BERSERKER PREDATOR

Originally i only planed toget one single Predator, since i saw soo many of this guys and most of them looks really amazing, i didnt wanted to fill my room with Predators. But destiny wanted something else… it wanted me to meet a guy who wanted to get rid of one of his figures… the poor predator was dusty and had his “leather” leash on his armour broke, soo this guy wanted 100$ for his Berserker Predator.

100$ is not cheap, but things change when you notice the real price of this guy back in the day and the price he boast now day. I could not rests since this figures are pretty rare here in my country and eded getting him, cleaning him and adding glue to his armour and he is as good as new for half his real price!!

 Aside of that, the Berserker Predator was the most unique design from the Predators movie and given his price, i never consider getting him at all. Hot Toys did a great job with him tough he have a couple of flaws that make it obvious how really old is he.

He is big. BIG. Huge and i think he is the tallest figure i actually have. He is bigger than the Gecco statues and he is pretty heavy. He can stand on his own perfectly tough he still comes with the standar Hot Toys base (wich is kinda useless given how big this guy is). The scale is a problem tough since it seems this guy is supposed to be taller than the “standar” Predators, but he have the same scale as the City Hunter Predator. I think 6 years ago many people complaigned about it to Hot Toys and is understandable since scale is one of the most basic issues when you have a full collection of characters already stablished like Hot Toys have.

I am up to ignore the scale tough.

His articulations are fantastic and strong and since he dosnt have the fish-net outfit of the City Hunter Predator and his armour is pretty light (he is almost nude), his arms and legs can move freelly around as much as we want. Out of all the Hot Toys i have, he is the one with best articulations along side Batman.

His armour have a cooper like texture and color, and while its design helps to the articulations, the whole thing keeps in place thanks to the leather straps. This makes it really delicate actually, since you can hold him from the torax and remove one of the straps by accident. I can see why he didnt ahd the straps in place when i bought him.

I have to say his boots are hilarious and pretty damn cute since i never saw a Predator wearing shoes.

The real threat are his quills and his body. His quills are fantastic looking and have a disturbing and real texture, they give a lot of life to his silhouette and the red tips make him totally different looking than the City Hunter Predator (or the rest of the predators actually).

His body have extremelly sexy shapes (those pecs!!!) and the reptile texture is really amazing. The other Predators have a skin with a “meaty” texture… not human but not really animal either. This guy here is just a big lizard, full of scales with a natural and detailed pattern and theres not a single mistake on the paint in here. The red marks are vibrant and the ones on his chest looks almost iridescent.

He comes with his BioMask that can be plugged to his back and with the push of a button, turn on his laser sight thanks to a LED on his helmet. The light is actually pretty soft but is a nice little extra (this is way i didnt take pictures). The mask have the coolest design with the lower jaw bone as a trophy, that makes him looks really savage.

But here comes the only issue i have with him. Unlike the Cuty Hunter Predator, the BioMask dosnt comes with a lower mandibles portion to fit inside the “madibles hole”. Instead the mask is only placed over his face and thats it…is supposed to fit and stay in, but in reallity it keeps falling over and over again even if i dont touch him.

This is an extremelly lazy design for such an expensive and high end product. But this is a pretty old figure as well soo i guess Hot Toys was still experimenting back then. I am glad the most rescent Predators have this detail fixed.

Details on his armour includes the plasma cannon on his shoulder that can be removed and have an articulated arm to move around (The barrel also rolls perfectly) and the detonator on his arm wich is revealed after opening the small door near his hand. This is actually not a detonator at all, since it dosnt have a screen to how th show the cowntdown, but instead i think this is the manual control of the Predators ship.

Once the mask is removed (wich is extremelly easy) his revealed face is really good looking. His forehead is bright red and looks almost painfull, since it seems his head is bursting open. He dosnt have the green radioactive eyes of the other Predators, but instead he have yellow pupils with the resy of the eye in blood red deliniated by a black shadow under them, he is really demonic looking.

The sculpt of his interlocked mandibles is really nice and sharp too and this sections can be removed and exchanged for the open mandibles segments. His look is amazing, he looks even more frighting and evil, tough i have to say, Hot Toys didnt manage to nail the perfect look in here. In the movie, his lower jaw is pretty elongated and looks almost insectoid, in here, the mandibles are a little too short and make him looks less repulsive.

Is weird that Hot Toys miss this kind of details, tough the result is not as unerving and sad as The Boss.

He also comes with a short blade on his gauntlet. This shirt blade can be removed and exchanged for a medium size blade and a long sized blade for real combat. This blades are all made of real metall and are pretty sharp.

He also comes with this (pretty usefull) extra hands and a skull trophy. This trophy was the biggest disapointment of the package since is pretty much the same it comes with the City Hunter Predator, soo now i have two bloody skulls that looks exactly the same. Really? Hot Toys? More than 100$ for your toys and you rescicle accesoryes?

And thats all he have. Out of all the Hot Toys i have, he is the one with less accesoryes and extras, but it makes sence since he dosnt used any tool or trick in the film, after all, it seems he only have his cannon and his blade and i am actually glad they didnt add a lot of useless shit since every accesory of him looks good on the display.

Even if his face is not 100% accurate and he is supposed to be taller, i am pretty happy with him and how he looks on display with the City Hunter Predator. Get this guys is really adictive!! I am now pretty damn tempted to get the Tracker Predator with his hound or the Elder Predator.

CITY HUNTER PREDATOR

For years i saw this guys at store and always wanted one of them or a Sideshow statue. The Predator is one of my favorite characters and movies and seen all the amazing figures they produce of him made my mouth drool.

After looking at almost all of them and see theyr prices…i finally decide for this guy: Hot Toys City Hunter Predator from Predator 2.

I wanted the classic one from the first movie but is pretty rare and expensive for now. They other guys from Predators are pretty good looking but they cant have theyr mask removed of they dont have many accesoryes and are pretty expensive. This guy had a pretty descent price and is loaded with more accesoryes than the rest and also, being the main antagonist of the Predator 2 movie, he is pretty close to the classic design.

I had a lot of troubles taking a photo of the box since its pretty damn dark and it have the text made with red shiny foil. I wasnt able to take a descent image of it but the box is pretty elegant and damn ominous with the masked figure in the shadows and the main title shining in a violent red.

He comes with the standar Hot Toys base with his name and logo but this time the base is pretty useless because he is HUGE!! While the other rigures “sit” in the support, hes really way to big for it and need to stand on his own most of the time. Gladlly, his gigantic feet make him stand pretty nicelly without the base help.

His skin looks….weet and organic wough he dosnt have the hairs in between his abs he shows on the movie. The armour is brown, unlike the classic predator, and have a pretty intrincate design with some greenish rust here and there.

He have this big claws/razor blades on one of his gautlets and they are made with actuall metal! They shine and they cat cut skin as well. While this blades are pretty amazing looking, they cant be removed soo he have a lot of problems moving his wrist thanks to them. I also cut my self a lot of times triying to change his hand.

He also have a “bones bag” that hangs on his left side (to store medicines or maybe small trophys?)  and on the back side he have this small metalic box that can be removed and be opened. Inside theres all the medical tools he uses to operate his severed arm and injuries. This tools cant be removed but are an amazing detail and shows how obsesive are Hot Toys to make this toys.

His left arm gauntlet can be opened and show the self destruct system he uses in the movie. He also have a left hand designed to push those little buttons.

The next accesory is a mask. I dont know why a mask but i watched the movie again to find out and he use it when they shot him with a shotgun. Maybe the mask is some kind of anestesic device? It dosnt sound as a good idea use anestecic while in the middle of a hunt but the cord can be attached to his back (wich make it even more strange. and as an odd feature, he have a second mask that can be placed on his hand. Why did they produce two masks instead of one? I really dont know…it seems like a waste of material for me.

On his left leg he have a net shooter. He can introduce his fingers of one of his extra hands inside and is supposed to shot a metalic net to his prey. Sadly theres no net in here.

On his right leg he have this articulated disc holder with a deadly disc on it. This disc was used on the movie to cut his right arm and is also the weapon Harrigan uses to kill him in the final battle. The disc can be separated a little bit soo his fingers can fit inside the little goles and is one of the best accesoryes he have.

On his left shoulder he have a laser gun wich is smaller than the Classic Predator one. The laser gun is pretty small bus is pretty articulated and can look and tilt at any direction. It can also be placed behind his back when is not used in battle.

He also have an extra left arm. A severed left arm when Harrigan use the disc to cut him and make him fall into the skycraper. The severed arm is pretty gruesome and the blood have a green radioactive shine on it. I am deffinetly not displaying him like this.

Theres also this odd looking machine that looks like a small relic, all rusty and full of grey liquid with two robotic looking points at each side. This thing looks pretty archaic and also have an art deco feel on it. But once you open it, is also a spear. The points open in both ends and grow into a spear as big as the predator. The design is pretty amazing and the pointy parts are pretty sharp…

He would not be a good hunter if he didnt had a trophy too. A skull with an spine attached to it, all bloody and with meat hanging from the bones this is the best accesory he have in my opinion.

Aside of all those items and the extra hands he have, i must mention his mask. Not the gas mask but the actual full mask he use. Its pretty dark and grim looking and fit perfectly on his face but it also have cords with an electric system that can be attached to his back. And with the push of a little button, led lights turns on on the left side of his mask.

The light is not pretty strong but is a pretty cool detail.

He have two extra mandibles that can be attached to hise faces withot any of the mask. A pair of mandibles to give him a serious look and a pair to display him roaring/screaming. I am glad they do this instead of him him extra heads and both madibles have a pretty amazing sculpt.

The inside of the mouth looks weet and meaty and the colors on his skin looks pretty organic. Almost like a natural camouflage. Theres blacknes around his eyes and his eye balls are radioactive green wich gives him  apretty evil and malevolent look.

His quills are made of ruber material and flows extremelly good around his head. The quills have an amazing movement and texture but i am afraid is gonna be a pain in the ass cleanin them from the dust.

Just like all Hot Toys figures, his articulations are good (not great) but are hidnered by his outfit. He is nude, you say, but the armour pads on his shoulders prevent his arms to move too much and the net covering his body dosnt let him move his legs too much. Its really a shame that such a big and expensive toy have this articulation problems but all Hot Toys products are the same soo i was expecting it.

As final comment i should add hes on perfect scale with other Hot Toys. He is a couple of inches taller than Snake, Chris and the Resident Evil girls and i am glad HT dont have scale issues like Square Enix have with theyr Play Arts Kai.

The articulations are a shame but aside of that i am pretty damn happy with this guy. Is a pretty impresive Predator and…makes me….want…to buy…more of his brothers…..

NEZUMI OTOKO

Soo i finally give up and got the Nezumi Otoko / RatMan from Gegege No Kitaro. He was all alone in the store and it seems i am the only one in Mexico who knows this characters (or is willing to buy figures of them).

Part of the Takeya Takayuki series of Revoltech, this guy is kind of smaller than your standar action figures but given his cartoony features, every detail stands out a lot. Like Kitaro and the daddy eye, the paint is incrediblly vibrant and realistic in the rigth elements (like the base) and make him looks like a maquete.

Like with Kitaro, his base comes in tree pieces: the flooer, the buda statues and the postal box (whos owner is actually Kitaro) and while the elemenst are small, they are jamp packed with details, like letter on the postal box and an offering of rice for the statues.

He comes with a collection of extra hands for different gestures and a face with open mouth and closed eyes. The eyes can be removed and swaped actually. He also have a dead fish and a bunch of money. The fish is not special but the money is horriblly detailed and realistic, the impression is actually both painted and sculpted in the small accesory.

The articulations are pretty good, tough is pretty pointless on his legs. Hes supposed to have two sepparated legs with interwinded layes of rags around them but is pretty tricky to move them in a way they looks rigth. This is not Kaiyodos fault tough.

Now i have the full collection. I never liked the Revoltech series too much actually, i think they looks kinda cheap and blocky tough this 3 are a big exception to that rule.

MEDAMA OYAJI

When i got the Kitaro figure from Kaiyodo i was very excited to get the Medama Oyaji figure as well tough he was the hardest to get i was able to get him. I am not sure of the Kaiyodo figures are difficult to find since i dont have too many, but this guy belongs to theyr Takeya Takayuki line that seems to be focused on japanese monsters.

He comes in the same vintage looking box as Kitarou and with a lot of extra hands, a “soup bone” base and the tea cup to take his bath, a cartoonish eye, a realistic eye and a criying eye.

To put him on the cup he needs his torso to be separated from his lower body and insert it on the "water" and the feet must be inserted too. The process is a little delicate thans to the small joints but pretty easy and the details on the cup are really nice since theres even a soft pink on the water to suggest his entire body is there.

The cartoonish eye make him fits with Kitarou but the realistic eye is much much better since it have a pretty impresive depth and reflection.

The criying eye was soo cleaver…i love the dimension it have and it was my favorite accesory alongisde the tea cup.

Hes not in the same scale as Kitarou but hes pretty much scale 1/1 in relation with real life. And unlike his kid, he cant stand on his own thanks to his huge head soo he really needs the bone base with the arm attached to his back.

He is ubber simplistic, i mean, he is totally nude and have absolutelly no texture and no details aside of the paint, a soft pink on his body with some very soft shadows and a totally white head. Yet he is totally fun to play with thanks to all the articulations and how theres nothing to get on theyr way.

The last figure i got was the Nesumi Otoko but i never liked him too much. I would prefer Neko Musume deffinetly but overall, i think this figure is the most amazing and fun from the collection.

KITARO

Years ago i went to a convention. I was looking for Berserk Figma figures of something about Metal Gear. I didnt find anything except this little guy that made me jump when i saw him. Its very rare to see items of him and i wasnt expecting a full action figure at all.

Gegege no Kitaro is an essential part of my childhood; one of the first animes i saw and one of the most disturbing soo far. Maybe is for its time period (the 50s) but this characters manage to be cute, fun and really creppy and dark as well. Something like the japanese version of Tim Burton.

I was in love of this little guy when i saw him. Not only hes fully articulated as a true action figure, but hes soo rich in textures and the paint is soo ghostly and dark (his skin is purplish and his hair is grey) it looks like a 3D illustration from the original manga. The joints get stuck sometimes and dosnt flow as perfect as the Figmas but his range of movement is still pretty good.

Even his base is incrediblly detailed and cartoony and grotesque enough to fit him perfectly as well as the his box that looks pretty ancient and old school even if its brand new. And overall, with base and figure, i dont know if its the colour or the texture material but he almost looks like a pencil illustration.

He can stand on his own perfectly tough beside of his base he have lots of accesoryes. First of all, the base has 3 pieces: the tree, the floor and the tombstone and its pretty easy to assemble it. He also comes with a lot of tiny hands and two extra faces, one angry and one sleeping tough the "eye" piece can be exchanged freely between all faces. And lastly he comes with Medama Oyaji that can sit on his hand or on top of his head.

The brand is Kaiyodo Revoltech and hes from the Takeya Takayuki series. They also have the Nezumi Otoko/ Ratman, wich i dislike a lot…i would prefer the Neko Musume/ Catgirl instead, and the Medama Oyaji/ Daddy Eye wich i really really want because hes literally scale 1/1.

Another grotesque and ghostly toy for my shelve.