Aliens Red Gorilla!

 Blue...Purple...Red?!?

Kenner's Aliens line of figures is filled with tons of variations, changes, repaints, and more. Most of it well known and documented ( least of all documented here on my blog). 

Over 20 years of collecting, and I'm still discovering new things about this action figure line. Just previously I discovered the text changes on two figures' packaging here & here! So there's always the possibility that a detail or change or whatever was unknown for quite some time. Perfect example: the flying Queen alien was only released with an orange egg graphic behind it on it's Euro card back...or so I thought! It wasn't until 2014 that I came across a carded version with a GREEN egg graphic! Who knew? Not me, and I've never seen or heard of it before that. But there you go...you never know.

So I don't personally know when this rumor started or how long it's persisted. I only learned of it a few years ago. 

The "Red" Gorilla 

At first, I was super excited. A new Gorilla figure? How rare? I've never seen it before in over 25 years of collecting Kenner Aliens! It was...huge. That is, until I looked closer at the image presented. It's the ONLY image in existence of it too. Nowhere else.

Being optimistic, I first suspected it was just an anomaly of lighting, photograph angle, plastic reflection, etc. that made parts look red. But further examination shows it's manipulated. The red "bleeds" into non figure areas. Not by much, and they did a decent job of tracing the figure parts, but you can see it's clearly a red overlay. Just opaque enough to read as a color but not too thick to look like a poor Photoshop job. 

No one has come forward with any other info, even the poster from the original website. No additional photos, no explanation. Nuthin. 

And I'm always scouring eBay; Nada. 

With an already released purple Gorilla, why do another? The KB repaints were a last gasp to squeeze money out of the line. Even if they were to do a 2nd repaint, why red when you already have a bright red Bull repaint? I don't think they would've done a primary color twice in the same line.

It's a shame too. I'm all about discovering new and odd things in this line. But the red gorilla? It's not so...

Other notable Kenner Aliens myths & untruths

- Mini DropShip was produced but was super rare: so this is an oldie, and it's more about the difficulty of getting accurate info back in the '90's. For a long time, publications like Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review would list this in their price guide, with " NCSR" (" No Current Sales Record"). " If it's listed it must be out there, right?" Over time, it was removed as it became clear this vehicle was never released, retail or elsewhere.

- Hudson, Vasquez, & O'Malley were never released in the US, and the few on US cards were nearly destroyed by Kenner before being dumped in Asia and Australia: simply not true, but due to the rarity, and at the time small Internet, this rumor gained a lot of traction. Ample evidence has shown that these 3 were in fact released in the states, albeit in extremely limited supply.

- Hudson/Vasquez/O'Malley were UK exclusives ONLY!: nope.

- Arachnid alien was a KB exclusive: nah, just KB was the only big retailer to stick with the line and order more figures at the end on '94.

- Drake was going to come in a new costume, as seen in the card back: this one is tricky. There are card backs that feature a Drake with a maroon colored torso. I've only seen it on European card backs, but there has been some speculation that it was the prototype of a planned 2nd Series Drake, perhaps with new accessories/etc (early Series 1 Euro card backs show the normal Drake, it's the later figures that show this different version).

 Nothing has been confirmed, and most agree that it's more likely a photograph of a different prototype. As I've written about before, most of the product photography was different for the European figures (card back, catalogs, etc). So there's a high probability that when it came time to photograph a Drake, that was the figure they had on hand, and it was a different color from the early development of the line.

If you know of any old Kenner Aliens & Predator rumors, let me know!

Thanks for reading.

- 

Aliens Variants: Pt.2 - Crab Alien

Card Variations 

This is the second article concerning specific card variations for the Kenner Aliens line. Today we explore the Crab Alien from series 2!

*(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 KB toys) or the Euro carded versions. Those are simply a separate series in their own right)*

The Crab Alien was introduced mid to late 1993, as part of series 2 (more on the series & wave breakdowns here).

There are 2 wave changes with this card back ( .00 & .02). Don't ask me why there's no ".01", I don't know. Some of the numbering is sequential, some of it is...not. 

A not so obvious variant is a recent one I discovered: placement of the " with dual launching chestbusters!" ( similar to the Panther alien in Part 1)

There are 2 versions (see below).

You can see that one has the "with dual launching..." lined up under "action figure", under the Aliens tag, which puts a portion of the phrase under the figure bubble (left photo). In the 2nd version, they moved it up, in line with "action figure", clear of the bubble. The "corrected" version is the ".02" card (right photo). I believe it might've been that low intentionally because they didn't want the cool graphic covered with text.

I think it's safe to say the change was made so the phrase wasn't obstructed by the figure bubble. In this instance the first version was soooo low on the card. Neither version has any warning for "small parts", printed or sticker.

Only other differences are the back of the card in the cross-sell: 

version .00

version .02

Version ".00" features the last three Marines, while ".02" lacks them , with three deluxe Aliens in their spot (Queen, Flying Queen, and ATAX). This is common among most Series 2 figures, with early card backs ( .00 & .01) featuring the last, rare three Marines, and with later card backs (.02) dropping them, as well as other Marines, to focus on just Aliens & Predators. They still include Marine vehicles...for the Predators to use, I guess.

It's important to remember that this line had a lot of elements that needed to happen within 2 years, while staff & personal at Kenner were also working on other lines. So errors like this are easy to miss initially.

In the end, they managed to put out a very cool action figure line.

Stay tuned, there might be a Part 3!

Aliens Variants: Pt.1 - Panther

  Cards, Figures, Etc.

Good day. Sorry it's been a while. How are you?

In this series of write ups, I'm going to explore and document individual Aliens figure variations. These will include card art, figure colors, packaging errors, and anything else of note. 

I will not be diving into the 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 KB toys) or the Euro carded versions. Those are simply a separate series in their own right. 

Part 1: Panther Alien

The Panther Alien was introduced in mid to late 1993, part of series 2 (more on the series & wave breakdowns here).

There are 2 wave changes with this card back ( .00 & .02, respectfully). Don't ask me why there's no ".01", I don't know. Some of the numbering is sequential, some of it is...not. 

A not so obvious variant is a recent one I discovered: placement of the " with flying attack parasite!"

There are 2 variations (see below).

You can see that one has the "with flying..." lined up with the "A", which puts a portion of the phrase under the figure bubble (lower photo). In the 2nd version, they moved it up, in line between the "A" & "L", clear of the bubble. The "corrected" version is the ".02" card (top photo).

I think it's safe to say the change was made so the phrase wasn't obstructed by the figure bubble. But why not do it right the first time? Also, neither has any warning for "small parts" on the card. 

Only other differences are the back of the card in it's cross-sell: 

Version ".00" features last three Marines, while ".02" lacks them , with three deluxe Aliens in their spot (Queen, Flying Queen, and ATAX).

I've been working the past year on trying to accurately organize the series for this toy line. With help from some wonderful collectors, it became apparent how crazy and rushed the production of these toys was.

Think about it; launched in late 1992, and ultimately fizzled by late 1994. That's a solid 2 years of conceptualizing, designing, pitching, sculpting, finalizing, packaging, manufacturing , and shipping. Each figure takes at least 4 months. And Kenner at the time was right in the middle of Jurassic Park, multiple lines for Batman (Dark Knight, Animated, Legends), and prepping for their Star Wars relaunch. Add to that Kenner's random licenses (WaterWorld, Congo) They were busy guys & gals! So some things are going to get overlooked I guess.

Despite all that they managed to put out a pretty cool toy line in the end.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Alien Day 2023

 Kenner's first figure (1979)

Let's take a moment to acknowledge the figure that started it all. The 1979 Alien figure. I could try to tell you the whole story, but that's better told over at Hideous Plastic by Philip Wlodarczyk, an expert on this figure.

Laying the groundwork for future action figures based on horrific creatures.

Happy Alien Day to all!

Aliens Toy Commercials (Dioramas Pt.3)

 They're Unstoppable!

So continuing on the topic of dioramas and backdrops for the Aliens line, today we're examining the television commercials.

The backgrounds/sets were awesome to say the least. It's one thing to see the background featured on the back of the packaging. But now we're seeing it live! Moving! In action!

Again, these were wonderful sets, kudos to these creatives. You know they had fun building & lighting these ads (I'm sure there was one person on the team who couldn't care less, it was a job like any other). Man, I would've loved that job. I was born 15 years too late.

An interesting fact is that Kenner originally planned to do the ads with animation. The character sheets & studies that exist on the internet are from this abandoned concept. These animations were NOT from a cancelled animated cartoon. Never happened. Fox shot the idea down from the very beginning.

As Kenner explored integrating live action footage of the figures with animated segments, they ultimately decided to go 100% live action. 

There were these initial 5 ads. The later 2 did not feature cool space colony backgrounds but rather nature/jungle settings, fitting for the newly introduced Predator figures at that time.

The commercial featuring series 2 figures is the craziest; a live-action Apone confronts a "full size" flying queen! Who made that puppet? Where is it now? That would be an awesome piece to own.

It's a great special effect too. Very high production value for a toy ad. 

My favorite ad when I was younger was the one that featured the Queen Hive playset. I remember the day, where I was. I remember seeing it and just being floored. At 10, at that very moment, I knew that my purpose on this Earth was to obtain that toy. I had to have it (and I did that following February!) That figure was spot-on in movie likeness. My absolute favorite figure of all time.

Thank you for reading. Here's the link to all the videos, check them out!

All Kenner Aliens commercials

"Yo Hicks!"

Aliens Dioramas Pt.2

 Euro Style!

Following up on my last post about the awesome cross sell diorama on the back of Kenner Aliens figures, here's some more juicy deep-space scenery. Take a look below!

For whatever reason, it's only in the European sales catalogs that there are additional photos of figures in space scenery.

It could be related to the fact that it's also only the European release of the line that each figure came with a trading card. In each of those photos, the figures are set against some dark wires, grating and pipes, & with dynamic lighting. A bit less atmospheric, a little more staged, a bit more "studio lighting" style. Still, they look great.

It must only be the Kenner European office that set up these photo shoots, as these specific images don't appear in any US/English promotional material. The cross sells on the back are the normal layout, however. None of the Euro version card backs feature the same diorama as the ones from my earlier post.

I would have loved to have worked at that photo studio or advertising agency. Dang.

Thank you for reading about action figure photography & packaging design.

Youpi les extraterrestres de Kenner ! De nouveau!

Aliens Series 1 cardback

 Can we talk about that awesome Aliens diorama?

In the fall of 1992, Kenner released their Aliens line of action figures. In addition to the amazing detailing and awesome packaging design, the first wave of Series 1 figures featured an epic diorama on the back of the packaging.

It's seriously awesome. From the actual detail to the lighting, this was the perfect way to present these incredible action figures. I was always jealous of that setup. Years later NECA did a faithfull recreation of that diorama for their Kenner Tribute figures! 

I started thinking about that diorama. For a cross-sell on the back of packaging, this was above & beyond what was normally done at the time. Even big action figure lines of that era didn't have big detailed backgrounds on their cross-sells ( it's true some did have elaborate photos in catalogs and such, but not on packaging).

Kenner really went all out. First they pushed their sculpting & detailing, and then their card art was perhaps the sharpest at the time, then Kenner added clever action features (especially with the creatures), THEN they had great accessories, AND THEN they came with mini comic books. Sold yet? Wait! They then put their figures in a super detailed & atmospheric space station setting, with grates and pipes and airlocks. WOW.

They did it again with their Hive Wars line in 1998. This diorama is obviously a bit rushed & sloppy, but it's still a diorama!

Look at some of the other figure lines from the same era. And these are way bigger properties, comparatively. Jurassic Park, Batman, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men/Marvel characters. They all have roughly the same style of cross-sells on the card backs. 

I only found 2 exceptions; 

Playmates' Skeleton Warriors line, c.1993. On their figure cross-sell, the figures are in some desert/mountain setting, with an ominous sky and smoke. Very stylish. But even with Playmates extensive TMNT & Star Trek lines, they only did a visual diorama once on a cross-sell. Interesting.

And Toy Biz's Batman line from 1990. Just a simple nighttime rooftop with skyscrapers in the background. Very cool, and very fitting for the 1990 companion film.      

All things considered, Kenner really wanted this line to grab people's attention. Suffice it to say "mission accomplished ". The line was successful by any metric. Short lived but a success. 

It's only those early Series 1 card backs that feature this diorama. All subsequent waves and series figures had the simpler and more traditional cross sell layout.

(*All of the Predator figures from Kenner feature the standard layout as well. No cool Predator diorama. Can you imagine?*)

Thanks for reading! Go Kenner Aliens!

Check out Part 2 of Aliens Dioramas!