Review: NECA Predators Wave 8 Jungle Hunter Predator

Posted by plannedbanter on May 3, 2013 · 2 Comments 

NECA continues to pique my interest with their various licenses, and with as much as I was completely blown away by Dutch, I knew that I had to have the matching Predator to go with him.

*skull not included*

I’ll admit that I’m unsure about the origins of this sculpt. I don’t think it’s 100% new, but is slightly remade from the older Jungle Hunter from a past series. What does matter is that this is pretty excellent, reuse or not. Every detail is there, including some I never noticed before when watching the movie. When a figure can reveal something to you that went by unseen in the past, it’s impressive no matter what; I never realized that the Predator was actually wearing gloves before, as their coloration makes them kind of blend in with his hands. While it may be a little easier rendering a smooth mask where there’s excellent unaging props to refer to, the detail on the Jungle Hunter is just as excellent as Dutch if not as striking. I’m not really sure if I should count his trophy bandoliers as accessories, but they’re incredibly detailed for their size. Plus, after checking through a Google search, everyone of them is accurate to the style and placement from the film! Crazy, considering many of the skulls are smaller than a pencil eraser.

I think what actually impresses me the most here is the paint. NECA’s work really brings the figure to life and lets you appreciate just how colorful the Predator actually is. While he’s mostly dark colors, the transitions from dark brown to pale white are great and, like Dutch, there’s a unique quality to his plastic that keeps him from looking like a toy. The one area for improvement is the netting on his legs: some of mine are a little undetailed, and one line is actually unpainted. It fortunately blends in but I did notice despite how much the rest of the paint distracted me.

If you’ve got the older Jungle Hunter from series 3 than the biggest update here is that the Predator’s sporting the leg articulation first introduced with many of the Lost Tribe figures. The ball-jointed hips and double knees do really help out in posing his legs quite a bit; the figure is begging for a tree to perch in, while surveying other figures below him. Besides that, he’s got ball-joints in his neck and shoulders, with that type of movement being simulated by the bicep swivel/elbow cuts. There’s also a cut waist and very small ball action in his wrists and ankles.  he doesn’t have quite the range that Dutch does because of the various armor plates and skirts, but that’s a sacrifice made by accuracy to the source material. Besides, this figure’s a lot more poseable than I originally expected, having only dealt with MacFarlane’s old Movie Maniacs Predators.

The Predator is sporting one accessory: his backpack. It’s made of a rubbery material, and slides onto a peg/rail combo on his shoulder, where you can move the articulated laser to your heart’s content. While I do wish he had something like one of the razor frisbees, this is pretty accurate to the arsenal the creature had in the movie; say what you want about Predator 2, the City Hunter had cooler gear. Still, the backpack is essential to the character and NECA’s done plenty of justice by it. The laser’s arm doesn’t feel fragile at all, and once you get it on right, the backpack hangs on really well. The detail is there and I’d rather have one great accessory as opposed to a hodgepodge of halfhearted or non-functional ones.

Packing up my DCUC Zatanna had no influence on that last thought. Seriously.

Besides the backpack the Predator also has a feature in his retractable blades, They slide in and out of the gauntlet with ease, though they’re less likely to take the punishment the backpack laser can.

There are a few nitpicks here that I didn’t have with Dutch though. It’s kind of wearisome looking for the sweet spot to put the backpack on so turning his head won’t knock it off, and his dreads often force him to limit the range of his neck when wearing it. The bone necklace can ride a little high sometimes and requires a little fooling with to keep it from getting absorbed under the mask. There was also a scene-specific skull/spine included with past Jungle Hunters that’s not here either; I wonder why NECA left it out. I’m also curious why he can’t open his little arm panel but his right hand isn’t posed to mess with it anyway. Maybe they’re saving that feature for a future release.

That does sound like I’m being harder on the figure, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m not quite as blown away by the Jungle Hunter as I was by Dutch. I know I can: I didn’t take nearly the number of good pictures of him, when photographing both figures in the same session. It’s not his fault though: Dutch is an almost impossibly good figure. I’m probably a little bit spoiled in how this is my first Predator, so I’m influenced both by having heard so much positive stuff about them and missing out on how NECA has improved on the line since they started back in 2010. The extra articulation in the legs is the main feature here if you have the old one, and that may determine how much you want to revisit the character; I don’t really see why not since even with the price-gouging going on at Toys R Us, any of these figures are a spectacular value. While I’m on board for any Dutch, ever, and will absolutely be getting the Colonial Marines if they match up to that standard, I’m trying to resist gathering all the Predators. This line is a great showpiece for NECA, and I’ll admit I was surprised how figures from past series were still affordably priced at C2E2 this past weekend. I know they’re popular, but if you went in with about $125 and didn’t plan on getting Dutch or either of the original two Predators, you could come out with at least a mostly complete set. I can’t be sure what the future holds for me collecting this line but if you have any interest in the property this is the Predator to get. It’s an easier choice since he’s available in fewer flavors than Dutch will be and you therefore don’t have to wait for your favorite to come up. A word of advice though: if you get him and Dutch at the same time, open the Predator first.

All that, and I’m wondering how I forgot to take a picture of Dutch and the Predator together. Whoops.

Filed under Action Figures, NECA, Reviews, Richard · Tagged with Action Figure Reviews, Action Figures, NECA, Predator