Friday 8 December 2017

POP! Movies – Masked Predator (Specialty Series)

Predator is one of my favourite movie monsters, up there with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He’s a monster who crosses age and fandom barriers, proving a compelling presence even when the movie itself is less than stellar.

Funko have actually pumped out quite a few Predator products since 2013 – many more than I realised. I bought the unmasked version a while ago (maybe a couple of years?) and I assumed that I had written a review of it. But it turns out I haven’t, so I can’t just pillage from it the way I sometimes do when I’m reviewing two very similar figures.

As might be expected, the body is the same, though he gets an entirely new head. The body sculpt is a little softer and less-detailed than we would probably get from Funko these days, but I quite like it; to be honest, I think Funko over-details many of its newer figures, detracting from the relatively simplistic style that made them so appealing in the first place. The mask is a little tighter, but this still works as it’s fairly simple in its style.  

As might be expected, the paint is adequate. Better than the original, but still lots of room for work. It doesn’t do much to enhance the sculpt. The most egregious error is on the back of the head, around the dreadlocks – it’s been left plain black where it should be the predator’s beige-y skin colour.  
This POP is a good one, and it’s a long-overdue addition to the Predator line. To be honest, I’m surprised it was released as a Specialty Series figure. The unmasked and “cloaked” versions were released back in 2013, but they don’t seem to have been discontinued – certainly they’re easy enough to track down in Australia.



This new release also seems to have been selling quite well, so perhaps we may even see more Predators? Personally, I’d love to see a Predator 2 version. It wouldn’t need to be radically overhauled; a different mask and a new paint job, and there you have it. But in the meantime, this one will sit nicely on the shelf alongside his unmasked companions. 


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