Swarm Alien - Packaging Outlier

 He's the only square of the bunch!

Welcome back! It's been a while. This will be a short article, but stay tuned and check back soon as I have a lot of new topics to hit upon.

The Swarm Alien. Hate him, love him...er, them (since there's two). It's definitely the oddest of the figures to emerge late in the Kenner line. Released at the very tippy end in 1994-95, it was a last ditch effort to goose sales for Aliens figures. (More on the swarm Alien can be read here)

In this article I'd like to point out something that I only just recently noticed: of all the Aliens figures, the Swarm is the only alien NOT encased in an oval bubble. They're sealed in a rectangular bubble, like all the Marines! See below for the classic Alien creature bubble, compared to the Marines' square bubble.

(I don't include the AvP 2 pack because it's a 2-pack, not just a single figure, so therefore it's a different class).

I'm not sure why the difference in bubble style. Was it weight? Size? That doesn't make much sense when the hefty king was in an oval, and the Queen and Flying Queen were as well. Big deluxe Aliens. Ovals. 

Maybe they figured it'd be easier and cheaper to do a rectangular bubble rather then a rounded oval bubble. Could it have been aesthetics?

We'll never know in 2025, and that particular Kenner designer will take it to their grave.

Thanks for reading. Check back soon!

Red Gorilla - Aliens Day Exclusive

 Red Gorilla!

Happy Aliens Day (or LV-426 Day). 

To celebrate and commemorate, I'd like to share with you the rare and elusive Red Gorilla Alien!

This is the only one of its kind! 

No, it's not a variant or an error or a Kenner Mail Away exclusive. It's a custom job. I thought it would be an interesting take on the legendary "Red Gorilla" myth (more on that here).  My approach was simply " what kind of red would he have been?" I choose to use the color palette of the Bull Alien. And I'll tell ya, he looks great! 

Naturally, I then thought " what about the Bull? Or the Scorpion?"

Behold! The first three Kenner Aliens in swapped colors!

I was worried the Bull would be the least interesting color swap, but he actually looks amazing. I was surprised. 

The scorpion just demonstrates how great the sculpt is, and that he can be any color and still look good. 

I'll tell you right now; the Bull was the hardest, with his veins and tubes and etc. on his head. Lots of passes and touch ups on that one. Easiest was Scorpion. One pass, and done!

This was a really fun project, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. Maybe I'll explore more color swaps in the future. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Aliens Variants: Pt.4 - Wild Boar Alien

Hidden Power Attack Spikes!

 As we've been exploring the Kenner Aliens toyline, there are quite a few instances of both figure and packaging variants. Today we look at the Wild Boar.

*(I will not be diving into the full card back changes that correspond to series or wave changes, though I might refer to them. Nor will I be discussing any repaints/re-releases , like the KB repaints or the Euro carded versions, etc. Those are simply a separate series in their own right)*

Wild Boar Alien 

Released in 1994 as part of Series 3 (the final series of the line),  the Wild Boar was a nice addition to the line. It was released alone at the start of Series 3, but alongside the Series 2 Predators (Spiked Tail & Stalker). This is evident by it's cross-sell on the back; none of the other Series 3 figures are shown (Night Cougar, Arachnid, Swarm, or King Alien). The other Series 3 figures were late releases, in late 1994/ early 1995.

Its wonderfully sculpted and it's action spine feature is clever. It's color tones are cool as well; khaki and olive green really work. The orange on the head is sparingly used and adds a nice touch of color. When you look at the entirety of this toy line, it appears the Wild Boar follows a pattern Kenner uses with the rest of the creatures in this line, mainly that of quadrupeds. Only a few Aliens were bipedal - Scorpion, Gorilla, Mantis, Warrior, Queen and King. The rest were on all fours! (Or were insects, or a snake). I don't know how I would classify the Flying Queen...

It was prominently featured in the TV advertisement alongside the Queen Hive playset.

(See this commercial and others here: Aliens Dioramas Pt.3)

The figure itself has no variations. The variants relate to the card and packaging.

.00 version 

.02 version 

You can see that both versions are nearly identical and show no differences. But then look closer - warning or no warning? Not only that, but it gets odd with this sequencing; The early version HAS a printed warning on the bottom right corner, while the later version is MISSING it. I've re-read and re-written this part multiple times, but yes: the later version has the warning REMOVED. 

Similarly, the previous two figures before it (Panther and Crab) have no printed warnings at all. 

The two versions are ".00 & ".02", There's no ".01" as of this writing. 

.00 version 

.02 version 

Also, if you look closer behind the ".02" figure there is a note about having an adult unfasten the figure from the packaging. Inside the ".02"/No Printed Warning version, it's not easy to see. 

Weird they would remove the warning on front but add this inside behind the figure. Perhaps they decided to remove the choking warning and to instead put a note on the inside about removing the twist ties. 

.02 version

Other than the warnings & fastener note variations there are no other differences between the two card-backs. 

Thank you for reading. Despite collecting for over 25 years, I'm still discovering new things with this toy line. Exciting!

Please keep following, as there will be more articles on Alien variants in the future. 

Aliens Variants: Pt.3 - Ripley

 Turbo Torch with Real Flames !

As we've been exploring the Kenner Aliens toyline, there are quite a few instances of both figure and packaging variants. Today we look at Lt. Ripley.

*(I will not be diving into the full card back changes that correspond to series or wave changes, though I might refer to them. Nor will I be discussing any repaints/re-releases , like the KB repaints or the Euro carded versions, etc. Those are simply a separate series in their own right)*

Space Marine Lt. Ripley

Version .00 (front)

Version .01 (front)

Lt. Ripley was part of Series 1, part of the original 9 figures. She featured a mini comic and a pretty nifty flamethrower weapon. They were first brought to market in select parts of the US in the fall of '92. In various toy publications, this toyline was greatly anticipated and very well received. Everyone swooped them up, kids and collectors alike. Many places sold out quickly , and the aliens themselves were eventually outselling the Marines.

The Ripley figure itself remained unchanged throughout it's run, with no known figure variations. The card-back is where the variants happen.

There are 2 wave changes with Ripley's card back (.00 & .01, respectively). Wave 1 was the earlier release, from late '92 and into early 1993. The card back features all the figures in that awesome space base diorama (a whole article here on Kenner's dioramas). This is marked with " .00" under the UPC code on the bottom right corner.

Version .00 back

Version .01 back

On the front are the actual "variations". One involves the message on the right side announcing the inclusion of a mini comic. The early version states "Dark Horse Comic Book..." compared to the later release with " 16 Page Dark Horse comic book..." The placement of the comic book message is also different between the two versions. You can see the earlier version has it position closer to the bottom right, where the latter version has the message higher on the right.

.00 Version 

.01 Version 

Also of note is the description of the flamethrower. On the early version it's described as "With Real ' Turbo Torch' Action! " 

.00 Version 

The later version changes to "Turbo Torch with ' REAL' Flame Action". 

.01 Version 

Another variation can be seen on the front concerning a warning label. Naturally, the earlier version lacks any warning at all.  This was common with a lot of the first wave figures There are examples of no warning label, a warning sticker, and a printed warning. These variations track with what wave a figure was a part of.

Version .01 (printed warning)

Version .00 (no warning)

These differences correlate with the UPC numbers, .00, .01, etc. respectively.

These are all the variations with Ripley. I have not seen any other card variants or differences other than the two discussed here. I've only seen .00 and .01, no .02. Furthermore I have not seen any variation in the card-back instructional photos. This sometimes happens with subsequent waves of the same figure, such as the Scorpion Alien (article to come).

Thank you for reading. If any new info comes in with regard to Ripley, I'll be sure to update this post.

It's important to remember that this line had a lot of elements that needed to happen within 2 years, with staff & personnel at Kenner l also working on other lines. So errors like these are likely to happen.