Good afternoon everyone! Welcome to what I suppose I should call a review redux as this is a second review of a gorgeous piece I've had for a couple of years from the extremely talented artist John Allred at herebemonsters.org.  I am now starting to sell the final pieces in my collection that I still have and I figured I would photograph and review any goodies I have left before I sell them on eBay.  So for today, I wanted to show off new photos and a video review of my Super Edge Predator 2 kit…

I've never been able to nail down when exactly the first edition of this kit was released, but I can tell you that it was in the early 2000s and came in 2 versions with a limited run of 50 kits each.  Both versions were more or less exactly the same except one had the disc weapon in his hand and the other came with the spear. Then fast forward to 2005 or 06 and Super Edge started re-releasing all of their kits and a new run of 50 additional kits was released, except this one came with both weapon options.  The kit itself was sculpted in 1:6 scale by one of the most famous artists in the GK scene, mister Takahashi Shiraiwa Hayes otherwise known as S. Hayes.  Up until the mainstream arrival of Narin's skills, Hayes was considered pretty much the best Predator sculptor around and quickly made Super Edge the most sought after kits around.

In terms of the sculpt and casting, you don't get much better than the detail and accuracy Hayes delivers in his sculpts, however it appears that Super Edge had issues wit pinholes in the second generation run of their kits… pretty much every second gen Super Edge kit I've seen had issues with pinholes in certain areas, especially around smooth armor sections. So if you do ever pick one of these up and you notice quite a few pinholes, don't be alarmed, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a recast.  The pinholes are also generally tiny and in smooth areas, so they don't destroy details and are fairly easy to clean up although possibly quite time consuming.  Pinholes aside, the castings are all with a high quality resin that is easy to drill in to and sand, and the details are magnificent.  I've since seen several more P2 kits, but this is still the most accurate and lifelike in my opinion.

In terms of the paint application, John did an OUTSTANDING job and absolutely blew my mind when I pulled this out of the box. Unlike Joe Dunaway, John doesn't specialize in Predators at all… he paints everything and anything, and if you check out his portfolio at herebemonsters.org you can check out the huge variety of statue genres he's worked with, and every one is gorgeous!  So when I asked John to paint up this P2 for me I was confident that he would do a great job, but I was nervous as the P2 is easily the most complicated paint job of any of the Predator characters, and many pro artists that are extremely talented told me they refuse to touch Predator kits as they are too complicated.  As evident in the photos, the final product delivered by John was beyond my expectations and I was completely thrilled.  I did a small article on this piece when I first received it back in 2006 (which you can read by clicking HERE), but I would like to repeat and quote what I said originally about John:

Now I would like to tell you about the “HBM Experience”. John runs his studio as a business full-time, and it shows because it feels like a professional business from A to Z but still very friendly. It was absolutely amazing and here’s what I mean… John will start off by outlining his build-up process, show you his terms, provide a quote and payment methods. Once he receives your kit, he will actually book a time slot for your build up so you know exactly when he’s working on it and when he’ll be finished it. The beauty of it is that he sticks to these scheduled appointments TO THE DAY! John also provides work-in-progress photos throughout the build up process so you can see where things stand and make any suggestions along the way if there’s something you think needs adjusting.

Once your kit is done and you’re happy with the final photos, John carefully wraps everything in tons of bubble wrap and packing peanuts to provide as much protection as possible and ships it out with as per your prearranged shipping wishes.

The “Here Be Monsters” experience was one of the most pleasant and quickest model build up transactions I have ever completed and the final product is among the best buildups in my collection, so you really can’t ask for anything better than this.

And this still holds true today… the P2 build he did for me is still one of the best I have ever seen and still seems life-like in appearance.  And John is still one of the most organized, top-notch artists I have ever had the pleasure of working with on a commissioned piece.

The only unfortunate thing about this kit is that it's been out of production for years and is nearly impossible to find these days… and when you do, they sell for $250+, although it's worth every penny.  Keep an eye on eBay for a non-Thai seller or ask around on the forums and you might find someone will to part with theirs if you're lucky.  When purchasing this kit, be sure that the box is brown and opens from the top, rather than like a shoebox with a lid.  The box should have a printed label attached to the front, almost covering the entire front and inside will be a glossy photo of the kit fully painted.  Unfortunately I can't find a pic of the box, but I will keep snooping so you know what to look for.  Bottom line though, if you see this for sale for $100 and/or it's from Thailand, guaranteed it's a recast and you should be running in the other direction.  The netting on the super edge kits is very fine and highly detailed as the master had a real mesh over top.  On an original kit, the mesh looks great, but on a recast it's extremely rough and brittle with large patches missing entirely.  I remember awhile back seeing a Super Edge Hunter of Darkness recast kit and it was absolutely brutal!

UPDATE – BUY THE PAINTED KIT FROM THIS REVIEW!

The Super Edge P2 painted up by John Allred featured in this review is now available on eBay for purchase direct from me!  Please click HERE to check out the auction and to place a bid, or contact me if you want to buy it directly.

So with that said, who's ready to see me prattle on about this kit and get a little update on what I've been up to? *listens to crickets* Right, well should you decide you want to check it out, I've put together a video review for your viewing pleasure that is available now on YouTube by clicking HERE or click the icon below:

And of course we can't have a review without photos now can we?!  This is a whole new round of photos I took (look for the photos with the white background titled "sep2redux_0*.jpg") that are a little more clear than the last round I did with my old point and shoot camera, so have a look and I hope you enjoy!

That's it for me gang!  Thanks so much for reading my review and I remind you all to please be sure to post your comments on this kit or my review (or to profess your love if you really feel the need) and I will see you guys on the next review!  Also, I will be sending out a newsletter later today, so keep an eye out for that!  If you don't receive it, you're either not on the list or your email provider is filtering it as spam and you need to whitelist @predatorstuff.com.  If you want to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do so by using the small newsletter signup form located in the middle column of the site just under the "Latest 10 Articles".

Take care Pred-Heads!
Dan