Kenner Bloopers

 Kenner Aliens Bloopers, Errors, & Mistakes

From time to time, you may come across a figure that seems off. Maybe they're missing an accessory in their package? Maybe the card has a misprint? Maybe the figure is missing a limb? Producing 100's of action figures per day (per hour?) invites the chance for a mistake to happen. 

I honestly have not seen a lot of figure errors in this line. I think that might be a testament to quality control standards of both Kenner and their 3rd party affiliates. As I always mention, I've been collecting these figures for over 25 years. Maybe I had seen an error of some kind in passing, but nothing comes to mind. Not saying there aren't any. Just that I can't recall many. 

I did find one as recent as last year, and it was long after I had originally purchased this particular figure. Below you will see what appears to be a regular Aliens Scorpion alien figure. Seems perfectly fine. Correct label, correct card. Figure is intact within the bubble; has his facehugger, his mini-comic, and all his limbs intact. 

But look again. Look at his mini comic.

 That. Is. Not. His. Comic. Upon close inspection you can see that the mini-comic is for the Mantis alien. Ugh! Ruined! 

Dang it Kenner, I vouched for you. You made me look foolish. 

I actually don't mind the error. It was pretty amusing when I found it. Interestingly, the fact that this series 1 figure came packed with a series 2 figure comic just demonstrates that this figure was continued in conjunction with series 2 figures. The scorpion  alien was released in a subsequent '93 wave after its initial release in late 1992 (more details on the waves & series for this line are coming soon). 

This O'Malley figure (below) is a good example of an error. Not only is the US card version of this figure *extremely* rare, but having him slapped onto a Hudson card is even more rare! Or is this a Hudson card with an O'Malley figure erroneously slapped on? All about perspective on this one. 

Its been suggested that this particular figure is not an error but perhaps a pre production sample; to demonstrate how the figure will look & function on a card in its blister. There are no Kenner notations or markings on the particular figure, so I can neither confirm nor deny that it's a pre-pro sample.

Here's a classic mix-up; figures packed upside down!. This is definitely a factory error, making it's way into the wild. These are rare but do happen.

Thanks for reading! Have any errors or mistake figures for this line? Post it! Share it! Let us see! 

( I realize this was a particularly short read. I'm trying to put together more posts for the near future. So stay tuned.) 

Kenner Aliens from Japan

Nomura Kenner Aliens (Japan, 1992-1994)

Happy Aliens Day! Happy LV-426 Day! 

*Updated 5/26*

Kenner Aliens are a substantial action figure line from the 1990's. Maybe not a giant product line like Batman or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or even Jurassic Park. But they were a respectable line. It was large & popular enough that sales of the figures were global; the US, Europe, Canada, and even Japan had their own package designs & variants. 

The lesser known of these variations of the Kenner Aliens line are the figures released in Japan. Distributed by Nomura, these figure card backs are wild to say the least. And they are perhaps the rarest versions in this line. I've only seen each figure listed below 2 times in my 25 years of collecting (some only once!). 

What's really fun about these Japanese variations is the inconsistencies with their packaging. You'll see them below; some are regular US card backs with Japanese stickers on the back, others have no Japanese text, while others are full Japanese printed text throughout, but some are a combination of both.

It was in the middle of my collecting years that I first encountered a Japanese text Kenner Alien. It was the Flying Queen. At the time, I didn't know if the text was Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. But it was legit, not a forgery or bootleg toy. A few years following that purchase I found a Nomura Swarm Alien. It was an extremely lucky find, as I had not seen any other Japanese Kenner Aliens figure. To be honest, I had a lot of free time and would sift thru literally hundreds of eBay pages. My search keyword? " alien figure". Oof. But that's how it's done; put in the time.

Despite diligent eBay monitoring, it would be another 10 years before I saw any more Nomura figures. I would sometimes search "Kenner Aliens" auctions only available in Japan, or sometimes they'd pop up in UK auctions. I've managed to nail the search process down nowadays.

In the last few years I been very lucky in acquiring more Nomura Aliens figures. And they are never cheap, but not because of sellers trying to rip anyone off. It's due to the high exchange rate. Add to that a very high shipping cost and you can expect a single Nomura figure from Japan to cost about $40-$60 when said & done. 

Here's a list of Nomura figures I have seen;

-Scorpion
-Gorilla 
-Queen 
-Ripley 

-Drake 
-Rhino 
-Queen Facehugger 
-Snake 

-Flying Queen

-Panther 
-Crab
-Swarm 
-King 
-Arachnid 
-Queen Hive Playset 
- Alien vs Predator 2-pack

Now, just because I haven't seen any others doesn't mean they don't exist. I'd safely assume that there does exist a Bull alien, and a Mantis, and Apone, Hicks, Bishop, and the rest. But then again, maybe not? I have also seen vehicles; Stinger & the EVAC fighter.

There are Nomura Predator figures too, but I just don't feel like having them in this post. Plus I haven't been seeking them out, so I can't offer as much opinion on them than as with the Aliens figures.

What further complicates collecting these variants is the fact that some figures had no special text, or stickers, or anything else to differentiate then from their US or European counterpart. Some figures were simply sold in Japan as-is. A perfect example is the 12" Alien vs Predator set. I've seen that offered from Japan a few times (3?), and it's straight up US box. Exactly the same, unaltered. Maybe it's not an import though? Maybe it's simply from a Japanese collector who bought a US 12" Alien vs Predator. You just can't be too sure.

See for yourself these awesome and wild packaging variants.

Thanks for reading, enjoy this lovely Holiday!

***UPDATE: 5/3 - HUGE thanks to expert collector Daniel Pin, we have added photos of more Nomura carded Aliens & Predator figure (see below). Thanks Dan!***