Dek starts to feel like Conan the Barbarian - Dan Trachtenberg Teases Badlands

[Mr.Turok]

high tech barbarian sci-fantasy totally works within the franchise.

Ngl when it's explained like this it's even more exciting to me.

It is the exact kind of thing I've been longing for in a Predator movie for ages. I can't believe we're finally getting it.

I didn't think it would be doable in a project that hitches itself to the Alien universe/WY iconography, either, but here I am very happily proven wrong on that front.

Traditional Pred movies are Deadliest Game Thrillers. But Badlands seems to lean more towards potentially being a Universe cross section odyssey.

When one thinks about it, it makes sense. Traditional films are from the human perspective of facing against the deadliest game hunters in the galaxy. We only see part of the hunt and that's the ones that fails from the prey's perspective. The whole experience on the other side really is an odyssey for these hunters as their entire life filled with centuries of various journeys of hunting ultimate game. 

[RoguePred1987]

absolutely

[funk_master_chunk]

More like Teenage Conan Fun Adventures with a terrible haircut.

https://images2.imgbox.com/2a/fe/sGGwNvTH_o.jpg

Not sure if it's because it's a HD rip or not - but he already looks miles better here.

Can even see the crown coming in under the flowing dreads.

Looks ace!

[Corporal Hicks]

Yeah, it's absolutely there and underdeveloped. And absolutely intentionally I'd expect.

[funk_master_chunk]

Yeah, it's absolutely there and underdeveloped. And absolutely intentionally I'd expect.

Yeah just posted in the 'Pred face' thread that I think it'll maybe even be a feature in the film.

I think the initial pics had me a bit scared as the face looked too plasticine-y.

But this just looks so much better.

Even if it is because it's HD or something equally as silly, I'm beyond happy with it.

[Highland]

I'm open-minded to the premise. I even think the face looks decent...but the shape of the head (much less prominent "crown" or "crest") and very human-looking hairline just make me ask, "Why mess with a classic, very good aesthetic?" Is this nit-picky? Maybe...but I'm a long-time fan with my preferences and opinions.

I've thought about this more and came to the conclusion that the OG predator would probably look more out of place than Dek does. Think about just straight swapping Dek out for the OG predator, there's nothing to signal that it's young, inexperienced, even a smaller version of the OG predator would just look....weird and would bound to light fires on the internet.

So while people might not love the new design (totally acceptable), I think it was/is definitely the way you had to go if you were telling this particular story.

[SiL]

Just because this was a way to show youth doesn't mean it was the only way. The design decisions were clearly made to make Dek look as human as possible to make him more sympathetic, because Hollywood never learned anything from ET or Wall-E.

[Highland]

Just because this was a way to show youth doesn't mean it was the only way. The design decisions were clearly made to make Dek look as human as possible to make him more sympathetic, because Hollywood never learned anything from ET or Wall-E.

They could have totally designed him different and I don't even disagree, but there's just simply going to be moments where the face isn't going to be a snarling menace and I think it's those moments that will look weird to folk.

I think even trying to make the original Predator just stare blankly at something would have been a task.

There's every possibility we've not even seen the (potentially) worse bits due to the talking etc.

Tough job imo. I'm not sure anything they came up with would have satisfied everyone, not with this story.

[Coolertonic7]

Just because this was a way to show youth doesn't mean it was the only way. The design decisions were clearly made to make Dek look as human as possible to make him more sympathetic, because Hollywood never learned anything from ET or Wall-E.

They could have totally designed him different and I don't even disagree, but there's just simply going to be moments where the face isn't going to be a snarling menace and I think it's those moments that will look weird to folk.

I think even trying to make the original Predator just stare blankly at something would have been a task.

There's every possibility we've not even seen the (potentially) worse bits due to the talking etc.

Tough job imo. I'm not sure anything they came up with would have satisfied everyone, not with this story.

A lot of things in this movie are definitely going to be hit or miss for some people, from what as being said by Dan, but I'd rather take a movie that tries to do something new, than a copy paste of the first movie with a new paint job!

Before someone says it, yes something new is not always good, The Predator, but that doesn't mean that we can't try new things in the franchise!

[Highland]

Just because this was a way to show youth doesn't mean it was the only way. The design decisions were clearly made to make Dek look as human as possible to make him more sympathetic, because Hollywood never learned anything from ET or Wall-E.

They could have totally designed him different and I don't even disagree, but there's just simply going to be moments where the face isn't going to be a snarling menace and I think it's those moments that will look weird to folk.

I think even trying to make the original Predator just stare blankly at something would have been a task.

There's every possibility we've not even seen the (potentially) worse bits due to the talking etc.

Tough job imo. I'm not sure anything they came up with would have satisfied everyone, not with this story.

A lot of things in this movie are definitely going to be hit or miss for some people, from what as being said by Dan, but I'd rather take a movie that tries to do something new, than a copy paste of the first movie with a new paint job!

Before someone says it, yes something new is not always good, The Predator, but that doesn't mean that we can't try new things in the franchise!

My gut feel is that I think most people that appreciate comic books are much more lenient with the design and story over just "movie" fans that only like visuals and I'd say the vast majority of people that comment on social media are movie fans only. The same sort of thing happens with Marvel movies, when a movie can portray a character almost exactly as they were originally designed and folk are like ....well that doesn't look like X character this movie sucks already.

Not quite the same , but I get that vibe.

[happypred]

The young-looking predators in the original Aliens vs. Predator comic were a better take imo: shorter, slighter build with shorter dreads...maybe throw in less prominent mandibles. No need to make him look that human, unless for possibly misguided commercial reasons.