Advanced Look at NECA's ROCKY Series 1

**JeffSaylor** · 02-09-2012, 03:58 PM

New figures deliver a knockout punch...

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Today we take an advanced look at the upcoming Rocky action figures by NECA. Based on the original film from 1976, the first assortment consists of the Rocky Balboa and his opponent Apollo Creed. The set of highly-detailed action figures should be hitting stores later this month and will be available in both regular and fight-damaged versions.

The new Rocky figures utilize the standard rectangular clamshell design which is pretty much the standard for all NECA figures these days. The color insert feature a simple yet eye catching collage of images from the various Rocky films.

The backside of the insert has a very classic design consisting of a red silhouette of Rocky in his iconic raised-arms pose from the first film. The bottom portion of the insert showcases the upcoming Ivan Drago and Rocky Balboa figures from the fourth film.

Although this assortment consists of two characters, there are actually four different figures when you include both of the fight-damaged versions of Rocky and Apollo. The muscular sculpt on both figures closely resembles their individual and distinctive physiques as they appeared in the film along with all their originally branded boxing gear. The Apollo figure is taller and has a more muscular physique in comparison to Rocky. The level of detail rendered on each figure is nothing short of impressive and are the most movie-accurate representations to date. The sculpted wrinkles on Balboa and Creed’s boxing trunks make them seem as if they were real fabric at first glance and their boxing boots and socks lookincredibly lifelike and film-accurate as well.

The Creed and Balboa head sculpts are truly the icing on the cake with these figures as the artists at NECA have captured Carl Weathers and Sylvester Stallone’s likenessed flawlessly in three-dimensional form. The pre-fight versions portraits look very good but the beat-up ones are truly amazing. The bruising and swelling on on Appolo and Rocky’s faces are so accurate look like they just jumped out of the television screen.

The articulation on both Rocky figures offers a wide range of movement while not affecting great the sculpted details on the bodies. The boxing trunks on both figures are made of a flexible rubber which allows a wider range of motion for the thighs as well. Both Apollo and Rocky figures have the following points of articulation:

-Ball-Socket head
-Ball-Socket shoulders
-Hinge/Swivel Elbows
-Ball-Socket wrists
-Ball/Hinged mid torso
-Ball/Swivel crotch
-Swivel thighs
-Swivel/Hinged Knees
-Hinged ankles
-Hinged toes

The color application on the new Rocky figures is visually stunning and carried out flawlessly on both fighters. The Apollo figure is colored nicely and his dark-colored skin has a significant contrast against his red, white and blue trunks. The battle-damaged version of Rocky is hands-down the best figure in this assortment as the majority of his body is covered in blood stains. Rocky’s white Everlast shorts even bare a pinkish hue to them from the bloody stains. That’s just how detailed the paint job is on these figures!

Come later this month, Rocky and Sylvester Stallone fans will definitely be in for a treat with these awesome new highly detailed and well articulated figures. While all four figures in the assortment are great, I believe the fight-damaged Rocky Balboa figure will be the most sought-after in the assortment making much harder to come by in stores.

Keep it locked on Figures.com as we will be bringing you the latest news and images from NECA directly from the New York Toy Fair.

Review and Images by Jorge Pelaez

Review Samples Courtesy of NECA