Aliens - Series 1 "Warning" Variants

 It came without warning!

No Warning 

Sticker

Printed Sticker 

Printed Warning 

At this point, you've been a visitor to my blog and are aware of the different card backs for this line. Different series, different waves, specific figure packaging variations. If you haven't, peruse the blog and you'll see some interesting stuff.

I've already touched upon Series 1 and the differences between the 1st and 2nd wave card backs (don't know what I'm talking about? Jump HERE for more). But it was just a few months ago that I noticed a pattern with series 1 as a whole; the warning labels on the card backs. 

I've known for a long time that these warnings can vary. Some would be printed, some would be stickers. And sometimes the warning would be absent entirely. To note, the stickers are always slapped right in the middle of the card art, front and center. 

And sometimes I would see the odd "printed sticker" (see below). It looks like they simply copied the sticker exactly as it was and printed it onto the card, poor placement and all. 

I always just assumed it was random - early waves would lack any warning, and some would have a warning sticker. And logically second wave figures had the proper printed warning on the bottom corner. I assumed the "printed sticker" was a one-off; a kind of bandaid for a few figures in between "no warning" and a "printed warning".

But a very quick search revealed that ALL the figures from series 1 had four different versions concerning the "Warning" label. Four! The "Warning"  breakdown is as such;

-No Warning (wave 1, .00)

-Warning sticker (wave 1, .00)

-Printed sticker (wave 1, .00)

-Printed Warning (wave 2, .01)

The first 3 are associated with wave 1, while the printed warnings are the "corrected" or "updated" wave 2 card back. To reiterate, wave 1 is the card back with the diorama featuring the figures while wave 2 has the more common & plain "assortment lineup" photo. Again, see examples HERE.

These warning variants apply to Ripley, Hicks, Drake, Apone, Bishop, and the Scorpion, Bull, and Gorilla aliens.

 

What's more, while the Gorilla alien follows this warning label pattern, the "Dark Horse Comic Book" banner is the same on all of them. The same. On all 4. That's a variant within a variant. All other wave 2 figures changed their banner to " 16 page..." and shifted it higher up the side, making it easy to discern between waves. Not the Gorilla though. Nope, he's special. 

Conversally, Bishop has the updated "16 page..." banner on all versions. 

The sticker warning is pretty hard to see sometimes, as it's a transparent sticker with semi translucent white text. The "printed sticker" is much brighter and easier to see. 

Sticker vs Printed Sticker 

And of course, some figures have their own specific variants, like Ripley's "Real Turbo Torch" text. I don't think this text variant is independent of the warning variants. They naturally correspond to the different waves. (See below)

There are a few other figures in the entire line that have warning label variations, including the Wild Boar, the Crab alien, and even Hudson. Otherwise, as of this writing , all other figure card backs in the line have some sort of warning ( until I come across yet another variant). 

So go forth now, and complete your collections with 4X series 1 figures. 4 Ripleys, 4 Apones, 4 Scorpions, and so on.

"What about the Queen alien?", I hear you asking. Ah, yes. She doesn't have any warning variants like the rest of the Series 1 figures, but she does have her own variations. Check back soon!

-Me

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.