{"id":25307,"date":"2013-10-18T02:47:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T07:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25307"},"modified":"2013-10-18T02:47:53","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T07:47:53","slug":"neca-predator-2-trophy-wall-skull-pack-review-20-pics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25307","title":{"rendered":"NECA Predator 2 Trophy Wall
& Skull Pack Review (20 pics!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> When I decided to review the Predator 2 Trophy Wall from NECA yesterday, I thought it would be a quick n\u2019 easy review. I would be getting home late and had to be at work early, it would be perfect! Or so I thought until I realized I was breaking two big toy blogging rules. First, never plan to review something you haven\u2019t opened & inspected yet. And two, if you\u2019re in a hurry, don\u2019t review something that will make you picture crazy. <\/p>\n

I\u2019d been planning on picking up the Trophy Wall for awhile. As I\u2019ve said previously, I\u2019m not the biggest Alien\/Predator fan in the world, but I enjoy the films and if a toy company is going to make really nice toys of a property I like… well, I\u2019m generally screwed after that! This week, I happened to run across it in person at Hastings. I wasn\u2019t really there to spend $60, but… I just couldn\u2019t leave without it. I knew it was a cool piece; it was a good price, and damn was the box heavy. Perceived value, right there, friends. <\/p>\n

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I brought it home and had to set it aside before I could open it. No biggie. When I opened it for the review last night though, I encountered my first major setback. BUSTED. For a second, I was similarly broken up. It turns out the heft of the piece comes from being a resin or a polystone and a little more fragile than I was expecting. It was a good reminder that this is more display piece than toy and that I will need to keep the box for transport should the need arise. <\/p>\n

The piece was well-packed in Styrofoam & cardboard. I\u2019m not sure how it managed to break in there, but things tend to find a way. And, if you\u2019ve ever been to a Hastings, you know they tend to have more product than shelf space. <\/p>\n

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Well, I\u2019m not the type that gets bent of whack over this sorta thing. Usually, if something\u2019s broken, I\u2019ll just return it and get another. That wasn\u2019t possible here as there wasn\u2019t a replacement. Luckily though, the plastic bag inside the Styrofoam, inside the cardboard, was intact and the big chunk that had broken off as well as some smaller pieces were all still present. Somebody get some superglue! STAT! <\/p>\n

Now that I was almost good as new (there is a visible seam on the backside, but it looks great from the front!) it was time to put things together. Out of the box, it’s mostly ready, but nine plastic \u201cskull holders\u201d have to be attached. It\u2019s pretty straightforward, most of the posts are individually sized to specific ports, but you can refer to the packaging if you\u2019re not sure. I did have a couple little oddities \u2013 two of the pegs had attachments on the ends that had to be removed so the pegs would fit. I think they were duplicates of the holders embedded in the wall, but I\u2019m not sure why they were there. Once I figured out to pull them off, everything went pretty smoothly. <\/p>\n

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Once it\u2019s all together, even before the skulls are added, the piece is stunning. The material used is able to capture a tremendous level of detail. Its nuts. Thing is, I can\u2019t really compare it to the movie because we don\u2019t get to see the wall up close or even for very long in the film, but this feels like a faithful adaptation. The sculpt verges on fantastic if I had to just use one word. Nearly everywhere you look, there is some slight detail. On top of that sculpt are some terrific paint applications. There\u2019s not a level of intricacy so much as a as just a mix of the right hues and washes to give everything a very high-end, realistic feel. <\/p>\n

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The other impressive thing is the size. The wall is nearly 11\u201d tall, 11.5\u201d wide, and over 4\u201d deep. If you pick up this piece, be prepared to give it some room. It seems silly to just break this thing down by measurements. It\u2019s one of those rare pieces that are just difficult to describe. That\u2019s probably why there are twenty pictures in the gallery on the next page. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019d been collecting the Predator line from day one, you\u2019d amassed quite the skull collection. I, regrettably, had not been doing that and that was one of my few reservations about buying the wall when it was announced. Some have said they preferred NECA keep things that way, rewarding the long time collectors, but I\u2019m never for that uppity, cravat-adjusting attitude. NECA had 5000 of these trophy walls to sell and they did right by collectors by releasing a special skull pack to fill it. It\u2019s one of the reasons I own it myself, so thank you NECA.<\/p>\n

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The skull pack is still available at Amazon for $18 and includes ten skulls . Of the ten skulls, four are human (two with spines), two are Predators, three are unknown aliens, and one is an Alien, a Xenomorph. Not all of them fit particularly on the wall, the two Predator skulls and the extra human skull don\u2019t have \u201cnatural\u201d homes, but as you can see in my pics, I adjusted things a bit to fit more of them on there. I\u2019ve also mostly skipped using the bloodied skull\/spine. It\u2019s fun, but the Predators seems to be pretty clean with their collectable skulls. <\/p>\n

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There is one slight hiccup \u2013 the horned skull on the upper right just doesn\u2019t fit onto the wall very well. The skull appears to be in need of a short six-sided peg, but that particular spot is long and thin. I\u2019m able to get it on there by using the eye socket and balancing it against the wall for now, but I need to mod that peg to make it fit better. Other than that one, everything fits great \u2013 it\u2019s particularly telling because that means NECA was planning this for awhile, the ports for the wall plugs are present in the skulls, but you\u2019d never really notice had NECA not made the wall. That\u2019s smart work and a long game. <\/p>\n

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An eleventh skull, it\u2019s a big\u2019n, is included with the diorama itself. It\u2019s one of the coolest ones and the oversized nature of it really brings everything together. I mentioned there were some options in what gets displayed where, but some skulls like the large, included one and a couple of the smaller ones do need to be on their respective pegs, but some solutions can be found here and there like limiting the Xenomorph skull to just one peg instead of its suggested two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \t

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