POP! 8-Bit: Jason Voorhees (NES version)

Horror video games have a long, and often trashy history. For every Resident Evil, there’s at least three more crappy cash-ins that simultaneously typify the worst about video games and horror.

1989’s Friday the 13^th for the NES is one of the latter. It’s acquired a cult following, but it really wasn’t well-received at the time – or even afterwards*. Developer LJN was notorious for releasing terrible licensed video games for the NES (including a very so-so adaptation of A Nightmare on Elm Street), which have mostly been lost to history. Yet here we are in 2018 holding a piece of official Friday the 13^th video game merchandise – what a world we live in!

Part of Funko’s relatively new 8-bit subline, Jason is designed to look as though he’s stepped straight out of a mid-to-late 80s video game. However, his design isn’t strictly accurate; he appears to be an 8-bit version of his Freddy vs Jason self, with a jacket and stray hairs on the side of his head. But he is coloured to match the look of the NES game.

Now, you would be right in saying that purple and blue are not very “Jason” colours**, but the 8-bit era of gaming used plenty of idiosyncratic artwork. It’s just the nature of art meeting technology, with both often coming up short in the process.

I suspect its release is in large part due to NECA. Y’see, in 2013 NECA released a glow-in-the-dark version of Jason as a convention exclusive. As you might have guessed, that Jason was styled to look just like he does in the NES game. It was very well received by fans (eventually getting a slightly altered retail release) and sparked new interest in the game. There hasn't been a ton of merchandise since, but there's definitely been an upturn in what's been produced. Well done to Funko for riding this decidedly unusual trend.

While I’ve seen customs of the original Jason POP painted to match the game, this is not a figure I really expected to see mainstream release. It's great in or out of the box, a distinctive piece for your shelf that captures a fringe part of both Friday the 13^th fandom. My only real complaint is that he doesn’t glow!

*The Angry Video Game Nerd had quite a bit to say about it back in 2006.

**There’s also a version in regular colours, which seems to be the more widely available of the two. This NES version is a Gamestop exclusive in the USA. You can also get a Freddy in both regular and NES colours too. 

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.

Masked City Hunter Predator (1/4 Scale)

Company: NECA

Year: 2012

Series: Reel Toys/Predator 1:4 scale

THE BACKGROUND

Predator 2 is much maligned, and there are some good reasons for that. While it has some good points (Danny Glover, Bill Paxton, the Predator’s design), it feels a lot cheaper than the original, even though they spent waaaay more on it. But nonetheless, I’ve got a soft spot for it – probably because I watched it before the original.   

Since 2013 I’ve bought a few NECA Predators, so naturally I wanted a City Hunter too. But it has been an exceedingly difficult thing to achieve. NECA has been pumping out Predators for some years now, covering a whoooole buttload of them. Unfortunately, distribution has not been equal across the board. The City Hunter – namely, the masked version of him – has been particularly difficult to find, in spite of having two separate releases. And if you can find him, you’ll be paying far more than you should. So it was actually easier and more cost-effective to get this ¼ scale version – thanks must go to my wife for getting it for me for Christmas!   

THE PACKAGING

This guy came in a giant window box, which echoes the colour scheme of some of the smaller figure blisters. In terms of colour scheme and design, it’s also fairly similar to some of the Predator 2 posters. It’s a great-looking box, and it’s a bit of a shame it’s not really collector-friendly – it would be great for storage!

Unfortunately though, the plastic window cracked quite easily, and removing him from the box means destroying a lot of the elements that hold him in. There’s not really any space wastage but there are a whole bunch of twist-ties that need to be removed when you take him out. I would strongly suggest that you have a pair of wire cutters handy. Ordinary scissors may not be enough to get it done and you don’t want to damage anything via twisting and pulling.    

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

First things first – the City Hunter is massive. I'm never going to pretend I'm the world's best toy photographer, but this guy was particularly difficult to get a good, well-lit shot of, just because he's so big! Time for me to get a proper (large) lightbox.

That size translates into weight. He’s got a good amount of heft behind him, too. The sculpt is by Kyle Windrix, who’s done a huge amount of great stuff for NECA. It’s top-notch, capturing all of the essential details – at least to my eye. I can’t find a clear photo of the costume from the movie, so I can’t vouch that it’s 100% screen accurate, but NECA tend to be quite good with these sorts of things.  

Instead of going with the painted netting that features on the 8” figures (which can be pretty mixed in its execution) this figure uses plastic netting. It’s somewhat similar to the netting you sometimes see on bags of fruit, though thinner and with smaller gaps. It’s a good alternative, though I wonder if fabric – like on the Hot Toys version of the City Hunter – might have been better still. You’ll want to be careful with it. I’ve seen a spot on the right arm where it looks to be weakening, but I’m not sure whether it was already like this before opening or not. No breaks yet, but I’m expecting some, which is annoying for a figure that cost $140AUD.

As for articulation, here’s what he’s got:

*Ball-jointed neck? (It only moves like a swivel though)

*Swivel-hinged shoulders

*Swivel-hinged elbows

*Ball-jointed wrists

*Ball-jointed hips

*Double-hinged knees

*Ball-jointed ankles

The motion of the hips is pretty restricted, due to the loincloth and associated leg armour, though you can figure out workarounds. As always with NECA toys, be careful when you first move the elbows and knees – some joints will be tighter than others. Also, it seems like there’s no motion in the waist, though it’s clearly a separate piece to the hips. If it does loosen up, I’ll update this review later.  

I was recently reading a review of the NECA ¼ scale Batman, and it mentioned the figure (and indeed, pretty much all recent NECA ¼ scale figures) were very top-heavy – so much so that it was very difficult to get it to stand. Though I was able to get him standing relatively easily, I was always a bit hesitant in letting him stand on his own, as I wasn’t sure if he’d stay balanced. He’s pretty heavy, so a fall means he’ll hit the ground hard. Investing in a stand seems like a good idea if you plan to keep him displayed full time. 

One thing to note: the figure comes with no instructions – there’s nothing terribly complex that you shouldn’t be able to work out, though. My main concern was in relation to the Plasma Caster, which I mention in the accessories section below. 

PAINT

Broadly speaking, paint is off a similar high quality to the smaller 8”-scale figures, but the downside is that the minor errors you wouldn’t notice on the smaller figures are greatly amplified and much more noticeable. For example, where the left wrist meets the left hand is a little wishy-washy – there are a few similar spots dotted about the figure; incorrectly painted dreadlocks, slightly sloppy gloves on the hands etc. With so much sculpted detail, it’s not really surprising that there’s the odd mistake or two. This isn’t Hot Toys quality, but granted, you’re not paying Hot Toys prices. Overall, it’s impressive and well-executed, with some room for improvement.   

ACCESSORIES

City Hunter comes with three accessories – an extra left hand (to hold the Combi-Stick), a Smartdisc and a Combi-stick. His plasma caster is also a separate piece in the box, but it clips straight into the rail on his left shoulder – just be careful when you slot it in; the rubber of the rail will stretch and hold, but the plasma-caster stand is a little more fragile.

Out of the box, the hand designed to hold the combi-stick is a little too tight. You’ll need to ease it in gently, adjusting the fingers one by one as you go. Don’t force it, as you don’t want to break the hand or the combi-stick. Speaking of which, the real star accessory is the combi-stick – almost as tall as the Predator himself, it’s fully extendable.

The smart disc is really cool to have – particularly since it plays a fairly important role in the movie itself – but it doesn’t actually stick into the holder on his leg properly, and it’s tricky to make stick on his (right) hand.  

Three accessories is a lot for a NECA figure (even one as big as this) but I think it would have been good if you got a right hand that could hold the combi-stick, as well as the skull and spinal cord that the Predator takes from Bill Paxton’s character. That would have let people really re-enact this scene.
   

AVAILABILITY

I'm lead to believe that the 1:4 Scale Predators are released on a fairly limited basis -- about 5,000 figures worldwide each. Nonetheless, most of them still seem to be reasonably easy to pick up for retail price. You might have to pay a premium for postage, but that should be about it.   

OVERALL

Though wildly impractical in terms of storage around the home, the City Hunter is a great figure. I’m very satisfied with my purchase, and provided I’m careful with it can’t see there being major issues in the future. I don’t see myself venturing any further into NECA’s ¼ scale line at this stage, due to expense and the sheer room they take up – though in about a year’s time I may be dipping my toes in again. Now I just need to find an 8” one at a reasonable price, and for NECA to release a Danny Glover figure too.

FLASHBACK REVIEW! Freddy vs Jason -- NECA Jason Voorhees

Company: NECA

Year: 2004

Scale: 7” (?)

In 2003, a film was released that horror fans had been waiting years for – Freddy vs Jason. Opinions on it vary wildly, but it was reasonably successful at the box office and was, if nothing else, an entertaining piece of trash cinema. A part of me is still quite disappointed that the oft-discussed Freddy vs Jason vs Ash never saw release on a cinema screen.

One piece of merchandise that was released in its wake was a 2-pack from NECA featuring both the titular characters, complete with a semi-diorama of flaming timber floorboards (from their fight near the end of the film). 19-year-old me was a huge fan of the film, so I picked up this bad boy as soon as I could afford it. 

Freddy’s head has been lost to time (which consigned the rest of him to the bin) but Jason has stayed tucked away in my parent’s garage for almost ten years. Recently I pulled him out, thinking that there might be some good photo ops for him, now that I own a bunch of NECA figures. But how does he hold up to modern NECA standards?   

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

It has been a long, long time since I watched any of the Friday the 13^th films, so I don’t recall whether this is a particularly accurate sculpt. It certainly conveys the vibe well – Jason was less elaborate-looking in this film than he was in some of the earlier releases, and I don’t see any details leaping out at me as “wrong”. But the first thing you’re likely to notice about Jason is that he’s BIG. Ostensibly in 7” scale, Jason towers over a modern Predator. I know he’s meant to be a tall guy – but not that tall.  

NECA went the extra mile and made the mask removable. I couldn’t tell you how accurate the head sculpt is beneath the mask – I don’t remember ever getting a good look at his unmasked (adult) face in any of the movies (except perhaps Friday the 13^th, Part 2? It’s been years since I watched any of them…). However, it sure is impressively ugly -- and he kind of looks like a pirate…

 Ch-ch-ch....Arr-arr-arr

As for articulation? Well, there’s not a lot by modern standards. His neck, right shoulder, left shoulder, left elbow and waist all have cuts in them, rather than hinges or swivels. He’s more than a statue, but not much more. This didn’t bother me at the time, of course. I preferred sculpt to articulation (still do) and the only massively articulated figures I knew of at the time were Marvel Legends – most of which seemed shockingly ugly, 700 points of articulation or not – who wanted a Jason like that?

Now we live in a different era, where you can have good articulation and a good sculpt working in tandem (and to be fair, a lot of those old Marvel Legends figures actually looked quite good). By these standards, Jason would be totally unacceptable to many. But he’s a product of his times, and judged on those standards I think he holds up pretty well.      

ACCESSORIES

Jason comes with two accessories – his machete and his iconic hockey mask. As mentioned above, his mask is removable. Time may be fogging my memory here, but I seem to recall that that it was actually magnetised, to attach to Freddy’s claws. The level of detail in the sculpting and paint is admirable, and although I’m careful with my stuff, I’m still quite impressed that the cords haven’t snapped over the years.

The machete is okay, but not great. It’s cast in black, with a thin silver line drybrushed on the edge of the blade. There’s been a little bit of warping over the years, but nothing major.  And it would work just as well with almost any other similar-scale figure, such as Dutch or one of the Predators.  

PAINT

When I bought this guy, I was amazed at the paint work. I knew that McFarlane and NECA could produce some great stuff, but I’d never owned any before, so I hadn’t really seen it up close. Ten years later, it’s certainly not bad, but perhaps seems a little basic by modern standards. Part of this is the colour scheme of the character – this iteration of Jason didn’t really lend himself to flashy paintjobs. It’s no Dutch or Lost Predator, but it doesn’t embarrass itself by comparison.   

OVERALL

Back in 2004, this two-pack retailed for approximately $60AUD, but I picked it up on sale for $30 at Electronics Boutique (now EB Games) – still a lot of money for a poor uni student at the time, but good value nonetheless. I miss the old days when EB had far too many toys and would eventually just mark everything down to crazy prices. But on that basis, I can definitely understand why they stopped stocking toys for years!  

This is also indicative that NECA’s prices really haven’t risen too drastically over the last 10 years. The average figure retails for $34.95AUD, though smart shoppers can often find them for around the $29.95 mark.  

From a sculpting perspective, Jason still holds up quite well, and paint is still well within the acceptable range. Articulation will be the big factor that prevents people from seeing him in a positive light. So I wouldn’t recommend going to any real lengths to track him down, but he’s a good snapshot of a particular style of collector’s toy in the noughties.

NECA Battle Armor Lost Predator

Company: NECA

Line: Predators

Series: 11

Year: 2014

RRP: $34.95AUD

THE BACKGROUND

Predator 2 is a movie that’s often unfairly maligned. Yes, it was always going to be hard to live up to the original, and the sequel makes quite a few questionable choices, but I still have soft spot for it, possibly because I saw it before I saw the original.

Anyway, you’ll no doubt remember the sequence near the end where Danny Glover’s character finds himself aboard the Predator’s ship, and suddenly surrounded by a whole group of Predators, who are presumably the City Hunter’s buddies – popularly known as the “Lost Predators” or "Lost Tribe". You only get a very short glimpse of each of them before they go back to being invisible, but they still made quite an impression on fans.

Among them was the “Borg Predator”– his chest armour is kind of futuristic and cyberpunk-looking, in comparison to the more primitive/tribal stylings that we typically expect from Predators. Also, his skin was green-tinged. But if you don’t remember him specifically from his 5 seconds of film time, the picture on the left is a behind-the-scenes shot, courtesy of www.avp.wikia.com

NECA released this guy back in 2012 as part of series 6, somewhat confusingly labelling him as the “Lost Predator”, which I assume is to do with Star Trek-related copyright issues. Almost two years later, they’re revisiting him with a somewhat different version – the Battle Armor Lost Predator.  

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Any of us who played with toys as a kid, or have collected them as adults are familiar with bizarre action figure..."variations". A toy company takes a character that we’re familiar with, but releases them dressed in costumes or packaged with accessories that have no connection with the source material. Batman and Spider-Man are two of the most serious offenders, but very few toylines are immune. As another example, in early 1990s there were approximately 392730397509 different versions of the four Ninja Turtles.

Most of these figures are terrible. But every now and then, one of these variants ends up being really cool. And the Battle Armor Lost Predator is definitely cool.  

So, let’s get down to brass tacks. In the film, Lost/Borg Predator is apparently rocking his casual gear, but here, he means business. His helmet is unlike any other Predator we’ve seen thus far – it’s quite detailed, looking like some kind of robot Predator skull. The eyeslit is painted red, giving a laser-esque/Cyclops look.

There are a number of pieces that are definitely new. The first is obviously the head. The helmet looks to be a separate piece that’s glued down onto a hollowed-out Predator head, but I’m not sure whether it’s based on the original version of this guy, or simply one they’ve come up with for the occasion.

His belt is also new, incorporating a sheath for the sword, which extends up the Predator’s back. The sheath is cast in a thin but hard plastic, which I think looks and works better than soft plastic would have in this case.

Unusually, he has no wrist-mounted claws, and his plasma-caster is on his right shoulder. The plasma-caster isn’t a removable piece – it’s attached to the chest plate. It follows a similar aesthetic to the helmet, and it has three wires hanging on the side, complementing the wires on his chest plater.

Both his hands are sculpted closed, so his sword and smart-disc can be held in either hand. 


Close-up of the backpack and open plasma-caster.

Articulation is what we’ve come to expect from NECA’s Predators:

*ball-jointed neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*swivel-hinged elbows

*ball-jointed wrists

*ball-jointed waist

*ball-jointed hips

*double-hinged knees

*ball-jointed ankles

Additionally, the plasma-caster’s arm is ball-jointed in two spots – where it joins to the backpack and where it joins to the gun itself. The plasma-caster backpack restricts the right shoulder to a small degree, but the main issue is the elbows. The bracers have wires sculpted onto them around the elbow area, and the bend is quite restricted as a result.

It’s certainly not screen accurate, but it looks like it could be – the overall effect is great. He moves well, and looks good. I really like the Kenner-style Predators of series 10, but this guy is much more “realistic”, which makes him much easier to imagine in the world of the movies. The Kenner Preds are a little more Dark Horse comic-looking, if you know what I mean (and if you like that look, you'll probably enjoy the upcoming series 12 and 13).

ACCESSORIES

This guy comes with two accessories. The first is a massive sword, which more than makes up for the lack of wrist blades. It’s about 5” long, which is far too long to be practical – but totally awesome. The blade is primarily black, with a light silver drybrush and red edging.

The other accessory is an AvP-style smartdisc, with extended blades. If you look closely, you’ll also notice there’s also a closed one sculpted onto the front of his belt. It’s a nice little touch. The main body is painted in a metallic blue to match the rest of his armour. It fits in either hand, but it’s a little prone to popping out.

PAINT

His primary skin colour is the usual Predator beige-y, with the secondary skin colour being a dark green. Interspersed among it are a number of small red and black dots. It’s unusual colouring, but it looks great!

 

There are a few issues with slop around various points. Some silver on the backpack, some black on the toe claws – and as we’ve come to expect, the netting. But it’s not worth getting upset about. I’d just suggest that you take a close look at the figure in the store before you go through with the purchase. Poe Ghostal mentioned that the chest armour doesn’t seem to be as well-painted as the original release of this guy, but wasn’t sure if it was a deliberate choice on NECA’s part or a QC issue. I didn’t look too closely at the others on the shelf when I bought mine, so I can’t really comment myself.       

OVERALL

Some will definitely question the necessity of this figure – the original was great, and this look for the character doesn’t really have a canon precedent. But my verdict? It may not be essential, but the Battle Armor Lost Predator is a fantastic figure. He’s distinct enough to serve as a separate character, and just plain looks cool. I’ve bought four NECA Predators since August last year, and they just keep getting better and better. 2013 was a great year for the Predators line, and if this guy is any indication, 2014 will be too!
 

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.

Spring Loaded Holster RoboCop Review

Spring Loaded Holster RoboCop

Company: NECA

Series: RoboCop

RRP: approx. $29.95 AUD

 

The Background

On one level, RoboCop is a standard sci-fi action film, distinguished from dozens of others primarily by its cool-looking main character and a level of violence which still shocks almost three decades after release. On these merits alone, RoboCop would probably be considered a classic action film of the 1980s. 

But scratch the surface, and it holds up to deeper examination. Like most good sci-fi, it says a great deal about the time it was made, framed within a (mostly) believable future world. It is laden with social commentary, parody and religious symbolism, yet never forgets to entertain.

Last year was the 25th anniversary of the film’s original release, and as a result, a bunch of RoboCop merch began to appear on store shelves – NECA’s figures among them. NECA has released four figures in this series – Robocop, Battle-Damaged Robocop, Night Fighter Robocop, and the subject of today’s review, Spring Loaded Holster Robocop. The series isn't finished yet, either – a fifth is to come early next year, based on his appearance in the RoboCop NES videogame. With the upcoming remake next year, I suspect that there will still be more of Alex Murphy to come.

 

The Packaging

In June this year, I purchased Night Fighter RoboCop. The box art for that was great, an obvious and loving tribute to the Kenner RoboCop toyline, which was in turn based on the 1980s RoboCop cartoon. This packaging is a little plain, by contrast – it’s a standard NECA clamshell case, with the art consisting of some close-up details from RoboCop’s armour panels (chest and right leg, I believe) and helmet. It does the job, but it doesn’t “pop” for me. Still, I open all my figures, so the point becomes moot shortly after purchase.

 

 

 

 

The Sculpt and Articulation

 

The sculpt looks virtually identical to Night Fighter RoboCop, with the exception of the right thigh, which now acts a holster for his gun. This reuse is a good thing, as the sculpting on that toy was excellent. And now I’ve got a “regular” RoboCop in addition to the glow in the dark version, I’m noticing all sorts of little details on his sculpt that I hadn’t realised were present before, such as the Omnicorp logo on his left leg.  

The head and upper legs are ball-jointed, the knees and elbows are hinged, and the shoulders are swivel hinges. My favourite articulation feature comes in the form of the pistons on his ankles. Though the ankles are hinges only, the pistons actually move up and down within their casing as the ankles move. Just be gentle – they’re a thin plastic and could break easily in rough hands.

Overall, articulation is solid, but not spectacular. This would be a minus for some figures, but seems okay for RoboCop, given his rigid and…robotic…movements in the film.

 

The Paint

The paint work is quite good, for the most part. The original NECA RoboCop seemed to have the torso as a slightly different colour to the arms, but this looks to have been resolved here.

The armour isn’t actually plain silver either; it’s got some of the highlights that are seen in the movie paint job worked into it as well. I’m not quite sure how they pulled it off – it may be some kind of two-tone paint, I suppose – but it looks good. It’s also pretty smooth, though you’ll never mistake it for real metal.

However, the chinstrap area is another story. Some of the flesh-coloured paint around the mouth has spread to the black jaw. Fortunately, it’s not noticeable at a distance and it’s nothing that a pot of paint and a fine detail brush shouldn’t be able to fix.  

 

Accessories

RoboCop comes with the same two accessories that he uses in the film – the Auto-9 pistol and the dataspike. The Auto-9 is made of a nice hard plastic, not the rubbery stuff that’s often used for toy weapons. Though the sculpt is a good one, I think it would have been better off with either a light metal drybrush or maybe a glossy black finish like his gloves/chinstrap/etc, rather than plain black plastic. Still, no real cause for complaint.

 

The dataspike is on a separate right hand, and looks more or less as it does in the film, with the hand in a clenched pose. Unfortunately there’s no Clarence Boddicker figure with removable throat, so re-enacting that part of the film will be a little tricky.    

Whether it’s an accessory or not may be up for debate, but the main feature of the figure is the right-thigh holster. This is one of his coolest features in the film, and it’s almost a little surprising that the original version of the toy didn’t include it. I like having the holster option, but I don’t think I’ll be using it all that often. It’s a little tricky to get the gun in there at the right angle, and similarly tricky to get out again – though it should be pointed out that I have quite large hands, and this may be part of the problem. As a purely aesthetic point, the inside is quite plain, just bare plastic. There are probably logistical reasons for this, but it was a little disappointing nonetheless.   

A removable helmet would be nice, but its absence was not a deal-breaker for me. In the original film, the mask’s removal acts as an important symbol of Alex Murphy reclaiming his humanity, but I still get a little disconcerted when I see him without it. It was, and remains, an impressively disturbing piece of prosthetics work. So removable helmet or no, mine would be getting displayed with it on. 

 

Issues

The biggest issue I had was with the right arm. The armour at the elbow was a little warped, bending outwards. It’s not particularly noticeable when the arm is bent, or pointed straight ahead, but when he’s got his arm hanging straight by his side, it’s quite obvious. It was one of the first things I noticed in the box, and had I been picking it up in-store instead of online, I would have looked for another one before purchase. Still, these are issues that can occur with softer plastic – one of the small “hooks” on his upper chest was also a little warped.   

The other main issue was the right knee. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the hollow thigh, but the right knee seems particularly stiff – I’ve been a little hesitant to bend it too far, as I don’t want to break it.

Alex Murphy, haunted by the ghosts of his past

Overall

As happy as I was (and am) with Night Fighter RoboCop, I’m pleased to have the “real” version joining Predator and Dutch on the shelves. Though he has a couple of issues, I’m still quite satisfied. I’m not sure if he’s completely identical to the previous versions, but he’s similar enough that I probably wouldn’t buy this one if I already had the original. But it if you’re after a RoboCop and don’t have money for the forthcoming Hot Toys version, this bad boy is ideal.

 

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