With the new Predator movie on the horizon (urgh) I was inspired to watch the two Predator movies the other night (that's right I'm ignoring the other films). After watching Predator 2 I couldn't resist lifting out my 'City Hunter' Predator and taking a few pictures.
Enjoy the review :)
"Want some candy?" -The Predator, that one time he didn't murder a child.
Predator 2 is one of those sequels where it drew fairly negative response when first released in 1990 but honestly for me the films biggest crime is that it's not as good as the first. Once you get past that there's a great deal to enjoy. Danny Glover provides a great twist to the typical 'action hero' of that time period, he's just an ordinary LA cop (all be it a tough SOB) who feels pain, anger and fear, who basically just wants revenge after the Predator kills his friend. The film never gets too bogged down trying to explain what the Predator creature is about, only ever using brief hunting analogies. Plus the film continues the early 90's obsession with a dystopian portrayal of America, showing downtown LA as being fairly grotty and crime ridden. Perfect hunting ground for the Predator!
Sculpt: Firstly lets cover the body. This is the 2.0 Predator 2 figure released by Hot Toys, and this time they employed their much better base body that they developed for their Predators. It looks great under the mesh and much better than the previous release.
His armour is done to a very high standard and I love the overall design of it from the film, it makes me think of the Aztecs or something. There is a ton of small detail when you get up close to the armour and It's great to slowly scan around the figure to notice various bits. One particular thing to note is his med pack which I'll cover further below, but it' got a great little sculpt.
When it comes to his all important mask, I know some collectors where a bit disappointed with the sculpt, with many opting to swap it out for a custom, but I don't have an issue with it personally. I think it's important to point out that you tended to see the creature in the film from a certain angle with his head tilted back, if you tilt the figures head in the same way it looks pretty spot on to me. I can't not mention the dreadlocks though, they are made from a soft rubber and fall very naturally. On the previous release the figure looked pretty daft but this time they nailed the look.
There are a couple negatives, firstly his plasma caster (the little shoulder mounted cannon) has a terrible sculpt for some reason. It looks really cheap and toy like. On mine the plastic is slightly warped. Secondly, Hot Toys went with interchangeable mouths rather than separate head sculpts. It works fairly OK but you end up with fairly big lines around his mouth. I've managed to hide them in the pictures but it's fairly noticeable in person. I guess 3 extra head sculpts would have shot the price up massively.
Paint: Considering the entire figure required painting (no hiding behind clothes here) Hot Toys did really well. His leopard like skin pattern is applied nicely and overall the paintwork is clean and bright. I really like how they've applied a gloss finish over the paintwork too, it really gives him a slimy like appearance just like in the films.
The mix of colours is fantastic across the board and all the shading and blending on his armour really makes the figure pop. He also has little hints of green here and there that I'm guessing is supposed to be weathering of sorts, again really nice attention to detail. As you can see below, even his little wrist computer is painted up with the usual Predator language.
Outfit: Calling it an outfit is probably a stretch ha, but he does have netting pretty much over his entire body which is a nice touch, they could have gone down the sculpted route but they didn't'. As for the armour that he wears, it's all sculpted to a fine level of detail and is held in place by elastic straps and small pieces of string. I especially like the way the crotch piece is laced up and held in position. The lace work serves to allow the armour to articulate, which in turn allows the armour to not get in the way of movement.
Articulation: The figure is a bit of a mixed bag here, HT went for form over function, firstly there's no abdomen articulation which limits him right away. He also has single jointed elbows and no bicep joint so his arms are fairly restricted too, but with that being said you can get him to do most of the things you'd want. It's legs that really do my head in. Due to the netting and crotch piece his legs barely move forward or apart, I maybe could have forced them more but you've got to be mindful of damaging the netting. On top of that his Knees are extremely stiff, which is probably a good thing considering how heavy his upper body is, but when combined with the previous issue and the lack of abdomen articulation he's basically stuck in a museum pose. You won't be getting any crouching poses here.
There is a slight issue with his head too, his head is on a ball joint, and due to the very small neck that he has, even the smallest amount of movement causes his head to pop off. Again it's basically just museum poses all the way here.
It probably sounds like I'm being negative but honestly despite the issues I feel like the figure does what I want it to do, I still managed to get some decent poses, and it's not like the creature in the film was doing yoga anyway.
Accessories: I'm pleased to say that he come's with a ton of stuff, he's almost like a DX figure (Hot Toys deluxe line). Lets do the list!
I'll include some close ups of my favourite things below but firstly I love his Spear, it extends just like it does in the film and the attention to detail on it is wonderful. Secondly I really like the med pack that slots onto his back. It folds out and open just like in the film and all his little surgical tools are there.
You might have noticed above that his mask also lights up, you connect it to a very small power pack on his back. The feature is discrete and works fairly well considering the scale.
Now for some of the bummers, whilst technically not an accessory, his shoulder cannon that I mentioned earlier is just done poorly, aside from the bad sculpt it's also so simple and toy like, it's on a hinge and moves up or down. I remember the Mcfarlane toy released years ago had a way better system where the cannon could slide forwards or backwards.
The net launcher is done fairly toy like, it's feels fairly toy like. On my Pred it doesn't really fit into the hole on his left ankle and just falls off constantly. The throwing disk is done better but again has a tendency to fall off it's holster easily.
He also comes with a strange choice of hands, he doesn't have a set of spread open hands, so you can't really do the legs apart/challenging pose that he does in the slaughterhouse. He also doesn't really have a skull holding hand, you've just got to balance the skull best you can in one of the other hands.
The arm is surprisingly easy to swap out, at least on mine. It just pops off without any fuss.
Here's the med pack as mentioned. I love the detail.
It's worth noting that the holster for the trowing disk is articulated and rotates. A nice touch that stops it from getting in the way of the leg.
The spear extends when pulled part. It's split into 3 sections. When closed it fits together perfectly.
Coke can for scale!
The figure has it's flaws but not enough to hurt it overall. I'm more than happy I bought it back when it was released and it's a figure I'll never part with. If your going to pick one up yourself just make sure your getting the right version. Double check that the one you're buying is definitely MMS 173!
Enjoy the review :)
"Want some candy?" -The Predator, that one time he didn't murder a child.
Predator 2 is one of those sequels where it drew fairly negative response when first released in 1990 but honestly for me the films biggest crime is that it's not as good as the first. Once you get past that there's a great deal to enjoy. Danny Glover provides a great twist to the typical 'action hero' of that time period, he's just an ordinary LA cop (all be it a tough SOB) who feels pain, anger and fear, who basically just wants revenge after the Predator kills his friend. The film never gets too bogged down trying to explain what the Predator creature is about, only ever using brief hunting analogies. Plus the film continues the early 90's obsession with a dystopian portrayal of America, showing downtown LA as being fairly grotty and crime ridden. Perfect hunting ground for the Predator!
Sculpt: Firstly lets cover the body. This is the 2.0 Predator 2 figure released by Hot Toys, and this time they employed their much better base body that they developed for their Predators. It looks great under the mesh and much better than the previous release.
His armour is done to a very high standard and I love the overall design of it from the film, it makes me think of the Aztecs or something. There is a ton of small detail when you get up close to the armour and It's great to slowly scan around the figure to notice various bits. One particular thing to note is his med pack which I'll cover further below, but it' got a great little sculpt.
When it comes to his all important mask, I know some collectors where a bit disappointed with the sculpt, with many opting to swap it out for a custom, but I don't have an issue with it personally. I think it's important to point out that you tended to see the creature in the film from a certain angle with his head tilted back, if you tilt the figures head in the same way it looks pretty spot on to me. I can't not mention the dreadlocks though, they are made from a soft rubber and fall very naturally. On the previous release the figure looked pretty daft but this time they nailed the look.
There are a couple negatives, firstly his plasma caster (the little shoulder mounted cannon) has a terrible sculpt for some reason. It looks really cheap and toy like. On mine the plastic is slightly warped. Secondly, Hot Toys went with interchangeable mouths rather than separate head sculpts. It works fairly OK but you end up with fairly big lines around his mouth. I've managed to hide them in the pictures but it's fairly noticeable in person. I guess 3 extra head sculpts would have shot the price up massively.
The mix of colours is fantastic across the board and all the shading and blending on his armour really makes the figure pop. He also has little hints of green here and there that I'm guessing is supposed to be weathering of sorts, again really nice attention to detail. As you can see below, even his little wrist computer is painted up with the usual Predator language.
There is a slight issue with his head too, his head is on a ball joint, and due to the very small neck that he has, even the smallest amount of movement causes his head to pop off. Again it's basically just museum poses all the way here.
It probably sounds like I'm being negative but honestly despite the issues I feel like the figure does what I want it to do, I still managed to get some decent poses, and it's not like the creature in the film was doing yoga anyway.
Accessories: I'm pleased to say that he come's with a ton of stuff, he's almost like a DX figure (Hot Toys deluxe line). Lets do the list!
- Extendable Spear
- Net launcher
- Throwing Disk
- Med pack
- Mask
- Interchangeable left arm (battle damaged)
- Two sets of interchangeable mouths (one open and one closed)
- 2 re-breather masks (one for holding and one for wearing).
- Three and a half pairs of hands.
- Bloody skull and spine.
- A Stand. and lastly an extra set of wrist pegs.
I'll include some close ups of my favourite things below but firstly I love his Spear, it extends just like it does in the film and the attention to detail on it is wonderful. Secondly I really like the med pack that slots onto his back. It folds out and open just like in the film and all his little surgical tools are there.
You might have noticed above that his mask also lights up, you connect it to a very small power pack on his back. The feature is discrete and works fairly well considering the scale.
Now for some of the bummers, whilst technically not an accessory, his shoulder cannon that I mentioned earlier is just done poorly, aside from the bad sculpt it's also so simple and toy like, it's on a hinge and moves up or down. I remember the Mcfarlane toy released years ago had a way better system where the cannon could slide forwards or backwards.
The net launcher is done fairly toy like, it's feels fairly toy like. On my Pred it doesn't really fit into the hole on his left ankle and just falls off constantly. The throwing disk is done better but again has a tendency to fall off it's holster easily.
He also comes with a strange choice of hands, he doesn't have a set of spread open hands, so you can't really do the legs apart/challenging pose that he does in the slaughterhouse. He also doesn't really have a skull holding hand, you've just got to balance the skull best you can in one of the other hands.
The arm is surprisingly easy to swap out, at least on mine. It just pops off without any fuss.
He also has a somewhat hidden feature, his wrist mounted rocket launcher is included, it pops up and forward with a little bit of a jiggle.
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