NECA’s Predator offerings have expanded past the movies into welcome, all-inclusive territories. They’ve embraced the old Kenner toy line with great results, and have turned their sites on various comic book versions as well. Their SDCC exclusive for 2014 debuted a Predator named Ahab from the upcoming Dark Horse comic Aliens Vs. Predator: fire and Stone.
Ahab features the standard Predator body that we’ve come to expect, so there are no real surprises. It’s a good body, with great leg articulation for broad posing, and it pretty much does everything you’d need a Predator body to do. The sculpting on both the body and the metal bits is up to their usual high standard. The one area that they do struggle with is matching up the paint to the sculpted fishnet that are sculpted onto the figures. Results can wildly vary. I’m not sure if it’s the low production run or just luck, but my figure managed to have a pretty decent paint job concerning those lines.
Ahab comes with an extended staff and removable laser pack. He also features a removable mask, something that is not common with the Predator figures. The helmet fits on snugly and doesn’t fall off. There’s a cutaway portion to expose the closed lower mandible section of the ugly m*********er.
His mask is damaged over the right eye, where either Alien claws or another Predator’s wrist blades sliced. When you remove the mask, you get a uniquely sculpted face with a scarred eye and one missing mouth-pincer that corresponds to the damage on the mask. Ahab has clearly seen his share of combat and didn’t make it completely whole. I’ll assume we’ll get the full story on his wounds when the comic debuts.
I’m in for the long haul with the Predator license. I know it may seem to be an endless stream of the same figure with minor variations, and I suppose it might be, but I still like the depths that this little universe is taking, and I appreciate the various media it tries to represent. Ahab doesn’t really bring much new to the increasingly crowded NECA table, but is another solid, dependable entry.
