After finally securing Peter Weller‘s likeness rights following many, many years of them being unobtainable for the right price, it makes sense that NECA would want to do more than two RoboCop action figures with it. RoboCop, however, isn’t a character known for changing his wardrobe much, so once there’s a regular Robo and a battle-damaged Robo, what’s left? The answer is RoboCop-before-RoboCop. NECA doesn’t usually make action figures of regular humans except on an anniversary date, but they found a creative way to make Alex J. Murphy into an unforgettable collectible.
The Ultimate Cop
NECA typically calls their action figures “Ultimates,” and initially that meant they would come with everything a person would ever need for that one character. As the line went on, the figures became scene-specific Ultimates, with everything from a given moment onscreen. These days, some Ultimates don’t always actually come with many accessories if, for example, they’re a creature like an Alien Xenomorph or Disney Gargoyle. This Murphy, however, is a true Ultimate in the original sense, with enough pack-ins to create several different looks.
In his most basic form, this is Murphy in his cop uniform. OCP corporate logos on the sleeves, and sculpted accessories on the belt. Buckaroo Banzai may not be a valuable enough license for NECA to pursue, but they’ve made a head here that could also readily work for a custom Dr. BB. He also has old-school NECA articulation, which is a huge plus. Some recent figures from the company have had simple disc-and-pin elbows and knees, but Murphy sports the double-ball-and-hinge construction, frequently used in the Aliens line, on both elbows and knees, allowing him to attain most any humanly possible pose.
Slicking back that hair? Possible. Hands behind your head? He can do that too. (NECA’s less likely to make Clarence Boddicker for full bloody dioramas, except maybe as an anniversary premium, so we’ve used an equivalent chrome-domed baddie in pictures.)
Give the Guy a Hand
Heck, Murphy can do the full James Bond gun pose…
To really recreate his movie scenes, though, he needs body armor, and the figure comes with two sets. It’s tight and takes a little bit of patience to slip on — the head has to pop off first, and these heads are a tight fit. It fastens on his right side under the arm, but not very well — the seam is a simple double post and hole, and has trouble staying fully shut, though it doesn’t really affect the look of the figure much, since the armor piece is pretty form fitting.
Once he’s in armor, it’s time to switch out the head for a helmeted version, which includes a flip-up visor. He also comes with a special extra hand that can do the T.J. Lazer pistol twirl, like his son enjoys.
The figure includes two guns, and can either wield both — he comes with right and left trigger hands, as well as right and left open palms — or you can put one in the trigger right hand, and one on the pistol twirl hand, and simply switch out hands at will. Either gun also fits in his side holster, but he only has one of those.
Blood and Plastic
When he gets in trouble, that’s where the figure fun begins, and NECA’s figural roots in horror come into play. The clean body armor can be replaced with bloody, gunshot-wound-riddled armor full of bloody hits. And if that’s not gruesome enough, the bad guys can blow his hand clean off, as achieved by swapping out his hand with a blood-gush effect.
That’s when you need the third head — a bloody, screaming in agony Murphy portrait.
But wait! There’s more. Murphy doesn’t just lose a hand in that scene — his entire arm gets blown off. So there’s an alternate appendage, still with a disc-and-pin joint at the shoulder, but easily swappable, and it renders our hero semi-disarmed.
Body Parts
One aspect of NECA packaging that’s been more noticeable recently is a parts list on the lower right corner of the packaging back. Maybe it’s been there all this time, and I’m just now seeing it on all the new ones. Whatever the case, it’ll help you figure out if anything’s missing.
Other than that, it’s the standard Ultimates window box with opening panel, though the cover is plain black with just the OCP logo, RoboCop logo, and Murphy’s name and badge number. It seems designed to look like a corporate ID, and since the first exclusive run included IDs signed by Peter Weller, that makes consistency sense. The inside backdrop insert is the same “alley” image that came with the basic RoboCop figure.
Considering all the different ways to display this figure, it earns the “Ultimate” label. Fans may want to buy extras, since he looks pretty different with and without the armor, let alone with the gore effects added. I presume the hand squib effect will work with other figures that have similarly sized interchangeable hands, but haven’t been able to test that.
I’d Buy That for 37 Dollars!
$36.99 is about what you’ll pay for this guy, which is equivalent to a NECA Gargoyles figure with far fewer extras (but wings and a tail instead). It’s in the standard range for this kind of figure with this many accessories to create at least three distinct looks in one. Look at the recent R.J. MacReady figures that all use the same base body — NECA could have made three Murphys too, but you get all three in one instead. And it’s one of their best figures, perhaps because they’ve had years of waiting for the likeness rights to imagine every possibility for it. The RoboCop fan in your life absolutely needs this.
Would it be too much to hope NECA scores Starship Troopers rights? The more Paul Verhoeven movie figures, the merrier. Or would the availability of action figures prove the film’s thesis and thereby indict the customer? Maybe we’ll find out some day.
In the meantime, take a look at the many possible poses and looks of Alex J. Murphy, below.
