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!

Aliens Mini Dropship

 Not quite the Dropship from Aliens

So one of the most iconic vehicles from Aliens was the Dropship. It's introduction was fantastic; dropping from the Sulaco into orbit of LV-426, deploying it's missile pods and circling the complex, dropping the APC, and even it's fantastic escape from the atmospheric processor explosion. A fantastic vehicle design. 

Kenner came close to giving us that vehicle as a toy, but it was ultimately cancelled (more on that topic another time). It looked amazing. Dang!

(Kenner 1993 NY Toy Fair From YouTube)

But Kenner did give us something like it...sort of...kinda: the Mini Dropship, with drop-and-lock wings! It's a mini version of the Dropship (not really). Slated for 1993, it was seen in cross sells on many late Series 2 Aliens & early Predator figures. 

Kenner never released this vehicle for the Aliens line. It made it as far as box samples (more than 1 is a guess), with stickers and packaging and all. It was nixed. The toy itself was eventually released under Kenner's VR Troopers toy line in 1994/95. Despite rumors, it was never released at retail under the Aliens line. A boxed specimen DID pop on eBay around 2005. I remember that auction. I did not win. Not even close...

Many people customize the VR Troopers version to make their own Aliens Mini DropShip. The VR Troopers version isn't particularly expensive or hard to come by. 

This would've been a neat little vehicle. And since it was small, it would've had a low price-point at retail. But by '93 Kenner shifted focus on just the creatures so any humans & vehicles were ditched for more monsters. Oh well.

Thank you for reading.

**Check out another write up on the topic from collector Phil Wlodarczyk;

 Hideous Plastic

Predator KB repaints

 Different...but the same!

So way back in 1996, KB Toys reissued a number of Kenner Aliens & Predator figures in new colors. This was a common practice with KB; release figures in new color schemes or with new accessories exclusively thru their stores. They were famous for it with the Toy Biz Marvel/comic book action figures. By the late 90's every major action figure line had some sort of KB Exclusive. Toys R Us had exclusives as well, but nothing like KB.

Today we're looking at not the Kenner Aliens but rather the Kenner Predator line. These figures were the sister line to the Aliens line of figures ( the topic of lines, series, etc. will be discussed in the future). Originally released in 1993 thru 1994, the Predator line consisted of a total of 10 figures: Cracked Tusk, Scavage, Stalker, Spiked Tail, Night Storm, Lava Planet, Renegade, Ambush, Lasershot, and Clan Leader ( 3 were repaints already before the KB exclusives - Lava Planet, Night Storm, and Ambush). 

More Aliens and Predator figures were planned for 1995, under the banner of Hive Wars, but Kenner cancelled the line before then. KB was very good at moving product, so they bought and sold all remaining inventories of the Aliens and Predator figures. In fact, KB was able to convince Kenner that there was still money to be made with these lines and worked with them to make exclusive figures for 1996 thru 1998!

In 1996, KB offered up 4 repaints: Scavage, Stalker, Spiked Tail, and Renegade predators. Three of them having names starting with "s" is kinda weird... Anyway, obviously Lasershot was nixed (batteries? Too expensive!), as well as Clan Leader (integrated moving parts? Denied!) Part of KB's strategy was always cost mitigation. I'm surprised that they still included Scavage & Stalker predator's weapons with springs and string and what not. But nonetheless, some of these repaints worked really well. 

My favorite was the green Stalker, with the purple Renegade a close 2nd place. Worst color choice was the flesh colored Scavage predator. He looked horrendous, like a Predator albino.

For the past 20 odd years, these figures were fairly common and inexpensive. Or so I thought. I recently started trying to collect carded samples and I have to tell you: these do not come up for sale! They have been extremely hard to find, and when they do come up the prices are crazy (relatively speaking). Thank god I still have my original loose figures. Same for the Aliens repaints, though they seem a wee bit more common. Needless to say, these are RARE! 12 months and I've seen just one Spiked Tail repaint.

I remember when I was younger that many of the Aliens & Predator figures were easily found at KB Toys, especially towards 1994-95. I even purchased my Queen Hive from a KB Toys.

In addition to these Predator figure repaints, KB also did a few different runs of Aliens repaints:  individual Aliens figures, the amazing Alien vs Marine 2-packs, as well as the amazing Aliens: Hive Wars figures! 

If it wasn't for KB Toys showing how strong the Aliens & Predator lines could be, our collections would be much smaller today. No repaints, no Hive Wars. Not even a goofy 12" Alien vs Hicks 2-pack.

Thank you, KB TOYS.