Pseudo-Mayan Pred? Thoughts?

[RVAHunterPred]

New member to the Lair, but have been lurking in the shadows, checking things out for a while. I was looking at several of the different costuming threads on here, and have been very interested following the threads about the Shinto/Samurai pred workup. I believe it's in one of these discussions that one of the contributors (sorry for not knowing the name of the contributor) mentions a mandible hanging below the bio, like one of the Mayans in the movie "Apocalypto". I happen to love this movie, despite some of its inaccuracies. I've been traveling to central America for about the last 8 years and am fascinated with the Mayan culture. I think a spin-off pred with somewhat Mayan features and ornamentation would be pretty sweet -- I guess my question after writing this rather lengthy book is:

What basis or background, if any, is there for Predators of different environments/cultural "affiliations" with earth cultures, etc.?

If there is none, I've been thinking about writing a back story...either a short story or maybe even a full novel. I'm a writer, among other things, as you can see in my profile.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, as I am definitely not nearly as knowledgeable about pred culture as most of you are. I just find them an interesting species. Call me a culture hound.

 

[Giles]

This is probably better suited in the general discussion section however. In terms of the films, AVP makes reference to Mayan culture.

The background to my Pred is loosely based around some aspects of the Mayan culture and also AVP. The colour "Maya Blue" (has a wiki page), used by the Mayans and Aztecs is an extremely vivid blue and also has very good resistance to chemical solvents and also to acids such as nitric acid. It was used in sculptures and may have played a role in human sacrifices being used to paint the bodies of the victims.

My thoughts are that the Mayans were inspired by the colour of the Predators and Maya Blue's resistance to acids was intentional for the decoration of the temple that the young bloods undertook their first hunt of an Alien. WIth all of this in mind, my Pred will have a slightly blueish hue. In terms of Mayan symbology/hieroglyphs, they are all fairly basic so I haven't fully-formed any ideas to incorporate these into my overall look. Possibly I might incorporate them into a Mayan dagger which was given to my Pred by a Mayan hunter.

 

[strigoi]

Truthfully when it comes to custom preds there is no right or wrong answer. If someone said they wanted to make a rainbow bright pred...while it would be pretty odd it's perfectly acceptable. It's your costume, it's your money and as long as you are having fun do what ever you want. Here is a list of the predator comics and novels that have come out since the 80's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_(comics) and novels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_(novel_series) and AVP Series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_vs._Predator_(franchise) so I am not to sure if anyone has touched on a mayan based pred but if you want to make one then give it a go.

 

[RVAHunterPred]

This is probably better suited in the general discussion section however. In terms of the films, AVP makes reference to Mayan culture.

The background to my Pred is loosely based around some aspects of the Mayan culture and also AVP. The colour "Maya Blue" (has a wiki page), used by the Mayans and Aztecs is an extremely vivid blue and also has very good resistance to chemical solvents and also to acids such as nitric acid. It was used in sculptures and may have played a role in human sacrifices being used to paint the bodies of the victims.

My thoughts are that the Mayans were inspired by the colour of the Predators and Maya Blue's resistance to acids was intentional for the decoration of the temple that the young bloods undertook their first hunt of an Alien. WIth all of this in mind, my Pred will have a slightly blueish hue. In terms of Mayan symbology/hieroglyphs, they are all fairly basic so I haven't fully-formed any ideas to incorporate these into my overall look. Possibly I might incorporate them into a Mayan dagger which was given to my Pred by a Mayan hunter.

Ahhh...you and I are thinking along the same lines. I was looking into designing kind of a "death's head" bio, with some of the Mayan glyphs worked in. As far as the weaponry, I was thinking of forging a steel club similar to what was used with edged projections.

Been working on some short story ideas. I'll post them as they get further along. I've been to Guatemala 6 times, and got to go to Tikal 2 yrs ago. It was amazing to see firsthand some of the temples and pyramids. Plus I took a pic of the exact jungle scene from Star Wars - Endor. It's exactly as it was in the movie, even with the temples visible above the treeline.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

 

[RVAHunterPred]

Truthfully when it comes to custom preds there is no right or wrong answer. If someone said they wanted to make a rainbow bright pred...while it would be pretty odd it's perfectly acceptable. It's your costume, it's your money and as long as you are having fun do what ever you want. Here is a list of the predator comics and novels that have come out since the 80's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_(comics) and novels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_(novel_series) and AVP Series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_vs._Predator_(franchise) so I am not to sure if anyone has touched on a mayan based pred but if you want to make one then give it a go.

Hey - thanks for the links. I'm gonna start checking them out as I develop my backstory. I'm in the process of outlining a short story idea, and I'll post some as I get it further along. Always glad for insight and input.