#lore bits

The old statues Dek flies past in the opening sequence of Badlands are the Amengi.

Thanks to a fellow nerd in the AVPG server for pointing this out from the Q&A and tracing the outline.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Amengi, it’s from the background information for the Ancient NECA Predator figure. This will be a summarized version of it.

A long time ago, the Yautja were known as the Hish-qu-Ten before an advanced race of aliens known as the Amengi came and enslaved them. They were genetically altered and made to fight in gladiator fights for their suppressors.

For generations they remainder under the rule of the foreign invaders, until a Yautja by the name of Kaail rallied them to fight back for their freedom. The Yautja went on to genocide every Amengi until there were none left. They reverse engineered the Amengi’s technology and greatly advanced their own species as a result.

Kaail wears the bones of the Amengi and earned the title The First Hunter.

It’s been kinda theorized over the years that they continue hunting to memorialize their victory over their suppressors. At some point it became their way of life and has deep, sacred meaning to them.

I won’t go into the controversies this lore bit created nor the arguments that ensued debating whether it was now canon or just something on its own since it’s not relevant to this point. You can just look it up online and find it.

I theorize that the arena in Killer of Killers could be an Amengi one, but that’s just some fun fan theorying to connect the films further. It would be cool to have that confirmed though.