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Packaging - ***
Just like the Alien, the Predator comes in a nice big box. He looks a
little better in the box, since the pose allows for him to be a bit more
confined and still look reasonable.
This is not friendly packaging though, collector or otherwise. It's
a hell of twisties, and I'd suggest breaking out the wire snips.
Sculpting - ***1/2
Interestingly enough, the sculpt and paint scores on this figure are exactly
opposite of the Grid Alien.
Part of the reason for the better sculpting score is the better
pose. While he's still in a bit of a squat, it's closer to a
reasonable fighting stance for a two legged opponent. The figure also
sports enough articulation to make the pose work in more ways than the
Alien.
This is a Mcfarlane product, so you can certainly expect tons of small
detail. The work on the face and 'head plate' is particularly amazing,
although this design is not my favorite. That's not really an issue of
sculpt as much as the film designs though. I'm not fond of the small
mandibles, and the style of the mask isn't my favorite. Those are nits
though that fans of this film won't have. All three of them.
One issue with the sculpt that more folks might share is the
dreads. The hair in back is sculpted from fairly stiff plastic, and
sticks upward at an awkward angle. They should lay across the back,
and the weird angle doesn't match up with the rest of the sculpt.
While this figure is billed as '12 inches', he's actually closer to sixth
scale. He stands about 12" in the knee bent pose, but would stand
closer to 16" if he was completely upright.
What is it with these itty bitty rodent skulls he wears by the way? Who
exactly is impressed that he managed to kill a Martian hamster? These
skulls are strapped around his torso on a thin rope.
Paint - ***
The paint ops on the Alien were great, although they weren't quite
perfect. The paint work on the Predator is solid, but some of the
shading and finish isn't as realistic.
As with the sculpt, the paint work on the head and face is the most
impressive. There's lots of detail, and they used a nice combination
of gloss for 'wet' areas and matte for skin. The palette is a nice
'realistic' combination of colors there as well.
Some of the body work doesn't thrill me quite as much. The darker
shades on much of the skin, especially the hands, obliterates much of the
sculpt detail, and there's way too much gloss on the hands and inside
thighs. However, the weathering and shading of the armor looks great,
and while the paint ops aren't perfect overall, they are solid.
Articulation - ***
The Predator has both a better sculpted stance, and better articulation
with which to work with.
He has a ball jointed neck, although it's not quite as useful as you
might imagine since the post is quite short. He also has ball jointed
shoulders, the type with joints on both sides of the ball, and the armor is
designed to allow a lot of movement with these joints. There's one cut
elbow on the left, and a cut right wrist. The left wrists is actually
a single pin joint that also turns, giving it much more movement than the
usual McToys wrist joint.
He has a torso joint and waist, but the movement here is somewhat
limited. You can get him twisted slightly to one side though using
these, which looks much better with the sculpted leg stance.
The leg articulation is limited to cut knees and cut ankles. His
last point of articulation is on the right arm, where you can open his
control pad. The hinge is quite sturdy in this large of a figure,
which is an improvement over the easily broken hinges on the smaller line.
Accessories - **1/2
The Predator comes with his removable mask, spear, backpack/gun and stand.
The stand works well, and has two pegs for both feet to attach. The
stand also lines up with the stand that comes with the Alien to make a
complete base, although it's awful tough to have them both on both foot pegs
AND get them to stand close. I'm waiting for the first photo with the
Alien turned around the other way.
The spear is a little small, and doesn't retract or extend in any
way. It does fit in his right hand well though.
The fit on the backpack and mask isn't as good. The pack fits if
you work at it for awhile, but you'll have to get the hair in just the right
spot, and be careful of the thin rope around his torso. The gun is
articulated at four places - it turns at the very top, and has three pin
joints down the arm.
While I did get the pack to fit with some effort, the mask gave me
fits. It does not snap on and off, but rather sort of hangs
there. The fit isn't tight, and I didn't particularly like the
appearance when it was on.
Value - **1/2
At thirty bucks, you're getting a pretty average value. He can
stand up to most other 12" higher end figures and look good, which
takes him a level above the usual 12" plastic figure.
Fun Factor - **1/2
If you have kids that love the movie, they'll love this figure. While
it might not be the best material for the pre-teen set, the figure is
clearly built with enough durability to stand up to play.
Things to watch out for -
Not much. Be careful with the thin rope around his torso that
contains his 'trophies'. Otherwise, this is a pretty sturdy, well
designed toy.
Overall - ***
Neither of these figures blew me away, since they had enough nits
overall. But both do have solid paint and sculpts, and combined they
look far better than individually.
If you are going to buy only one, the Predator looks better standing on
his own than the Alien. The overall pose and style make him a much
more flexible display figure.
SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - **1/2
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
You may end up seeing these at Toys R Us or Meijers, since previous 12"
Predator and Alien figures did hit there. However, you're best bet is
probably on line at this point:
- Killer Toys has him for $30.
- Amazing Toyz has him listed at
$30 as well.
- CornerStoreComics also
has him listed at $30.
- Alter Ego Comics has this
one for $30.31.
Related Links:
Let's just stick with the Predator related reviews this time:
- well, we do have to point out one Alien review, since the 12"
Grid Alien goes with him.
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