NECA’s D&D Ultimates are basically surgical strikes on my wallet. The math is simple: what if vintage toy with a heap of associated nostalgia, but larger, more detailed, and in-line with modern high-end toy techniques. Basically: the character you saw in your mind’s eye as a kid when you looked at the kind of doofy toy; the potential realized. Here’s Warduke (2023), in all his Ultimate glory. I’ve included a picture of the original so you can see just how far we’ve come.

Some really nice decisions and details. The big one is in the physique — Mr. Duke is brawy, but still pretty compact, which, coupled with his unorthodox armor, tells me a lot about the character: an opportunistic, agility fighter more reliant on mobility than brute force (though capable of the latter when needed). He’s got a big suite of accessories: multiple hands, shield, long sword, short sword, kukri. Each of the blades has a sheath it fits into and the long sword has an additional flaming accessory which is super cool (er, hot). These Ultimates use a couple different sorts of plastics, too — the helmet wings are super hard, for instance, while the belts and pauldron are soft to allow for mobility.

An all-timer. Warduke sets the bar high for the rest of the line!