NECA Ultimate Fugitive Predator Figure

This is the NECA Ultimate Fugitive Predator figure. Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of background about this one. What little we can gather from his appearance in “The Predator” (2018) is that he is a rogue Predator that seemed to disagree with the genetic alterations scientists on his planet were making to their species. He fled his planet after stealing advanced Yautja technology to give to humans in order to give them a fighting chance against what was to come.

My reviews of past NECA predator figures have been pretty good, but I honestly have mixed feelings about this one. The detail and paintwork on this figure are awesome! For accessories, he includes two interchangeable heads, two interchangeable pairs of forearms, two pairs of interchangeable hands, and four blades.

The articulation is mostly pretty good, but due to some of the gear on him, some of the articulation is a bit obstructed. You still get enough articulation to pull off a wide variety of action poses. As far as issues go, there are a few concerns. When you first get the figure out of the box, the joints are all extremely tight. I’ve heard that using a hairdryer on the joints or placing the figure in hot water can help loosen the joints, but I’ve never tested this. I just moved each joint around a bit until they loosen. The next concern is this figure seems to lack a few basic points of articulation that past NECA Predator figures had. Namely in the biceps. There’s no rotation at the biceps on this figure. Instead, the rotation is actually at the elbow joints, which is an odd mechanic to me, but not a terrible one. My last critique is kind of half a critique and half a compliment. Unlike most NECA Predator figures, where the blades retract and extend from the forearm gauntlets, the blades on this one actually peg into the forearm gauntlets. That’s what I like about them. What I dislike here is that the blades are still fragile, and pegging them into the gauntlets can be very nerve wracking (one slip up and these things will snap).

All in all, I have very mixed feelings about this figure. I love the detail and paintwork, but there’s a lot that could have been handled better with this figure. Would I recommend it? If you really dig the look of the Fugitive Predator, or you’re trying to pair him the Assassin Predator, then he’s worth having. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend him unless you can get him for $45 or less.