Piecing together a Matrix Neo

First of all, this is about a Neo from the first Matrix movie.

With sunohc's new Neo head to be released in a couple of months, and headplay's head soon to be released, I decided to finally start making my own Neo from the first movie, from the lobby scene to be exact.
Since I'm probably not the only one interested in this, I thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread about this with reference images, suggestions what items work best etc. Everybody is very welcome to add suggestions etc., to make the best version possible from our creative pool.

I took a lot of reference images from my Blu-ray today, concentrating mostly on the weapon harness/belts:







Some without the coat, concentrating more on the holsters and harness around the shoulders:






And at last a close up of the boots (blurry shot, but it shows the straps pretty well):



Now onto the parts:

I'm starting with a Truetype TTM16 Advanced for the body.
For the coat the only thing I found, and I think works perfectly, is the Triad Toys coat.
For the shirt, I'm not sure yet if I should get the Triad Toys full body suit, or get a seperate black long sleeve shirt.
The pants are starting to get a bit trickier. As you can see in the reference images, the pants Neo is wearing have a cargo pocket only on his left side. Haven't found one like this on ebay. If nobody has any suggestions I'll probably just get some without the pocket.
The boots are one of the hardest parts IMO, I haven't found any that are perfect, not even any that could work with some slight modifications. The Hot Toys Bootleg Neo figure from 2001 has accurate boots, but I don't know how to ahold of a pair of those.

For the harness I haven't found any suitable parts yet, but I think this should be fairly easy to piece together. Anybody know where to get straps like the ones seen in the reference shots? Another thing I noticed, in the close-up shots, the belts have this ribbed "utility belt texture". In all the shots from further away, they look more like a shiny leather type though.

The weapons are easy to get, there are a lot of possibilities on ebay. Here is a list of all weapons used in the movie/by Neo: https://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Matrix,_The I'll probably concentrate on the Berettas, a pair of MP5s and an M16.


For further reference, here's a version elvis1976 made in 2009, which is pretty much perfect IMO: https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2092620&postcount=608


Long story short, if anybody has already made a Neo, has started making one, is interested in starting one or simply wants to help out, feel free to chime in. If we all help eachother out I think we should all get a very cool and accurate Neo together.
Of course I'll post shots of mine as it progresses.

Here's one i made and sold some time ago.
Maybe that could help you.
The harness scratchbuild.

I was planning on doing this version of neo also, a good way to start would be using this whole set.

@ elvis1976: Thanks for the input. If I may ask, where did you get the Hot Toys Neo parts? Did you buy the complete figure and part him out for this bash?
I also somehow haven't found any belts on ebay with the buckles like in your version (which are accurate), would you happen to know where I could find these? Thanks.

Cheungkinmen said:

I was planning on doing this version of neo also, a good way to start would be using this whole set.

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Yep that's the Triad coat I was refering to in my first post. The ebay auction only comes with the coat itself though. The pants aren't accurate though anway, and I'm not sure if the shirt has long sleeves. I'll probably buy the coat today, it really looks perfect.

And this is the Triad Toys bodysuit I was refering to: https://cgi.ebay.com/HERO-TYPE-MALE...417?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5addce8f11 Although Neo probably only wears a shirt in the movie, I think a bodysuit might work best to get rid of the fabric of a shirt bulking up under the pants.

I'm stoked for the Sunohc/Kato Reloaded Neo, but I wish they would tackle this version of Neo instead/in addition. With Daniel's sculpt, Kato's tailoring and Sean Ho's sculpting, all aspects of the figure would be 100% perfect. Imagine it...

MarfMaster said:

I'm stoked for the Sunohc/Kato Reloaded Neo, but I wish they would tackle this version of Neo instead/in addition. With Daniel's sculpt, Kato's tailoring and Sean Ho's sculpting, all aspects of the figure would be 100% perfect. Imagine it...

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Yeah that would be unbeatable for sure, but unfortunately also unaffordable for me. I'm still following the progress of the Reloaded version of course, Kato's tailoring is simply mindblowing.

Oh and I just ordered the Triad Toys Knight Runner coat from ebay.

agonistes86 said:

Yeah that would be unbeatable for sure, but unfortunately also unaffordable for me. I'm still following the progress of the Reloaded version of course, Kato's tailoring is simply mindblowing.

Oh and I just ordered the Triad Toys Knight Runner coat from ebay.

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Cool beans

I'll be following the progress, and I wish you luck! Off to a good start with those excellent screen grabs

I have the triad coat, it's great, prefect even! You will be really pleased you bought it when you get it in hand!

Tha most difficult item i've ran into when putting my Neo together is the boots, the ones from the Hot toys figure are ok I suppose but are hard to find and could be better. I made the leg harness from scratch myself. Never got round to the shoulder harness though, that was pretty difficult too.

For the shirt I used the HT blade black sweater and for the pants I used Sarah Connor's! They are tight like what he has on in the movie. Hope this helps! This is a cool thread because I need some help in finishing mine!! Thanks a lot for the screen grabs!

MarfMaster said:

Cool beans

I'll be following the progress, and I wish you luck! Off to a good start with those excellent screen grabs

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Thanks.

Platty said:

I have the triad coat, it's great, prefect even! You will be really pleased you bought it when you get it in hand!

Tha most difficult item i've ran into when putting my Neo together is the boots, the ones from the Hot toys figure are ok I suppose but are hard to find and could be better. I made the leg harness from scratch myself. Never got round to the shoulder harness though, that was pretty difficult too.

For the shirt I used the HT blade black sweater and for the pants I used Sarah Connor's! They are tight like what he has on in the movie. Hope this helps! This is a cool thread because I need some help in finishing mine!! Thanks a lot for the screen grabs!

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Sounds good, using Blade's shirt is an excellent idea, as it's even tailored for the Advenced TT. I'll keep an eye out on ebay. The Sarah Connor pants sound good too, I think one of the hardest parts is finding pants that are tight enough. As I mentioned Neo's pants only have the cargo pockets on the left side though, which is what I would like most. If that's not possible, I'm not sure yet if I want the pockets on both sides, or none at all.
Do you have any pictures of your current setup? Would love to see it.
And I agree about the boots, I have no idea yet on how to get some accurate ones. I haven't even found basic ones which I could modify with some sculpey.

Hi, i was the one who commissioned Daniel to do the sculpt that is up on his website, to be honest i was never totally happy with the sculpt even thou it was painted by Kauto, if i knew how to post pics i could show you it painted up, so as for the project the most important part would be a great sculpt, i have tried twisting Daniel's arm to do another sculpt from the first film but Kato wanted to go with the later films, so if a great sculpt comes along count me in, also got Morphieus Trinity and Miffune sculpts, if any one wants to see the sculpts PM me your email address, CHEERS

malo said:

Hi, i was the one who commissioned Daniel to do the sculpt that is up on his website, to be honest i was never totally happy with the sculpt even thou it was painted by Kauto, if i knew how to post pics i could show you it painted up, so as for the project the most important part would be a great sculpt, i have tried twisting Daniel's arm to do another sculpt from the first film but Kato wanted to go with the later films, so if a great sculpt comes along count me in, also got Morphieus Trinity and Miffune sculpts, if any one wants to see the sculpts PM me your email address, CHEERS

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I think his new Reloaded sculpts should work well enough for a first version. https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91459
In case you don't know it yet, there's also this sculpt by headplay that's coming out soon: https://cgi.ebay.de/Headplay-1-6-Ke...516?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2d9c9ecc The hair again looks more like Reloaded, but you might like it. It also already comes painted, at a great price at that. I'm actually thinking about picking up one of those, too.

ive just bought a heap of stuff for a custom from the same scene i also bought a triad jacket, but hopefully it looks good on a ttl body as thats what im using, just some black pants a black muscle shirt and ive already got a pair n2 boots i also bought 4 pistols 2 silenced mausers with extended clips, and 2 smgs but i will have to modify them as they are too big, ill w8 for the headplay head and ill pose him holding his jacket open ,

oh also four belts for the 2 on his waist and one on each leg, has anyone got pictures of the triad coat inhand ?

I'll be following this thread with interest... I used to own the HT Bootleg figure; but sold it as it became quite dated over time. In retrospect I should have kept the boots as they were pretty well done, even if they were a tad clunky.

K.bowen said:

ive just bought a heap of stuff for a custom from the same scene i also bought a triad jacket, but hopefully it looks good on a ttl body as thats what im using, just some black pants a black muscle shirt and ive already got a pair n2 boots i also bought 4 pistols 2 silenced mausers with extended clips, and 2 smgs but i will have to modify them as they are too big, ill w8 for the headplay head and ill pose him holding his jacket open ,

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K.bowen said:

oh also four belts for the 2 on his waist and one on each leg, has anyone got pictures of the triad coat inhand ?

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Do you have any pictures of the things you already have? Would be very interested in seeing the boots and belts.

galactiboy said:

I'll be following this thread with interest...

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The more the merrier.

Just bought 2 MP5's from ebay, from this auction (only one left though): https://cgi.ebay.com/Steve-US-SEAL-...830?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f07f3b16e I think it's a fair price for these, especially as these are the exact ones I needed, and MP5s seem to be expensive on ebay. Hope the quality of these is good, the shots in the auction look promising.



In case some of you didn't see the link in the first post, and for the sake of completion and having everything posted in this thread, I'll do a quick overview of the weapons used by Neo in the lobby scene (taken from https://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Matrix,_The):


Beretta 84FS Cheetah (these are the ones tucked into the pants in the front):


Beretta 92FS (these are the pistols prominently used in the scene). This pistol can mostly be found on ebay under the name "M9".


M16


Micro Uzi


Heckler & Koch MP5K


Skorpion SA Vz 61


This one is complete black in the movie though, has a bigger clip and lacks the "wires" (for lack of a better word, maybe it's a shoulder support?) on top:

K.bowen said:

oh also four belts for the 2 on his waist and one on each leg, has anyone got pictures of the triad coat inhand ?

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Here's a Neo with the Triad Coat and black long sleeve t-shirt. Also Triad double shoulder holster. Did this bash about 3 years ago. Still need to put straps on the boots.

Very nice bash mate! have you any more info on the shoulder holster?

K.bowen said:

but hopefully it looks good on a ttl body as thats what im using,

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I have mine on a TTL 2.0 body mate, it looks great!!

Platty said:

Very nice bash mate! have you any more info on the shoulder holster?

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Sorry, but like I said, I put this together years ago and Triad only makes a limited amount of their stuff. They may revisit this, but who know. Think they're still working on new stuff.