NECA's reveal of making 7 inch scale figures from Defenders of the Earth in New York Toy Fair 2020 caught almost everyone by surprise. Nevertheless it was a boon for phans & this reveal, just a few months after Boss Fight Studios' announcement of making The Phantom figures, felt like a bonus.
Personally I was stoked with the NECA announcement as I much prefer my action figures to be in the 7 inch scale, over BFS' 4 inch one. Plus I was excited to see these figures come to life specially on the base buck body, sculpted by Djordje Djokovic, being the much sought after and praised one that NECA had used for Superman, Batman and Green Lantern in their previous convention exclusives of their DC vs Aliens/Predator license.
As news of the product hitting the aisle of some stores in the US 2021 trickled out, so did the horror stories of rampant quality control issues in the figures. The internet was flooded with praise for the looks of the product as well as equal amount of complains about stuck joints breaking on attempts to pose the figure. Paint scraping off the pins and pegs of joints. Suddenly the anticipation of finally owning such a detailed Phantom figure turned into anxiety.
Now being owners of the figure we can confirm that the complains are very true. The Quality Control on the product is absolutely abysmal. Which is a shame considering this is probably the best action figure of The Phantom ever released.
However the terrible quality control can be overcome with a lot of patience, hot water & care - and achieve very satisfactory levels of articulation & posing. We have gone through that process here. For those who want to keep their action figures sealed in package - You have nothing to worry about. Till the day you decide to take it out and pose it.
Mind you, these are not considered children's toys but as adult collectibles. So they are not anyway something that can withstand the much harsher playing that a child would subject a toy to.
Coming to the review, the figure and it's accessories are housed in a cardboard window box which shows off the figure and accessories well enough. The box art and design is made to evoke the original packaging design of the toys of the show that came out years ago from Galoob.
Even the NECA logo is stylised to look like the Galoob logo. The back of the box has all the credits of those who were involved in the making of the figure and it's packaging.
The figure irrespective of its numerous QC issues has gorgeous sculpt details. The head sculpt specially is a beautiful rendition of The stern expression of the Phantom and his cowl and domino mask. The sculpt detailing is best shown by the detailing of the Phantom rings. The Skull and the Good Mark is sculpted superbly in that tiny size onto both hands. Paintwork is subtly executed with minimal slop and bleed.
The accessories are:
An articulated Zuffy holding the life essence of Dale crystal.
Two right fists - one with a hollow at the ring point, the other for gripping a laser gun.
A laser gun.
A long laser blast effect that attaches to the ring point fist.
A long laser blast effect that attaches to the laser gun nozzle.
A short laser blast effect for the laser gun.
All accessories fit snugly and nicely and are detailed and we'll painted.
The Phantom figure has a generous amount of articulation points. He has a ball jointed head, ball hinge shoulders, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, ball hinge fists, ab crunch, waist swivel, ball hinge hips, swivel upper hips, double jointed knees, boot swivel, hinge rocking ankles and toe hinge.
A whopping amount of articulation IF you manage to actually get them unfrozen and workable. Best of luck.
This is the best looking Phantom figure and probably will be in a long time, and it's an absolute shame it has been marred by such quality control issues. Here's hoping NECA come good on their promise on revisiting The Phantom for a future release as they did hint on Twitter - and learn from the ghastly quality control that plagued this one.
