I don’t
examine NECA’s Predator releases too closely prior to their release
because I know I will have the luxury of examining them at retail
whenever they come out. It seems like local Toys R Us stores get
around two shipments and I have yet to have a problem getting the
figures I want (from this line, anyway – Pacific Rim is another
story).
As I’ve
said before, I pick and choose which figures I buy. I am not a
completist with any of the lines I collect (unless I am forced to
be). While NECA is cranking out a whole bunch of awesome with its
Predator line, there are some that I just don’t need. Whether they
are mostly repaints or updates I don’t need or just Predators I am
not familiar with, I skip a few. I thought that this figure would be
one of those. I remembered it from the Kenner line, but I figured it
would be a repaint with a couple of new parts. Lacking any wacky
features like the Lava Planet Predator’s
translucence I didn’t see why I would need it.
Then I
found it at retail and realized how awesome it looked. Then I got it
home and realized that it is an entirely new sculpt; for my
collection, anyway. I say that because I didn’t buy any of NECA’s
initial Predators figures, so I’m not sure if this could have some
parts from one of those big Predators. I was still avoiding NECA at
that point because of their wonky feet. Well, their figures’ wonky
feet.
I’ve
talked about it before, but NECA went through a fairly long and
irritating run of figures with feet made of soft plastic – The Tall
Man, Bubba Ho-Tep, Elvis Presley, Michael Meyers, Doctor Loomis, and
probably more. They were all characters that I just couldn’t live
without and they are all figures that require some sort of support on
my shelf because they have developed a
gravity-and-weak-plastic-induced lean over time. So I just stopped
buying NECA for a while.
I’m
glad that’s all over with.
FIRST
GLANCE
This is
an extremely tall Predator with a design heavily influenced by
ancient Egypt. It’s almost Stargate-looking. This is one that is
going to have a strong presence on the shelf. I’m also impressed by
the removable mask. You don’t see that too often, particularly with
a face as expressive as this one.
PACKAGING
The
whole blister card is a throwback to the Kenner figures. From the
artwork to the grid on the back, this is very much what those cards
looked like. It would have been neat if they had gone so far as to
Kenner-fy the NECA logo, but I guess the ReAction line has cornered – or is
that Kennered? – the market on that.
Okay,
you guys – I have to admit to not knowing is this bio is from the
Kenner figure or the comics or if Randy Falk just made it up. I’m
leaning towards the latter but I’m not sure. I am currently in the
process of trying to convince him (or somebody from NECA) to come on
the podcast, so maybe we’ll find out. Either way this is pretty
awesome and paints ol’ Nightstorm here as kind of an elitist
dickhead.
I am an
asshole. I forgot to photograph the credits. But they were here!
LOOKS
So much
new – and vastly different – sculpting! I think!
Regardless
of if Nightstorm is 100% new he’s still very different from most
other Predators, which is why I like revisiting these Kenner
characters so much. Some of them can be reproduced through clever
re-use of parts, some will require lots of new tooling, and they are
all quite different and distinctive. It’s funny – back when the
Kenner ones were coming out all I wanted was a regular Predator. I
didn’t like all of the crazy variants.
Nightstorm’s
head has longer dreds that are swept more directly back than standard
releases. The top of his skull also has a different structure. The
face is the angriest Predator face I’ve seen, I suppose because
he’s pissed at his own people rather than just some Austrian
covered in mud. There’s an astonishing amount of detail on the head
and face – from the ridges in the skin to the brows to that
terrifying maw. I love the formation over the eyes.
While
the sculpt is excellent, what really makes this for me is the paint.
The blue skin tone with the black wash is fantastic, especially with
that pink mouth. The eyes and teeth are accurate and clean. This is
one of the absolute best heads I’ve seen on a Predator.
The
first thing I noticed about the body sculpt was that the usual
netting was absent. This Predator is longer and leaner than most. The
skin texture – which we usually don’t get to see so clearly on
the torso – is rough and pebbly like a dinosaur. That texture over
the muscle tone is done very well. The armor has the layered, plated
look of Predator armor, but is somewhat sleeker and covered with
glyphs and markings. The amount of detail worked into these pieces is
fantastic and the paint really helps to bring it all out. The
shimmery gold evokes that Egyptian feel and the duller worn spots
make it feel aged and worn. This deco is consistent throughout the
armored portions of the figure.
Nightstorm
has a much larger shoulder cannon than other Predators. It does not
retract onto the figure’s back, but it does swivel. These are
always sturdier than they look, which is nice.
The
gauntlets are a darker bronze color that compliments the gold and
breaks things up a bit – there is a matching colored belt.
The left
one extends into a glove and is similar to a regular Predator’s;
except sleeker. The right one is huge, as are the claws that extend
from it. Nightstorm sports a pair of vicious, hooked claws
reminiscent of a scarab beetle’s pincers. These are sturdy and
sculpted to look terrifying. They don’t extend a whole heck of a
lot:
But they
don’t need to.
Nightstorm
has a sort of codpiece/loin cloth thing going on that carries the
Egyptian theme, as well as thigh pads like all Predators. All of this
stuff moves around well and does not interfere with posing too much.
This guy
has much more elaborate footwear than any other Predator. Most of
them kind of make me laugh because they’re wearing the alien
equivalent of Birkenstocks, but this guy has some full-on Egyptian
Pharaoh knee armor sandals. Or something. They look really cool and
are just as detailed as the upper body armor. Glenn Hetirck would
love them because they’re so asymmetrical.
My sole
point of contention with this guy is that his knee joints are a much
darker plastic than the surrounding parts. It doesn’t look
terrible, but it’s there.
ACCESSORIES
Nightstorm
would have been totally fine without any accessories, but he comes
with a mask and a badass staff that really caps off the Egyptian
look.
The base
spear would be cool enough on its own. The bottom has four vanes and
a sphere on the end. The handle looks great and the head is a
menacing, serrated blade. The skull and spine wrapping around the top
is just the cherry on top of the murder sundae. The paint on this
thing is some of the best I’ve seen on an accessory. If Mattel had
made this it would just be gold. And they would have cut it. I hate
to shit on Mattel all the time, but they really ask for it. I try not
to ever put Mattel products beside NECA products because it is, quite
frankly, a little shameful.
The mask
isn’t overly Egyptian, but it is painted to match the other armor.
It fits securely onto Nightstorm’s face and looks like part of the
figure once attached. Oh, and the inside of the mask has a ridiculous
amount of INSANE detail:
FUN
Nightstorm
has very similar articulation to other Predators, though some is a
bit limited. The head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees all
pretty much work the same as any NECA release. There’s no waist or
abdominal joint and the ankle joints aren’t actually ankle joints.
They’re swivels that are incredibly well hidden about halfway up
the calves. This doesn’t matter too much, as the standard Predator
ankles don’t do much more than swivel anyway. I’m just impressed
at how well hidden these swivels are.
I had a
blast messing around with this figure simply because of how different
it is. Figuring out the limits of the articulation took a little bit
of time. Finding properly regal and aggressive poses was fun. The
only bad thing here is that I have to redo my whole Predator shelf to
accommodate this guy, the Lava Planet Predator, and a couple of Dutch
figures (I haven’t reviewed Doo-Doo Dutch yet).
It’s
also fun changing up Nightstorm’s carious parts – the mask,
spear, and retractable claws had me moving them around for a while.
They all work and interact with the figure quite well and are the
sort of features that make you happy a figure has features. And
believe me – not all features and accessories do that.
OVERALL
Nightstorm
isn’t necessarily an outstanding toy – not one of those I’d
recommend to any
toy collector. But this is a figure that any Predator collector
should own. It’s a fantastic and unique design that has been
executed almost flawlessly. The sculpt and paint are beautiful –
real standouts within the line. This is a must-have for your Predator
shelf is you have one.
5
out of 5
Amazon
and BigBad are probably your best bets, but you might
still be able to find this one lingering in stores. I even sent
Belligerent Monkey
a message specifically recommending this one. He’s slightly pickier
than I am when buying NECA stuff, but I wanted to make sure he
checked Nightstorm out.
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