OpenMaw "The original costume even holds up in broad daylight in the test footage shot before they took it out to the marsh. It's not just that Mcternian was a good director. Winston's team simply did a better job. Not just once, either. The effects in Predator 2 are also uperior ot anything ADI or KnB did with the Predator. KnB were over all much closer to Winston, but they f*cked the smaller details.
Yes, a good director can make a poor looking creature or costume look good with the right lighting, but a great team of talented artists can make a great creature suit. The Winston guys did better."
For me it's a little bit too simplistic view of the situation. I am myself kind of in industry of visual effects (even so I am not in the prostetic department), and I am trying not to critisize effects without knowing the actual details. Logicly it's imposible to make worse practical effects now then in 1987 specially with the guys who worked for Stan in 1985 for Aliens, tools get better, more expirience and time to create new methods.
Now saying that Original Predator looks good on a day light on the BtS video is a little bit off. The quality of the video is not so well, and I am sure if you put new suites next to them they will look the same or even better.
Now design wise, that's very subjective. My favourite is the city hunter, after goes original, and I am not fan of any other designs, but that's just taste. Face, oh man I really hated the AVP 2004 face, but I guess the reason was because they aimed to make predator look a little bit more friendly.
So my point is that desing is very subjective thing, but quality of production is the same.