My good friend Mark of Nightmare Collectibles fame has just sent me the scoop on a brand new kit he is distributing that is nothing short of completely BADASS, and it's called the Shadow Hunter.  Check this badboy out…

Easily one of the most unique poses I have seen in a long time, I absolutely LOVE this sculpt and the concept of having the Predator crouched down with a seriously pissed off look on his face and the body of a fresh kill at his feet.  This HUGE kit is just about 1:5 scale, and measures over 16" in height fully assembled.  Take a close look at the base by the way, that's no regular alien gushing acid blood laying there… it's actually a Predalien with a Michael Broom style jaws/mandibles and Cory Schubert head (this probably means nothing to you unless you own the AVPR Inside the Monster Shop book from ADI).

The kit itself is produced by Sky W from Hong Kong and ships directly from them when ordered.. and apparently this is actually already available and shipping!

The kit itself is beautifully cast with a TON of individual parts… here's the part breakdown (thanks to Ian for the list):

01) Base (hollow-cast)
02) Predalien body/torso
03) Predalien back tube "A"
04) Predalien back tube "B"
05) Pred body/torso/left leg
06) Pred right leg
07) Pred left arm
08) Pred left hand
09) Pred right arm
10) Pred right hand
11) Pred head
12-15) Four Pred mandibles
16) Metal nameplate
17-63) Forty-Seven (47!) individually numbered dreads

I personally don't have one of these to review in-hand, but the photos seen above from Joe Dunaway (who painted up a sample for Nightmare Collectibles to present at this year's Wonderfest) are absolutely killer!  The unique and highly detailed armor looks amazing, and the individual dreads with the huge beads at the top look fantastic.  I also love that this piece is 1:5 scale rather than 16 scale, which means it's closer in tune with the larger Narin pieces than say the smaller scale of Super Edge kits.

Be sure to check out all the pics Joe Dunaway took of this piece by clicking the photo icon below:

Absolutely amazing kit, and for the retail price of $219.99, it's also an awesome deal for you kit builders!  If you want any additional information on this kit, please feel free to contact me by clicking HERE.  Congrats goes out to Nightmare Collectibles and Sky W on the release of an AWESOME new kit!  What do you guys think? Please feel free to click the comment button below and share your thoughts on this new release.

Enjoy!
Dan

Good afternoon everyone, hope you all had a great weekend and look forward to another week of news and reviews in the world of Predators and anything else I happen to love from the science fiction world.  This afternoon however, we take a sidetrip to the world of Pandora and the insanely amazing art of Darren Harvey.  Specifically, I want to show you guys this INSANE 1:1 scale bust of Neytiri that he's producing…

I have sent an email to Darren to congratulate him on this piece and to find out a bit more info (like how much and how soon can I have this in my office?!) and here's the scoop on this INSANE piece!

This is a full size 1:1 scale bust in HUMAN scale, meaning that the head is the size of an adult human's head, not the enormous head of the Navi. Darren is a commercial illustrator by trade and this is his FIRST full scale, full size portrait. Yes you read right, this is his FIRST full size piece.  Is it me or are some people just so damn talented in makes my teeth itch….  anyhow, moving right along…

The sculpt itself was made in WED clay (not to rub it in, but this was also Darren's FIRST time using WED clay as well) and he used large clear Scleral shells with paper placed behind it to use as a visual reference.  I have to admit, that's a pretty awesome strategy, then again the extent of my sculpting skills doesn't go much beyond a pail full of sand with a couple of rocks on top of it and a well placed stick for a flag.  Once the sculpt was complete and molded, it was time for the hair… 40 feet of braided hair to be precise!  After four months of work, Neytiri was ready for the limelight, including a sweet removable Ikran flight visor with the insect wing lenses made from heat-formed vac plastic, resin tooth, and airbrushed to perfection.  The head itself is cast in hollow PU resin.  The eyes are painted, but before you grumble about how glass or acrylic eyes are better and more realistic than painted eyes, Darren is also a trained ocular technician (builds prosthetic eyes) so this is pretty much going to be the most kick ass pair of Navi eyes you'll ever see away from the screen!

OK I know, now you're screaming HOW DO I GET ONE?!  Well, you'd better have your checkbook ready and be fast…  Darren is limiting this to 10 fully finished pieces and 20 raw castings he will be offering to people he knows will have the piece as part of their private collection, he obviously doesn't want this baby getting recast.  I should also mention that 5 of the 10 are already sold!  Now for the all important question: How big a hole will this make in your wallet?  A fully finished piece will run you £1,500 (that about $2,222 USD) and a raw casting (the raw casting is the head only, you don't get the hair and bling) is £400 (which is about $593 USD).

Want to get in touch with Darren for more information?  Email him directly by clicking HERE! Want to drool at more photos of this incredible piece?  Click the photo icon below!

Congratulations Darren, your work is absolutely STUNNING and I think I speak for everyone when I say I can't wait to see more of your work in the future!

Want to see more sweet Avatar goodies?  Sideshow has been releasing a steady stream of gorgeous Avatar art prints known as "giclee prints" in very low release numbers, some of which are almost totally sold out.  They range in price from affordable to.. well… up there, but they are all gorgeous and pretty damn impressive.  The piece "Neytiri in the Forest" is easily my favorite of the bunch, damn that Navi is one sexy blue chickita!  Check them out below (click the image of the one you want for more photos and order information):

Hey, maybe you're not a Navi fan… perhaps your man is Colonel Miles Quaritch and that kick ass AMP suit of his.  If so, Sideshow has you covered with the INSANELY cool AMP Suit Maquette standing at nearly 2 feet in height!  Fire and brimstone attitude and live ammunition not included.

Launching the Sideshow Collectibles line of AVATAR collectibles is the AMP Suit Maquette, created in conjunction with one of the film's special effects studios, Legacy Effects. Created directly from 3D modeled by the team that created the 14-foot suit used during filming, the AMP Suit is a truly authentic scaled representation. Each piece is individually painted and finished, each with its own unique quality and detail that is the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. The AMP Suite Maquette is comprised of polystone, cloth, resin, fiberglass, metal, ABS and PVC plastics and is the perfect addition to any display.

Product Size: 21" H x 18.5" W x 18.5" D
Product Weight: 51.00 lbs

Click HERE for all the photos and order information (there are only 10 pre-order spots left according to the low quantity alert meter) from the Sideshow product page!

Have I mentioned before that I love Avatar?  That's it for me gang, have a great day!

Peace,
Dan

In case you missed it, my custom re-painted Sideshow Indiana Jones PF has been up on eBay all week and ends TONIGHT!  Please click here to check the auction, which ends in 4 hours.  If you have no idea what Indy I am talking about, please check out this full review I wrote back last July.

I also have my Sideshow X-23 Comiquette on eBay and LOTS more to come all this week and the rest of June.  I have more painted Predator kits going up, Sideshow pieces and special rare items you've probably never seen before.  So please check out my auctions and check back here on Predatorstuff for updates almost DAILY!

Take care!
Dan

Here they are folks… thanks to user 007 who just emailed me this tip, here's a look at the Super Black Predators we'll be seeing in the new Predators movie!

Check out all the images by CLICKING HERE!!!  What do you guys think?  By the way, don't forget these are production stills and crew photos, they won't look the same on the big screen with the edited lighting, effects and all that good stuff.  So bear that in mind when forming your opinions. Click the comment button below and share your thoughts!

Dan

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

Seems like we've had a recent influx of Narin's awesome sculpts!  So naturally with me coming back on to the Predator scene, we've got a new bust from Narin… a much anticipated follow-up to the Bone Hunter bust he released several years ago.  Ladies and gents, I present you with the Skull Hunter!

This is the latest piece from Narin, which he has sculpted and will be casting and distributing directly as he's done with the Death Warrior, Bad Blood and his new Encounter kit.  Perfectly cast in super high quality resin, this piece is sculpted in 1:4 scale and measures 12 inches in height, and comes in 19 parts including 11 individual mandibles and animal skull bones for the necklace.

The Skull Hunter features one pissed off looking hunter with LOADS of details on his armor, bead and bone necklace and his face.  He also sports a huge monster skull on his shoulder as armor and a string of smaller animal skulls across his chest.  The bust includes a sweet base, decorated with human skulls, his favorite trophy!

The bust is already released and castings are available from Narin, so please contact me if you would like further details on this piece!  In the meantime, click the gallery icon below to check out all the photos of this latest Narin piece…

Enjoy!
Dan

Hey all!  Wow can't believe I haven't updated this blog since February, that's pretty sad on my part!  I have been active here and there, but mostly I have been involved in renovations and off-site related activities that have me completely removed from the front of a computer and my inbox.  Now I know most of you know that at the beginning of the year I was separating from my wife, looking for a new house and trying to figure out what to do with P2L, my professional life and everything else in between.  Well, I am happy to report that things have been going VERY well and I am happier now than ever.

In terms of the housing situation, I was able to sell off a vast amount of my collection and pay off all my dept and get a downpayment for a new house, which I bought and moved in to February 12th or so.  The house is located in Montreal near Corina's school and it's quite a bit of a fixer-upper.  I couldn't hope to afford a decent sized place that was in fantastic condition, so I was looking for something with a great floorplan and could be renovated like I wanted over the next year or two.  The place I found was exactly that, but good Lord there's a TON of work to be done.  I posted a bit on the teardown of the nasty coldroom back in March on the P2L forums, you can read that by clicking HERE!

Later in that same month I took on a condo renovation project that lasted about a month… this was a near complete rebuild of a 2 bedroom condo, I actually stripped the bathroom right down to the wall studs!  This was actually a great opportunity for me to learn a few things that ill be later applied to my house, so it was a fun project.  My girlfriend Maibbeth would come by to check up on me, bring me lunch and/or cheer me on.  One time I got busted working.. well… not very hard:

A couple of weeks ago it started getting pretty crazy and I was burning out… it was definitely time for a vacation so I could get my head back in the game and unwind a bit.  I had been going several months nonstop on a rollercoaster ride so a break with my baby was definitely in order.  I will say this right now… Maibbeth is the only reason I didn't lose my mind with all this.  She has been the most amazing, supportive and loving person I could have ever hoped for, and I will never forget everything she's helped be through.  Love you baby!  So, we booked a last minute vacay down south… to Varadero, Cuba!

I've been back for a couple of weeks now and been struggling to catch up and get back at it… still finishing a few details at the condo project, then I will be back at it at my place fixing up the coldroom and then attacking the bathroom upstairs, but I will be back online as well balancing my online life and work with personal stuff.  I just wanted to let you guys know that I am in very good shape mentally and physically and things are going well beyond my expectations.  I want to thank everyone again for their amazing support at the beginning of the year and thanks to all of you that continue to show your friendship.  You've all been AMAZING and I owe you all so much.  So here's to you *raises glass* and I look forward to bringing you more content, reviews and laughs in the near future!

My sincerest thanks and best wishes,
Dan

Hey all.. just a heads up I will have no access to email or internet until April 24th.

Thanks!
Dan