What is a Bad Blood? Well, think about how vicious Predators are. And now try to think of one who is onsidered to brutal even for his own race. Yeah. The deal is, Bad Bloods are mass murderers. They don't hunt, they slaughter. They kill their own kind, they kill unarmed victims, they kill children and pregnant women. And this guy right here is a great example of one. Predators have rules, but this guy just kills.
Predator: Bad Blood, written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Derek Thompson, was released in 1993-1994, and I have not read it (my bad). From what I understand, it's an awesome series, so I might need to hunt it down sometime.
Originally, Series 12 of NECA's Predators line was meant to include Bad Blood, the Enforcer from the same comic, and the remade Elder v2. But Bad Blood just had too much going on with him - too much unique tooling, too much paint, and too many accessories. Rather than cut him down, NECA decided to release him separately at a slightly higher price point, and then shift Viper, a Predator specially made for a vehicle, into the main wave.
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The New Jersey Pine Barrens have become a slaughterhouse, witness to a hideous spree of murders and mutilations committed by a creature from another world - a Predator. But unlike others of its species, this alien intruder is no sport hunter, but a blood-crazed psychotic, a butcher of its own kind, an unhinged killing machine. While a massive manhunt sweeps the Barrens, a stalker of a different kind searches for the killer - a second Predator, bent on bringing down the rogue monster.
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Yikes! Well, that about sums it up, though it leaves out the human protagonists from the miniseries. So, how did this figure turn out? Let's have a look!
PACKAGING: ****
Bad Blood's packaging is shaped just like all other Predator packaging, deluxe or no. It's an eye-catching blister card, and this one has a special comic theme to its art (the same as the Enforcer Predator), as well as a look at the three "regular" figures in this wave. It also protects the Predator's most delicate features, such as its eyebrow ring.
SCULPT: ****
Bad Blood seems like he contains a lot of reused parts, but it's relaly amost impossible to tell. His head is certainly new, and his armor pieces seem to indicate that he does notuse the classic Jungle Hunter body, though I suspect he does. Still, the sculpt is rather impressive.
For example, look at his wrist blades. He's got three instead of two! Or check out the nipple ring on his torso, or the spinal cords attached to his armor. This Predator is surprisingly unique, considering how he essentially is Jungle Hunter with added bones.
Speaking of bones, Bad Blood has decorated himself with so many skulls and carcasses that he has essentially run out of room! The bones all look great, but I would like to draw your attention to that Predator scroll on his forehead. Bad Blood really does hunt his own kind.
And now for the bad. NECA Predators always have a few fragile parts, like their wrist blades, but Bad Blood has some extremely breakable parts. The first is his eyebrow ring, which is tiny and thin and made of brittle plastic. It also sticks out from his face, and it really needed to be flexible rubber, instead. Mine broke almost immediately because I accidentally brushed it very lightly. I can imagine that all this figure needs is to rest on his face once and then... no more eyebrow ring. The other comes with the rubebr loop on his back. It is wide enough tohold his spear, but... hey, mine snapped when I accidentally stressed it once. Be careful not to cause any damage! These are minor issues, but they are frustrating in light of the rest of the figure.
PAINT: ****
Bad Blood's paint job is meant to reflect the comic. Note his lack of subtle gradation in color, and instead his more artistic markings. He does fit in with other Predator paint jobs, but his really calls back the comic's art style well. It even includes his odd forehead tattoo!
Bad Blood is described as a Predator serial killer, and you've got to think that it takes something special to be brutal even for them. And wow, he's got blood! Most of it is splattered on his right side, with special concentration on his wrist blades. You wanna know what happened here? It's obvious!
Overall, the paint is fantastic on this Predator, and he is easily one of the best that this entire line has seen.
ARTICULATION: ***
Bad Blood’s articulation is essentially the same as all of the other versions that use his body – ball-jointed head, wrists, and ankles, ball-and-socket shoulders, elbows, and hips, hinged knees, swivel waist, and extendable wristblades. The good is, this frees him up for a lot of really dynamic poses, just like the other Predators.
Bad Blood does have two admittedly minor issues with his articulation, thoug. His extra trophies and armor restrict his arms a little bit, just enough to make fight scenes difficult. Also, his hands are too loose. It isn't just mien, I have heard this complaint a lot. The wrist pegs are embedded too deeply into Bad Blood's forearms, and thus his hands fall off way too easily. He holds well for static poses, but these photos were murder to put together.
ACCESSORIES: ****
Bad Blood comes with a ton of stuff. His spear is unique to him, being much more low-tech than other Predator polearms. It is short, too, clearly made to be thrown rather than stabbed. You can store it on Bad Blood's back by hooking one of its barbs through the loop on his back, but be wary - mine snapped almost immediately. The spear itself fits snugly into his hand, and works with a surprising variety of poses.
Bad Blood also has a machete with an identical sculpt to the ones wielded by both Elders and Lava Planet. And it looks great. It's a mean, utilitarian weapon, and covering it blood just made the weapon pop.
Bad Blood also has swappable hands, with two right hands - one is bloody and open, while the other is clean and grasping. The lack of blood on the grasping one is kind of odd, especially when you consider how soaked at least one oof his weapons is. The hands also do not want to stay on because of the awkward peg construction, but they do their job.
And then we have the heads. Bad Blood has two human trophies - really just the front half of each severed head - that can hook onto his belt. If you wanted grisly, then tese two fit the bill, with surprisingly "lifelike" expressions and gore. Deathlike? Maybe. They hook easily onto his belt, too, without the durability issues plaguing some others of his accessories.
He also comes with a bola of two trophy skulls and an errant dreadlock. The dreadlock is tiny and easy to lose, but perfectly mimicks a scene from the comic where one of Bad Blood's ictims managed to rip out a dreadlock, which was an early warning to the humans that something about the crime scene was wrong. He also comes with that pair of monster skulls, which present somewhat of a proble. One of the skulsl needs to fit under the belt in order form the bola to attach, and they are both almost too large for that. use great care to avoid damaging his belt!
Overall, I can see why this guy costs more. He is loaded with weapons and trophies, certainly more than any single non-deluxe figure would have gotten. And man, those human heads... grisly and sad.
VALUE: ***1/2
The $30 price tag on this guy is unavoidable due to all his stuff, and it actually is what you would pay for much less in another line and another company. It just feels off because we are used to much cheaper Predators, and because of his durability issues.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
As I said, Bad Blood is fragile, so let's go over the tricky spots: Mine's eyebrow ring broke before I could take any pictures (narrow connector, brittle plastic), the loop on his back snapped the first time I fit his spear into it (my bad), his hands fall off too easily (the pegs are too short and deep in the forearm), and his belt feels fragile (stress from fitting the skulls and heads in). Nearly every Predator has some durability issues, but Bad Blood seems to have stacked a few together.
WHERE TO BUY:
You can find this guy in abundance in Toys R Us right now!
OVERALL: ****
This figure is worth the extra expense. If you can avoid or ignore the fragility issues, Bad Blood is an extremely violent and badass Predator, and his presence on your toy shelf just might be a hazard to everything else! And oh, hey, look... my photo studio!
