APONE & WARRIOR ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

After a little bit of a wait, the first wave of Aliens Minimates has finally found its way to all the various Minimate retailers. Things started off with a bang with heavy hitters Ripley and Hicks, but the rest of Wave 1 is decidedly a bit more low-key on character selection. Today, let’s look at Apone, the most prominent of the also-rans, as he faces off against one of the movie’s titular creatures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Apone and the Warrior Alien are part of the specialty release of Aliens Minimates Series 1. Apone seems to be remaining exclusive to this set, but the Alien is sure to turn up elsewhere (and kind of already has…)

SGT. APONE

“Where’s Apone?” Here’s Apone. The ill-fated Marine Sergeant isn’t a stranger to toys (though he hasn’t had quite as many as other Aliens characters), but this is the first, and likely only, appearance of the character as a Minimate. He’s presented here in his standard Colonial Marine armor, which is nice for consistency’s sake, though he’s probably the one Marine in the movie who gets most of his key scenes before suiting up. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Apone features sculpted add-ons for his helmet, chest armor, and boots/shin guards. These pieces are the same ones we saw on both Hicks and Weirzbowski. It’s standard issue armor, so that certainly makes sense. The pieces are still impressively sculpted and quite accurate to the source material. Like Hicks, Apone’s shoulder lamp is removable. He isn’t seen without it, but it’s nice to have the option. The issue with the hair on the back of the helmet is a little more obvious here, given how close cropped Apone’s hair is supposed to be, but it’s relatively easy to overlook. Apone’s paintwork is decent overall, but there are a few glaring issues. I’ve already addressed the shade of the armor, so I won’t get into that again. The armor does have a few other issues, though. The black areas are a little sloppy, and his name on the front of his torso is off-center and a little angled. He also has the same issue with the misaligned helmet camo that Hicks had, so it seems that wasn’t a one-off. Under the armor, the figure is very well detailed. His uniform’s camo extends all around the torso, however, it’s still absent from the under sides of the arms and the backs of the legs. He has an assortment of insignias running down his sleeves. They’re well-defined, however, his Marine patch actually says USMC instead of the proper USCM. It’s a minor thing, especially given the size, but it’s still not right. Apone features a pretty great likeness of actor Al Matthews, and his hair is painted onto the basic headpiece, so as to replicate its close-cropped nature. This does leave him with an exposed peg hole, however, DST has provided a few solutions to that. Sgt. Apone includes a baseball cap, a standard issue pulse rifle, a facehugger, and a clear display stand. Apone sports the hat in most of his early scenes, so it’s good to see it here, and it provides a way to show him sans helmet, without showing off the peg hole on the head. We never actually see Apone with a facehugger, but it’s implied, and I certainly won’t turn down another opportunity to get a facehugger.

WARRIOR ALIEN

It wouldn’t be much of an Aliens toyline without a few of those pesky Xenomorphs, now would it? After being the big focus of the single-packed figures, it looks like the different varieties of aliens are finding their way into the two-packs as well. The Warrior Alien is, in essence, the same figure as the single packed Alien Warrior. It stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. The Warrior Alien has sculpted add-on pieces for the torso, head, hands, tail, and feet. This is the same selection of parts from the Alien Warrior, but that’s hardly an issue. These pieces are quite well sculpted, and the aliens should look the same anyway. The closed mouth is a little more open here than it was on the previous release, which adds some variety, I guess. The paint is about the same as the last release. Lots of details that really sell that whole bio-mechanical thing. It’s worth noting that the lines are bolder on this release, making the details a little easier to see. The Warrior Alien only includes a clear display stand, however, this seems acceptable, given the quantity of sculpted parts present.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the two of these from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. This isn’t the most exciting set in the bunch, but it’s not bad. Apone is a decent addition to the line. He’s not quite up to the same level as Ripley or Hicks, but he’s a good accent figure. The Warrior Alien isn’t anything new if you’ve already got the single release. However, it’s still on par with the single release, which was a pretty fantastic Minimate. And it’s not like you can’t have another Xenomorph hanging around…