The Predator franchise is a cult classic spawning across movies, video games and comic books. The biggest appeal to the Predators is the fact that simply put, they look exceptionally badass. They are not the kind of thing you want to stumble across in the jungle.

Predator has a special place in my heart as I grew up watching the movies (yes, even the Aliens vs Predator fiasco), and I actually enjoyed the latest movie even though it wasn’t as good as the first two. However, I must admit, on the figure side I have a love/hate relationship with NECA’s Predator line.

They look cool and gnarly but I can’t help but feel vexed by quality control issues I’ve experienced with the Predator figures I’ve gotten. So, here is my review of the latest Predator in my collection, Hornhead. I’m not all that familiar with the character but hey, he’s a badass looking predator that scales appropriately with other figures. What else could I ask for?

The Good

This guy looks absolutely awesome. The silver paint of his armour stands out and has some wear on it. His flesh also looks slimy and disgusting as it should be.

NECA hits the nail on the head when it comes to making their Predator figures’ skin look wet with their glossy paintwork and their skillful face designs never disappoint.

But if looking at one ugly motherf*cker is not for you, Hornhead comes with a removable mask that even has detail on the side of the mask, which I was really impressed with.

Hornhead has a sheath for all of his weapons, which I like. His sword slides into his back and his Wolverine-like blades clip into his forearms though they are a bit loose once in there.

His articulation is good though he isn’t as flexible as say a Marvel Legend, which is fine because he is not supposed to be. The way this figure looks is awesome. His weapons are nice and his movement is enough to get decent posing done.

The Bad

Quality Control. That’s all it boils down to. A few NECA figures of mine in the past have had little defects that proved more annoying than anything else. These can normally be fixed with a hairdryer, a gentle hand and some cold water, which is something I had to do with my NECA Spyro’s feet being back to front.

It seems NECA does have an issue with these defects slipping by their production line but I have never had a figure with a defect like this Hornhead Predator had. His hip was out of socket and although I fixed that, I noticed his one knee is completely skew. It’s a shame that such a nice looking figure is hampered by something as stupid as a skew knee.

It looks like old Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked him on the knee and broke his kneecap. And looking at reviews of the figure on Amazon, other people have complained about missing parts and similar defects to mine.