I was a little bit too young for the scary stuff in E.T., but was completely enchanted by the rest of it and was caught up in E.T. mania back in ’82. I had the board game, the movie book on tape, several E.T. figures of varying styles and scales, and even E.T. pajamas, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised that I was so taken with the 40th Anniversary figures from NECA when I saw them at SDCC. Let’s take a look at Elliot and E.T. with Elliot’s bicycle.
The box is pretty snazzy and features a lovely, classic E.T. image on the front and a nice photo and a big window beneath the opening flap. The box also has a bit of faux shelf wear with printed “damage” around the edges.
The set comes with Elliot, E.T., Elliot’s bike, a beautiful moon backdrop, a couple of stands for the bike, a pull-back and go mechanism for the bike, and four clear pieces to attach the bike to the backdrop.
The backdrop is printed on some really solid cardboard. It’s a nice satin finish print and folds out into a solid triangle base. It reminds me of game boards for one of those really nice and pricey board games.
It’s a little tricky to get the clear pegs through the holes in the backdrop, but once you do, it’s easy to add the little clips and clip the bike on there at the frame.
One of the pieces you can attach to the bike is a little pull-back-and-go mechanism. This keeps the bike standing, but also functions really well when you pull it back. It’s a nice tribute to one of the old vintage E.T. toys, the E.T. Elliot Powered Bicycle. I put up a super short video that shows the functionality. The first couple times my son wasn’t quite pushing down on the mechanism enough, so the bike didn’t go very fast when he let go, but the third time made it blast across the table in a way that made me want to set up some Evel Knievel jumps.
There are also a couple of little clips that attach to the tires and help balance the bike on your shelf, if that’s what you prefer.
Elliot and E.T. can be taken off the bike, but they are really meant to go with it because E.T. has no articulation and Elliot only has neck movement (it is a really nice ball and socket with great range, however) and wrist swivel/hinges.
The sculpting on this figure is very nice and I especially like the great textures on Elliot’s hoodie and E.T.’s blanket. I love how the little, tiny plastic hoodie-tightening strings hang too. E.T. looks on-model to me and Elliot has a nice wide-eyed likeness that captures the fear and excitement of the end chase. The pose has a lot of energy in it, which you need for a mostly static figure like this.
The bike is really lovely too and has a great glossy finish and lots of tiny detail that take me back to my own dirt-bike riding youth. The paint is solid all around, but I really love the face print for Elliot complete with tiny little freckles.
The scale is a little different from the other NECA E.T. figures and at about 5 and 1/4 inches from the ground to the top of Elliot’s head, I’d say it is close to six inch scale.
Overall, I love this set and need to find a good spot to display it with the backdrop. I had a lot of E.T. stuff growing up, but never had much with Elliot. I just re-watched the movie and was astounded by Henry Thomas’ performance and I think he’s a big part of why the E.T. puppet is so believable, so it’s really nice to get a figure of this character.
Thanks to NECA for sending these along for a review and we’ve got more E.T. coming next week!
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Source: Fwoosh
