Anton’s Toy Box: Kenner’s 1990 ‘Predator’ Line Remembered

Welcome to the table,

 

I’ve been a big fan of the Yautja since I was a little kid. There is something about those space-faring big game hunters the general public knows as “Predators” that puts a smile on their face. It could be their creepy clicking sounds. It could be their rad future-tech space gear. It could be that they have an entire culture based around hunting down the biggest, scariest monsters — and the occasional mussel-bound Earth dude — to prove who is the biggest and baddest of them all.

Honestly, as an adult, it could be all of those things. But if we are being totally transparent, it could be because, as a kid, there were some truly amazing action figures of these mandible-laden monster-men and thanks to our man Tony and the upcoming Predator: Badlands film, we are about to dig into Anton’s Toy Box and talk about some of my favorite offerings from Kenner’s 1990’s Predator toys.

Back in 1994, Kenner dropped a line of action figures based on the Predator movies, comics, and other assorted media. The thing is: there were only a handful of Predators glimpsed in the two extant feature films at the time. So what could have been a one off, maybe two if they did a clear plastic invisible version, was expanded into a large line of toys with all sorts of cool action-play gimmicks and accessories that, frankly, was nothing short of delightful for a little kid me. They still amuse adult me to no end.

It’s wild to think a movie about an ambush monster from space with death lasers, arm claws, and techno-spears that rip out spines and skulls — who then displays it like some kinda messed-up serial killer trophy — was ever allowed to become a toy for small children. I’m not complaining! These brightly colored death-dealers are delightful. I just want it on record, before we dive in, that it is not lost on me how unhinged this whole concept was.

From 1994 to 1996, Kenner produced three waves of figures, including a single mail-order special I was never able to get my hands on.

Alien Vs. Predator: Ultimate Battle

 

First up: the iconic Alien Vs. Predator: Ultimate Battle Between Beast and Hunter! twin figure box set containing a Renegade Predator and a Warrior Alien. Not only did this duel pack provide you with a radical Predator figure — complete with a clip-on helmet, fighting stick, and shoulder-mounted or hand-held cannon — but you also got a rad little Alien figure to fight him. If two figures and accessories were not enough, there was also a little Dark Horse Comic that came rolled up inside.

Both the Alien and the Predator figures in this two-pack were two of my favorites. They did not have any spring-loaded weapons or fancy color-changing features, but the Alien had a cool purplish semi-transparent head shell, and you could see the weird skeleton bits underneath if you stuck a flashlight up to it. The Predator was a really solid, basic action figure that could get wet in the bathtub or buried under sand in the sandbox, never really showing much wear and tear. It was, for lack of a better term, the basic model Predator, and it worked perfectly in that role.

 

Cracked Tusk

 

Next, we have Cracked Tusk. This figure came with a “Firing Pulse Canon,” a clip-on helm, and a projectile that you could launch out of the shoulder canon. The helmet on this thing was so rad! I did not really have a concept of what a drone was back in the ’90s, but in my mind, the helmet had enough of a personality that I pretended it was a sentient little robot that would scout around for Cracked Tusk to help him track down what he was hunting. I really liked the whole vibe of it, and even now I think it’s a fun design.

Less effective for me was the pulse cannon. It was an oversized, shoulder-mounted, spring-loaded device that you had to clip around the figure’s spiked shoulder. Because of the weight of the cannon, I’m assuming anyway, the figure’s arms were fixed in this very strange, ridged motion … like they were about to do a jumping jack or something. If you were really good at balancing plastic, the arm position helped the figure stay upright.

However, if you were a little kid like I was, the arms did very little to keep the figure standing when you clipped on the accessory. It was fine, though, because being able to hold the figure like a squirt gun and launch the little bolt at things was still fun. As an adult, this one is best left in the package unless you are really into playtime. No judgment from me if you are!

 

Scavage / Nightstorm Predator

 

Now, Scavage is a weird one for me because I did not have the variant you see above. In fact, I didn’t even know this variation of the figure existed. What’s more: there is another variation of almost this exact same figure with different colorways that was released in a later wave under the title Nightstorm Predator, which is also not the figure that I played with as a kid!

 

The figure I had was white with copper colorways and also carried the title Scavage. All variations of these figures came with this massive hip clip bolo launcher with these cool dual spike missile projectiles tethered together with a cord. They also came with a staff that had a skull topper and a little mace head on the other end. The clip on the helm for this figure sculpt had little holes in it so the top mandible tusks could peek out, and it had these antennae-like bits that poked off the back that did not impress me much, so I ended up never clipping the helmet on him.

 

 

While the helm did little for me, I absolutely loved the bolo launcher. It had some heft to it, but you could use the skull stick to serve as a monopod for it, making it stable as heck when you clipped it to your figure. The launching power was also pretty rad for a toy and could easily take out a Ninja Turtle or 3″ G.I. Joe with ease. I’m fairly certain I had the bolo launcher from this kicking around in various bookbags and boxes well into my 20s before it got lost to the sands of time.

While this was not my favorite of the line, that bolo launcher was for sure an epic little accessory I still think about when looking at what new offerings are coming out in the action figure space.

 

Spike Tail Predator

 

The Spike Tail Predator was a strange one. “Strange” did not equate to bad by any stretch, though. This figure’s action feature was one of those spring-loaded “pull back and launch something” torsos. Its “tail” was this long braid of hair with a little spike on the end. Honestly, it could go completely unnoticed when you realize the figure was sculpted to look like a cybernetic nightmare Predator, complete with weird steam-punk styled bolts and hydraulics and a face that was a mask that you clipped another mask onto the front of.

The “blade disks” looked way too much like holiday cookies to me and did not really launch well. The secondary accessory, an oddly sculpted blaster thing that connected to the wrist by a peg, made this figure look like it was playing the Blood-Bowl equivalent of lacrosse.

It’s not bad per se, it’s just a bunch of weird choices all mushed together into a single figure that was not as successful as it could have been if they had asked a 12-year-old what he thought would work better in this situation.

 

Stalker Predator

 

Now, if I were that aforementioned 12-year-old, I would have gone to great lengths to describe to you exactly what I wanted from a Predator figure. The results — especially with the technology at the time — would have been the Stalker Predator figure. This is not only one of my favorites from the line, but also one of my favorite action figures of all time.

The Stalker Predator was cast in glow-in-the-dark plastic; I absolutely adore the look of that ivory greenish material. The accents of the figure are these cool coppery gloves, boots, and chest plate that all resemble pieces of a Xenomorph from Alien. It gives this guy the aura of someone who has not only taken down multiple Xenos, but used bits of their bodies to make himself some fancy accessories. He has a freaking Xenomorph head mounted on his chest and one of their tails wrapped around the spike on his arm. It serves no purpose other than it looks cool as hell, and I love that.

The figure’s head is painted in a fleshy tone, and he has these two ram-like horns that curl up from his brow, making him look like Space-Satan. The guy’s mask (also decked out in glow-in-the-dark material) has these side blades that, when you clip it on, gives his face this haunting horned look that works so well with the rest of the figure sculpt.

That’s not all! My dude has this spear-launcher that is a hefty little cylinder and not one, not two, but three glow-in-the-dark spears that have one of the coolest sculpts in a “non-collectable” action figure that I have ever seen. The tips of these spears look like they are planchets stolen from some cosmic Ouija board and put into the service of Space-Satan to hunt down things that are trying to be as diabolical as he is.

I just can’t stress enough how much I loved this silly little guy when I was a kid. There is another version of him I have seen that is green rather than glow-in-the-dark with a white face, but it just does not evoke the same level of bombast as this absolutely unhinged little space monster.

Until next time, there are other figures in the run — notably the Predator Clan Leader, Mail-in-Exclusive Ambush Predator, and the Lava Planet Predator — but I never played with those figures, so I can’t speak to how cool or uncool they actually were.

Now go watch Predator: Badlands so we can freak out together about how rad it was!