I’m willing to argue with anyone that Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the high water mark of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career. Between his performance as the cybernetic villain in the first film and the 1991 sequel, he’d become an international superstar with a string of hits including Commando, Predator, Twins, and Total Recall. After T2, Schwarzenegger would veer between serviceable action flicks (True Lies, Eraser, Terminator 3) and bombs (Last Action Hero, Batman & Robin) before giving up acting for the lesser stress of governing the world’s fifth-largest economy. But none of the post-T2 films came close to matching that same mixture of action, storytelling, and good old fun.

Now, as they have so many times before, NECA has answered my prayers–this time for a true Terminator 2 figure, complete with an Arnold likeness worthy of, dare I say it, Hot Toys themselves. According to the packaging, there are five figures in the line (though I’m not sure they’re all out yet): an Endoskeleton, the “Man or Machine” model with the stripped-off cybernetic arm, the demolished “Final Battle” T-800, the “Cyberdyne Showdown” T-800 carrying the minigun, and the subject of this review, the “Pescadero Escape” T-800. I chose this one for the simple reason that he’s the basic, iconic Terminator. (more…)