The Predator Movie Just Got Retroactively Stupider

A couple weeks ago I posted my review of the terrible, horrible no-good very bad The Predator movie, pointing out how muddled, nonsensical and just plain stupid it was.

It's hard to believe, but apparently it could have been even stupider.

As I pointed out in my review, the entire original third act of the movie was scrapped and reshot. This week, NECA toys released an action figure based on a character from this aborted third act.

Behold the Emissary Predator. In the original script, several Emissaries came to Earth and teamed up with our army to help us puny humans defeat the big bad Super Predator. Stupid, yes, but it's about to get even stupider.

Note that this figure of the Emissary Predator is wearing military camouflage armor and pants, that he apparently borrowed from the army. 

Think about it for a minute. A Predator. An alien who can become invisible. Wearing camouflage.

I... I just don't know anymore...

By the way, in case you don't believe that this figure's from the rejected third act, here's some behind the scenes photos from the movie of the Emissaries in action:

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: NECA 18" Pacific Rim Gipsy Danger

 A while back I reviewed Wave 1 of NECA's 7" Pacific Rim action figures. Tonight I'm reviewing their new 18" Gipsy Danger figure.

For those of you interested in packaging (I'm not, as I free all my figures from their cardboard prisons), here's a look at the front and back of the box. The front offers a good view of the figure, while the back shows it in an action pose. It's reasonably collector friendly if you'd like to take the figure out and look at it before sticking it back into the box.

By the way, don't bother looking for this figure in any brick and mortar store. I was barely able to find it online, and even then after only after a couple weeks of searching. You might be able to find it at a comic book store or a place like Coconuts, but I wouldn't bet on it. Online is your best option here.

For some reason all the Pacific Rim toys are as scarce as hen's teeth. I'm not sure why-- giant robots fighting giant monsters? That's a match made in toy heaven. Instead of cool figures like these, the toy aisles are clogged with Man Of Steel crap that are rotting untouched on the shelves.

And here we come to the bane of my existence. Once you pull the figure from the box, you're not done! You've got your work cut out for you, as there are at least thirteen wire ties to get through before you can release the figure. What sadistic bastard thinks this is a good idea?.

Once you finally get it out of the package, you're rewarded with a huge, solid and very nicely detailed action figure.

I'm not kidding when I say it's detailed. It's covered in little hatches and panels and vents. The longer you look at it the more detail you see. It really is an amazing piece of work.

In addition to the excellent detailing the figure features a top notch paint job. The pistons look suitably grease covered, the wiring looks like, well, wiring and the outer panels have a wash on them to simulate wear. In the film the Jaegers didn't just roll off the assembly line, they'd been around for years and taken quite a beating. The paint wash helps sell that idea and is a welcome addition. 

Now the bad news. I was disappointed with the articulation of the figure. The 7" version wasn't very well articulated, but that's to be expected. A figure in this scale should have articulation coming out its... er, ears. Sadly, it doesn't.

That's not to say it doesn't have any. The head turns and the shoulders appear to be ball jointed, although the design of the body limits their movement. The elbows and wrists are articulated as well. There's an ab-crunch joint that doesn't really move much, and hip, knee, ankle and heel articulation.

Now I admit that when you list it all out like that it sounds like a lot, but the range of motion of many of the joints is limited and can't really move much. There's no excuse for that in a figure of this size.

I suppose the limited articulation may be a result of trying to keep the cost down. Stupid economic and price points! 

Here's an example of the sub-par articulation. The elbow joints allow you to bend the arms an astonishing 45 degrees or so. That was, I say that was sarcasm, son.

 I was also disappointed by the hands. They're forever frozen in fist form. A figure this size ought to have some sort of finger articulation, or an extra set of hands at least. 

Again, this probably came down to cost.

Articulation complaints aside, this really is a beautiful figure. Well, if you think giant robots are beautiful, that is. Just look at that profile!

Here's a close up of the detailing on the legs. Pretty cool!

More leg details, including pistons, vents and simulated machinery.

There are all kinds of flanges and plates that appear to be separate pieces that are glued onto the figure, rather than molded as one big piece. This helps it look more detailed and less toy like.

A lot of these hatches and flanges feel like they should open up. If they do, I haven't figured out how to open them.

The only such moveable parts I've found are these flaps on the back. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be or why they decided to make them-- and only them-- move, but there you go.

Surprisingly the figure can stand by itself in this obligatory reverse Bigfoot pose.

The 18" Gipsy Danger (man, I can't get used to spelling "gypsy" with an "I") has a light up feature in the head and chest. It's activated by a well-hidden button on the back of its neck.

The light up feature is pretty darned bright too.

Hey, when it's lit up like that it looks just like a scene from the movie...

No, wait. THIS is how it looked in the movie. You'd think that in this day and age we'd have advanced past the point where we have to render our CGI characters in the dark and the rain to make them look real, but I guess not.

Gipsy Danger comes with two, and only two, accessories: the chain swords. You plug the chain swords into slots at the wrist, above the hands.

I'm not sure why they included two chain swords, as they only used one in the movie, but I'm not gonna look a gift accessory in the mouth. 

I kind of wish they'd given us one rigid and one flaccid (heh) chain sword, as in the film.

Here's the 18" Gipsy Danger next to the usual can of Pepsi Throwback for scale. As you can see, she's big. Very big. Surprisingly big. I have no idea where I'm going to display her either. I need a bigger house. Or less crap.

Here's the 18" Gipsy Danger next to the 7" version. Quite a difference!

A cut scene from Pacific Rim, in which the massive Gipsy Danger tenderly cradles its offspring.

So what's the verdict? Is the 18" Gipsy Danger a buy or a pass? It's very highly detailed and looks awesome, but the articulation and accessories are somewhat lacking, considering the scale and the price point. It's got a nice light up feature too. It's not a perfect figure by any means, but I'd say the pros outweigh the cons. If you're a fan of the film, you have room for it and you're lucky enough to find one, I say go for it.

This Week In Bizarre, Somewhat Puzzling Merchandise

This week, NECA, makers of finely detailed action figures, unveiled a brand new product: DC Comics Leg Lamps!

The lamps are 20" tall and are available in Superman and Batman models. You won't need to win a Major Award to get one of these babies! They're available to order right now for $44.99. 

With one of these lamps in your window you'll be able to proudly proclaim to the world your love of both A Christmas Story and DC Comics at the same time!

Nottafinga!

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: NECA 1/4 Scale Iron Man

For the past couple of years toy company NECA has been releasing a series of highly detailed 1/4 scale action figures. I'd seen their new Iron Man figure online and coveted one for a while, but pesky real world things like paying bills and buying food kept me from buying one. I finally found a deal on them at ThinkGeek and decided to take the plunge.

A few days later Iron Man arrived on my doorstep on a muggy August evening (I must be the last house on the UPS guy's route) in a box that was easily two feet high!

Once I freed Iron Man from his box I was shocked to see how big he really was. Sure, he's advertised as being 1/4 scale, but you don't realize how big that is until you see it in person. I definitely didn't expect him to be the size of a newborn baby.

Iron Man stands a whopping 18.25" tall. If you multiply that by four you get 73" (or 6' 1"), so that really does work out to 1/4 scale. Here he is standing (actually he's leaning against the wall) next to me for scale. He comes to just below my knee!

He's also pretty darned heavy. I don't have a scale lying around the house, but if I had to guess I'd say he easily weighs three or four pounds.

For those who keep track of such things, this is the Mark VII Iron Man armor, as seen in The Avengers film.

Sculpting-wise he looks pretty darn good to me (with one exception that I'll cover in a minute). The details are sharp (as you'd hope it would be on a figure this size) and the nature of the subject matter (an armored suit) works to hide the mold lines and joints pretty well.

The paint job is very well done and the red and gold parts actually look like real metal. The silver parts, ehh, not so much. They look more like gray plastic, despite their metallic paint job. Fortunately there aren't very many of them.

The biggest complaint I have: I'm gonna have to try and find a stand big enough to support him. Once again we have a ferkakta action figure that can't stand up under its own power! 

This has been a pet peeve of mine ever since I started collecting action figures as an adult back in the 1990s. I honestly don't understand it. Action figures are shaped like people, right? People stand up by themselves. Ergo, action figures oughta be able to stand as well. I don't get why so many of my figures constantly topple over. Does my house slope at an angle? Was it built on one of those Mystery Spots?

One other complaint about the figure: the shoulder pads. They look like they're sitting wayyyy too far from the shoulders to me. 

To illustrate my point I took the liberty of Photoshopping the shoulder pads and moving them farther in. See? They look much better in this shot. He looks much more compact and his shoulder pads are actually protecting, you know, his shoulders. There you go, NECA. I fixed your toy for you.

I'm not sure why the pads sit so far out; I assume it must have been some kind of engineering problem with the figure; the only way they could get them to work or something like that. Or they came from the factory botched like this and NECA shipped 'em, hoping no one would notice. Well I noticed, NECA. I noticed.

Here are a couple of extra closeups of Iron Man's head and shoulders for your viewing pleasure.

One of the best things about 1/4 Scale Iron Man-- the cool light up feature! His eyes, palm repulsors and chest arc reactor all light up.

I'm not sure why his palm lights are a dim orange though. They weren't that color in any of the movies were they? I though they were bluish white like the arc reactor. 

There isn't one main switch to control the lights, so it takes a bit of doing to get him lit up. There's a series of tiny, and I do mean TINY switches all over him. There's a switch on the back of his head for his eyes, one on his back for the chest light, and one on each forearm for the hand lights. They're hard to find and even harder to switch on and off, especially if your fingers are larger than the width of a pencil lead.

Hey look, I used the J.J. Abrams filter on Iron Man!

You can have hours of fun recreating Iron Man's "I ate too much shawarma" deleted scene from The Avengers!

Iron Man also comes with flip up air brakes on his back, to recreate flying poses. At least I think that's what they're supposed to be. Maybe they're part of his courting display, like when a peacock spreads its tail feathers.

It feels like there are other parts of his armor that are supposed to swivel or open as well, but if so I can't figure out how to get 'em to work, and I don't want to pry too hard lest I have to break out the glue.

Iron Man comes with 2, count 'em two accessories: closed fist hands. You can pop off his repulsor blast hands and replace them with fists for punching poses. That's it! Two extra hands. Would it have killed them to have included an unmasked Tony Stark head? 

I suppose I shouldn't complain. It's an 18" tall figure that lights up, so I suppose that's sufficient.

By the way, the fist hands don't light up, which is as it should be. It wouldn't do for him to fire his repulsors with his fists closed now, would it?

From what I've read online Iron Man here is more articulated than most of these large scale figures. That's great and all, but he's still not articulated enough. He also has mid-foot joints, which are a plus. He has double-jointed knees, which is always a good thing, as they allow his legs to bend until the back of his feet almost touch his butt. However his hip articulation is extremely limited, making the knee joints pretty much moot. You're never going to be able to put him in a sitting pose; the best you can hope for is a kneeling or walking up the steps pose.

Sadly, he most definitely can NOT recreate this iconic pose from the movies. It just ain't possible.

His arms fare a bit better-- he's got double-jointed elbows, ball jointed wrists and ball jointed shoulders, which is a big plus. He has a ball jointed head which allows for interesting poses and some fairly useless neck articulation which barely moves.

It looks for all the world like his waist and chest are supposed to turn, but whenever I try to do so it feels like I'm about to snap him in half, so I stop. If anyone knows if he's really supposed to turn at the waist, let me know.

Here's the obligatory shot of Iron Man next to a can of Pepsi Throwback for scale. As you can see, he's pretty darn tall.

And here he is positively dwarfing his six inch tall doppelganger. I told you he was big!

So what's the verdict? Is 1/4 Scale Iron Man worth it? Ehh, why not? You get a well sculpted, well painted and fairly well articulated figure that'll dwarf anything else on your shelf. Supposedly production of these was limited, at 7,500 pieces. So if you want one, you'd better act now.