Knifehead

Knifehead is a Kaiju from the 2013 film Pacific Rim and the best of the line released so far. Still, there are some significant issues.

Knifehead is the first Kaiju you see in the film, and probably the most iconic looking. Taking cue from the old Gamera kaiju Guiron, Knifehead’s head is long and pointy, hence the name.

The toy looks fantastic. Unlike the soft sculpting of the Jagers, Knifehead has an extremely detailed and sharp sculpt. It looks like it would be right at home alongside any of the more recent Kaiju toys from Bandai. The surface texture has varied details from smooth to scaly, and the paint applications are great.

Articulation is simple but that’s the norm for monsters (aside from the recent SH Monsterarts line).

The shoulders are swivel joints and the elbows are hinge joints. The toy clearly has a case of “I was a statue and was cut up to become an action figure”-itis that NECA is known for. This is most evident when you rotate the shoulders and have the odd edges revealed in the upper arms.

One big omission is the lack of joints of the small arms. They are very rigid and stuck in that one position.

NECA went the extra mile with the tail, making it able to bend into whatever shape you want. Great choice, and the materials are seamless.

The legs are simple ball joints that only swivel, and the knees bend. However without an ankle joint you can only pose this so much.

The head has fantastic tiny paint detail around the mouth and eyes, and the jaw is movable. I would have like to have seen some rudimentary neck articulation but you get what you get.

My biggest complaint with Knifehead is the quality control. My figure had two glaring flaws that I would have been able to spot in the package had I been paying attention. The first issue is the separation in the right shoulder. There’s a big gap between the body as opposed to the flush fit of the left side. The other issue is the deformed joint in the right elbow. Something went wrong at the factory and this was not caught. Is it because NECA has less strict QC guidelines, or does their factory just suck?

Still, despite the flaws it’s very cool looking and I’m willing to give it a pass because it’s a Kaiju, and I’m perfectly content with Sofubi with 5 points of articulation. NECA has to up their game with their quality control if I’m going to keep buying their releases.