Aliens Bio Data cards

 Kenner Aliens Bio Data Cards - Full Set

Collect 'em! Trade 'em! Sort 'em!

When released for the European markets, Kenner came up with a nifty bonus for each figure: trading cards, with character data on the back& and awesome photos on the front. These trading cards were only available with the European release of figures and so are hard to come by nowadays. The US figures also came with BioData cards, but only for series 1, and had to be cut out (technically, they were wave 2 of Series 1. Wave 1 had no BioData info on the back but rather an incredible Aliens diorama). Check these things out below:

Every figure came with a separate, front & back filled trading card. All of series 1 figures have the same BioData image & info as their US counterpart. Each figure after series 1 has BioData cards ONLY if they were released in Europe. 

                                  

What's really fun about these are the detailed & cool looking photos of each figure. Similar to the first wave of series 1 US card backs, each figure is depicted in an "Aliens" environment, with metal grates, smoke, pipes, and dramatic lighting! Kenner Aliens figures never looked better. 

The numbering goes a bit off rail with some numbers being shared between 2 figures (Wild Boar & Panther, the Crab alien & the Night Cougar, as well as the Queen and the Alien vs Predator 2-Pack). Note: the King, the AvP 2-pack, and the Swarm do have BioData info, but it's printed on their card backs rather than being a separate trading card. 

Even more interesting is the Arachnid alien (yup, that guy again). This figure has no European-specific release as far as its packaging is concerned. Its not even on the cross-sells on the back of other figures. BUT, like all of the other figures, he was indeed photographed with a background just like the other BioData cards. In all the European Kenner sales catalogs, the Arachnid is featured in that same background. (see below)

So we could've had an Arachnid BioData card, had they made a European specific product. This is further evidence that either no one in Europe ordered this wacky xeno, OR this particular xeno was soooo late in the line, that even if it was ordered, it was too late to create any European market-specific version with BioData card (i.e., kids in Europe simply got an Arachnid on a US card). 

Here's the King, AvP 2-pack, and Swarm from the same catalog! Love that background. 

These were really cool bonuses for the figures, especially since none of the series 1 figures did not come with a mini Comic. And the photos really brought the figures to life. Whoever handled these photo shoots really nailed it. Check out their promo shot below. Absolutely stunning.

Thanks for reading! And I know the image layout is weird. I couldn't figure it out, and so I gave up. Sorry.