Movie Mania: Lanard Alien/ predator returns!

 

In the course of running this blog, one common denominator is that when I do get something new that I choose to cover here, it's completely up in the air how soon I will get to it. Usually, this doesn't have much bearing on what I do in the meantime, particularly given my disregard for keeping things in the packaging. Once in a while, though, I have held off any permanent action until I can properly document. For this post, I have something I waited on longer than usual, from a line that has provided a non-trivial chunk of my posts. Here is one more unboxing from the Lanard Alien/ Predator line!

As previously recounted, this all started with a direct-to-Walmart release by Lanard Toys, already on my radar for the Primal Clash megafauna, that was actually licensed as tie-in merchandise for the Alien/ Aliens franchise. I first covered this line for the colossal kaiju Alien Queen, and later covered an earlier Alien haul that accounted for most of the line. The line returned with a series of larger-scale 7-inch figures that also included Predator entries. Because of limited availability, I only got one of the Predator figures (plus the insane 12-inch Predator). My interest dropped off after I got the excellent Aliens-style figure. A while later, I found the one I had missed, a Predator clearly based on the first movie. I held onto it in the box for a long time, not because I cared about collector value (really, in the time it takes for the real market to emerge, there's going to be more of these things in the box than out of it), but because I didn't want to unbox without documenting immediately. This week, I finally got to it, and still ended up taking a few days to get to it. Here's a few pics from the unboxing.

Also, here's the interior packaging, demonstrating the usual standards of unnecessary detail.

As you can see, this is intended to be the half-cloaked Predator. Ironically, it's painted with a little more detail than other figures, which skimped on the forearms and the mesh. Here, you can differentiate the forearm shield and the wrist nuke from the flesh tones of the elbows. There's also some sense of texturing behind the netting stuff. It looks like there would be more detail on the back. Of course, I had to take it out of the box to confirm they skimped on that big-time. Here's some pics.

What's worse, that the joints can bend this way, or that this worked better than anything else I tried?

If it bleeds, we can sell it health insurance...

And here's one more pic with the City Predator. Can we just say the second movie is better... kiiiind of?

"Hey, at least I stabbed more humans than I shot with the plasma bazooka!"

And one more! By the way, the accessory is something that only appears in Predator 2. And wow, those claws are long.

And while I'm at it, here's a round of bonus pics of the Aliens. I tried to use more of their articulation, but I could still barely make them look threatening. In place of the ladies, I brought in the Marx astronauts and Evil Space Guys. The scale works disconcertingly well (see also the Aliens APC). It gives me a vibe of a throwback to the pulps and B movies Alien ripped off.

"No, actually, I don't want to know what's in that bag..."

"Are you sure you don't want to see a mysterious empty starship?"

"See, this never works when we have guns..."

"Yeah, well, what else are you going to do if you're in outer space and you need to slice a pie?"

"You're telling me pink doesn't work???"

And how about a lineup with real lighting?

"Okay, the sportsman code means you don't use the gun.... uh, right???"

With that, it's the end of one more chapter for this blog and for me, at least unless more of these come out. It was indeed a good run, and it's safe to bet there will be more ahead from Lanard. That's all for now, more to come!