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Private William Hudson

May 2, 2014 | By Errex More

As one of the few Colonial Marines left standing in James Cameron’s Aliens movie. It totally makes sense to me that NECA chose Private William Hudson to stand alongside Corporal Hicks in their Aliens action figure line.

What is not so clear is why on Earth they selected this particular facial expression for the action figure. I mean, it is a very scene-specific grimace on his face, right out of the scene where the creatures assault the med-lab.

To NECA’s credit, it is a really good portrait of actor Bill Paxton during that scene, although I would have liked it better if they had used a less emotionally charged expression.

Hudson shares quite a few pieces with Hicks, which makes sense as both are meant to be wearing the same basic uniform and both characters have similar physiques.

Hudson wears a slightly different set of protective gear on top of his regular fatigues. The elements hanging from his web gear are almost the same as Hicks’, but they are glued in different spots or have subtly different shapes.

As I mentioned, Hudson’s head is quite unique, but also the arms have newly sculpted pieces showing rolled-up sleeves and bandaging that helps to hide the articulation, which consists in:

• Barbell mounted head.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Upper biceps swivel.

• Pegged hinge elbows.

• Pegged hinge wrists.

• Barbell mounted torso.

• Pegged hinge hips.

• Upper thigh swivels.

• Double hinged knees.

• Ball jointed ankles.

• Hinged toes.

The articulation works great with the soft rubber attachments, allowing Hudson to get into dynamic stances, even though, on my figure the right ankle joint is slightly looser than the left one and thus requires some extra effort to keep Hudson upright in some poses.

The paintjob on Hudson shares the same color palette as Hicks, but applied in different patterns. Hudson’s body armor displays a fair bit of customization in the form of humorous graphics and legends stenciled all over, like the kooky cartoon eyes on his right shoulder pad or the “Contents Under Pressure” sign on his back plate.

The paintjob on Hudson’s face is good, with a fairly clean hairline and aptly applied paint on his eyes and mouth. I hear it is very common to find Hudson figures that look cross-eyed, but mine turned out just fine.

Hudson comes armed with the same M41A Pulse Rifle as Hicks and also the same cutter/welding torch accessory, but he also comes with a Motion Tracker device and a light/vidcam pack that can be attached to his back. All of these accessories are suitably decorated and can be held by Hudson in either hand.

I must say that at first it was a struggle to decide if I really wanted to buy this rendition of Hudson because of the facial expression, but it has grown on me over time thanks to the extra gear and the smart action figure design.