NECA Foam Bat'leth Review

YenChih Lin

Master Member
I just got my NECA Foam Bat'leth preorder from the post office…here's the review:

At first, it was looking nice, when I opened my package, but on the close inspection… NECA, does the word quality control ring a bell????
The paint job is sloppy, I got brown spots on my Bat'leth and streaks and spots, I got two little masking tape residue, that I can't remove.

IT IS NOT WHAT YOU ADVERTISED on the web, you greedy Ferengi *******!!

If I order a replica in that price range, I don't expect total flawlessness, but at least a decent quality, that I can show my friends, a paint job that doesn't have spots or streaks and trimmed foam borders. I'll have to refurbish it myself to a better paintjob, that means, covering the fake leather handle, light sand it with 600-800 grit paper, trim the few excess foam and respray it in silver, eventually seal it. And it stinks of paint solvent

I really should rethink about selling my precious real steel bat'leth with the autographs of the three Klingons I got. But I need the cash…
And I always wanted one, which I could swing with… *hrmpf*

Some photos with my new smartphone:

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Wow! Mine had the slightest bit of overspray where the two colors meet between the brown of the "wrapped" handle and the silver of the "blade" and a modest seam showing where the two halves of the mold meet, but nothing like youre showing here. I would say this is a quality control issue. I hope that they will respond and replace your item.
 
Wow, do you mind asking how much it was? Hopefully you can get an exchange if you havent started improving on it yet.
 
Not terribly expensive then. But still its a very shoddy finish. Have you thought about making your own? Mine only cost €43 and is made from aluminium with suede grips. And now you have a perfect template as well.
 
Wow! Mine had the slightest bit of overspray where the two colors meet between the brown of the "wrapped" handle and the silver of the "blade" and a modest seam showing where the two halves of the mold meet, but nothing like youre showing here. I would say this is a quality control issue. I hope that they will respond and replace your item.

Same here - mine had overall a very clean paint job, and a visible but unavoidable mold seam, with no major problems. You might look into an exchange. Was the item in a plastic bag when you received it? It's also not paint solvent that you smell - it's the foam out-gassing. The odor will dissipate in a day or so.

No offense but "foam" and "Bat'Leth do not belong in the same sentence together.

What do you think the stunt props on the shows were made from? ;)

IMO NECA made a great replica of the stunt props (with slight modifications for mass production, like the molded in grips) at a very low $50 price point. It looks nice on the wall, and it's not terrifying to swing around a bit :)
 
It's still awfully hard. This is no nerf toy. I can swing mine around without fear of killing anyone but a wack with this will really hurt. I like the shape and feel of this replica. I often feel like the 1/8" think pieces of laser or water cut aluminum are just too flat and 2-dimensional, doesn't really feel like a sword. This does... Rodd.com has a nice metal replica of this sword for $299. At a $50 price point you can only ask for so much, but this one certainly seems to have more issues than it should. I too would suggest exchange over repainting it yourself.
 
It's NECA, they wouldn't know quality control if it kicked them in the nuts. They've knowingly shipped action figures missing accessories, they sent them if you contacted, but then they still kept shipping them without them even after it was learned. Their action figures are prone to falling apart coming out of the packages: i had a Castlevania figure not only have it's hair fall off just opening the package but the paint flaked off too. I have their NES edition Robocop and it's better than usual for them but the leg holster is so badly made it isn't funny. At this point NECA is a last resort.
 
Called back the shop I ordered, they apologized and see, if there's one better painted in stock. I get a callback and returning shipping label.
 
The chief storekeeper wasn't present at the callback time and the receptionist, who assisted me with that matter keeps me posted ASAP either by eMail or phone if she get's new info, just called back to let me know, that she did ask about if they had still a bat'leth in stock (which they do, but if it's better painted, she doesn't know), it's pretty much sought after and on their website, they stated it's low in stock.
 
Okaaay... The shop only had one left, but it was marginally better painted and had also those spots. They wanted to completely refund me, but I deceided to take back the Bat'leth and respray it myself… the shop even got me a little discount on it. They couldn't do more for me, but that's ok, I appreciate it and I don't want to go all the way by buying a much higher priced one from another store with the same paint problem. I'm going to get the can of Silver paint for foam tomorrow, I found 2 weeks ago. And since it's summer, the thing should dry fast by misting the awful spots.

It's still disappointing from NECA, that they don't care about QC. One more reason NOT to buy stuff, it's my first and last item from them.
 
For the most part I'm generally happy with NECA products. Whenever I buy a prop I weigh the quality of the item against what I paid for it. There have been many a time when I bought a piece (either licensed or fan made) that needed work. I don't mind fixing it up if I got it cheap. If the item is pricey and it was held together with Scotch tape, someone's getting a phone call.
With that being said, for 50.00, I would almost expect it to have flaws. Nothing I couldn't fix up myself and even upgrade. For 50 bucks I would consider it more of a starter kit.
but that's just me.
 
I agree with most of what you said, but either it's me getting too demanding or so, but since it's a consumer item, it should at least be passable enough. As I said, I don't expect a high end item from a 50 bucks bat'leth, just with a decent painting overall. If I would have done QC, I would have not passed this piece, it would have gone back to repaint.

For the most part I'm generally happy with NECA products. Whenever I buy a prop I weigh the quality of the item against what I paid for it. There have been many a time when I bought a piece (either licensed or fan made) that needed work. I don't mind fixing it up if I got it cheap. If the item is pricey and it was held together with Scotch tape, someone's getting a phone call.
With that being said, for 50.00, I would almost expect it to have flaws. Nothing I couldn't fix up myself and even upgrade. For 50 bucks I would consider it more of a starter kit.
but that's just me.
 
As promised to TomVDJ, I made some pics to document the touch up process.

I received the Bat'leth one day after I bought the silver paint for foam and the reclaim of my item:
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As I told, I got a 5 € discount for all that:
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Next thing I did, was trimming the few excesses, that was on the bat'leth. Fortunately, it was so soft enough to cut, but hard enough, that I won't make a mistake.
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I used 60 grid paper to get rid of the droplets, but later chose 400, that was much softer on the paint and not taking too much off the foam:
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Spots that aren't well, I sanded dry it down, wiped it wet off with kitchen paper and then dried it with another sheet.
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I masked the grips with painter's masking tape:
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Prepared myself for the painting:
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This spray paint is really good - it evenly paints and covers the spots and dries very fast and is good for foam!
The silver is more shiner than the actual paint on the bat'leth.
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I just have a balcony to paint, but used the shipping cardbox, that came with.
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Good thing, that I got a new laundry rack with coat hanger extensions.
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After 2 spraycans later and about 2 hours drying, tadaaa, a much better looking bat'leth:
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