“There is no fate but what we make for ourselves…”

Truly deep and poetic words. A message written from a man to his mother, heard by her before her son was even born. That woman is Sarah Connor, the mother of John Connor, who would go on to be the most important person ever to be born, with whom the fate of all humanity rested.

When audiences first met Sarah in James Cameron’s 1984 film The Terminator, she is arriving to work at a small, family restaurant on her scooter. She rushes into work, clearly running late and soon finds herself being run ragged by rude customers. She is an everyday, normal person. Then, the Terminator comes into her life and shatters it.

In 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, we are reintroduced to Sarah in a maximum security cell in a state mental hospital. She has turned her bed vertically up against the wall and is doing pull ups on one of the bed’s legs. Her body is toned and defined, her eyes are intense. She couldn’t be a more different woman than the one we saw at the beginning of the first film. Her character culminates when Sarah attempts to kill Miles Dyson, the man who is unknowingly developing the software that will become Skynet, the AI controlling the Terminators. Sarah wounds Miles and is moments from killing him when she realizes what she has become. She is now the thing that came out of the night and destroyed someone’s life, introducing them to a world they could never imagine. And she stops.

Sarah Connor is one of the most memorable action characters in film history. And she finally has a figure worthy of how great she is!

NECA Toys’ Ultimate Sarah Connor!

But, it wasn’t her first figure. Back in the early 2000s, a version of Sarah was released in Series 5 of McFarlane Toy’s Movie Maniacs line. Fans, at least in my experience, didn’t respond well to the likeness of Linda Hamilton in this figure. In fact, I recall one vendor at a Monster Mania convention calling it, “Iggy Pop with boobs.” I can see the flaws, but I don’t mind it. I’ve seen much worse likenesses. I’ll be comparing the original to the new figure later in this review.

The packaging is the standard NECA window box, with art and fonts taken from the film and its art design. The letters scream Cameron.

The background insert is an awesome desert landscape, harking back to the scenes in the film where Sarah, John and the T-800 retreat to somewhere near the Mexican border to resupply themselves and strategize.

Sarah is loaded with accessories including three guns, three heads and a knife.

The three heads in particular appealed to fans as the previously released Movie Maniacs Sarah was released as a variant figure with each head packaged separately. The heads were a ponytail with cap, just a ponytail or hair down. Fortunately, the Movie Maniacs Sarah that arrived, randomly selected, with the set I had preordered all those years ago was the one wearing her hair in a ponytail and the cap. It’s fortunate as this was the only version of the Movie Maniacs Sarah to come with the cap so I can do a more accurate comparison to NECA’s version.

The McFarlane Sarah’s accessories are almost the same as the NECA version.

NECA’s Sarah has more articulation than McFarlane’s, at the elbows, waist and the knees. This is more of a problem with the elbows on McFarlane’s as she can basically only hold a weapon at her side or straight outward. NECA’s doesn’t have that problem.

 

NECA’s Sarah also has better articulation in the neck by having a peg versus just a swivel on McFarlane’s.

The NECA version comes with the sunglasses sculpted onto the face versus McFarlane’s being an accessory.

 

The accessory unique to NECA’s version is the shotgun, famously seen cocked by Sarah with one arm at the film’s finale. It has a folding stock with an extra ammo belt.

This version of Sarah is superior to the McFarlane version for me personally for reasons beyond the facial sculpt. I like the darker coloring, the tighter to the body vest and brighter paints on the accessories. But, I like having before and after figures and I have fond memories of collecting Movie Maniacs in college. I really can’t recommend this figure any more, it is a fabulous capturing of this classic action film. This new addition to NECA’s Ultimate figure line retails for around $24.99 and is available online and in stores now!