I came in late and just finished reading the whole thread from the beginning. I'm relieved to see that a lot of the initial worries were unfounded, yet some issues still remain. The disappointment some people have expressed was painful to read, especially when it's clear they've been looking forward to this figure so much. I gotta admit I sort of expected something like this to happen, but I still feel sorry for anyone whose expectations were dashed.
I'm not exactly thrilled by some of the cutbacks or whatever, especially the net suit "vest"... pretty lame design there, but I'm not going to cancel my order. Like the other HT Preds, this will no doubt look much better in hand, so I'm not too worried about it. The net suit issue bugs me a little, but it doesn't look like it will be too hard to come up with a better solution for it, same with the plastic loin cloth thing.
Now the PredAlien is not nearly as nice as I had expected, mainly due to the bland, toylike paint apps. I'm still on the fence about what to do about it. Repainting it would take care of the strange coloring, the problem is whether or not paint will adhere to it properly, without damaging the material the body is made of.
I'd like to hear Les's comments on repainting the PredAlien, but I'm not sure if he's even ordered one. Guess I'll just wait and see how the figure looks in person before I decide to keep and repaint, or sell the sucka.