You have to hand it to NECA for their determination to bring a figure to market. Having approached John Hurt for his likeness to produce a Kane figure and been refused, they pressed ahead with the ingenious solution of covering his face with an Alien Facehugger. I am not sure what the issue was with John Hurt, especially with his recent 5" Doctor Who figure, but many fans weren't really sure about the covered face approach and whether NECA should proceed. However, on receipt of this figure yesterday from Films & Figures, I am glad they did. In hand it is a real work of art.
The figure represents Kane in his spacesuit from Alien having just encountered the Alien egg on LV-426 and been attacked by the facehugger.
Kane at present is still in plentiful supply in the UK (review written February 2015) and sits at the usual £17-£20 price point - depending where you shop. Within the range the Dog Alien is outselling the other figures and Bishop is starting to peg warm - so if you don't have any of S3 I would buy them in that order.
Kane arrives in the usual NECA clamshell with artwork of the actual figure across the front, back and both side panels. The rear also contains a write up of the film premise, whilst also showing the other figures in series 3 - Bishop and the Dog Alien
Once out of the plastic prison, Kane is presented as the main figure along with 2-piece helmet, a gun and a flash light.
The sculpt is beautiful on this figure. There is loads of detail on the spacesuit that many companies wouldn't have bothered including. The suit itself is textured and layered and then their are the more intricate components around the back pack and the chest area.
The head is still well sculpted for the parts you can see, and the facehugger is sculpted just as well and wrapped around the head and neck area. Customisers have found that the facehugger can be removed from Kane's head and used on other figures - but their is nothing other than a big hole where Kane's face would be once the facehugger is taken away.
As well as displaying him without helmet, you can add the helmet onto the figure which is then designed with a broken & sunken glass section to show Kane as he was attacked on the Space Jockey's ship wreck.
The helmet takes a bit of working into position as you place the neck section first, then the glass dome over the top. Like the body, the helmet is very detailed and links up to the hose sections on the rear of the figure
Painting across the figure is pretty much top drawer, with nice shading and intricate patterns - including Kane's name plate on the chest. The suit may be from 1979, but it has a steam punk feel that still feels right today. However, and it is a big HOWEVER, the version I received first had an issue where all the bronze paint was still wet and was coming off both onto the parts of the figure it was touching and onto my fingers while handling it. I had the figures swapped as faulty but this is obviously another worry to add to NECA's quality control - particularly as I have heard reports of Bishop suffering from a similar issue in isolated cases.
On to the accessories and here is where the figure drops marks. The flash-light is fine and fits in Kane's right hand easily. The gun on the other hand doesn't fit naturally on either hand, but will fit in the looped holster on Kane's right side . Both also feel a bit redundant and I would have much rather have seen an open egg to place with the figure on display.
The other slight let down is articulation. The very nature of the suit makes the whole figure very bulky and therefore there isn't much play in the arms or legs. I am pleased in how the feet/ankle joints work on this figure - they move very smoothly and don't appear to be ratcheted and therefore allow Kane to be stood up quite easily.
I always worry about joints on NECA figures so haven't forced Kane into any positions yet, but you can raise his arms, the shoulder pads move to accommodate the arms and there is enough leg movement to get Kane into some variant poses. However the tight & fragile joints do have a knock on effect and the paint is already rubbed on the back of my Kane's knee joints straight out of the box. With all this combined I am therefore not going to be playing too much with Kane's pose ability.
Kane marks the 2nd figure from the original Alien movie alongside the Big Chap Alien, and will be joined by Ripley and Dallas when Series 4 hits later this year. Kane is an impressive display piece and one that has changed my mind on the incoming space suited figures from Alien and has convinced me I "need" these other too when I was only really planning on getting Ripley with flame-thrower.
Yes, the face sculpt is missing and the accessories are a bit weak, but this release goes beyond an action figure and gets into statue/diorama territory and looks superb posed on an Alien themed display with suitable mood lighting
Kane is not perfect so I give him an impressive 4 out of 5 and NECA a 10 out of 10 for making him a reality in the first place. Roll on more Alien Franchise Characters...
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