Hi gang! Today I am very pleased to share with you some photos and thoughts on the latest addition to my collection, Fewture’s new Ancient Predator Bust sold directly by Fewture from their shop in Japan. Back in January I wrote about this awesome looking new bust and 6 months later, it has finally arrived! By the way, a HUGE thanks to my bud Dan(AV) for hooking me up with this piece when he was ordering his. So, here’s my review and some sexy pics for your viewing pleasure!

The first thing I need to mention was the apparent weight when hoisting the box from the front steps… this thing is an ANVIL! I’d say this bust weighs about the same as the full Sideshow Predator bust but the Fewture piece is a third the size. No hollow castings here, this is solid Polystone. This statue was a limited edition of 200 pre-painted statues and 50 unpainted kits, and despite people telling me otherwise, I decided to go with the pre-paint. I own both the original Ancient Predator and the Ancient Predator Re-Paint edition and they were both factory pre-paints that I was VERY impressed with. So, I figured if I was already impressed with the factory paint applications Fewture was putting out, why would the bust be any different? Once I carefully unpacked the bust, I was greeted with very obvious sensation of making the right decision because the paint job on this bust is absolutely STUNNING! And I don’t mean nice for a factory job, this is just as awesome as having a kit professionally painted! The skin hues are gorgeous and the iridescent sheen of the armor actually changes color depending on the angle of light shining on it. I also love the eyes… these truly malevolent yellow and red touched eyes with tiny black pupils look so evil, they really finish off the piece.

In terms of assembly, the only thing not part of the entire casting is the cannon, which is a separate piece that pops in to place on the shoulder with a keyed plug. The cannon is finished in the same iridescent sheen as the cannon and you can’t help but notice the sexual look of the sculpt. Maybe I’ve got my mind in the gutter, but I’d say this is done quite purposely, especially considering Takeya’s sculpting style, which often has sexual influences in them. You be the judge:

Either way, there’s no question that this piece earns high marks in every possible department. The sculpt is magnificent in every way and the paint application is brilliant and goes beyond anything you would expect from a factory. No simple paint application, no missed details, not a single brush hair and no overspray or brush stroke errors.

BUT there is one issue I have with Fewture, and it’s not directly about this piece, it’s with their company directly… why are they not selling internationally? Lately, Fewture has been refusing all orders with a shipping destination outside of Japan, and I find this practise completely infuriating and a real negative hit on their company. Let’s face it, North America isn’t exactly a known hotbed of recasting activity, so what exactly is the driving force behind this idiotic policy? This is a real pain for fans that don’t live in Japan, especially if you have to use a buying Proxy like Dan and I did to get our hands on these. It forces us to pay insane amounts of money above and beyond the initial costs of the statue just because Fewture doesn’t want to deal with international business. Maybe they’ve been burned in the past or something, but I still can’t stand this policy they have and wish they’d reconsider. Luckily their products are insanely kick-ass, otherwise I would never go though the expense of acquiring their statues.

Both the statue and the kit were sold out long, so if you’re looking to score this piece (expect to pay something in the $500 – $600 or more range), you’ll need to go to the secondary market like eBay. I personally think it’s worth every penny, the statue is positively GORGEOUS! If you can get your hands on one, go for it, you won’t regret it.

Ready for some photo goodness? I snapped some high-res photos for you guys last night of this beauty, and you can check them out by clicking the photo icon below:

Update on Narin Axertor Seated and Spearaizor:

Last week I announced that the new Narin exclusive kits had arrived in stock and some people were wondering about the smaller scale of these pieces, which is not the usual size Narin works in. So I snapped a couple of pics of the kits next to a can of primer to give folks an idea of the scale.

You can find the sample shots in a couple of places:

Axertor Seated Shot 1
Axertor Seated Shot 2

Spearaizer Shot 1
Spearaizer Shot 2

Enjoy guys and thanks for reading!
Dan