Kenner Aliens vs Marine 2-packs

 The Ultimate Battle Between Man & Beast!

1994 was the last year for the initial Aliens (& Predator) line from Kenner. The line closed out with the Queen Hive playset, along with the Arachnid and King going into early 1995. The Swarm never reached retail, or it did in very, very low numbers at specialty shops. Predator figures were in their final series as well (Night storm, Lava Planet, and Clan Leader. Laser Shot didn't reach retail either). 

At the time, KB toys was the spot for Aliens and Predator figures. KB believed that the line was strong and they ordered all remaining inventory from Kenner thru 1995. My friend was the only one I knew with a brand new King and Arachnid alien, straight from KB Toys. 

Action Figure Digest #34, 1996

The Alien and Predator figures proved strong at retail and were far from over. KB Toys took the initiative and created an exciting line: Alien vs Marine 2-packs. They were released in late 1996, ready for the holiday season. These sets were exclusive to KB Toys and featured 5 pairings of repainted Aliens and Marines. 

To really make it special they included the 3 Marines that no one was able to get; Vasquez, Hudson, and O'Malley. Additionally, the King and Arachnid aliens were also chosen since collectors had missed out on their first release.

The biggest set was Hicks vs King Alien. It's a massive bubble. In all of Kenner's iterations of Alien and Predator figures, the Hicks vs King Alien is THE largest carded figure. I'm surprised there aren't more instances of the bubble just pulling away from the card. Good glue I guess.

The world rejoiced with this lineup. It was more Aliens figures, and in "better" colors. All the Marines looked "cooler" in their "screen accurate" costumes. The Queen Facehugger was finally colored like a real fleshy facehugger. Even the Arachnid looked less ridiculous in black & silver.

As far as Aliens go in this series, Night Cougar and Scorpion are the best looking. And Vasquez and Hicks are the best Marines. It's hard to not get excited with Vasquez and her red bandanna and pulse rifle. That backpack rocket launcher? Sure, why not...

As for packaging, these were pretty simple, with all card backs being the same. Same text, same art, and the same cross sell on the backs. Only the figure sticker on the bubble and bubble shape/size were unique to each pair. Obviously KB and Kenner kept expenses to a minimum by using "generic" packaging.

Same card back for whole set

No examples have turned up with any variations, figure related or packaging related. They all have warnings on the upper right and left corners.  It's just my speculation, but I bet these were produced in relatively low numbers, and/or in a very short time frame (I don't remember seeing any long before the holidays or going too far into 1997). 

10" Alien vs Predator, 1996

At this same time, Toys R Us wanted in on the late-stage Aliens action. Their entry: an awesome 10" Alien vs Predator 2-pack. This was also in celebration of the Aliens 10th Anniversary. It also lumped in the Predator 10th Anniversary as well (1987-1997). This was a really nice set, with an excellent predator rendition (reused from the prior year's 10" "Ultimate Predator").

Ultimate Predator, 1995

Ultimate Predator compared to 2-pack version 

 The bigger bonus was the alien. It might've looked odd at the time, but it turned out to be a scaled up version of the warrior alien from the then-unproduced Hive Wars line. 

Hive Warrior (L) and upscale Alien from 2-pack (R)

Hive Wars, 1998

So not only did collectors get really rare and hard to find Marine and Aliens figures, but they were treated to a totally new Alien figure in 1996!

If you're interested in collecting any of these sets, they are relatively common. Prices can vary wildly, and certain sets are easier to find then others. But not impossible.

What's more is that 2026 marks the 30th Anniversary of these figure sets. 30 years! And it's neat that it's also the 40th anniversary of Aliens. These sets were originally created in conjunction with the then 10th Anniversary of Aliens in 1996. So it's cool that these toys and the movie are sharing an anniversary together this year!

1996 was a great year. It marked the 10th anniversary of Aliens, and was commemorated with these fantastic Alien vs Marine figure sets, as well as a giant Alien vs Predator figure set. 1996 was great, indeed. 

Happy Aliens Day, 2026!

Aliens Variants Pt.6 - Alien Queen

 Her royal plastic highness!

In this article, we'll be looking into Kenner's first incarnation of the alien Queen, the Deluxe Queen Alien figure.

The figure was released in late 1992 as part of Series 1. Technically a "Deluxe" figure (as later indicated by a sticker), she did not come packed with a mini comic. She did have a chestburster though. A closer look reveals it's modeled after the queen chestburster image from the Alien³ poster.

In retrospect, it's a wild interpretation of the Queen seen in the film. It's stocky, with 3 pairs of arms, and crazy tree trunk legs. But at the time it was the best a kid could hope for. Despite its wild stylings, it looked good and had a great tail-swinging action. That secondary jaw action was awesome! 

The figure itself is not known for any variations. There is some speculation among collectors that the Queen comes in different degrees of silver and black. But definitive examples have not yet been confirmed. What can be confirmed are variations with the packaging. It came in 2 waves, on 5 distinct cards.

".00" version with warning sticker on upper right

The ".00" version has a clean graphic of the Queen on the front and no "Deluxe" sticker. On the back is the space station diorama featured on all first wave Series 1 figures (more on that here). She also has 3 different warning variations: no warning at all, a sticker warning, or a printed warning on the bottom right corner. These warning inconsistencies are common with the Series 1 figures. 

" .00" cross sell

".00" version with printed warning on bottom right

".00" version with no warnings 

By "clean graphic of the Queen", I'm referring to the fact that it's missing the red-orange highlights visible on the ".01" version.

"clean" graphic (left) & "modified" graphic (right)

The second wave of the Queen features a graphic with red-orange highlights, visible in the comparison above. The "whipping tail" action description is broken up with ellipses, and it has a standard cross sell on the back. It also has a printed warning on the bottom left corner, naturally.

".01" version

".01" cross sell

The description of the Queen on the top of the card also differs between the 2 versions; ".00" has "deadly" in quotes while the ".01" version has "chest hatchling" in quotes. Odd differential.

There are two versions of this 2nd Wave Queen, identical in all ways except that one might have a "Special Deluxe Queen " sticker on the bubble.

".01" with Deluxe sticker

These variations make sense; the earlier wave famously featured the "diorama" cross sell for greater impact in attracting kids. Additionally the Queen graphic was likely delivered as rendered, clean and unmodified. The "Attacking" description was clean and succinct, no thought given to dramatic grammar. "And" is just too wordy.

I can confidently say that this will bring the articles pertaining to variations in the Aliens line to a close. There may be updates to existing articles. There might even be a later, newer article on the subject - variants among this line may still be undiscovered!

Of course, there's plenty more to explore and examine from the other Aliens and Predator series of figures from Kenner: the KB repaints, the Alien vs Marine 2-packs, and the Hive Wars series.

Thank you for following me on this exploration.

-Me

Aliens Variants Pt.5 - Mantis

 One includes reading material, One don't...

Welcome to another installment concerning variants within the initial Kenner Aliens line. Today we explore the immensely popular lime green hunk of plastic - the Mantis Alien.

Part of Series 2, and released in late 1993 (see promo below), the Mantis was a clever recycle of the original Gorilla Alien (see the arm crushing cousins here). A few limb tweaks, cast it in translucent green and bam: an all new figure. If you notice, all Series 2 Aliens are cast in translucent plastic. I'll admit it was a neat gimmick for an already well designed line of action figures.

Let's dive right into it: there are 2 distinct versions of the Mantis figure, and it only concerns the packaging. The figure itself is identical and unchanged until it's KB repaint 3 years later. 

In the first wave of Series 2, the Mantis is packed with a mini comic (#10, " Swarm"), and is a ".00". And its pretty easy to identify by the bright red " Comic Book" banner. All Series 2 figures come with mini comics, with exception to the Flying Queen and ATAX.

Mantis - with comic

Then, in a subsequent wave, only the Mantis figure was packaged WITHOUT the mini comic. Naturally, the red  "Comic..." banner was removed. It's really obvious, as there's a gap where the red banner was originally placed. They just removed it, and printed the card as-is. It is marked ".01". 

Mantis - no comic

I remember noticing this very early in collecting. I thought it curious, and then thought nothing of it for years. Then a few years ago I thought more about it. For whatever reason, only known to Kenner at the time, the Mantis was a turning point for Series 2 and the line as a whole. That turn? Away from a pack-in mini comic. Interestingly, the Mantis comic isn't the "last" comic (that belongs to the 1993 Alien vs Predator 2-Pack comic #13 "The Ultimate Battle").

It has been my opinion (speculation?) that this is about the same period as the intended release of the Vasquez Trio. I believe they were originally intended to be part of Series 2, but were delayed for various reasons (and ultimately only released outside the US). But here's why I think they were intended to come out as part of Series 2: 

If you really look, the Trio card art is unlike any of the others in the entire line. Their card art is not like any of Series 2 or 3, but more like Series 1. Look at the smoke color & style, description placements, and the Alien head/mouth and logo placement. Additionally, no mini comic, just like all later Series 3 figures. But their cross sell on the back is only Series 1 & 2 figures. And they're dated "1992". To add to the pile: all three of the Trio are mentioned in Series 2 mini comics along with the Panther, Crab, and Rhino. So at the very least, Kenner thought of them being released as part of Series 2. Odd indeed (read more about it here).

So it's with this theory that I posit that the Mantis was the transition figure, ending the first wave of Series 2 and ultimately ending the mini comics. The next wave of Series 2 figures were the Mantis, Panther & Crab, and are all without comics. And then all of Series 3 are without comics as well. 

I'd like to point out that other than the 2-pack, all the Predator figures (late 1993) are without comics. This lines up with the late Aliens Series 2 (1993/1994) and eventual Aliens Series 3 figures (1994) not including mini comics (See on the back the Vasquez Trio featured alongside the Panther & Crab aliens?)

On the cross-sells there's no evidence of the comic or non-comic version. Just look and you'll see the second wave/no comic version is the same as the mini comic version (see below).

Thank you for joining me. How'd I do?

-Me

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