Kenner Predator

 The Hunt Is On!

As we slow down with articles on Aliens variants, this may be a good time to introduce the sister line to Kenner Aliens - Kenner Predator figures!

Naturally, Kenner expanded their Aliens line to include the fearsome interstellar hunters. As successfully demonstrated by a number of crossovers from Dark Horse comics, Kenner made the right choice in bringing them to retail. There was a total of 11 figures & a vehicle, across 3 series, from 1993 to 1994. 

Of course, it's interesting to note that though they're part of the same "toy universe", they are distinctly their own line. Otherwise they would've simply been packaged and sold on "Aliens" cards. You can read more here about lines, waves, etc. 

Semantics aside, any discussion of Kenner Aliens toys can include Predator figures, and vice versa.

The very start of this line had 3 offerings: Scavage Predator, Cracked Tusk Predator, and the Alien vs Predator 2-pack (with Renegade Predator and Warrior Alien, naturally).  This is Series 1. 

Let's start with the 2-pack. This was the start to the line as well as the crossover. It came with a mini comic with the whole story of the Predators and their hunt of the Aliens. It introduced Cracked Tusk, Scavage, and Renegade.  This was the only mini comic with a Predator figure, as no other Predator figures had one. More info here on all the other mini comics from the Aliens toyline. 

It's interesting that there's an Alien vs Predator "crossover " set,  but further Aliens figures remained under the "Aliens" banner and all other Predator figures were from the "Predator" line, not "Alien vs Predator". 

Version ".00" vs ".01" cross sell

The Cracked Tusk and Savage Predator also debuted in this mini comic. It's fun to see that Cracked Tusk is the "leader" not Renegade, the more movie accurate figure.

I always preferred the Cracked Tusk over Scavage.

Cracked Tusk ( ".00" vs ".01")

Other than the 2 card backs above (Last Three Marines vs No Marines), the Cracked Tusk has no other variations.

The Scavage, however, has a well known figure variation.

The light green & dark green version (see below). 

Light Green vs Dark Green

Light green was the earlier release, part of Wave 1.  He was changed to a darker green midway thru the first wave. Some dark green Scavage Predator figures do feature the last 3 Marines, so light green and dark green were both among Wave 1. Perhaps a running change. Why? Who knows? If only I could chat with the designers from this line!

The only packaging variants with any of these Series 1 Predator figures concern the cross sell on the back. All Wave 1 Predator figures featured the last three Marines. All Wave 2 cross sells removed them and filled the slot with "Deluxe" Aliens. 

Scavage cross sell variants

What's interesting is the blade fighter vehicle, which was featured in the mini comic but wasn't featured on any packaging until series 3 Predator figures (Lava Planet & Nightstorm ), as well as final series Aliens figures (Arachnid, Night Cougar). Odd indeed.

The Hunt Continues!

Next article: Series 2 Predator figures 

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