Celtic Predator

Alien vs. Predator comes out in August, and whether you're fanboyishly devoted to the movie or a fanatic teeth-gnashing critic of its PG-13 rating (People have been sending death threats), Todd McFarlane is STILL going to release this toyline. Check. It';s out already. I pre-ordered a case from my local gamestop, and ended up with four of the five figures. Tomorrow, I'm gonna check back and pick up the one I missed. Anyway, I for one am looking forward to the movie, and the figures have only served to fuel that emotion.

What exactly constitutes a "Celtic" predator? Is he from Ireland? Does he dance the Riverdance? I don't see anything particularly celtic about his design, so that must be it. Either way, our beer-drinking St. Paddy's Day-lovin' friend appears to be one og the younger predators in the movie who's running around and killing things to "prove" himself through the course of the film. I like the figure, although he still has the long-blades-of-doom problem that the Elder has.

Sculpt: No complaints here. The Celtic Predator is wearing a mask, which sets him apart from his buddies, and he's outfitted with a ton of normal Predator weapons. he's got a spear permanently attached to his back (yet another point of fragility, and why couldn't it have been a separate accessory?), his multiple wrist blades, a shoulder cannon, his ankle knife, some random odds and ends, and his accessory - a buzzsaw-thingie. His dreadlock-style hair is kind of haphazard and disshevelled, which is a little mausing. I like how his armor is different from the Elder's armor, even though they've both got a lot of netting going on there. The Celtic Predator has a little trouble standing, and when on his base he starts to lean back in the hips-out pose also adopted by Skeletor in the new He-Man series (Or anybody in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, but that series is fascinated with crotches). Anyway, the problems are that the spear and wrist bladces are freaking fragile.

Paint Job: Just like with the Elder, St. Patrick O'Predator has an awesome paint job. I wish that I could say something specific and pityh, but when even the guy's body netting is painted on perfectly, you can't really do the thing justice.

Articulation: Predator Flannigan has 24 points of articulation if you count the joints on his shoulder cannon. Again, a few of them are pretty stiff, but that will be fixed eventually. The shoulder cannon is too loose, sadly, and collapses underneath its own weight unless you get really creative with it, and his hair keeps his head from moving very well. However, the Celtic Predator can be placed in more "dynamic" poses than his older friend, and the articulation is much better than ordinary McFarlane fare.

Accessories: The Celtic Predator comes with the barrel to his shoulder cannon, a spiny buzzsaw-thing, a base to stand on, a bag of pegs for the base, and the ubiquitous ankle knife. The buzzsaw instrument is cool, but he can't hold it. I like the base, but why didn't it come with the pegs already in it? Those things are far too easy to lose. The base also has extra hol;es in it so that you can plug in the backdrop (downloadable from the website) if you want. I wish that his spear were an accessory all its own, though. They could have just reused the old sculpts from the last line.

Pricing: Expect to pay a McFarlane $12 for a taste of Ye Ole' Ireland.

GOtGM (1-10): 4. Same as the Elder.

Overall: 4.4 ou of 5. It's a good figure, but fragility concerns show more with the Celtic Predator than with the elder. His base also seems to *need* the backdrop, too.

Images (At least until I take some of my own):

http://www.spawn.com...px?product=2225

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