Predators Series 16: Ghost Predator

Company: NECA

Year: 2016

NB: This review was written BEFORE the Spiked Tail Predator that was published in December

Well, it’s been quite a while since I reviewed any NECA Predators here at the LBC. The last one I bought was the Elder Predator v2, which was released back as part of series 12. Cool as he was, I don’t think I ever got to reviewing him on here – which means the last one I looked at was the ¼-scale City Hunter, all the way back in early 2015!

Series 13-15 weren’t bad, by any means, but I didn’t buy any of them. Series 13 continued the Kenner-style Predators, while 14 and 15 focused on the first Aliens vs Predator film. The toys looked good (if a little too similar to one another) but my aversion to the movie itself really kind of put me off. I’m hanging out for an updated Wolf Predator from AvP: Requiem; nothing has been confirmed, but I think it’s a reasonably safe bet to show up sometime next year.  

So today we look at the Ghost Predator, who seems to be based on the Renegade Predator from the old Kenner series. Back then, he was probably the truest to the “real” look of the Predator from the movies in comparison to his gaudier companions. NECA has retained this comparative realism, which I enjoy, but they’ve really played up his pale look, giving him a nice semi-albino look.

Now, NECA’s Predator line has been built on the back of reuse. While that’s brought us some very creative action figures, it has also been a source of frustration for some – in series 16, Ghost Predator is clearly the one who’s had the least spent on him in terms of new tooling. But with the AvP Predators came newly sculpted base bodies for NECA to use, as well as increased articulation. Ghost Predator benefits from this immensely, with swivel biceps and double elbows now being incorporated into the design, as well as a balljointish thing in the chest – a proper ab-crunch would be good, but it would probably also ruin the aesthetics of the figure.

My main criticism of the design is that Ghost is a victim NECA’s current trick of simply not painting the netting to indicate that a character is not wearing netting – the sculpting is still present, but the paint is not. I feel somewhat churlish complaining about it, given the other positive features of the toy, but I think it should be noted nonetheless. The only bare body NECA seems to have for Predators is the old Super Predator body, which was pretty mediocre; perhaps we’ll see one eventually though.

Still, enough about the bad and onto the good. Netting aside, the paintwork is excellent. Check your sample in-store, but they look to have had a good run on this figure. The tiger-stripe lines and cheetah spots contrast nicely with the pale skin – they seem to have shifted back to a moulding process similar to the one they used to give Dutch his distinctive skin tones. This is very welcome, as it gives a more naturalistic look to the figure, in contrast to the heavily painted AvP figures which looked much more overtly toyish.  

Unlike his original figure, Ghost doesn’t get a gun. But he’s got some very cool accessories; a smart disc, a machete, a spear and a removeable mask. All accessories we’ve seen before, but rarely together. The spear won’t quite fit into the left, gripping hand, but it can be balanced in the more open right hand if you’re careful. 

The mask is very well sculpted, and could easily pass for something out of the films. It’s slightly too big in proportion to the head; for a long time NECA shied away from making removable masks for their Predator figures, and this is exactly why. But he still looks fantastic with the mask on or off anyway; it does tie in with the reality that a Predator is a mask in a mask, and there heads have always looked slightly large on-screen.  

Series 16 was heavily delayed. It was originally meant to come out around July, but it hit stores shelves in Sydney in December 2016 – a few weeks behind the US. Nonetheless, it looks to have been worth the wait. Ghost Predator is an excellent design, Spiked Tail Predator was flawed but still looks great….and the glow-in-the-dark Stalker Predator has now arrived too. So overall, I'd say it's been a very successful series.

Predators Series 16 – Spiked Tail Predator

Company: NECA

Year: 2016

In the 1990s, Kenner was a ubiquitous brand in the world of action figures. Though they’re probably best remembered for their Star Wars and Super Powers toys, they also produced figures based on delightfully child-friendly movies such as Aliens, RoboCop and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

I had quite a few Kenner figures as a youth in the 1990s (mostly Star Wars: The Power of the Force), and though many were pretty ordinary but today’s standards, they were fantastic at the time. Sadly, Kenner is no more – bought out by Hasbro some years ago, the brand has long since been absorbed into its parent company, the licenses it once held divvied up among other companies. But its legacy still lives on today, in some small part, every time an adult movie like The Dark Knight Rises or Van Helsing gets a toyline intended for children. But it’s rarely as off the wall as it was back then…I don’t think so many people see ultra-violent movies as potential kid’s cartoons, and that’s probably for the best.

So, why mention Kenner in a NECA review? Well, series 16 of NECA’s Predator line is yet another tribute to those often wild and wacky days of toy manufacturing – specifically, a modern update of some more of Kenner’s Predator range. So today we look at the Spiked Tail Predator; we’ll be looking at his two series-mates very soon.

I guess if you had to sum up Spiked Tail’s aesthetic very briefly, you’d say “Steampunk Predator”. Fortunately this is not as terrible as it sounds. The original Kenner toy was very heavily armoured and cyborg-esque, but also kind of plain, with the unusual helmet/facemask combo and odd colour the main selling points. In a line that seemed to have two ugly toys for every good one, Spiked Tail stands out as being almost aggressively unmemorable.

But NECA have outdone themselves with this update. It’s clear that the bulk of this series’ tooling budget went on this guy; though not all of his accoutrements are new tooling, most of them are. As a result, he has a nice, chunky feel to him – though I’m definitely putting him on a stand, as that gigantic dreadlock ponytail thing does leave him a little unbalanced.

Once the mask is on and the gun is mounted (either on his back or on his left arm) he looks fantastic, a wonderfully futuristic take on the hunter. In spite of him shifting well away from the more traditional Predator look, he still manages to feel somewhat plausible once the mask goes on. Maybe not so much as his seriesmate Ghost, but you could see a more muted version of this design making it into a future Predator movie.  

Now lest you fear that I gush too much, there are some problems:

• The armour really hinders the articulation all over the body – given some time you can work with it, but straight out of the box you’re probably going to keep him in fairly vanilla poses.
• The gun falls off the backmount quite easily
• The mask doesn’t quite stay on his face as it should
• His left forearm popped off when I tried to plug the gun in (though could be popped back on)
• Paint is a little thick on his armour and bionic hand
• The “pistons” on his left leg weren’t glued on properly when he came out of the box, and thus don’t sit quite correctly.

None of these are dealbreakers in and of themselves…but when you consider that these figures are now selling for $49.95AUD a pop it does leave a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth.

  

Interestingly, the copy on the back also gives us a bit of a taste of some potential future Preds, with mention of the Lasershot and R’Zor Predators. Lasershot was a previously released Kenner design that looked a bit like a modified Scarab/Nightstorm Predator. It sounds okay…but the mention of R’Zor is particularly intriguing. Information online is scarce, but it seems that he was a cancelled figure that was actually a human marine disguised as a Predator. Some sample figures did make it out into the wild, but they’re definitely few and far between. NECA already has a lot of tooling from the Marines in the Aliens range, so I’m hoping we do eventually get this figure in some kind of official form.  

When I reviewed Nightstorm Predator almost three years ago, I noted that I probably would have hated it back as a kid, and noted that the Kenner Aliens and Predator lines typified some of the worst trends in 1990s action figures – namely, a thin basis in source material, garish colours, little to no resemblance to the “real” character/s and ultimately quite gimmicky. But now, as then, sometimes something will grab me. I was going to pass on this guy when I first saw the promo images, but in person he really popped off the shelf. And so I decided I had to own the whole series, instead of just going for the glow-in-the-dark Stalker Predator.  

So overall? Cool update of a pretty bland design, but it’s somewhat flawed in execution. I’m still glad I made the purchase, but if this was my first experience of the line I’d be less than impressed.

DC Universe Classics: POWER STRUGGLE 2-pack -- SUPERMAN VS PARASITE (Part 1 of 2)

Pic from Amazon.com

LINE: DC Universe Classics
YEAR: 2010

COMPANY: Mattel

Earlier this year, Mattel announced that it was re-releasing several of its DC figures in Super Powers- themed colours and packaging – a tribute to Kenner’s seminal 1980s toyline.  Though I didn’t have the Super Powers line as a kid, the announcement pushed my nostalgia button firmly – especially with the Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez-inspired artwork! If it looks familiar, that’s not surprising – DC is currently using his work on quite a lot of merchandise.
I wasn’t interested in the Riddler, Gold Superman, Mr Mxyzptlk or the Collect-and-Connect Kalibak, but the core trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman rapidly became must-have items. It’s not hard to find figures of these core three, but it’s hard to find three that look cohesive together – well, ones that aren’t based on the New 52, anyway. But as the release date started to grow closer approach I began to wonder whether I could justify the not inconsiderable price tag.

“Hmm…the packaging does look nice, but it’s going in the bin anyway…this kind of blue Batman isn’t really my favourite style of Batman…Wonder Woman isn’t going to include her axe and shield…”

Deliberations such as these went on for a few weeks, but I eventually decided I’d be better off looking up earlier releases of these figures, and comparing costs. If older versions were cheaper, I’d go with them instead. Superman was surprisingly easy to find, and this 2-pack was the most cost-effective method for getting him – and as far as I can see, this is identical to the figure that’s been re-released for the Super Powers tribute, bar the colouring. And he came with Parasite, too – SCORE!

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

If I am not very much mistaken, I don’t think there was ever really a proper “Classic” Superman in the main series of DCUC. Not long before the debut of DCUC, Mattel had done a series called DC Superheroes, a line that focused almost exclusively on Superman, Batman and their respective allies and rogue’s galleries. For the most part, the two lines gel with one another, and have a similar aesthetic. But part of what killed that initial line was endless variations of Superman and Batman – they’re both awesome characters, but most people are not interested in owning 32903750923 different versions of them.

Hence, when DCUC came around, there was no Superman until wave 6 – and that was 1990s Superman, complete with long hair. It was a cool look, but it instantly marked it out as a Superman of a specific era. So a more “iconic” Superman never got a release in the main line, but there were a couple that showed up in a related 2-pack and 5-pack – and then there was this one, cobbled together from the existing “large male” DCUC body and the Eradicator’s head.
The DCUC line tended to try and replicate how a character looked on the page, rather than worrying too much about “realism”. That yielded some mixed results from time to time – some costumes work better in print than in 3D – but it’s the right call on this occasion. Superman has always been a big guy, and this figure maintains an appropriately exaggerated physique.

Somewhat curiously, he’s been sculpted without a smile. Without it, it’s actually a bit difficult to tell which artist’s work this is based on – there’s arguably a little of Jose Luis Garcia Lopes in there, but that still doesn’t seem quite right. In fact, the head is a little on the odd side in general. Front on, it looks great – maybe a little too thin at the sides, but definitely workable. From an angle, it tends to look a bit odd as the face is actually quite flat. This isn’t restricted to this figure – Wonder Woman has the same thing, and looking at one of the recent Masters of the Universe Classics toys, I noticed the same thing there too. So presumably it’s a Mattel house style thing, or possible a Four Horseman sculptural quirk.

The cape is also a little odd. The material is soft but sturdy, so I don’t really have any concerns about it rotting away, but it sticks out at the back quite a bit. Secured by a hole in his back, it’s fine from the front but looks odd side-on. From the back it works okay, though the lines are cut a little too deeply.

Articulation is standard for the DCUC line:

*ball-jointed neck

*ball-jointed shoulders

*swivel biceps

*hinged elbows

*cut wrists

*ab crunch

*cut waist

*t-hinged hips

*cut thighs

*hinged knees

*hinged ankles

The neck is technically a balljoint, but it's not super manoeuvrable. The shoulders are a bit restricted due to the cape, and the swivel biceps feel a little tight. However, these are pretty minor issues and none of the other joints gave me any problems at all. It was a welcome contrast to Hawkman. I've grown to like that figure a little more since I wrote that review, but he was extraordinarily disappointing and I was worried I've have a repeat issue.

Curiously, it’s kind of hard to get him into a good flying pose. I think this is partially down to facial sculpt, both hands being fists and the way the neck moves. It doesn’t bother me a lot, but I can definitely see it upsetting some fans.   

ACCESSORIES

Superman (and the two-pack as a whole) comes with no accessories. Some Kryptonite, Fortress of Solitude Crystal or a miniature Bottle City of Kandor would have been nice, but really he doesn’t need anything.

PAINT

Most of Supes is just cast in dark blue, and then paint is applied accordingly. There are no major issues with slop, but it does seem odd that – his hands also seem to be cast in blue, and painted in skintone. I’m not really sure why they went with this option rather than just casting them in skin colour, but I assume it’s a costing thing.  

As a nice little touch, his hair features little light blue highlights, just like in the comics.

The entire DCUC range relied heavily on parts re-use, with a great deal of the main characters just reusing one body or another. The upside of this was that the line was able to pump out a number of B-, C- and D-list characters that were unlikely to get an appearance elsewhere.  The downside is that reusing bodies tend to give certain characters odd quirks. In Superman’s case, there’s no sculpted line where his neck gives way to the suit – it’s just painted on. I might complain about this elsewhere, but the paint line is neat, so it works well enough.   

A few tampographs are used. The back of the cape has a yellow “S” symbol tampoed on – as all Superman capes should – and the chest logo is tampoed too. Additionally, the eyes have been tampoed on. They’re pretty much even, which is great. Too many action figures have an awkward or cross-overed look.  

 

AVAILABILITY

I bought this two-pack brand new from a third-party seller, for what I assume was just above retail price. eBay and Amazon seem to indicate you’re in for a difficult and/or expensive time if you want any of the other DCUC Supes figures. However, at time of writing the Super Powers figures were still in stock at MattyCollector.com

OVERALL

My very first action figure was a Superman one. Working from an approximate timeline, I don’t think it was a Super Powers figure – I’m a little young for that – but rather from ToyBiz’s DC Superheroes series. It followed only a few short years after the end of Super Powers, reused many of the same moulds and had a very similar design aesthetic, but was never quite of the same standard. Sadly, he lasted only a few months before one of the knee joints gave way, and for whatever reason he was never replaced. It’s easy to remember how much we enjoyed a toy; it’s more difficult to remember how poorly some of them were made (and I have to say, I don’t remember the Kryptonite ring at all)!

So from a nostalgic perspective, this Superman had quite a bit to live up to. He’s not quite everything I’d like from a figure of Superman, but for this price point, he’s still pretty darn good. I don’t have Hot Toys kind of money at this point, so this guy will do nicely.

Part two coming soon – we take a look at Superman’s boxmate, Parasite!

Lava Planet Predator

Company: NECA

Series: Predators Series 10

Scale: 7”

RRP: $29.95-34.95

THE BACKGROUND

Sometimes, toy manufacturers often think it’s a great idea to make kid’s toys from properties that were originally intended for adults. Films like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and last year’s Man of Steel are recent examples, but in the 1980s and 1990s, it was much more pronounced. Admittedly some were based on more child-friendly cartoon versions (RoboCop, Rambo, Toxic Crusaders), but on viewing the original source material, you do have to wonder who was making some of these decisions…

Predator was one of these adult properties which scored itself a kid’s toyline in the mid-90s, alongside Aliens. I first became familiar with the Lava Planet Predator (and the Kenner line in general) only recently, via Dinosaur Dracula’sarticle on this unusual beast. So when I found out NECA was doing a series based on the Kenner Predators, I went into “must-have” mode, making very specific arrangements with my sisters to receive one of these bad boys for Christmas, some months in advance. Was he worth the wait? Read on to find out.

THE PACKAGING

As mentioned in my previous review of the Nightstorm Predator, the box art on these guys is a tribute to the Kenner line – nice painted artwork, in a very 1990s style.

The bio is good fun too, suggesting that this Predator is one of a rare tribe who live in Yautja Prime’s volcanic area. So even as Predators go, this dude is pretty hardcore.  

(As a side note: As a kid who was into Star Wars, I used to ponder about canon and continuity, but these days I’m much more relaxed. Was it in the movie? Then it’s “real”. If it’s from something like a comic or novelisation, feel free to enjoy it, but don’t put a lot of stock in it – odds are high that it will be ignored or contradicted in future films. Your own thoughts on this are welcome in the comments below.)

 

 

 

 

 

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Lava Planet Predator looks to be primarily based on the Jungle Hunter from series 8, with bits like the hands and feet presumably taken from various other Preds in the NECA line. Series 11 is about to drop, so they’ve got plenty of resources to draw from at this point. This isn’t a bad thing, as the fact that it’s moulded in translucent red plastic is enough to distinguish it from all of its forebears. Rarely has a Predator shone so brightly, as seen in this photo below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articulation-wise, this is what he’s got:

*ball-jointed neck

*peg and hinge shoulders

*peg and hinge elbows

*swivel waist

*ball-jointed hips

*double-hinged knees

*ball-jointed ankles

And you know what? All of it works! I had some concerns about this new Predator, as the other two NECA Preds I’ve bought have been awesome to look at, but definitely had their issues when it came to poseability. Still, so far the only issue is that his hips don’t move quite as well as I’d like, largely due to his loincloth getting in the way. I’d also watch how long you have him standing for, as NECA Preds are well-known for not being great at standing upright for extended periods.

As a side note, I don’t think his feet quite match. His right one looks a bit wider than the other, though it doesn’t seem to have caused him any standing difficulties.  

ACCESSORIES

Lava Planet Predator comes with one detachable accessory – his machete. It’s a little tricky to get it in and out of his clenched hand, but it will stay put once it’s there.

Attached, he’s got two others – his extendable blade, and his shoulder cannon. The cannon is mounted on a balljoint and can be easily popped on and off. Unlike many of his Predator forebears, this one isn’t actually attached to a backpack. You’ll notice in some of these pictures that’s it’s not actually attached – it had popped off and I didn’t even notice until later, so be careful with it.

As for the claw, it’s very reminiscent of the original toy, which is quite different to the “standard” Predator dual blade. It’s more crescent-shaped, and can be slightly extended. However, the extended area isn’t painted, so it looks a little strange – this bad boy is going to stay shut for most of the time.  
Though it appears to be a separate piece of plastic, the mask is (unfortunately) not actually removable. The upside is that his eyes will glimmer if you shine a torch or other light source behind his head! Clever photographers will be able to milk this figure for a lot of cool effects.

PAINT

There’s not a whole lot of paint to talk about here – there’s a camo/heat haze effect painted in a few spots on his body, and his weapons and mask are picked out in a reddish/pink metallic colour. Pretty much everything else is cast in translucent red plastic, which means it somewhat resembles a giant red lolly.

Fortunately, the stuff that is there is nicely detailed. Not a lot of slop, which is nice on a figure that probably could have got away with it pretty easily. The main issue (if it is one) is that the paint on the front half of the figure abruptly stops halfway around the shoulderpads, gauntlets etc (see photo below). Whether or not this is intentional is open to debate, but it does seem a little strange. One other review I read speculated that this may be representative of a camo effect, which is possible – but as that review also mentioned, it would have looked better if just fully painted. Fortunately, the helmet doesn’t seem to be affected by this issue – I suppose it was probably painted as a separate piece. 

OVERALL
I’ve been really happy with  the Kenner Predators, and I particularly like the Lava Planet Predator. He’s a well-crafted tribute to the original figure, while not looking like a terrible embarrassment to more modern sensibilities.

But I still haven’t picked up the Hive Wars Predator, and don’t plan to. I’m just not quite sold on him, possibly because he’s the least outlandish of the three that were released.  However, I could definitely see myself picking up some future Kenner-themed releases, if they arrive – as I mentioned in my Nightstorm Predator review, I’m still hanging for a glow in the dark Predator, who could duke it out with Nightfighter RoboCop. In the meantime, enjoy some 90s-style crossover madness with this shot of Lava Planet Predator duking it out with Batman, in the sewers below Gotham.

Nightstorm Predator Review

Company: NECA

Series: Predators  – Series 10

RRP: approx. $34.95 AUD

Scale: 7”

The Background

In the 1990s, Kenner was a ubiquitous brand in the world of action figures. Though they’re probably best remembered for their Star Wars toys, they also produced figures based on child-friendly movies (or their cartoon spin-offs) such as Aliens, Predator, RoboCop and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

I had quite a few Kenner figures as a youth in the 1990s (mostly Star Wars: The Power of the Force), and though many were pretty ordinary but today’s standards, they were fantastic at the time. Sadly, Kenner is no more – bought out by Hasbro some years ago, the brand has long since been absorbed into its parent company, the licenses it once held divvied up among other companies. But its legacy still lives on today, in some small part, every time an adult movie like The Dark Knight Rises or Van Helsing gets a toyline intended for children. But it’s rarely as off the wall as it was back then…I don’t think so many people see ultra-violent movies as potential kid’s cartoons, and that’s probably for the best.

So, why mention Kenner in a NECA review detail? Well, series 10 of NECA’s Predator line is a tribute to those often wild and wacky days of toy manufacturing – specifically, a modern update of some of Kenner’s Predator range.  This is territory we’ve seen NECA dip their toes into before, with Nightfighter RoboCop – how does it carry over to the Predators?  Read on and find out.

The Packaging

I’m a child of the 1980s and 1990s. Toy packaging in this era tended to be either RIDICULOUSLY BRIGHT AND GARISH (Ninja Turtles and GI Joe) or DARK AND EDGY (particularly after the rise of McFarlane Toys). All of it was intended to grab your attention, each package competing with many others on the crowded shelf. The artwork on this box is quite a deliberate throwback to that era, and one that I very much enjoy. The focal point is the illustration of the masked Predator face, which has been coloured in a style that definitely uses what professionals call “artistic license”. It’s very similar to the original Kenner cardback, though different enough to look quite cool on its own merits.

MOCers should be pleased, but they’ll want to be careful – with the card backing, it’s obviously more prone to damage than a NECA clamshell. The other downside is that the helmet is concealed behind the bottom paper strip, so you won’t be able to see that properly.    

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that this guy is big. He towers over my Jungle Hunter, and is massive next to Dutch. Apparently he uses the old “Super Predator” body – which to the layman, basically means that it’s taller and its legs aren’t as articulated as more recent Predator series have been (V-cut hips instead of balljoints). So you’ll have a little more trouble getting it to stand, but once it does you shouldn’t have many issues with it falling over, as the V-cuts tend to be stronger than balljoints.

In practice, it was quite tricky to get him to stand, as his leg armour, points of articulation and a seemingly sensible way for him to stand didn’t all line up very well. I would still advise that you don’t stand him anywhere he can fall too far. The trade-off is that his legs do actually seem far more poseable than my Jungle Hunter, which in spite of having “superior” articulation, is fairly immobile around the hips.    

In terms of the rest of the articulation, let’s see:

*ball-jointed head (more on that under “ISSUES”)

*swivel hinge shoulders

*swivel hinge elbows

*ball-jointed left wrist (right wrist seems to be intentionally immobile, beneath the gauntlet)

*cut waist  

*cut thighs

*swivel hinge knees

All of it works well enough, and it’s nicely placed on the sculpt – none of the joints distract from the overall look of the figure.  

Once the mask is on, the effect of the figure is not dissimilar to an animal-headed Egyptian idol.- specifically Khepri. I was (and am) a big fan of ancient Egypt, so the overall aesthetic is one I find quite pleasing. Stargate fans could perhaps even pretend that he’s some kind of villainous species within that universe, and despite the more realistic sculpt, I still think he’s cartoony enough to make a good enemy for the new range of TMNT figures.

As for the claws, they’re ridiculously huge and actually extend out a little further. I’m torn as to whether I like how big they are, or whether it would have been good to scale them back a little. As a tribute to 90s action figure style, it’s spot-on though.

PAINT

NECA know how to do a great paint job, and this one is particularly good. The Predator’s base colour is a midnight blue, highlighted with a lighter blue. Lots of little details (is it meant to be chest hair, or just spots? I’m never sure) are picked out across the body, and he’s sans-netting, so no issues with paint slop there.

The face is of particular note, with the purply-pink colour on the mandibles complimenting the dark blue hues quite well.  Gold is the other dominant colour, and the work here is also quite good. A grey wash has been applied over the gold to give it more depth and (I assume) a somewhat aged appearance. Pretty good in theory, but in practice the wash is a bit uneven and will probably vary quite a bit from figure to figure. I didn’t have any major issues with mine – but it’s something to watch out for.

As a minus, taking the mask on and off will slightly wear the paint down around the mouth -- just something to be mindful of. You'll probably want to stick with a mask on or mask off look, for the most part.

ACCESSORIES

Nightstorm Predator comes with three accessories – a mask, a staff and a shoulder cannon.

This is the apparently the first Predator to have a removable mask in the whole NECA range. I think the removable mask is a good thing, and I might even say it’s long overdue. Getting the various masked and unmasked versions of the same Predators across multiple series might not bother some people, but I tend to think that it would be better to just include some removable masks and/or interchangeable heads. Hopefully we see a lot more of this in future.  

The mask is concealed behind the paper insert in the box, so it will be a little bit of a gamble as to the paint job on it – mine was fine, though. The sculpting is intentionally reminiscent of a scarab beetle’s pincers, which further ties in with the pseudo-Egyptian theme. Scarabs were quite important to the ancient Egyptians, so it’s not too much of a stretch.    

The inside of the mask is also filled with sculpted detail – this is a great touch, when you consider that they could have easily left it blank, and no one would have complained. Overall, I think it looks great. The only real downside is that the mask does seem to cause a bit of paint wear around different parts of the face. I keep mine more or less permanently masked, but your mileage may vary.

The staff is similarly cool – incorporating a skull and what one other reviewer described as a Xenomorph tail, it fits the pseudo-Egyptian vibe quite well. It’s moulded in a sturdy plastic, and didn’t seem to have any issues with warping. His grip is a little tight, but once it’s in it should hold nice and steady.

The shoulder cannon is on a simple balljoint post that clicks into the armour – it’s not a full backpack like some other figures. The supporting post does pop out of its socket a little more easily than I’d like, but on the upside, the barrel actually rotates, which is nifty.

ISSUES

I don’t know if it’s something I did wrong, it’s unique to my figure or if it’s a problem across the range, but as soon as I took Mr Nightstorm out of the package, his head fell off.

No biggie – it’s a balljoint, it should pop back in pretty easily, shouldn’t it? Not so simple. From what I can tell, the shoulder armour flares up in an area very close to the neck – and when the dreadlocks come into contact with it, it doesn’t quite come together as it should.

With this said, I can turn him upside down and his head won’t fall off – I just need to be careful with how it’s posed.  I’ve read a couple of other reviews and they haven’t mentioned this issue, so it may just be mine. As it’s theoretically repairable, it’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s highly irritating nonetheless.

OVERALL

To be quite honest, I probably would have hated this figure when I was actually a child. Though I thought some of the many variations of Batman that did the rounds were quite cool, the Kenner Aliens and Predator lines typified some of the worst trends in 1990s action figures – namely, a thin basis in source material, little to no resemblance to the character/s and ultimately quite gimmicky.
I generally tend to prefer figures that look more or less as they do in the source material – extra accessories are nice, but they should be removable. Kenner’s Combat Belt Batman from 1993 is a great example of this kind of figure, as are the basic TMNT figures currently doing the rounds. 

But every now and then I’ll see something a little more unusual that just grabs me, and this was one of those figures. The reception of the Kenner-style figures seems to have been quite good, so it’s likely that there will be more – I’m hoping for a glow in the dark one, to be best buds with Night Fighter RoboCop.