Every Predator fan knows that Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally chosen to play the Predator in an effort to have the actor use his knowledge of martial arts to give the character the appearance of an agile hunter.
However, when the Belgian actor’s height of 5′ 9″ was compared to that of actors like Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of whom are 6′ tall and well known for their spectacularly well-built physiques, it became pretty clear that a man with a much more impressive physical appearance than Jean-Claude Van Damme was unquestionably needed to make the creature look effective.
Kevin Peter Hall later replaced Van Damme, and the rest, as you are well aware, is history. This was due in part to his frequent tantrums on the set and the fact that the monster costume’s initial design was too difficult to handle. This gets us to the Richard Edlund-made original monster design. It appeared to be an awkward, out-of-scale monster with large yellow eyes and a head that some have described as looking like a dog while others have described as more insect-like.
Simply put, it was very different from what the directors had envisioned. It is fair to say that Stan Winston stepped in to take control just in time and, with the help of his team, managed to create one of the most recognisable monster designs in history. If you are wondering how any of this ties to the Amengi that we will be learning about in our video today, then read on. The Predator from John McTiernan’s 1987 film, the Predator, served as inspiration for the Amengi’s original, abandoned design.
To learn more about Amengi, Hish, and the fate of the Predators’ ancestors, watch this film through to the very end. You had best be prepared for this!
Who Were The Amengi?
While a living Amengi is yet to be witnessed physically, the ancient and mysterious race of the Amengi was newly added to the Predator canon via the 2020 multiplayer video game, Predator: Hunting Grounds and of course, the action figures of NECA. Mind you, these creatures were utterly brutal and also significant may we add, to how the Predators emerged themselves as the apex hunters that they are today.
A conjecture can be made from the depiction of their form, their cadaver to be more specific than the fearless Alpha Predator was seen to don. What we are looking at is an advanced insectoid race, each possessing a tough exoskeleton that functioned as their defensive armour along with some highly developed weaponry. Please note that they also have sharp bone-like talons protruding around their limbs, adding to that some tusk-like structure on their very skulls. There is no denying that they are bipedal and humanoid to an extent in terms of their structure even with six limbs in total – we are stressing on four arms and two legs here.
Coming back to the origin of the Amengi, honestly, not much is known about them except for the fact that they are more like these space-faring species. Having exhausted the natural resources of their own home world, they would methodically look for other planets, especially the ones with rich, raw materials. The plan was to repeat the same cycle of consumption; rob it of all resources, strip away the planet to literally nothing, further advance their own technologies in the process and take over the planet as the new rulers.
Now it so happened that the Amengi soon arrived at a planet called Yautja Prime, once that was the homeworld of a developing species known as the Hish-qu-Ten. Also known as the Hish, they were basically the primitive ancestors of the Predators. It is important on your part to know that at the moment of invasion, the Hish were not what and how they are today. The native Hish were way smaller, not that intelligent and it is only fair to address them as beings that were naive. Of course, they stood no chance against the technologically advanced Amengi who not only defeated them with ease but also had them enslaved for many centuries.
The Amengi were quite the ruthless rulers using the Hish for food, slavery, labour, experiments and add that for entertainment purpose too. By entertainment, we are particularly talking about game hunting and fighting competitions. With time, these gladiatorial combats became quite popular; soon, betting and gambling rings started surfacing up as well and all of a sudden, these fighting competitions became a huge thing. The Amengi were seen investing more time as well as resources into making the champions that they owned their very best versions.
They actually became pretty much obsessed with the Hish fighters that would prove to themselves to be superior than the rest. So much so that the Amengi were actually seen to selectively breed them, chemically enhance them and let’s not forget the part where they would make them undergo extensive training sessions all in order to increase their physical abilities and make them attain peak performance during their gladiatorial combats. This went on for centuries, passing through countless Hish generations for that matter, and little did the Amengi know back then that this particular fixation of theirs would eventually be the very reason for their downfall.
What Happened To The Ancestors Of The Predators?
The fetish for the fights along with the whole process of selective breeding, chemical enhancements and the extensive training was carried out uninterrupted for eons until Kaail, a loyal Hish warrior came to a conclusion that enough of the Hish blood had already been spilled. Kaail was not only the largest and fiercest of all the Hish fighters but he was also respected and dreaded at the same time by his fellow fighters as well as the captors. They say he was impressive and that nothing like him had ever been seen before.
No points for guessing that he was obviously a lot more intelligent than the rest of the Hish and simply loathed the enslavement. This led to Kaail secretly plotting with as many powerful Hish that he came across in the occupied Amengi territories and started to lay the foundation of their revolution. Mind you, he also feigned his loyalty to the Amengi while he did what he considered was necessary and soon Kaail along with the neighbouring slaves was ready for the revolution.
Now, as far as the Amengi were concerned, they had become more arrogant of themselves and also slackened in terms of the control that they had acquired over their empire. It had been centuries since they had attacked any home world and it is only fair to address them as beings who had become militarily soft given the luxuries that they had at their disposal. So, when the allied Hish fighters led their attack, the Amengi despite their advanced technology were brutally overwhelmed by the waves of the Hish rebels.
The insurrection was both swift and bloody beyond one’s imagination; a race that once boasted supreme power and technology finally became a victim to the very weight of their own arrogance and spite. As for Kaail, he severed the exoskeleton of an Amengi further forming a body armour and mask from it. Well if one is to believe the legend, Kaail was the creator of what would later be addressed as the Yautja.
Coming back to the Hish, they had generations after generations to not only study the ways of the Amengi but also their all-embracing technology. So, when the time was ripe for insurrection, the Amengi could do nothing to prevent the Hish takeover. With the Hish enslaving the Amengi, the former crushed the latter’s leadership. Now that the tables were turned, the fate of the Amengi was completely dependent on the Hish. It is reported that the Amengi were either hunted down and put to death or were simply coerced into slavery.
The Hish even started using the Amengi for new hunting game traditions. Having said all of that, had it not been for the intervention of the Amengi in the first place, the Hish would have never been the Yautja hunters that they are today. The Hish took over the technology of the Amengi and assimilated it to upgrade it and better suit the requirements of the Yautja. Kaail is even reported to have upgraded his equipment later with new hears – the cloak or the shift suit to render him invisible, the plasma caster, the wrist bracer and the self-destruct device. He is also stated to have transformed his mask into a Bio-helmet.
The Fate Of The Amengi
In John Shirley’s novel titled, Predator: Forever Midnight, the year is 2117. The Amengi are still subjected to slavery by the Predators and they are depicted as beings that are actually happy and comfortable in their current situation. They are shown to be absolutely captivated by technology as well as engineering. They are even given a multitude of technical puzzles to unravel and they are at it happily. Also, there is this honey-like thing that they have a penchant for; it is kept there in abundance for them to feed on.
The Amengi, besides being accountable for the technology of the Predators were also given credits for coming up with a translation device, a mind prober to be more precise, that let the Predators influence the very actions of the human colonists on the Safari Planet 3998, also known as Midnight.
With this, we have come to the very end of our video here. Do hit us with your thoughts in the comments section. Also, did you get the time to watch the new Predator movie titled Prey yet? It is officially streaming on Hulu in case you want to watch.
Stay tuned with us for more interesting content on Predator!