The Predator line (NECA)

‘Get to da choppa!’
Gotta love classic Arnie movies. But what I love most about Predator is, in fact, the star of the film…the Predator! How sick was that creature? The movie was so great as a kid on so many levels. First you don’t see the creature for over an hour. Then when you do see him, you don’t because he uses an invisibility ‘cloak’ created from his technical apparatus. Then when you finally see what he looks like, he’s all imposing in the armor, shoulder gun, and wrist blades. I mean INTIMIDATING!

 Then when he goes to fight Arnold man to…um…man(?) he takes the helmet off and shows his mug…butt ugly and scary all at the same time. And then he laughs in the face of death…gah! I love that movie.


 I even love the subpar sequels and prequels or whatever type of quels! Why? Because the Predators are so bad to the bone (and they’ll rip yours out if you don’t think so). I hear that there's a new film in the works and upon hearing the players involved, I have high hopes for that film.

 NECA has been producing Predator figures for a while now and I have to say, I’ve been hooked. I've already lost track of all the ones I have and NECA has been producing them like crazy! They definitely are showing their own love for the Predator license. They've also produced a few different Dutch figures (the hero from the first film portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger). All of them have been really impressive

Sculpt:

There are a couple of base bodies created for the Predators. There are a lot of part sharing combined with new parts that makes each one see totally brand new. The sculpts are top notch, especially when you look at the unmasked version of the different Preds. The Dutch figures have the best Arnold likeness in this scale EVER! I love the details on the muddy camo version of his character too!

The detailing on the various armor pieces on the Predators themselves are great and the individual pieces added to the figure bring a sense of realism to the piece. I also love the fact that the helmet designs are different just like the film counter parts. Even the unmasked versions have different expressions. This helps give each figure their own personality.

5 out of 5

Paint:

I love the paint work on these. The skin tones have this sleek reptile look to them, while the armor is more like dull metal. Even the skin patterns are all different and painted quite well. The battle damaged ones have great green blood splattered on the figures and it stands out nicely. The pallets chosen for each one shows that NECA did their homework and worked hard on these. The paint work on the Dutch figures are top notch too, from the scruff on the face not overly done, to the great muddy paint job on the camouflage Dutch. I can't express enough how beautifully detailed each figure is.

5 out of 5

Articulation:

These move great for the most part but range is a little constricted. The figures contain ball jointed heads, ball jointed shoulders, pin/swivel elbows, waist articulation, ball jointed hips, double knees, ball jointed wrists and ball jointed ankles. They pose well, although the hips are really tight and the armor restricts them a little. I wish they had bicep articulation as their arms can only do so much. Dutch does much better in this category, where all his articulation points are fluid and he holds many great poses.

4.5 out of 5

Accessories:

Each figure comes with very appropriate accessories. Some come with more than others or cooler accessories than others but overall I'm very happy with what they come with. Glaves, extra hands, other weapons. Dutch comes with his gun and a knife while the muddy Dutch has this 'homemade' bow, arrows, and a fantastic torch with translucent plastic to simulate the fire.

 Examples for other Predators: The 2-packs fairs better as the classic Predator comes with the shoulder blaster, which is easily mountable and removable; while the City Hunter comes with two trophy skulls. The skulls are neat and I’d love to get more of those. Thankfully NECA heard our wants and desires and produced ways to get more skulls and even a bloodied skinned corpse (special accessories pack). Also cool to mention is that the City Hunter’s arm is meant to be removable so you can display it severed if you’d like. Some of the Predators even have removable masks! Neato Burrito! 5 out of 5

 Overall: I’m really quite pleased with the way NECA has handled the license. They could have cheaped out and just release the same figure over and over with just paint variations but noooo…they studied the source material and gave us quality figures with just enough similarities to save them money and just enough differences for us to spend ours. They even expanded the line to not only include the Lost Tribe from part 2 but NECA also produced Predators from the other films, video games, comics, AND the specific Predators from old Kenner toy line. All of them different, all of them amazing. I've already amassed a great collection of these bad boys and hope to continue the trend with future releases. These Predator figures a fantastic representations of the scary and cool creatures. 5 out of 5