NECA Rodan 2019 Figure

The NECA Rodan 2019 figure is the third figure out of four in NECA's King Of The Monsters line. With the first two of the figures being luke warm I did not put so much faith into this figure. I expected the quality overall to be about the same as the other two. Did NECA's Rodan figure surpass my expectations? Let's take a look and find out.

Starting off with the packaging, the front of the box now displays the picture from Rodan's poster for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. This is sort of what I was expecting with the packaging for all of NECA's Godzilla 2019 figures, but it still does not cut it for me. It is still displayed in that metallic border that is not great to look at. If it were me designing the packaging I would make the whole poster almost wrap around the box. However, the design of the box is the same song and dance. Open the flap and it reveals a window to look inside the box and on the inside flap there is a promotional image of Rodan. On the side of the box, you have your information and another promotional picture on the back of the box. Sadly, the box is not worth displaying.

When it comes to the paint and details of the Rodan toy NECA has really made this figure different from all of the other Rodan 2019 toys that were released by Bandai and Jakks Pacific. From far away Rodan looks dark red, but up close he is charcoal grey through out most of the body. This is because the crevices in the body are painted red to make the details on the figure pop. What I love even more is how the edges of his wings has a shade of burnt orange to have that amber look like you see in the movie. It looks uneven as one wing has more of that orange than the other, but it looks nice either way. There are even bits of yellow that looks to be splatted or dripped on with a brush that makes the wings look a little more like they're burning. I think the weakest part of the figure are the eyes. They are just white dots with tinier black dots for pupils. I think they could have made the eyes a little bigger, but overall Rodan looks really nice and sharp.

NECA has been known for simple and straight to the point articulation. With Rodan being tiny, he only has eight points of articulation. The head, neck, and thighs are on ball joints, the shoulders are on a swivel/hinge combo, and the hands are just on hinges. I am not too impressed with the range of articulation for the wings. I am not liking what NECA did with the hinges on the hands. The hands going up and down sort of ruins the design of the wings and it does not make much sense. I think that if the hinges moved in and out like they are flapping would have been better. What I do like though, are the head and neck joints being able to move around freely. Depending on whether he is flying or standing you can make Rodan look up, down, side to side, and swivel around and do the exorcist if you want. Overall, the articulation is solid for the most part. You can have Rodan in a couple poses, but don't expect him to dance to "Thriller."

When it comes to accessories, Rodan comes with an open mouth head piece to switch Rodan's head to make him roar or squak, the containment facility that Rodan rises from in the movie, an explosion effect part, and a flight stand so you can display Rodan in his flight pose.

Taking a closer look at the open mouth head the first thing I notice is that none of the red can be found on the face anywhere. It's completely charcoal grey. NECA should have at least painted the tongue a different color like the burnt orange color we see on the wings. The details that are sculpted on the head does look nice when you hold it close enough though. To switch the heads, first you must remove the head that is already attached to the neck. The head is on a peg and it's really tight. Since it's tight I recommend dipping the attached head in hot water or use a hair dryer to soften the head. Once you have removed the head that was previously attached take the other head and plug the peg into the socket and that's it.

As for the other three accessories, the containment facility and the explosion actually makes the base for the flight stand. The flight stand is attached into a socket found on the explosion effect piece. Once the flight stand is attached to the base, line up Rodan with the flight stand and he should snap into place. My only complaint about the flight stand is that it is not as tight and secure like Mothra's flight stand. I would not try flipping it upside down. Overall, I really love the base. You can make a pretty cool display