Although The Predator only made $160 million international on a budget of $88 million, the Predator creature in all of its iterations remains the best-selling action figure for licensed collectibles company NECA, and a new movie, whatever else it may do, opens the door to more creature variations and tie-in potential. To celebrate the company's partnership with Target stores, which began last summer, NECA released a very special post-Christmas present to collectors and store managers: a "Thermal Vision" redeco of the new film's lead monster, Fugitive Predator, as it appears on the movie poster.
The figure began to hit stores Dec. 26th, which is a bold releasing strategy: typically, conventional wisdom among toy collectors and parents has been that stores will be sold out of all the good toys right after Christmas, for an indeterminate length of time. By making it known that a new and rare one was likely to be in stock, NECA drove customer traffic at a time when there would normally be less, and that's win-win for Target and Fox. The former now has a lure to bring customers past the clearance toys where they may help clear the shelves of stale, sale merchandise; while the latter conveniently gets a toy that looks like the cover of its recently released Blu-ray, and since NECA usually gets a section near movies and electronics, there may be a temptation to pick both items up at once on impulse.
Price-wise, it's $26.99, only about $1 less than the previous "Ultimate" release of the Fugitive Predator, which came with extra hands, forearms, and head. You're basically paying more because it's a limited run; the Thermal Vision version isn't even available online, except through second-hand dealers. Otherwise, it's the same figure but cast in translucent blue plastic, painted in the front to look like it's being viewed through the thermal-vision helmet of another Predator. On the back, it's unpainted, and could maybe pass for an ice sculpture.
Translucent plastic tends to be more brittle and less elastic than the regular painted variety, and you'll want to look carefully and be careful. My review sample was mailed so there was some luck of the draw, but his shoulder cannon had fallen off in-package, and was such a loose joint that it had to be glued on. Then, while I was pushing in the wrist blades, I dropped the figure and one of the other blades broke in half. Some superglue fixed it, but still, be careful! A hazard of all Predator figures is the fiddly bits: cannon, blades, and (most of the time) spear. A few months back I finally opened an older Cloaked Predator figure and the hinged panel on his wrist was already broken; his spear snapped in half shortly thereafter. Play with great care, or you won't have to "get to da choppa" as you will now be a chopper of sorts.
Itis a beauty of a paint job, and stands out from most Predator figures with its bold colors. As before, the figure is super-poseable, but also as before, there's some fear of pushing it to breaking points, justified or not. It really doesn't matter what you thought of Shane Black's movie; the only previous thermal vision figure was a Schwarzenegger Dutch Schaefer variant, so the alien hunter was long overdue for this.
And now it's your turn to be the hunter. Good luck capturing this critter.
