City Hunter Predator

Review by SentaiSeiya

Predator 2 traded the jungle setting of the original Predator film for the urban backdrop of a Los Angeles in the midst of a turf war between gangs. In Predator 2, the feuding Jamaican and Columbian drug cartels find that their bloody battle has caught the eye of more than just the police; a Predator is also hunting the gang members in hopes of catching the attention of his true prey, Lt. Mike Harrigan.

Though the Predator appearing the second Predator film does his share of hunting in the city, he doesn’t actually receive the title of the City Hunter Predator until the production of the video game Predator: Concrete Jungle.

The City Hunter Predator’s appearance is different from the Predator that stalked Dutch and his crew in the Central American Jungle. The City Hunter Predator’s skin tone is much darker.You may also notice that there is much more detail in the design of this predator than there was in the design of the original Predator. This was due to the fact that the effects team had a longer period of time to develop the second suit than they had for the first Predator.

Hot Toys is at the top of the 1/6th scale toy game for good reason. The City Hunter Predator’s design is faithfully recreated down to the smallest details. The paint applications are superb, from the skin tones to the brown armor of the Predator.

The toy makes excellent use of different materials to achieve the best accuracy for the toy. The hair made of a soft plastic and allows each piece to move independently.

The blades in the gauntlet is made of metal, making the blades look much more realistic.

Speaking of the gauntlets, the left gauntlet features the Predator's iconic control panel.

The left Gauntlet can also open up like it did in the movie when the Predator shot the Plasma Bolts in the meat locker.

The mesh on the body is made of interconnected string, which does look a little thicker than the mesh of the suit in movie. I imagine that Hot Toys did not use thinner string to avoid the strings breaking as they move to accommodate the flexing limbs.

Another great feature of the toy is that you can remove the helmet and attach mandibles to your Predator.

“You are one ugly mother-“
Also included is a second set of mandibles, which are open.

But that is not all that is included with the City Hunter Predator. He comes armed to the teeth, so that he can fight a certain cop that are too old for this s#!t.
Ol’ CHP, comes with his Smart Weapon.

It can be placed on the skirt for safekeeping. However, it has a tendency of falling off the toy.

CHP also comes with his Projectile Net Cowling. It can be held in the left hand or placed on the left leg for later use.

CHP also comes with his telescoping spear, which is great for impaling enemies with and poking your fingers.

The spear is nicely detailed, just like everything else that comes with this release. There is even a display at one end of the spear.

Another cool thing about this toy is that is has three small LED lights inside of the helmet. The light compartment is connected to the battery/switch compartment in the back of the figure by the small black cable that can be seen in some of the pictures.
This way the Predator can lock in on its prey before firing off its Plasma Caster.

The Plasma Caster is on an arm that has a swivel and ball joint, allowing the Plasma Caster the ability to swing outwards when it is over the Predator’s shoulder.

Just in time for that 90’s party, CHP comes with a fashionable bone pouch from the Predateur collection.

CHP also has a second left lower arm, which is a bloody stump.

Good thing CHP also comes with his trusty Medical Kit. It can be stored on the back of toy for just such arm-losing situations.

The medical kit opens up, just like in the scene where the Predator uses the medical kit to patch up his cut.

* Drywall, glass and other materials from that ladies apartment not included*

Another neat, and by neat I mean creepy, extra that comes with this toy is skull and spine of one of the Predator’s opponents.

CHP also comes with two oxygen masks.

One for holding.

The other attaches to the face via the slots that hold the mandibles.

Having two oxygen masks reminds me of that Patton Oswalt airplane bit.

Mouth, nose, ears, eyes. I’m the king of breathing!

CHP comes with 7 hands.

Only the fists are a pair, which kind of sucks because there is only one hand that is meant to hold each weapon. Most of the weapons are to be held with the right hand. Only the Projectile Net Cowling is meant to be held with the left hand. I really wish that CHP could hold all of its weapons in either hand, but alas it cannot do such a simple task.

The Predator also comes with his own stand.

The stand actually came in quite handy for me due to the figure's ankle joints becoming fairly loose.

The articulation for this toy is pretty decent. The head is on a ball joint, which unfortunately does a poor job at keeping the head on. The head fell off so many times that it became a nuisance during the review process. I especially hated when this happened while the Predator had the mask on and the cable for the LED lights was attached to the back of the Predator. In this situation, when the head fell off, the head would dangle in the air, suspended by the cable. I was afraid the cable would snap off at some point. But fortunately, that didn’t happen.
Back to the articulation.  The shoulders are on ball joint. The elbows and wrists are on a ball swivel.

The ankles and thighs are also on ball swivels. As for the knee, it is single jointed.

At first, the joints were super tight on the figure. They all loosened up to a degree that made moving the limbs a lot easier. As I mentioned before, the ankle joints became too loose on my figure. So that was a bit of a minus for the toy. Also, the toy's articulation is not as good as the S.H. Monsterarts releases, like the Predator Wolf Heavy Armed Ver that Jmann reviewed. So that is also a bit of a bummer, since the toy looks so gorgeous, but it is sometimes hard to get the toy into a good pose.

So there you have the City Hunter Predator from Hot Toys. It is an awesome figure. This is the very first Hot Toys figure that I have owned and put through its paces. Even though I am not the biggest Predator fan, this toy has really sold me on the outstanding quality of the Hot Toys releases. Just like the Predator and Lt. Mike Harrigan were locked in a battle of life and death, I too am struggling with my own urges to pre-order the upcoming Hot Toys Star-Lord, Rocket and Groot.  I really want them, but I fear that starting to collect Hot Toys is an expensive endeavor that I am not sure my wallet can handle.