Does anybody know if NECA still has the Terminator 2 license? I know they haven't released any figures from it since the 2020 Sarah and John Connor two-pack, but this is NECA we're talking about: they always have huge gaps in their release schedule. When was the last time you saw an Alien or Predator from them (not counting those Halloween costume kids)? How long has it been since they did any D&D updates? The Boys? The Thing? Back to the Future? We could post this review of this ancient figure, and tomorrow they could announce a new update like nothing happened. And maybe if they did, it'd show up in stores, and I wouldn't have to tell you about figures I got before Toys "Я" Us closed.
Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997.
The few who survived the nuclear fire of "Judgment Day" lived only to face a new nightmare: The war against the machines.
In their effort to eliminate all remaining humans, Skynet sent two Terminators back through time. Their mission: to destroy John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. The first was programmed to strike at his mother Sarah Connor in the year 1984, before John was born. It failed. The second was to eliminate John when he was just a child. As before, the Resistance was able to send a lone warrior to protect the boy. The only question was which one would reach him first...
Yes, this figure was released in 2016, for T2's 25th anniversary. It's not that I was avoiding reviewing it, it's just that there's always been something better to entertain you with. But since I'm still waiting on that Vincent Price figure I preordered over a year ago, the options are limited. Watch for reviews of more Mattel Halo guys next week, maybe!
Part of the reason the Ultimate T-1000 perpetually got pushed back behind more interesting fare was the same thing that made it so appealing in the first place: it's nothing we haven't seen before. How's that appealing? Well, remember when Monkey Boy reviewed both the Galleria Mall and Pescadero Hospital T-1000s at once, because they were so similar? Well, this one Ultimate release has all the parts needed to replace both of those in one! Well that's neat!
I know it's been 15 years since we reviewed those original T2 figures, so forgive us, please, a quick reminder of what things were like back then: these days even the most basic NECA figures have good articulation, but back then, that was an oddity. Do you recall how NECA toys
used to have decent joints above the waist, but then fully solid legs? We've come a long way, baby! Ultimate T-1000 was the first T-1000 to get what we now think of as standard offering: swivel/hinge hips (they hadn't yet settled on doing balljoints there), swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, and balljointed ankles. It would have been nice if they'd made the waist a balljoint instead of a simple swivel, but there's a reason for that we'll get into later. Above the waist the joints are the same as the existing toys: balljoint wrists, swivel/hinge elbows and shoulders, and a balljoint at the base of the neck to facillitate swapping heads.
"Galleria Mall," you'll remember, was the "plain" T-1000: just Robert Patrick in his LAPD uniform, with the only clue to his robotic identity being a single hand with the index finger morphed into a handy-dandy eyeball-skewer. That figure had a pair of alternate gun-holding hands,
while this one only gets the right, but that's not a great loss. In exchange, we get the "shoulder-stabbing" left hand from Steel Mill T-000. And both spikes are much straighter and not warped this time. Yay!
His pistol gets silver paint this time instead of being solid black, which does look nice, but isn't accurate to the film: neither the gun he takes off the cop at the beginning nor the one he takes off the security guard at the hospital are anything other than solid black. Apparently at some point between 2010 and 2016 NECA remembered that the uniform is supposed to be blue, not black, so that's definitely an upgrade - and that's before we get into the fact that the soles of his shoes are painted brown, rather than simply being the same color as the rest of the foot. Sadly, that does mean we lose the little blob of liquid metal that was under the heel on the old toy, but the trade off seems worth it.
"Pescadero Hospital" T-1000 was the one with the bullet impact effects on the chest. I don't think I ever noticed before,
but one of those is supposed to be on his hip, not on his stomach. On the original it would have meant NECA had to mold new legs, and on this one it would mean losing the primary play feature, so we can understand why NECA moved it. It's obviously not very noticable as a "mistake," if it took this long for it to come up. While the Ultimate release does include the "healing" split head Pescadero had, it doesn't include the fully split head: instead, we get Steel Mill's "big gaping hole through the eye" head. Obviously NECA's goal was less about perfect accuracy to the movie, and more about capturing the overall vibe of the character. We do at least get the "hook bar" forearms the original figure had.
Because the only substantive difference between those two old T-1000s was the chest, NECA was able to combine them into one by making the front half of the torso a swappable piece: the back stays attached
to the waist, with the sockets for the arms to plug into, while the head and chest just pull off easily. Four large, round pegs make sure you get the pieces aligned correctly, and the dark color of the plastic, combined with the seam that would naturally be on the side of the shirt, make the joint fairly invisible. If NECA tried this same thing today they'd probably be able to manage a balljoint waist, but for a first effort? This is grand! It probably helps that the Terminator Genisys T-1000 released the same year shared the same gimmick - an idea developed for one could be used for both.
If you already had the Galleria Mall and Pescadero Hospital T-1000s, there really wasn't much to recommend this Ultimate edition: honestly, it was just the prospect of working knees and a properly colored uniform. Heck, I saw it several times myself, and only eventually got it because of the TRU closing sales. But it definitely is a better toy than either of those, so the only reason you'd choose one of them today is if you really want him to hold his gun in his left hand or if you absolutely must have the fully splorped alternate head. And on that note, we really hope NECA does still have the license, because toy fans still need a modern update of the one that took a grenade to the gut.
-- 09/24/25
What licenses does NECA have right now, anyway? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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