NEW PREDATOR 1 MAQUETTE by Sideshow

[Lugal]

About SWS bio, I think SS just don't wanna do it because the new maquette is their artist's reinterpretation of the creature and they just don't have the rights to reproduce it anymore. Besides, it's the exclusive head that only few could own anyway.

 

[Python]

About SWS bio, I think SS just don't wanna do it because the new maquette is their artist's reinterpretation of the creature and they just don't have the rights to reproduce it anymore. Besides, it's the exclusive head that only few could own anyway.

See above. I think "reinterpretation" is used too often as an excuse for inaccuracies these days tbh. It's fine sometimes (The CM for example) In this case we have a character with a very specific look, and a maquette that is clearly aiming to replicate that look as close as it can. Having access to scans of the original suit is obviously a huge help with this. Now what they have created for this new version achieves a similar look for sure, but I am simply wondering out loud why they might settle for "close" when they already have access to, and have produced near perfection for that specific piece a decade ago. Limiting such perfection to a few lucky customers (me included) because it was an exclusive would be silly. I wouldn't mind everybody who bought this having access to that same bio mask, it wouldn't devalue the rest of my maquette which was overseen by Mr Winston himself. And it would have saved the new team a bit of work while providing customers with a better product. I'm guessing it's a licensing thing as it seems such an easy choice to make otherwise...

 

[Lugal]

I'm guessing it's a licensing thing as it seems such an easy choice to make otherwise...

My thoughts exactly. The original was their co-project with Winston Studios, so maybe in order to do anything with it commercially, they need to get SWS permission all over again and it raised the cost, so they went with new artists' approaches instead.

 

[xpl0sive]

https://youtu.be/0U3D4aNFjkA

Just to show that this is not always this case.

Really enjoyed this review, although it was very long. Loved the close-ups. I gotta say, it looks very nice and I'm pretty excited to get mine. I just hope the heads fit properly.

 

[KainSwiss]

See above. I think "reinterpretation" is used too often as an excuse for inaccuracies these days tbh. It's fine sometimes (The CM for example) In this case we have a character with a very specific look, and a maquette that is clearly aiming to replicate that look as close as it can. Having access to scans of the original suit is obviously a huge help with this. Now what they have created for this new version achieves a similar look for sure, but I am simply wondering out loud why they might settle for "close" when they already have access to, and have produced near perfection for that specific piece a decade ago. Limiting such perfection to a few lucky customers (me included) because it was an exclusive would be silly. I wouldn't mind everybody who bought this having access to that same bio mask, it wouldn't devalue the rest of my maquette which was overseen by Mr Winston himself. And it would have saved the new team a bit of work while providing customers with a better product. I'm guessing it's a licensing thing as it seems such an easy choice to make otherwise...

Re interpretation sucks! We all hate that word because you know some idiot will go off course with the piece. I totally get what your saying. This Predator just did nothing for me. The mistakes pissed me off. When seeing it at comic con it looked good. But then those dreadful pics popped up on sideshows website and I knew I couldn’t be the only one questioning why oh why


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[csutkakoma]

And yet people STILL buy from these clowns . . .



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And this is the sad part. And Guys I do not try to bash anyone here so try not get me wrong please...but reading posts here and on the statueforum...sometimes it is just a huge facepalm experience. At least here people are more sensible then over there. The problem is probably because lot of guys just do not have self control and their inner impatient child just cant make sense and regardless of the bad things they still buy the statue and try to justify their purchase and they even convince themselves that the statue is still good. Sorry but for a 1300 dollar statue it is laughably bad. And maybe even for this I won't be the most popular here but when you put a custom 1/4 Neca Jungle hunter next to this and the 1300 dollar maquette looks like a piece of crap compared to that (Which cost overall 3-400 dollar with custom work.) than there is a huge problem. Yeah I know one is a figure and the other is a statue but my point still stands.

 

[KainSwiss]

And this is the sad part. And Guys I do not try to bash anyone here so try not get me wrong please...but reading posts here and on the statueforum...sometimes is is just a huge facepalm experience. At least here people are more sensible then over there. The problem is probably because lot of guys just do not have self control and their inner impatient child just cant make sense and regardless of the bad things they still buy the statue and try to justify their purchase and they even convince themselves that the statue is still good. Sorry but for a 1300 dollar statue it is laughably bad. And maybe even for this I won't be the most popular here but when you put a custom 1/4 Neca Jungle hunter next to this and the 1300 dollar maquette looks like a piece of crap compared to that (Which cost overall 3-400 dollar with custom work.) than there is a huge problem. Yeah I know one is a figure and the other is a statue but my point still stands.

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I totally agree with you. That Neca piece looks insane and he nailed both heads. Yet cost less than half of this Predator. That’s passion going into the piece


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[Lugal]

For someone who wants to justify their $1300 purchase for a statue they think it looks good enough, is the same to someone who justify putting their $400 towards a custom plastic toy and think it's better than the others, no?

 

[KainSwiss]

For someone who wants to justify $1300 purchase for a statue they think it looks good enough, is the same to someone who justify their $400 on a custom plastic toy and think it's better than the others, no?

It’s not exactly a toy though is it lol...Materials wise I would agree


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[csutkakoma]

For someone who wants to justify their $1300 purchase for a statue they think it looks good enough, is the same to someone who justify putting their $400 towards a custom plastic toy and think it's better than the others, no?

Well there is a difference and you are twisting my thoughts a little bit here but I understand where you are coming from.

Here (And it is not really an opinion.) we are talking about two product where the cheaper one is very close to the original sculpting wise (probably the best in the market right now by far.)...and miles above the maquette. They are sadly not in the same league. Also paint wise there is also no comparison if we are talking about the custom paint...and we are paying 1300 for the SS statue here. And do not start talking about the quality control issues here. While Neca has it's fair share of problems...again we are talking about premium prices here. By the way I wanted a new 1/4 statue from SS and also I wanted to buy it but I wont.

And to me the material's quality is important but the look comes first since I wont touch my stuff night and day. And I am sure both of them will last a very very long time anyway.

 

[burtial]

Done!!!!!!!!

Great video man. I'm very happy that you seem to have gotten a good one. I subbed you too.

 

[Deadpooly07]

Wow that sucks burtial.. Would be nice if ssc would've stood behind there product a little more on your behalf. You were one who was still giving this piece a fighting chance when many had already given up.

 

[zombini]

I think Burtial thinks this is still an awesome statue. It was Sideshows attitude towards the issue of the loose heads that made him give it up. Am i right?

 

[Heavy Metal Spike]

And this is the sad part. And Guys I do not try to bash anyone here so try not get me wrong please...but reading posts here and on the statueforum...sometimes it is just a huge facepalm experience. At least here people are more sensible then over there. The problem is probably because lot of guys just do not have self control and their inner impatient child just cant make sense and regardless of the bad things they still buy the statue and try to justify their purchase and they even convince themselves that the statue is still good. Sorry but for a 1300 dollar statue it is laughably bad. And maybe even for this I won't be the most popular here but when you put a custom 1/4 Neca Jungle hunter next to this and the 1300 dollar maquette looks like a piece of crap compared to that (Which cost overall 3-400 dollar with custom work.) than there is a huge problem. Yeah I know one is a figure and the other is a statue but my point still stands.

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Night and day apart - the NECA looks so much better (looks better mint-out-of-box factory-finish as well!)

Who did the custom in the pics? - this "Dano" dude? (it appears to be the same piece as in the video)


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[JAWS]

Hey guys, I did a quick video rant about the way SS handled this issue, and also to show how bad the issue is. I understand there are others that are okay with this, but I am not.

Ian- Please post this on Statue Forum

Cant argue with a single point that you make in the video.

Especially if

I agree man. Truth be told, this is the first time I have been personally treated this way by them. I have heard many stories like yours, but never experienced it myself. And again, with their LAME excuse, they did offer to replace it. But that's it, not a refund or a partial credit. Why would I want another one? I already swallowed a lot in keeping the Wolf bust, and that's solely because I love the sculpt and plan of repainting it myself at some point. At twice the price, this was the last straw.

And again, just stand back for a second and realize you are being asked to use modeling clay to hold your new $1,250 statue together, and tell me if you think that's even remotely acceptable.

... they did not offer you full refund or partial credit?? I think that is messed up especially when I watch your video.. That is far worse then mine.. Add that to the fact that my masked head fits perfectly. I would think that the unmasked head should do the same.

This actually looks nice in some aspects in Jaws video. 20% more effort to really correct & refine it would have seen it become a really nice statue I think. Why this doesn't seem to happen with the Predators I don't know. As it is, this is okay, like the preceding P2 maquette which also had bags of potential that wasn't quite fully met sadly.

One thing I do wonder however is why they didn't just reuse the bio mask from their original Sideshow/SWS maquette? It was scanned from the original and is a beautiful little thing. Would have saved time and money sculpting another also so I guess there is some reason for it, licensing from SWS maybe?

That's the one thing I honestly like more about the original maquette then this one.. The Bio mask is perfect on the original.. Love it.

Great video man. I'm very happy that you seem to have gotten a good one. I subbed you too.

Thanks brother.. Sorry I could not remember your "Freaks Board" name or real name when I was filming.

I think Burtial thinks this is still an awesome statue. It was Sideshows attitude towards the issue of the loose heads that made him give it up. Am i right?

Yes he was happy when he first did his video.. Then Headgate struck

 

[csutkakoma]

Night and day apart - the NECA looks so much better (looks better mint-out-of-box factory-finish as well!)

Who did the custom in the pics? - this "Dano" dude? (it appears to be the same piece as in the video)


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Both of them are Dano's work yes.

 

[JAWS]

And this is the sad part. And Guys I do not try to bash anyone here so try not get me wrong please...but reading posts here and on the statueforum...sometimes it is just a huge facepalm experience. At least here people are more sensible then over there. The problem is probably because lot of guys just do not have self control and their inner impatient child just cant make sense and regardless of the bad things they still buy the statue and try to justify their purchase and they even convince themselves that the statue is still good. Sorry but for a 1300 dollar statue it is laughably bad. And maybe even for this I won't be the most popular here but when you put a custom 1/4 Neca Jungle hunter next to this and the 1300 dollar maquette looks like a piece of crap compared to that (Which cost overall 3-400 dollar with custom work.) than there is a huge problem. Yeah I know one is a figure and the other is a statue but my point still stands.

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I owned the Neca Predator.. Really liked how movie accurate it was. Liked it enough that I found a way to own all three heads. The Unmasked closed mouth version was by far my fav. That said. I like this better.. But I get what you are saying about the film accuracy.. I guess if you are talking purely on those terms then yep its better.. But even when 400.00 is spent on customizations. It still looks like a plastic toy to my eyes.. It just can't help it.. You could spend more money and someone could take it apart and remold it to be in a more natural pose.. Then it would be something I would want on display with the rest of my collection. But even then the 18" scale was not true 1/4 scale...

Having said all that.. That first picture you posted looks real

Yeah the fact that this piece is "close enough" is good enough for me because the goods all outweigh the bad for me and I really like this piece.. Love how it looks on display in my room and as each day passes I like it more and more.

As for this comment

The problem is probably because lot of guys just do not have self control and their inner impatient child just cant make sense and regardless of the bad things they still buy the statue and try to justify their purchase and they even convince themselves that the statue is still good.​

I don't know what to say there.. Comments like this drive me a bit crazy as we are talking about opinions here.. You really need to realize that not everyone needs to "convince themselves" that this is a good statue. You don't like and that is cool. Many people don't but I would never say they are just trying to convince themselves they don't like it because its too expensive for them. Hell I would say that until Headgate even the biggest detractors seemed to be warming up a little to this piece. I am not saying they would buy it but the bashing of it was not as strong as it was before the release. All was lost when Burtail posted his issues though and I can understand why.

Anyways, Personally I don't need to try and convince myself of anything.. I like this piece. I wanted a 1/4 scale predator and if something better comes along then I will sell this and buy the other and/or keep both.

As for now I get this view in my room and I am happy with my collection / purchase.

 

[burtial]

Wow that sucks burtial.. Would be nice if ssc would've stood behind there product a little more on your behalf. You were one who was still giving this piece a fighting chance when many had already given up.

I think Burtial thinks this is still an awesome statue. It was Sideshows attitude towards the issue of the loose heads that made him give it up. Am i right?

Yes, you guys are 100% right. I was aligned with Jaws (what's your name? lol) on all of his opinions. But the way they handled the Highlander issue did me in. To say that it is intentionally made that way is just crazy. And again, no return offer or partial credit offer. Just an exchange.

 

[Heavy Metal Spike]

Both of them are Dano's work yes.

Thanks

. . . As for now I get this view in my room and I am happy with my collection / purchase.

I hadn't realised you'd printed off the picture and stuck it on your TV - or is that permanently on pause?



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[Heavy Metal Spike]

Yes, you guys are 100% right. I was aligned with Jaws (what's your name? lol) on all of his opinions. But the way they handled the Highlander issue did me in. To say that it is intentionally made that way is just crazy. And again, no return offer or partial credit offer. Just an exchange.

Chase that up the chain to the CS and/or returns manager - this is a FAULTY item and you have the option of returning it same as ANY faulty item.


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