Resident Evil Licker

I have never seen a Resident Evil figure with this amount of careful detail for a figure.  The gaping bloody mouth to its prehensile bloody tongue, everything about it screams “Hey, it’s the first non-zombie creature from Resident Evil 2!!!”  Compared to previous lines (including Toy Biz and Palisades), this is the greatest sculpt of the Licker available.  The claws on this baby are just astounding.  The blood-covered tips of the razor sharp claws are a nice touch (they’re pretty sharp for plastic too). 

The paint application of the blood on the claws and mouth are well-done.  However, the bloodstains on the Licker’s shoulders and spine look….. sloppy and unnecessary.  Also, the choice of color for the Licker’s entire body seems a bit too bright (from my memory, the Licker was a whole shade darker and more bloody red, not flesh-toned).  Despite all this, there is no doubt, that this is one of the best game-accurate figures produced yet from NECA’s Resident Evil line.

Despite its astounding likeness to its video game counterpart, there is very limited articulation.  The head is in a static position, forever cursed to look over its left-side.  Sure it looks cool, but it would be nice to have the option of having the Licker face its prey from all angles. 

 The Licker has swivel wrists, swivel hip, and swivel legs.  Unfortunately, the joints are cut in a very awkward fashion.  The swivel wrists are cut in such a way that it makes swiveling the Licker’s waist nearly impossible without scratching its giant bloody claws.  It took many attempts before I successful managed to move the Licker’s giant mitts around its pre-posed bent knees so that I could pose it in a more “dynamic” way.  How come the Licker’s arms aren’t peg-jointed so it can move around like the rest of the RE figures?  Without it, the V-crotch cut is highly unnecessary.  (I was secretly hoping that the Licker would be able to stand on all fours, ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.)  The only “fun” factor about this figure is that its tongue is (slightly) bendable.  Unfortunately, the tongue on my Licker happened to crack, exposing a silver-colored bendable material, due to the thinness of the bendable plastic material in the Licker’s tongue.

 In the accessories department, the Licker only comes with a basic plastic base.  There was a rumor that the Licker was originally going to come with a “ceiling” base (which would’ve really been cool).  But alas, it wasn’t so, due to budget constraints as explained by Randy Falk, Head of Product Development for NECA.