Thursday, November 11, 2010

Party of Five (2 Preds + 3 Humans)

Anyone care to join this party? Just wanted to share some pictures of some of the 1/6 scale figures from the Hot Toys Predator line (NOT all of them because striving to have ALL of everything in life would be too stressful and not much FUN, and FUN is what it's all about :> so these are just the ones that keep me happy)

There's (from left to right) Private Billy Sole, Predator 1 (numero uno), Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, Scar Predator and Royce. I'm not a "completist" collector, preferring to collect only what I like and not ALL from the same line just to be complete so these to me are what makes Predator special.



The humans who do battle with the Predators, not willing to just be their prey.


Private Billy Sole (played by Sonny Landham) was a Native American Kit Carson-style scout in Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Special Forces Team and the team's tracker from the very first "Predator (1987)" film. He is the first one to sense that the Predator is hunting them. More pictures including a FULL review posted HERE



Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the leader of the Special Forces Team sent on a mission in Val Verde, under the belief that presidential cabinet members of Guatemala were kidnapped by guerrilla forces. His team is soon hunted down and killed off by the alien Predator and he is the only survivor of the 1987 Guatemala mission after successfully injuring the predator and forcing it to activate a self-destruct device for its suicide.



Royce (Adrien Brody) is an American ex-military–soldier turned mercenary from the latest 2010 "Predators". He realizes that he and others are on an alien game preserve planet, and are being hunted as game by some unknown hunters. He is the latest Hot Toys 12-inch figure to join this small band of brothers.


The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterised by its trophy hunting of other dangerous species for sport, including humans and its fictional counterparts, Aliens. These two Hot Toys 1/6 scale Predators make a fine pair, don't you think?


First appearing in the 1987 film, Predator, the titular character lands on Val Verde via starship. It begins hunting down a United States Army Special Forces group, stationed there to rescue presidential cabinet ministers kidnapped by guerrilla forces. The Predator dispatches the soldiers one by one with a vast array of weaponry until Major Dutch Schaeffer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the last one alive.

This is the FIRST Predator to appear on film before the rest were even thought up or imagined. The Predator design is credited to special effects artist Stan Winston. While flying to Japan with "Aliens" director James Cameron, Winston, who had been hired to design the Predator, was doing concept art on the flight. Cameron saw what he was drawing and said, "I always wanted to see something with mandibles". Winston then included them in his designs.


In the 2004 "Alien vs Predator (AVP)" movie, Scar Predator traveled to Earth with his fellow brothers Celtic and Chopper in order to face the Right of Passage by journeying to an ancient Predator constructed pyramid where three Plasma Casters awaited along with a colony of Xenomorphs grown to be their opponents. Scar is the only surviving Predator after his brothers are killed to activate the bomb to blow up the pyramid before being fatally wounded in his last fight with the Queen Alien.


The interesting thing is Hot Toys started with the then latest movie release i.e. AVP figures (both alien xenomorphs and predators) before going backwards to the original Predator, so in Hot Toys figure making history, SCAR came before first Predator and there has been improvements along the way, especially in the area of the light-up Bio Mask (Predator's hunting helmet). That's the GREAT thing about Hot Toys - they don't just rehash the figure, give it a new paint job and offer it as a different figure to collectors. They continually improve from the last and they always try to offer something different each time.

6 comments:

desmond said...

The scar predator looks good too. I think you are collecting the coming Berserker Predator, right??

Kenny said...

Still kicking myself for missing out on Scar. Arghz.

Super-Duper ToyBox said...

GREAT post- the Predator character was a neat idea: the HUMANS as the hunted ones. A very base human fear wrapped in a hi-tech, Sci Fi adventure

Kin said...

Hi Alex,

Magnicifent character both the actors & the marvelous creation of the "Predator" concept.

1st movie is the best to me.Invisble hidden on the tree & seeking body heat from it victims.
It just spectacular movie.

Kin.

WL a.k.a Wee Loong said...

My Fav. quote from the 1st movie:

"If it can bleed, we can kill it."

None of the "sequels" can live up to the 1st movie IMHO..

Cheers

WL

alex teo said...

wait & see desmond ;) haha

hey kenny, sorry to hear that. when hot toys released the AVP series, SCAR was the only one i wanted.

@Colin, yup! great story indeed. nowadays they've run out of original ideas. either they produce a movie from a successful comic (which is still good) OR they release sequel after sequel based on the same tired formula OR they remake the oldies.

glad we agree Kin & WL :)