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Wasp Predator

February 6, 2015 | By Errex More

After getting me some of NECA’s Predator figures and fulfilling my requirement for movie-based designs, I just knew that I would still go back and get some more of these figures even if they were actually non-canonical versions of these alien hunters.

One of the figures that immediately caught my eye is the one referred to as Wasp Predator. This Predator does not appear in any of the official movies, the costume was featured in a fan film where Batman stumbles upon a pack of these creatures while chasing after other villains.

Even though the Wasp Predator is not featured predominantly in that short film, the costume was striking enough to inspire the good folks at NECA to try their hand at crafting an action figure of it.

Wasp uses the same basic body used for all the other Predators in the line with hands and pieces of equipment also taken from a couple other versions of these characters.

The mask uses the same mold as the Scout Predator, but you can tell that the armored bits are taken from another figure, and instead of an open right hand, Wasp has a pair of grasping appendages.

The level of sculpted detail on this creature is really amazing, full of different textures used to represent different materials and a really impressive articulation design, consisting of:

• Barbell mounted head.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Pegged hinge elbows.

• Ball jointed wrists.

• Barbell mounted waist.

• Pegged hinge hips.

• Upper thigh swivels.

• Double hinged knees.

• Ball jointed ankles.

Most of the armored bit and plates that cover the joints are made from very pliable material that allows this Predator to hold a nice array of dynamic poses. Perhaps the only nit to pick about this Wasp Predator articulation is that the hands do tend to pop out fairly easy, but they go right back in without much trouble.

Now, the thing that gives this Wasp Predator his name is precisely the paintjob. Wasp-guy here has a very distinctive color scheme combining light yellow and very dark black/brown paint in a way that immediately evokes those lovable creatures, wasps.

The colors form a very strong contrast and are applied following the usual Predator markings, with the dull silver armor plates serving to tone down the overall brightness of the figure.

The paintjob on the mask is particularly nice, simulating a good deal of wear and decay. Considering that this is the exact same mold used for the Scout Pred mask, it is amazing how different these two look side by side on account of paint alone.

The Wasp Predator comes very lightly armed. He does have the trademark extendable blades in his right bracer, but no chakram disk or shoulder plasma cannon. Instead, Wasp Predator comes with a pole arm on top of which he carries the lopped-off head of an alien Warrior.

The weapon and the alien head are nicely painted and even though said head is not removable from the tip of the pole arm, it still makes for mighty fine display piece.

Overall, I really liked this Wasp Predator, despite the rather austere weaponry selection. I think that the color scheme strikes just the right balance where it looks plausible, yet different enough to stand out from the other Predators.