This unforgivably grotesque thing arrived in the mail today. 
I saw this item on Ebay a week ago and was compelled to purchase it. It’s a Requiem: Hybrid figure – otherwise known as an ‘AvP-R Predalien’. Normally, I don’t like to impulse buying like this – my purchases of such things are mostly planned out as I am trying to save up coin to help fund the publishing of a book I’m writing. Unfortunately, items like this have to be snatched up when they become available – and this one is a special case that definitely fits into that category.
Just some background on this item. It’s based on a unique character in the ALIENS vs PREDATOR – Requiem (AvP-R) movie released in 2007- it’s the result of an Alien using a Predator as a host – so it’s very different to your standard Alien that usually emerges from a Human host. It’s bigger, uglier, meaner and tougher – and unlike other Aliens, it’s capable of producing offspring much like the Queen Alien does but without the need to lay eggs. As if Aliens couldn’t get any worse, this Bitch is ‘one ugly motherfucker’ from your worst nightmares.
It’s kind of tragic then, such a powerful character appears only once throughout the entire series; and does so only in the movie that many people regard as the weakest entry. As for myself, I agree. It’s a movie that suffers from so many problems. So much, I consider the movie to be largely unwatchable and the only element of the film I find of interest is this particular character, the very nasty Hybrid/Predalien.
Whether the movie was good or bad is a moot point for the inevitable merchandise machine churning out endless content based on these films. NECA pumped out a whole series of figures based on AvP-R and the Predalien character was among them.
One of the curious anomalies surrounding these figures is they disappeared very quickly from store shelves. Whether this was due to low numbers produced by NECA or AvP-R is a more popular movie than everyone realises, it has resulted in their scarcity. These figures have become quite rare; and as rarity often determines value, Collectors have taken a keen appreciation in them. Which, of course in turn, drives up their value as more people express their interest.
These figures can now pull triple figures if they are sealed in original clam shell packaging like this one so it’s remarkable this cost me a paltry AU$49.95 (Plus AU$12 postage.) and was well under what you can expect to pay for one now. This cost was close to the original price when this Predalien first hit shelves here in Australia. So I’m happy I landed it. Today, this figure can easily fetch over AU$100 – even if it was opened. I was lucky. 2 other people were watching it at the time. Well, they can just watch it get sold.
This isn’t the only sample I have of the Requiem Hybrid, I’d previously purchased a Wolf Predator and a Requiem Hybrid/Predalien about a year ago. Both were opened but at AU$40 for the pair, it was a great buy. Today, I could sell the Wolf Predator, keep the Hybrid and I’d break even, possibly even do better. All the same, I have 2 of these ugly Predalien things now; and I’m super happy about that.
Interestingly, there were variants of this figure. The opened item I already had in my possession has its mandibles in the closed position and the recently purchased figure has them open. I’m not sure how many variants there were of this figure and I’m not bothered. I just take that fact on board as a bonus – and appreciate having one of each.
To my understanding, NECA have been quite impressed by the popularity of this item and sometime in the future, they intend to reprint it, hopefully using fresh sculpts and employing the much improved articulation that they have been applying to their figures during recent years. These are almost 10 years old now and NECA’s articulation is incomparably good today. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to that.
-Windebieste
