As a collector of Alien and Predator figures dating back to the Kenner days, SH Figuarts and their MonsterArts line were a curiosity for me. As they started making the rounds in various conventions and press pictures, there was no doubt they looked really good, but this is the age of NECA we’re living in here. Could they possibly be better than what I can pick up domestically for about a third the price?
Well, to answer that honestly, I had to buy some. Last month, I picked up two of the Aliens figures, and at that point, most of my long-standing misgivings about import figures were called into doubt. And when Wolf arrived late last week, I realized that he would represent a dangerous change in my collecting habits.
Let’s start with the sculpt work. NECA has done an outstanding job in the last few years realizing these beasts in plastic, and so the bar is already set about as high as I’d ever want. Not surprising to fans of Figuarts, though, this figure meets that standard easily. I would give it the slight edge over the NECA Preds on just how proportionate and well-integrated it is. I’ll get into that more in a second. The armor in particular really benefited from the special attention paid, with parts like the thigh pads, knee pads, and chest piece being done in die-cast.
The big draw for me on this figure is scale, absolutely. This is a 1/12 Predator, and, really, that’s what I’ve been after for the last dozen years. I’ve heard some people saying that he’s a little too short for Legends, but I have to disagree, at least for my collection. He stands nearly a whole head taller than the standard superhero build, which makes him roughly equal to the Hyperion-class bigger bodies. It’s worth noting that Kevin Peter Hall, the excellent character actor who played the first two Predators, was billed at 7′ 2″ and over 260 lbs (probably closer to 400 lbs in costume), and I would imagine a character like Sabretooth to be in the same league.
NECA has also made giant strides in articulation in the last half-dozen series, so it might surprise some at just how totally the MonsterArts version surpasses it. With double joints on the knees, elbows, torso, and neck, and ball joints on the hips, shoulders, ankles, and wrists, you have to work hard at finding a pose he can’t get into. And it’s not just the quantity or even the quality; Wolf blends all of these articulation points damn near seamlessly. This isn’t really a problem for NECA either, but nearly doubling the articulation and yet maintaining as clean a profile as a larger figure is truly impressive. Back on the hips, he uses the “sliding” hip joint found on some other import figures, like MAFEX Batman for example, which initially I was not a big fan of. I’d actually intended to set them in a middle “neutral” position and glue them, but the overall sturdiness of the system has made me reconsider.
In fact, that might be the biggest draw and surprise for me, other than the scale. I had expected there to be some delicacy issues, being as this is an import figure and all. And sure, you can bump off some armor pieces or wrist cover, stuff like that. But the body of the figure is every bit as rigid as a domestic one, and in some cases even better, with no paint-locked joints or clear pegs.
And then there’s the accessories. When it comes to imports, there is always plenty to offer, and Wolf is very much a part of that. He includes an unmasked head, with extra mandibles(!), telescoped and extended combi- spears, extended and retracted wrist blades, six extra hands, articulated plasma caster, med-kit, collecting syringe, coiled and extended whips, and a vial of the blue caustic agent. Not too shabby, although, honestly, I could’ve done with fewer hands and one more weapon, like the plasma “burner” Wolf builds Khyber Pass-style in the movie…..kinda like the one with the Deluxe version Tamashii showed off this week. Dammit.
All said, if you’re looking for a 6-inch scale Predator to terrorize newer Hasbro Legends, legitimate Starks and their bastard kids, or Imperial-contracted bounty hunters, then Wolf is your dog. Between him and his Xenomorph antagonists, I have become reacquainted with the idea of keeping my collection 6-inch focused, and with certain licenses dying a painful death in the scale domestically (DC), it’s nice to see that Figuarts/Monsterarts are very well made, even playable figures, that are well worth the asking price. And while the Alien/Predator franchise has fared very well under NECA, it’s nice to have options, right?
