NECA - Predator 2 - Elder Predator Ultimate 7" Action Figure

Product Information

Instead of a new head with the mouth in a different pose, Ultimate Elder gets two different masked heads. Why two? Because Golden Angel came with two, and these are both reused from that. Why did Golden Angel have two? Because in the comic, he wore one helmet on the cover and a different one in the actual story. Why? Well, possibly because the original story had been drawn in 1996, while the cover was created for a reprint in 2008, but honestly you'd have to ask artist Igor Kordey about it. Now, I have been waiting to get a GOOD Predator action figure for years, and I must say, this one was quite impressive. NECA's previous two Elders had quite a number of differences, which Monkey Boy detailed nicely in the Version 2 review, but this Ultimate release handily splits the difference between them: specifically, he has the costume elements placed correctly like v2 did, but has the lighter, more accurate skin color of v1. Truly living up to that "Ultimate" modifier! A lot of the Lost Tribe Ultimates have given the characters new design elements, and Elder follows suit: he has a bandana or something tied around his right elbow. That's it. Sure, okay. Really mixing things up now, team! The rest of the figure made up for that, and the Elder Predator is the first of what I hope will become an impressive collection. The detail over the entire figure surprised me as soon as I took it out of the box. It has sort of restored my confidence in NECA's ability to make a decent figure.

etc. The biggest difference is is the deep, hollow cheeks. The later mask is more ornate, adding more detail to the mouth and nose area, putting some smaller ports in those cheek recesses now, and adding a ring of lizard-like spikes to the crown. Much like Borg, who began this set of figures, Elder gets an LED feature in this mask. The battery cover is held in place by nothing more than friction, and fits so well you might not even realize it's removable if not for the box telling you so. The switch to work the eyes is inside there, as well.Part of NECA's Predator series three line the Elder is the ancient warrior we see very briefly at the end of Predator 2. First off I commend NECA for bringing this to us, add to that they also plan to bring out every member of the Lost Predators we see surround Danny Glover in that scene! This is a great figure for it's scale, the sculpt buries every Predator released by McFarlane and you can tell by looking at it that attention to detail was paramount. A number of manufacturers produce items in batches according to demand. The manufacturing process takes considerable time as the items are often hand painted. The Ultimate Lost Tribe Predators have been unique in including more equipped versions of this group, armed with masks, weapons, and armor we didn’t see them with during their appearance in Predator 2. Snake Predator features a new fuzzy (previous release was plastic texture) ‘fur’ sash, hand scythes, and a bio-mask. The Elder includes a bio-mask from his ‘Golden Angel’ appearance, light up eyes for the mask, and other accessories.

Since the Elder Pred was pretty much just supposed to be the Predator 1 Predator with a few more years on him, the original mask is pretty much the Predator 1 mask: smooth on top, flat snout, It makes sense that Elder would be the final Ultimate Lost Tribe release, because he's already had more figures than any of the rest of them:

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