Update on my review of NECA’s Battle Armor Lost Predator:Â I was at my local Toys ‘R Us and found two Battle Armor Lost Predators. One looked more or less like mine, above – missing the blue paint on the torso armor – but the other one looked much better. Not as good as the earlier figure (above right), but much better than mine. So it does appear to be a quality control error.
Click on any photo for a larger version
Please note: NECA provided me with the figure for this review. -PG
For a film that grew out of a Rocky sequel joke, Predator and its sequels have proven to have some serious pop culture legs. Matching it with the Alien franchise was – let’s face it – a step up for Predator and a step down for Alien, but it arguably increased the popularity of both franchises. (I still maintain the best AvP media to date was the original Dark Horse miniseries.)
In order to produce as many different Predators as possible, NECA has spent some time mining the “Lost Predators” at the end of Predator 2. Played by Los Angeles Lakers players (who had a little fun with it offscreen), the designs for these characters were mostly variations on the designs from the first two films.
One, however, had a look that was radically different from the rest – the so-called Borg Predator. His armor was more intricate and lacked the tribal look of most Predator armor, more technological. He’s the Yautja Boba Fett. [Ed’s note: That is the nerdiest sentence ever written.]
Note: this is a sponsored review. The figure was provided by NECA.
In the late 1980s, there were few action figures I wanted more than a Predator. Sadly, by the time Kenner started making Predator figures in the 1990s, I had entered the four-to-five-year period where I was more interested in Magic: The Gathering cards than action figures. I did, however, pick up the Alien vs. Predator two-pack, because I couldn’t resist movie-accurate versions of the Predator and Alien. but all the other crazy, weird variants Kenner made were completely uninteresting to me.
Today, I still want to have a regular “classic” Predator before anything else, but I already have that. At this point in my life, I’m able to appreciate the creativity that went into Kenner’s line. The figures had unique accessories, bright colors, and the exaggerated muscle sculpting that marked many 1990s toy lines (including, hilariously, the first few waves of Kenner’s comeback Star Wars figures). I think that sort of grotesquely-muscled, semi-posed design was due to a stylistic hangover from the immense popularity of Playmates’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (whose own style had been influenced by Masters of the Universe).
Those original Kenner Predator figures were designed to appeal more to kids than cynical teenage collectors. In the 1990s I was both too old and too young to appreciate Kenner’s work.
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