Rubber Buggy Baby Monsters!  …No, wait, that’s not right.

One of the big random surprises in Pacific Rim was that Otachi, the big flying monster, was also a mommy.  Even though the Kaiju are assembled in assembly lines, apparently they also have the ability to spawn more – clearly, a litter of Otachis would have been terrible, but instead we just got one malformed infant, strnagled on its own umbilical cord.

Along with the mini figure that comes with the main Otachi, NECA has released a special standalone figure – a rubber Baby Otachi!

The packaging is quite different for this one – a plastic bubble that looks like it belongs to a pretty cheap toy.  Not necessarily bad-cheap, but definitely inexpensive, gift-shop cheap.  This is meant to be played with.  It is not a big, high-end collectible.

The baby measures about five inches across, and it’s solid rubber – stretchy, floppy rubber, but definitely rubber.  it does not feel hollow or filled with beans/sand, the thing is just rubber.

The umbilical noose around its neck stretches enough to be removable, but be warned – it is cut to contour around the baby’s neck, and thus is has a lot of potential tear marks if you put too uch stress on it.

The tail is bendable – or, at least, it has a bendy wire.  Since the wire is stronger than rubber, you could just stab through its body while trying to move the tail.  An admirable idea, but it adds another fragility point.

Well, now thatI’ve said all that, it’s time for some good news!  Good news!  Baby Otachi is FUN.  And aside from those two points, it isn’t very fragile.  You can toss it, stretch it, jiggle it around… well, those areyour options.

In fact, the floppy nature of the rubber reminds me of the old Monster Jigglers from the ’60s and ’70s, which makes this figure a welcome return to nostalgia.  They were fun then, and the new one sure is fun now.

For about $10, you get a rather fun little rubber toy – and come on, isn’t that what it’s all about?  NECA remembers now to have fun. and for that we are all grateful. Even my cat is obsessed with it! Seriously. Five seconds after I set it down…