Last year, for Thanksgiving, I reviewed a figure of King Kong with the promise that I would return with another Kong for 2025. I also explained why I associated Thanksgiving with the mighty monkey but if you missed it, you can read it here. True to my word, I’m back with another Kong, and this year’s Kong figure is a major improvement over last year’s. It’s the NECA Ultimate Island Kong, released in 2021. NECA actually released several Kongs including a Concrete Jungle Kong that came with a bi-plane and shackles, an Illustrated Kong painted like the Kong on the movie poster, and a standalone Kong. The last two only came with a swappable head and hands. The Ultimate Island Kong comes with a tree truck weapon, pit monster, and Pteranodon, as well as an alternate head and hands. Because of the added creatures, the Ultimate Island Kong was the one I chose.
Although obviously inspired by King Kong as he’s seen in the 1933 movie it is important to point out that NECA’s King Kong is their own original take on the giant gorilla and not 100% accurate to the 1933 Kong. King Kong the character is in the public domain and by making their own version NECA was able to get away with not having the license to make a specific Kong. The differences between this Kong and the 1933 version are minor though, and I might not have known it wasn’t official had I not researched it and closely scrutinized the toy.
The NECA King Kong stands 8” (20.32 cm) tall. One of the heads has an articulated jaw but the teeth are bared and visible when the mouth is closed. The second head has an angry grimace that invokes the Legendary Kong more than Willis O’Brian’s Kong. The heads plug into a ball joint and have a decent range of motion. The head can completely twist around, look left and right, and look up, but the jaw prevents him from looking down.
At the shoulders, the arms have a swivel/hinge that allows them to swing out and twist around, an additional swivel is located on the bicep. The elbows have a double hinge that allows for an excellent range of motion. This allows you to position Kong eating or beating his chest. The wrists have swivels and hinges, and the figure comes with three sets of hands. One pair of hands is closed just enough that Kong can hold objects, another has the hands open with the fingers spread apart, and another has closed fists.
The middle of the torso is also articulated and allows Kong to tilt forward and back and can twist completely around. Each leg is articulated with a ratchet joint, and the legs snap into place at six different locations and can spread apart at five different locations. The knees have a double hinge joint, like the elbows. The ankles have hinges, and the feet can tilt left and right but they cannot swing forward very far, which leads to some stability issues. Aside from that, and being unable to look down much, the articulation is excellent. But also keep in mind that I don’t collect NECA figures and most of my experience with articulated toys comes from Mattel’s Hammond Collection dinosaurs, so you might feel differently.
Being a NECA figure it should come as no surprise that there’s a high level of lifelike detail here. Hair is sculpted over Kong’s entire body, except for his face, chest, palms, soles, fingers, and toes. The hair nicely follows the contours of Kong’s body, and the bare portions have a leathery look to them. Red glossy cuts are sculpted on Kong’s face and chest. Kong’s wounds differ on the two head sculpts with the angry non-articulated head being bloodier overall. Kong’s hair is painted in blended dark gray and brown tones with the bare skin portions being dark gray. The eyes are gray with black pupils.
Kong’s head(s) possess a heavy brow with deeply set eyes that appear shiny and lifelike, with darn near perfectly aligned eyes. I have seen some mention of wonky eyes on the various Kong figures but mine looks great. The nostrils are deep and flared and the skin about the face is wrinkled, with the scowling face being particularly wrinkly. The teeth are nicely sculpted and white, and the tongue and gums are dark red. The entire inside of the mouth has a glossy finish. On the figure with the articulated mouth the roof of the mouth is textured. The articulation on the open mouth makes it look somewhat goofy, so I prefer the alternate head sculpt, but it’s also less like the original Kong’s. The standalone Kong has different head sculpts and I imagine they’re interchangeable with this one.
Turning now to the included creatures we’ll look first at the “pit monster”. This is a two-legged, lizard-like creature that we see climbing out of a crevasse to attack Jack Driscoll in the original movie. It was the direct inspiration for the skull crawlers we see in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island. NECA’s pit monster is mostly loyal in appearance to what we see in the film but lacks a cluster of spikes along the nape. The head is articulated at the neck and can twist around, and the jaw can open and shut. The figure is dark brown with red and white teeth and a red tongue, brown eyes, and black claws. The head is shrink wrapped and wrinkled and scales are sculpted over the arms and back. The underside appears segmented and worm-like. A fin runs down the back. The pit monster measures 2.5” (6.35 cm) long.
The Pteranodon also makes an appearance in the 1933 King Kong, in a scene where Kong fights it to save Ann Darrow. This figure is only articulated at the jaw and base of the neck. With a 6” (15.24 cm) wingspan it doesn’t really scale well with Kong. It cannot stand, comes with no support rod, and doesn’t have any wing articulation. It’s also a bit too gaunt, especially in the chest, and doesn’t look much like the one we see in the movie. It’s brown with a red wash over the body and a purple wash over the head, neck, and feet. Sloppy bright red markings are painted on the back with blue spots. Because of its size, instability, poor creature likeness, and sloppy red paint, it’s a bit of a disappointment. But it’s also an accessory and in light of that, it’s acceptable.
At the very least the wings appear appropriately veiny and leathery and the fingers and toes are thin and finely sculpted. The back is nicely muscled, and the underlying skeletal elements can be discerned within the spindly wings and sunken chest. A thin, grooved tongue rests within the mouth. The forward facing eyes are a bit unsettling and are gray with black pupils. They’re not as well aligned as Kong’s, but they look decent enough for the figure’s small size.
Oh yes! I suppose we have to discuss the included log as well. It is tan colored with a dark wash over it and pink painted over the broken portions. It has the look and texture of a dead branch with the bark peeled off and fits well within Kong’s hand.
The NECA King Kong is a close enough match to the 1933 version of the monster that fans of it should be pleased. It’s certainly a closer likeness than the many vintage toys of days gone by, plus it has mostly excellent articulation that make it a lot of fun to play around with. The included creatures are fun accessories that make this version of Kong appealing to monster collectors but there are three other versions of Kong to choose from if you don’t feel like you need them. This is a must have for kaiju and Kong collectors. It can be found widely online for $25-40, depending on where you look.
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