In director Shane Black’s The Predator, we are introduced to a new take on the intergalactic hunters, as traditional Yautja give way to generically enhanced Ultimate Predators. NECA‘s first figure from the 2018 reboot of the franchise is based on the Fugitive Predator, who is introduced early in the film. Additional figures are planned, including the massive Assassin Predator. The Fugitive Predator gets the Ultimate Figure treatment off the bat, with interchangeable portraits, interchangeable hands and forearms, and detachable blades for the wrist gauntlets. The figure is in stores now.
We picked up the figure from Toyark sponsor Entertainment Earth. After the jump, you can check out a full gallery and my thoughts on the figure.
Related Entertainment Earth links: The Predator Figure #2, Bad Blood vs Enforcer 2-Pack, All NECA Predator
The Predator – Fugitive Predator Ultimate 7″ Scale Figure by NECA
Pros
- Excellent sculpting
- Highly detailed paint application
- Interchangeable forearms is a great touch
- The hands can be used on both sets of forearms
- Great articulation
Cons
- Shoulder cannon is very loose
Overall
The Fugitive Predator is packaged in a collector friendly flapped window box. The design and art on the packaging have a much more modern feeling compared to other Predator releases. The back of the box includes a few images of the figure and some small details on the Fugitive Predator. Inside the box, The figure sits in a plastic tray. The figure includes two interchangeable bare forearms, armored forearms, gauntlet blades, as well as masked and unmasked portraits.
The first thing many fans noticed about the figure (and the character in the film) is that the Fugitive Predator has a much sleeker armor design compared to nearly any previous Predator. In the film, he wear nearly full body armor, but it’s much less bulky than, say the AvP Predators. The armor also has a more modern design aesthetic compared to the tribal look of previous Predators. Gone are the trophy necklaces, capes, bulky shoulders and any movement inhibiting designs. Everything here looks like it’s built with maximum mobility and speed in mind. Whether you like the overall design will be a matter of personal preference.
What this sleek armor design allows for, is a figure with a lot of articulation and great range of motion. Without the bulkier elements of past designs, NECA was able to maximize their articulation points. Double jointed knees and elbows are always welcome on a figure like this. On the whole, the articulation is very similar to all of their recent Predator releases, just free from having to account for cumbersome armor. The figure has about 30 points of articulation overall, and a really nice range of motion allowing for some fun dynamic poses. The joints themselves are solid, with no paint locking issues, no looseness and no breakage issues. There are multiple interchangeable pieces here, including forearms, hands and the portraits. The hands and forearms swap out easily, while the head sculpt can be a little bit trickier, as the ball jointed neck connection can occasionally pop out of the body, instead of the portrait separating from the top of the connector. Applying just a bit of heat to the heads (I used a hairdryer) and they swapped out much easier. After swapping them a few times, I didn’t need to go back to heating any longer. The only general looseness comes in with the plasmacaster on his shoulder. The small joints were fairly loose, and I didn’t really fiddle with that too much for fear of one of those connections snapping.
Sculpt work here is excellent, with amazing attention to detail throughout. The underlying Predator body has all of the similar sculpted details you would expect, such as textured skin and sculpted netting. However, it’s the armored pieces that really shine here. There’s a wide range of textured pieces used on the character design, from chain mail, to weathered metal, to more clean edged designs. All of those areas are represented well here, and there’s even some subtle battle damage throughout. Paint application is crisp and clean, with no glaring misaligned or bleeding edges. There are multiple color washes throughout to add extra depth to the sculpt work.
I’m still on the fence whether I like the overall characters design. I think it comes off much better in the assorted collectibles that companies have been working on, and this is no exception. In a smaller scale, and with great care put in, the Fugitive Predator figure wound up being a lot of fun to fiddle with as I was shooting the gallery. There’s not much more I can ask for than that. Check out some select photos below and the full gallery below that.
Some of the backgrounds featured in pics below are from Extreme-Sets.com. Enter code TOYARK at checkout and get 15% off your order!
CompaniesNECA
CharactersFugitive Predator
Scale7 Inch