The good folk over at CoolProps and Sideshow Collectibles have been working with the creature effects maestros at Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. to bring an earlier incarnation of their Predator Hounds from The Predator to life in the form of a 1:3 maquette!
Sideshow and CoolProps are proud to present the Predator Hound (ADI Early Concept Design) Maquette.
The Predator Hound appeared with the Assassin Predator in the franchise’s latest movie The Predator. In the movie, in contrast with their fierce looks, their adorable character attracted fans.
studioADI designed the original concept for the Predator Hound and changed the design of the face and dreadlocks from the original design in the movie. CoolProps produced this concept design maquette in collaboration with studioADI.
The maquette features an open mouth head and a closed mouth head for display options.
The Predator Hound concept maquette is now available for pre-order from the Sideshow store for a cool $1,599 (payment plans are available!) and the maquette is expected to ship between September and November of 2020.
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come on guys, where have we ever seen any kind of functional throwing spear, javelin, dart, arrow, etc made so that the two halves are symmetrical? It won't work. The head has to be heavier than the tail or butt, or it won't cast well. Just go and try it. Try to throw any evenly balanced stick as if it is a javelin. It doesn't work, at least, not very well. Try to shoot an arrow with no head on it. Try to fly a model airplane with no weight in the nose.
Kevin Peter Hall may have been able to grasp the thing nearer one end in his other hand (being a great actor with an intuitive sense of how his character should move), but he had thick rubber gloves on, and he only had to get the shot, not actually fight. The weapon itself is patently designed with a short hand-grip in the middle (too short to get any decent leverage with two hands) and symmetrical extensions coming out of either end, both covered in hooks which look cool but render changing grips difficult if not painful.
The designers either didn't understand weapons or they knew that if the weapons were too practical, they would also be too recognisable, familiar and seemingly ordinary, and therefore wouldn't serve the character. Certainly Stan and Co were masters of serving the character.
Ironman- I'm not convinced that choreographed light sabre-fighting in a space opera counts as evidence for how real weapons work.
And while not using the full possible reach in melee, it gives some. But i agree that they surely had cool points in mind when designing it. Nevertheless it does what it is intended to do.
The main close combat polearm seems to be the glaive and not the spear.
Iam no expert on spear combat, but how big is the reach advantage anyway when we are not talking about infantry mass battles and more like a duel or two or three opponents max?
I can imagin that having two spear points may be an advantage when fighting more than one opponent.
Edit: Looking at Voodoo's pic i can see him doing some Maul esque moves like Ironman suggested.
Tubecity, that's incorrect. You need to watch Predator 2 again brother. Just because the City Hunter only grabs the middle to extend the spear, doesn't mean he can't grab the spear anywhere else on the shaft. There's sometimes in the meatpacking plant scenes where he's two handing it, and neither hand is holding the middle, much like this home video art:
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2F50rHufpLKcpVZMQIGrUK3DJgz1g.jpg&hash=394f6ea6ea1faa204b6044bda2fffb2915ef11a5
However they do have a weapon that is primarily used for combat in the Glaive and we have seen alternate spears which are meant to be used like a polearm (resembling a Naginta).
The Pred wrist-blades and the Indian pata or gauntlet-sword are quite different in two important respects. First, the single long blade of the pata projects out in line with the forearm, functioning as a very effective limb-extension. The Pred blades are set above the arm and out of alignment, making them anatomically inefficient. And as Kurgan points out, the wrist blades leave the hand incredibly vulnerable in a fight.
Second, the cutting edges on the pata are oriented so that all the strongest muscles of the arm and shoulder can be employed to strike, employing the overarm blow, which we can probably regard as a hardwired, instinctual human attack pattern. When you rotate the blade(s) 90 degrees as on the Pred blades, you lose almost all the muscular power that would be available otherwise. The wrist blades are powered by the rotator-cuff, and not much else. I'm assuming that the Pred musculature is basically the same as a human's.
Don't get me wrong- I love the Pred and all of his weird weaponry. It just wouldn't work for humans. There are no wrist-blades anywhere in human history. The pata and its various punch dagger relatives might seem sort of the same, but they are fundamentally different.
It's not the extendable aspect of the Pred spear that is, theoretically, impractical. It's the fact that both the P2 and AVP versions can only be grasped in the middle. That achieves nothing, apart from making it seem vaguely weird and cool. Of course a retractable spear might have certain advantages of carriage. However, a weapon designed so that you can only make use of half the total length makes no practical sense, retractable or otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, it works good the way it was used in the movies but in a fight with something that actually also uses a melee weapon or is one, like the Alien, using it is a good way to lose the hand.
The gauntlet sword had a gauntlet for exactly that purpose.
Funny thing is that the Predator's weapons do have counterparts in the real world.
The combi-stick collapses for ease of storage, but they are used as throwing spears and stabbing tools. Spears are literally so practical that in older wars (before firearms became common) was the go-to weapon. And when you don't have access to projectiles, that is what you'd use to hunt because it's aerodynamic to throw.
The wrist-blades are a modern take on the gauntlet sword. The gauntlet sword's biggest issue was its center of mass and being awkward to carry around, no longer a problem when it just retracts.
The Smart-disk is basically a high-tech chakram
And even the shoulder cannon (while it's still unlikely we can get plasma to fire like that) is practical since the whole point was to be hands free. Hell, there was a guy who did an airsoft version of it.
The Predator's arsenal (most of it) is based on weapons and gadgets you'd find in the real world. It's part of how it's so believable, we to an extent know what the Predator's using. And while we wouldn't use a chakram to hunt a deer, they would because part of the point isn't just to hunt and kill it, it's the bragging rights of not only what you killed but how you did it.
To me the wrist blades are fine considering their such avid climbers and need to be hands free. They also harken back to the spiked guantlets of medieval times. Actually there are a great deal of medieval weapons that were terribly impractical.
But all I have to do is look towards Martial Arts weapons to see the Predator's tools and weapons, including the disc, is no more impractical. The throwing stars, especially the nunchucks are horrendously ineffective, yet still practiced today out of tradition - not usefulness. And it would seem the Predators are all about tradition.
That was all I meant. I don't mind there being different breeds/species of dogs in the Predator universe. I just wasn't too keen on the design in the film or this maquette. As I said, I think it's headed in the right direction. When compared to THE PREDATOR's horrible dreaded predator pound puppies. Still looks like it needs more design work is all imho.
We should not forget that these are hunting tools first, not war weapons. They are used to hunt down and kill a single target, not to kill the most targets as quick and effective as possible.
If you consider the way the pred stalks his prey, climbing through trees, over walls etc it makes sense that their main gun is shoulder mounted, it leaves the hands free to climb or even fight in hand to hand while shooting. Same with the extandable spear, you can comfortably carry it around without it getting in the way or using up one hand while tarzaning through the jungle. And I don't think it's supposed to be a war spear like humans used them in historical infantry combat. More like a throwing spear that can double as a melee weapon.
I give you that the wrist blades are quite impractical weapons , but i always thought they are more of the predator's version of a hunting knife or an last resort sidearm at most.
The disc... maybe to kill targets that are to big for the thrown spear? No idea
Weight- the antlers don't look that heavy, do they? Their necks are big and musclebound. That bit never bothered me.
Forgive me, I wasn't clear. I wouldn't for a second claim that using a spear is impractical. The thing I love most about the Preds is their use of simple hand weapons, despite having advanced tech. And a standard spear is one of the most practical weapons there ever was, clearly.
I said that the Pred extendable spears or 'combi-sticks' (dislike the term) are impractical. A spear is a great weapon because you can use its full length, striking while staying as far away as possible. It's pointless to have a spear that is designed to be held only in the middle, with all kinds of blades and prongs down the length from either end of the central grip. Only half the length is usable, while the other half does nothing but get in your way and help prevent you from using the thing effectively.
Pred weapons, the iconic ones, seem cool and alien because no human culture ever came up with them. No human culture ever came up with them because they are impractical. Strangely, that's what makes them work for the Pred character. And they go 'shwing' of course. Everybody likes that.
No, I don't equate those two at all.
Hell Hounds,
How is it not front heavy when sprinting, sending its head crashing into the ground?
How does it eat or drink when those spikes keep its mouth at a distance.
How do those spikes not get caught/hung up by surrounding foilage and environment as they sprint after their prey?
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=60937.0;attach=9274;image
Even though I still like them, Hell Hounds design is flawed and impractical and needed a bit more thought, made evident by you developing breeding theories to explain their impractical structure.
But Predators,
like humans, are intelligent lifeforms that are enriched and beholden to their culture, probably even more so. And human hunters to this day challenge themselves by using more primitive weapons like bows and arrows, knives, hog hunting swords and yes spears (google it) to hunt as it was previously done in human history.
So considering this, when you say a Predator using a spear is "fantastically impractical", there's no fan theories required to explain it. Just look around you.
So the two do not equate.
That said, I am happy the Hell Hounds do exist though.
I can kinda agree about smart -disk. But wristblades, spear, shoulder cannon - what's wrong with them?
Voodoo- ha ha, well, I'm grateful for your consideration. I see your points. But... Isn't impracticality one of the defining characteristics of the Predator character? Isn't that what makes him seem powerful and alien at the same time? He makes all kinds of impractical stuff work... somehow?
Wrist-blades- pretty impractical.
Extendo-spear- fantastically impractical.
Shoulder-mounted firearm- largely impractical.
P2 Murder frisbee- very impractical unless you explain it as some kind of semi-autonomous self-propelled drone
Storing hand weapons of any kind on one's back- intensely impractical (AVP spears, various swords in the expanded universe, etc)
I like the 2010 hounds because somehow it felt like the design flowed with the essence of the Predator character, while also being quite new (and not just a repacking of the same old basic beats)- they seemed like a believeable development of the mythology.
Bred with large horns?
Well... hmmm.. maybe.. possibly.. could it be...?
Naah.
You almost had me, that's some good thinking on your part, real good thinking, but those horns would get caught up and stuck in all sorts of foilage in the chase that would jerk their pretty heads and snap their necks.
Of course, they conveniently clear the hounds' paths in the film, but I can't see those horns be anything other than counterproductive to the chase.
https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/inline/public/image/featured/43329-letting-predator-hounds-loose.jpg?itok=u-UuMoC7
But I still like your thinking!
And I imagine the horn appendages easily sheared if necessary by the owner. Depending upon the environment.
Completely agree. It's a none issue for me. It's just about the designs of the different breeds. I certainly prefer these over the ones in the film *shudders at the dreadlocks*
I've always had a practicality problem with the hound spikes in Predators, so at first site I thought I would prefer The Predator hounds going forward to the hounds in Predators, but repeat viewings squashed that preference.
I still prefer the hounds from PREDATORS to these dogs.
Right direction though, better w/o the dreads.
Sometimes. Often not. But it's 56 days away from being one year since The Predator's theatrical release, so I don't see that as germaine here, especially with the Hound.
Merchandise is developed a year in advance so you're going to find some weird instances of things not matching the source. A lot of times merchandisers are given access to an earlier script or given an early version of what something is going to be like to make products off of. And in the case of Neca, there really is no reason they couldn't do the Emissary.
While I can't say for certain, it's entirely possible Neca was already working on the Emissary before they got cut from the film and just released it anyways. And after all it would still fall under The Predator branding even though they are cut from the final film.
There's no limit on the sort of products you can produce barring it getting ran past the license owner and most companies just don't have a broad label or have a reason it would even be necessary. In this case the dog was produced for The Predator, and so it just falls under that branding with the concept art label.
The money has always come from the merchandise. The movies have never had massive success, Alien and Predator have always needed the merchandise to stay afloat and keep them in the public eye. The situation with The Predator is not unique.
Just do one of the 2010 hound! It was cooler, scarier and just better.
Got to be honest, that last pic reminded me of Admiral Ackbar a bit.