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. This is in keeping with Series 1.
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| 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".
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| 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 the Vasquez Trio featured with 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