Batteries Included!

 Swarm Alien & Lasershot Predator 

A last ditch effort to goose sales for a fading toy line, Kenner released these 2 deluxe figures in 1994. They were the at the very end, rarer than the King or Arachnid alien. Not many were likely ordered, and thus not many were likely produced or shipped to retailers. This and the very likely higher retail price. So in the end, not a lot of kids had these 2 figures.

They're pretty straightforward; they have electronic sounds and lights. These features are pretty lackluster though. The sounds are pretty cheap and awful, and the "lights" are barely noticable. The predator has one tiny light on the canon. And the swarm, although having the "cooler" light features, can barely be seen under its translucent  carapace.

Check out the Swarm features below;

The swarm alien is a weird one. On the one hand, part of the charm of these toys is how wild Kenner went with it's concepts. And the swarm is definitely THE #1 wildest concept. And I appreciate that about the little bugger. 

On the other hand, it's not a very good or "cool" figure. It's rather dull if you take away it's "electronic" features. Movable wings? Eh, got that already with the very cool Flying Queen. Translucent plastic? All the series 2 Aliens were cast in translucent colors, and there were better figures! 

I guess I can give it points for being a " 2-in-1" figure. But then, the other figure that he sits on doesn't do anything. His legs are awkward and he can't really stand up well. He's got no arms, so I guess he can attack with his tail? As a kid it definitely would not have been a preferred figure in the rotation.

The little guy flaps his wings and "screams"...crappily. If you notice, it's a faster/higher toned scream similar to Kenner's Electronic Velociraptor from 1993.

https://youtu.be/hVaPJ-fo_XA?si=plOLAj00PAmomtET

(minute 01:25 in the video)

The Lasershot Predator is a little more reasonable. He's got an interesting sculpt, and a unique color scheme. Overall, fits right in with the other Predator figures. 

His feature makes more sense; when you slide his shoulder cannon up, it launches a beefy spear while making "gun" sounds. And a little red dot flashes. It's not the coolest, but it's appropriate. 

I only ever remember seeing these in comic shops or collectibles magazines. Never in the wild like a Toys R Us or KB Toys. As they were the very last items to be manufactured, and at a time of declining sales, I'm sure SOME kids got the few out there at retail along with a King and an Arachnid alien. And likely marked down too!

 Some sources claim that they never reached U.S. retail, but were instead only sold overseas. As for international retail, the were readily available. Looking back at this line, it seems the retailers in Europe had a bit more faith in the line as a whole. I'd love to see the sales numbers for the European market. 

These figures were featured on the card-back cross sells on the later figures like King Alien or Clan leader predator. So they were definitely prioritized and promoted to retailers over the King & Arachnid alien (which aren't even in any cross sells, not even on their own cards!) 

At time of writing, I couldn't find any samples with retailer price tags. So with some convoluted research (including British toy adverts with prices,  currency exchange rates, and inflation calculators) I would peg the retail price was approximately $8.99-10.99. Until I can confirm anything stating or showing otherwise, that will be my number.

As mentioned earlier, these figures were released in Europe as well as the Pacific market. Below are examples of these versions. 

Note the Pacific/Asian versions are just US cards with Asian stickers and inserts. The European follows the traditional multilingual packaging seen with other figures.

These figures are big too, both the figure and the packaging. To note, in almost every example of the European release Swarm alien, the bubble is always separating from the card. The degree of separation varies but is constant nonetheless. They must have used a different adhesive than US versions.

I hope this was an interesting and slightly informative piece. If anything, it allowed you to witness the sights and sounds of these figures without actually having to own them (or have to try to figure out the correct replacement batteries - BTW, use LR41 button cells).

Thanks for reading!

Alien Body Doubles

 Double Vision!

As with most of Kenners products, there tend to be instances of reusing a mold with a different color or accessory or a modified part, etc. One notable example was the Batman line. One mold, used many many times over. New color+new accessories=new figure!

Aliens was no exception. 

To maximize their expensive figure tooling & molds, Kenner would create more than  just one figure. For example, the very popular and intricate Gorilla alien was given a different tail, head, legs, and arms, and bam: the Mantis alien!  It's easier to produce solid pieces of plastic with limbs, and just simply reuse the complex torso & arm mechanism. To Kenner's credit, the reuse of certain figure parts but then adding other newer parts was pretty clever.

Below are such examples;

Gorilla/Mantis

I think this was a simple stepping up of an already great product. For series 2 in late '93, they went back to the Gorilla alien. The arm mechanism was cool, so just use it again with different arms and head, and all in translucent plastic. A great re-use! And a lot people claim the Mantis as their favorite. It's easy to see why.

Bull/Rhino

The Bull is among the most popular with collectors. Following the same logic as with the Gorilla, for series 2 they revamped the Bull. Translucent plastic is key aspect of series 2 figures. The Rhino has some great sculpting details too; his head has cracks and scuffs! All across series 2 there's an increase in sculpt detail compared to series 1.

Panther/Night Cougar 

The panther was released in 1993. By series 3 in 1994 the line was winding down and losing steam. In an effort to reduce costs and not create any new molds, they just reissued the Panther in a new color scheme. (Technically this is an example of a simple repaint, not a recycle). 

Apone/Hudson

"Hey, we gave Apone a cyber arm. Let's give one to Hudson too!" It would've been cooler if they just used the Hicks body for ALL the Marines (except Vasquez & Drake), but managers and designers thought otherwise. So for Hudson they used Apone's body. Since series 2 was starting off on shakey ground, and perhaps in an effort to lower costs, Hudson has fewer paint details. But the few paint apps he does have are far "louder" than the 1st series of Marines. Silver? No, metallic blue. A beige gun and weapons? No, red and yellow! 

You can see there's no silver detailing on Hudson's front and back "shoulder pads". And unlike Apone, Hudson's cyber forearm & hand are metallic blue. 

Hicks/O'Malley 

Just like Apone/Hudson, it's interesting to see the simplified (reduced) paint detailing between Hicks and O'Malley. Here, it's mostly in the legs; O'Malley has just the knee pads and boots painted, with no detailing or cutouts of the knee pads. You'll also notice the gun holster and knife on either thigh are unpainted. The belly padding has no detailing either. Brighter colors, but less colors.

Of the series 2 Marines, Vasquez was the only fully original sculpt. 

The Panther/Night Cougar aliens are the laziest examples; no unique or different pieces between them. Just a color change. If anything, they stepped it up on the Night Cougar with his cool red stripes!

Thank you for reading!

Rhino Alien - Japan variant

 The Stickers!

Recently, I acquired a Rhino Alien from Japan. As noted in previous posts, like this one here, many of the later figures from the line were simply US cards with a Japanese sticker on the bottom rear. On the front, nothing special.

While inspecting & comparing this new Rhino with one I had in my collection , I noticed that there are 2 versions of these stickers! See below.

Upon even further examination, it would appear this isn't exclusive to just the Rhino. The Mantis appears to have to 2 sticker versions as well! You can see mine below, and the other version here.

(Like how I snuck the Mantis into this article?)

I haven't seen any other figure with these card back sticker variants. We'll call them "single sticker" and "double sticker", respectively.

This just reinforces how variable and inconsistent the Japanese release of these figures were. This variability combined with their rarity really makes collecting a complete set *extremely* difficult. 

If you notice, both versions of Mantis seem to be packed with the Rhino Alien "Ice Storm" mini comic.

I was ready to turn around and sell this Rhino figure, as I already had one. Good thing I inspected it first!

Thanks for reading!

French - Canadian Kenner Aliens

 Cette fois c'est la guerre

Bonjour! Happy Aliens Day!

In late 1992, Kenner released the first series of the Aliens line of action figures. Interestingly, about the same time, there was a set of Series 1 Aliens figures released in Canada. 

These figures are the same as the US Series 1 counterparts EXCEPT for being bilingual; English and French text on the packaging.

I first came upon these by accident. I believe it was a Hicks or a Bull Alien. I had purchased them just thinking they were ordinary versions, but upon receiving them noticed the French text. I was already aware of the Euro carded versions of figures (multi lingual cards, including French!)

Interestingly, an expert source from France confirmed that these Canadian English/French cards were also distributed in France!

Now, since all Series 1 figures were already distributed in Europe on multilingual cards, seeing figures on exclusively French and English cards was curious.

Historically,  Kenner Canada (or Hasbro Canada for these?) would distribute "exclusive" French text packaging; they did that sort of thing a lot (vintage Star Wars was most notable). They did release a French-Canadian version of the 1979 figure as well.

Nevertheless, it was a fascinating new branch of this wonderful toy line! 

Happy Aliens Day to you all!

envoyez les Marines !