Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sci-fi Revoltech Predator Part 3

Because part-swapping is too mainstream

A look at Sci-fi Revoltech Predator's articulation design and gimmicks after the previous posting. ^^



Tilting the head downward is fairly simple, but adjusting it upward isn't as the flock of dreadlocks colliding with the back poses serious restriction to that movement. ^^;


Horizontal tilt is not affected by the deadlock at all.


The dreadlocks are made of soft plastic with painted details on each individual piece. O_O


Revoltech joint for the neck. The chain armor (?) for the neck is made of soft plastic.


The plasma caster can be lifted to give more clearance to the left shoulder to bend upward. The cannon itself can be rotated outward.


A hinge joint connects the weapon to the backpack.


Standard articulation range for the shoulders and elbows.


Much like the plasma caster, the right shoulder armor can be tilted upward to give the right shoulder more room to move.


Revoltech joints for the shoulders and elbows (not shown in the images above).


No part-swapping for the wrist blades to be extended from the right wrist gauntlet. ^^
The blades' storage inside the gauntlet is very secured, so pulling them out takes a bit of force. Yet, the paint work of the blades is completely unaffected by the tight storage. ^^


Movie-accurate design for the wrist blades. ^^
The shiny paint work really brings out the metallic and sharp feel of this weapon. ^^


The explosive device on the left wrist gauntlet can be revealed without part-swapping as well. ^^


Superb details of Predator numbers printed on the panels inside the gauntlet. Some of the buttons can be seen as well.


Side-to-side movement is enabled by a joint inside the chest.


The block joint of the waist allows the body to bend forward.


Bending the body backward is not possible at all.


A look at separated joint blocks for the body.
Two large Revoltech joints are used to enable all of the body's movements.



Rather standard knee articulation.


The hip can be bent outward for a slight degree.


Large hinge joints, much like the ones on Revoltech Yamaguchi Nicholas D. Wolfwood are used for the hips.

As mentioned in the previous posting, I'm not a fan of the block design of the waist joint. With the joints exposed in this posting, I don't see anything too special about that block design at all. ^^; The forward bend enabled by the joint isn't too impressive to begin in my opinion, but the block prevents the body from bending backward at the same time. So apart from a better look, one movement is sacrificed to give way to the forward bend. That's seriously not a good move at all.

The way I see it, the waist joint design of Revoltech Yamaguchi Sengoku Basara Sanada Yukimura should be used on Predator. Rather than having a separate block just to house the Revoltech joint, the joint is directly placed beneath the waist. The gap between the waist and hips is hidden by his belt. The spine area where that joint is at may be a bit exposed, but it allows the body to bend forward and backward (a lot), and there's no chunky look in front of the body as well. Similar design can be used on the Predator. Just give it a separated waist and make the belt a bit larger to conceal the gap, and that's it. Why bother changing something that simple but works well to something new which sort-of works but created a few other problems on the way? ^^;

Some action poses of Sci-fi Revoltech Predator after the introduction on its articulation design:










Just OK for the kneeling pose I guess. ^^;







More action poses from this action figure coming up in the next posting, which will be the last one for this review series. ^^

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