Figure: 
Packaging: 
Produced by Todd McFarlane Toys
Features:
- Movable shoulder cannon
- Extendable blades
- Control pad opens
- Inner jaw shoots out
- Three facehuggers in eggs with interchangeable tops, two closed, one open
- Two of the three eggs light up
Asking Price: US$24.99
My Advice: Own It.
[ad#longpost]There’s no surprise that the recent success of Freddy vs. Jason at the box office has got Hollywood looking at cinematic smackdowns again. The only artistic language they understand is cash. Still, the one face-off that everybody’s been waiting for–or at least everybody who picked up the original kickass mini-series–is this one: Aliens vs. Predator. It’s inevitable the film is coming, but until then we can console ourselves that somebody got it right–namely, McFarlane Toys.
First up, the figures themselves are incredibly sweet. Our alien is not only incredibly detailed to the point of being ridiculous, but he comes with an amazing nineteen points of articulation (ankles, knees, mid-thighs, hips, base of the tail, waist, shoulders, upper arms, elbows, wrists and neck) plus a bonus bit where his inner jaw shoots out once you move a lever at the base of his skull. Did I mention details? How about the fact that the top of the alien’s head is transparent, revealing the skull beneath? Giger himself would be pleased with this thing, it’s so evil looking.
The Predator figure comes with fourteen points of articulation (ankles, hips, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and two points on the shoulder cannon), not to mention the aforementioned shoulder cannon and some other nifty features. He’s got the wrist blades that are extendable using a slider on the side of his arm and he’s also got the doomsday control panel that flips open on his other arm. He’s even got a bandolier of skulls made out of what’s supposed to be hair. So he’s nice and vicious looking. No complaints.
If it wasn’t enough to have two wonderfully menacing toys, then there’s the environment for them to kick each other’s asses in. First up, the base comes complete with three eggs–two are closed, one is open–and inside each one is a facehugger. This is being demonstrated very capably in the first picture by Beaker, of course. Two of the eggs light up once you slide a switch underneath the base, and as you can see, they glow niiice. And you can customize the eggs by swapping out the tops. It takes some doing to get the pegs and holes on the egg-tops to line up exactly, but it can be done, and the effect is quite nice.
One last note, for those of you who are sticklers on the packaging. You know me, it’s out of the box and it’s golden as far as I’m concerned–but still: it took some doing to get this monstrosity out. In fact, I pretty much had to destroy the box to free up everything. I couldn’t pull out the figures and base to save my life, and I did try. So be warned, pristine packaging whackos.
All the way around, this is a serious setup that truly is deluxe. Any fan of the films will want to snag this just for the sake of having it. It’s the glowing eggs that take it up over the edge in my estimation. And McFarlane Toys’ attention to detail borders on the manic, which doesn’t hurt matters either. If you can find the set, grab it by all and any means.
