Sylvester Stallone never quite had the monopoly on action roles that Schwarzenegger once did, but at least you could generally remember his roles by name. And when it comes to famous film commandos, I imagine that John Rambo is among the first names that pop into many peoples' minds. Rambo is a bit of a cultural phenomenon where the character has good name recognition even among those who haven't seen any of his films.

NECA may be hoping to bank on that with a figure based on Rambo's appearance in Rambo: First Blood. The company recently released photos of the upcoming figure and it seems to be a pretty cool design. While the figure's face may be less than appealing, the likeness is unmistakably that of Sly Stone. The detail seems even more impressive, with a shirt that almost looks to be made of actual fabric rather than plastic; that's some spectacular paintwork!

My only real criticism (well, besides feeling a little iffy on that face) is something of a running trend with NECA's releases in that, at first glance, these figures almost always look like something that might be in the 3.75-inch scale. I think it's due to the jointing but I can't imagine that I'm alone in this opinion. At any rate, NECA's Rambo is still a solid figure. He's billed as standing 6.75-inches tall, sports 25 points of articulation, and is slated to come out in April.

[ Pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store ]