretty well, but it also protects her - she's twist-tie in there pretty well, and the cardboard is surprisingly thick.
SCULPT: ****
Previous Kaiju have been: Knifehead, Leatherback, Trespasser, Knifehead(v2), Scunner, Axehead (Trespasser v2), and Knifehead(v3). All except for Leatherback have utilized the same base body (though Knifehead v1 kind of didn't). But now, finally, we have something totally new! Did NECA cheap out on us again?
Nope! Otachi is INSANE! This figure is huge, measuring 18" long at the tail. She dwarfs other Jaegers and Kaiju, as well she should - she was pretty big in the movie. The size issue was what kept her from being released earlier, and it is nice to see that NECA did not cheap out on that part of it.
As for the sculpt itself, Otachi's texturing is flawless, matching the CGI model. It looks lifelike. with enough difference between scales and thicker armored plates to look like it could be a real creature. She's one part pteranodon, one part Cloverfield, and one part who-knows-what, and it's great to have this thing on the shelf, finally.
PAINT: ****
Just like all the other Kaiju, Otachi's paint job is pretty much flawless. Her skin tone is a dark, blackish green, similar to Scunner's. It's lifelike, and like the other figures in this line, layered. She has some glowing details, though on her they are limited to spots rather than stripes. Still, the blue is bright and stands out looking like it is actually glowing.
Notably, Otachi's got a little bit of battle damage - the claw marks she got from Crison Typhoon are visible on her underbelly, though none of the other damage she took shows up. Sure, she had that damage for roughly 90% of the fight, but it is odd that this figure shows that much
ARTICULATION: ****
Otachi is almost all ball-joints - base of neck, base of head, twin jaws, shoulders, wrists, mid-torso, hips, knees, ankles, a series of ball-jointed segments for her tail, and special open-close hinges on her tail claw.
The tail is important - it isn't a bendy! Rather, she is articulated like an S.H. MonsterArts figure, which just goes to show how far NECA has come. Pretty much everything about Otachi, from her tail to her mouth parts to her sturdy limbs, reflect an increase in quality over the NECA norm.
ACCESSORIES: ****
Otachi's tongue swaps out for another mouth piece - one with an acid stream! It's a nice way to portray her acid spit, though the end of the stream does not simulate an impact, and as a result it just looks like a long tongue. Her tongue comes out easily, too - don't pull, just push it up and it will pop out.
And then we have the baby. Mini-Otachi is really tiny at barely an inch long, has articulated arms, and... awww, poor thing has an umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. It was always a goner.
But seriously, other lines would have included an unarticulated, unpainted piece of plastic, whereas NECA has given us a little figure in its own right! Thing is, it just looks so happy. That sounds odd.
VALUE: ***
this figure costs $65 at retail, which seems harsh... but it is roughly the same level of quality and duration as a $150 S. H. MonsterArts figure, so it evens out. It's also tremendously huge, so even in comparison to other US figures, the price doesn't feel that bad. To quote my roommate, "What is that titanic thing?"
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Otachi feels really sturdy. That said, I wouldn't go tossing her off the roof. You shouldnt throw pregnant mothers off roofs.
WHERE TO BUY:
The smartest thing to do is snag this one from Toys R Us while you can, since the price is pretty decent.
OVERALL: ****
NECA has just provided MonsterArts quality for roughly half the price, and in sturdier plastic. Just about the only thing that could have improved this figure would have been swappable wings, but try to imagine what that would have done to the cost. Otachi is a Kaiju who finally isn't part of the Knifehead mold (well, so was Leatherback), and her level of quality is insane. This lady is a worthy addition to almost any Kaiju collection, and I'm quite glad I found mine!