Only 144 exist!
FALSE!
Released in 1993, 3 new Marine figures were planned to be part of Series 2 (along with the new Aliens figures) and included; Vasquez, Hudson, and O'Malley. I do remember seeing them on the cross-sell, but never at the stores. Their costumes were really bright and goofy, supposedly to gain attention on the pegs. The most memorable bit was Vasquez's pulse rifle, a perfect copy of one in the movie. I never met anyone that had any of these Marines as a kid. Supposedly no one got these three figures until 1996 when they were re-released in the KB Exclusive Alien vs Marine 2-packs. Their card art is a bit odd compared to other series 2 art. (Read more about the different series & card variations here).
So, I think there needs to be some clarification on these particular figures. For many years little has been known about Vasquez, Hudson, and O'Malley (I've dubbed them the Vasquez Trio). There have been various claims about ANY versions of the figures;
-they were never released in the US
-they were only available as prototypes and never sold at retail
-they were only released overseas, as UK Exclusives
-they were sent back to the China factory where they were all destroyed, except for 12 cases of each Marine
Back in the day, Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review only had them listed as "NCSR" (No Current Sales Record) or as "UK Exclusive". Tomart's Action Figure Digest on multiple occasions claimed that they were never available in the US. However, a later issue in Tomart's claimed that KB bought out all remaining stock of these three Marines and liquidated them late in the line's run. This was in support of the overall product line and led to the KB exclusive Alien vs Marine 2-packs.
Seeing these figures in the Euro packaging was the only time I'd ever personally seen them carded, and only in magazine ads, and rarely if that. So for years I assumed they were only released in Europe, never in the U.S.
Online sites and sources also always described them as "Overseas only" releases. And again, the only carded versions pictured were the European ones. No pics of them on US cards. So that should have been the end it. Those three Marines were only released overseas.
Then, out of nowhere, around 2005, a whole set found their way onto eBay. And these were RARE, because these weren't the usual Euro carded versions: they were US card versions, never before seen. Wow. I was very lucky to have grabbed them. I don't remember what the story was from the seller, though I don't recall anything specifically dramatic. The listing wasn't presented with too much fanfare or fuss. But after that everything changed: US card styles DO EXIST!
For the next few years more would pop up. Not a lot, but a few times a year. And not always all 3, sometimes just one of the three. Scarce, but they exist!
Most common: O'Malley. In fact, I picked up another O'Malley a year or two after buying all 3.
Rare: Vasquez. After my set, I didn't see another for a few years. In the last 15 years I would say that I've seen about 12...give or take. So less than 1/per year (very speculative, no real data to support that math).
Rarest: Hudson. Other than the one from my initial set in '05, I've only ever seen maybe 4-5 since then.
So these figures WERE released on US cards. But it's still tough to determine if any were actually sold in the US. I haven't seen any with price stickers from any American retailer (I have seen ones with price stickers from Malaysia/Philippines, and Australia retailers).
To add to this, I've seen photos online of collections with loose Vasquez/Hudson/O'Malley figures. Yes, I know they could've been obtained from overseas, or from comic shops, or online, etc. So loose pieces are not proof of US sales.
Then I noticed something with one of my O'Malleys: he had the "Mail Away Predator" sticker on the front. In short, those stickers are ONLY on US figures released at US retail. The details on those offers state "open to US residents only...etc" (they did do the same mail-away promotion overseas but not with a sticker).
So these WERE sold in the US, or at least planned; even if they're packed and ready to ship from the factories, they still might not be ordered for US retail. It's well documented that by the first year, retailers didn't want more human characters but instead more creatures. So these US carded figures, ready for delivery, maybe never made it to the US in the end (OR, as I believe, a small quantity did get ordered & delivered to certain US retailers).
Then there are the Fan Wikis. There's one in particular that claims that the US carded versions were only shipped to the Pacific market (Australia, Southeast Asia) after US retailers refused to order ANY human figures. And that there exists only 12 cases of each figure total (which would put the total amount of these figures at 144 of each). What's funny is those exact details were pulled right from an eBay listing that was selling the Vasquez trio. I remember that one. Such a specific claim with zero sources.
There's a document that came to light in 2022: an internal audit from Hasbro that put together all the sales numbers of many of the Kenner/Hasbro products from the 1970's thru 1995. And on that, from 1992 to 1995, Aliens had a total sale of 44,000 units (suffice to say this particular document doesn't account for the KB repaints, Alien vs Marine 2-packs, or Hive Wars series). Very interesting but otherwise incomplete data, but Hey, better than just guessing & pulling numbers out of thin air! That amount also accounts for the figure from 1979 as well, with 1,651 units sold between 1979 & 1980. We'll subtract that for our calculations below.
I also don't know if they included in that number all sales of Predator figures. It's very likely they did, so we'll include them. We'll use 3 years, as only part of 1992 and part of 1995 had sales of these figures, so we'll combine them into 1. And we'll count 42 distinct figures for the Aliens & Predator line.
Upon further reading, the audit is not individual product sales but instead product shipments. And figures are not shipped individually but in cases. So, that's 12 figures per case, which puts the math at: 12 figures/case X 40,980 cases = 491,760 individual figures. Equally distributed over 3 years, that's a total of 163,920 figures/year (including vehicles). That's 12,294 of each character.
That math assumes the same figures shipped every year for 3 years, but that's not reality. Over 3 years some figures only existed the last year of manufacturing while others might've been manufactured and shipped all 3 years. Those specifics are unknown. But we have some general facts we can use, like release years, that *might* help generate a better number.
Generally, you could assume that Hudson/Vasquez/O'Malley were manufactured and delivered at least once, in one year, in the United States. But let's try to go further; the Trio makes up 3/42 of the entire 491,760. And the unit numbers for '93 thru '95 are 288,276//179,100//4,980 (quite the decline). That means there should exist 33,536 of the Vasquez Trio in US packaging. That's 11,178 of each. Far more than the alleged " 144 of each". Let's say half of those were sold and opened by kids, leaving 5,589.
This is my take on the matter. I acknowledge it's still speculative, but it makes more sense that there were small batches sold at retail in the U.S. I refuse to accept that all were destroyed or shipped exclusively overseas but for only 432 in the whole world. Does that 432 include the US cards sold in Australia & southeast Asia? I don't know, but I bet the Hasbro memo is for domestic sales only.
Key takeaways;
- likely far more than 144 of each figure exist on US cards.
- US versions of these figures were likely sold at retail in the U.S., but in very, very, very low numbers. My position is that there could have been at least a total of 1,863 of each of the Trio.
Are these figures rare? Absolutely. But they're not " only 432 exist" rare. They're definitely more than that. For reference,
Thank you for reading.
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