PARKER & BRETT

ALIEN REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

Before being the ever-expansive line of just about everything that it’s become, the Reaction Figures line was borne out of Super 7 acquiring the rights to finally release the abandoned Kenner prototypes for a 3 3/4-inch Alien line.  Super 7 originally intended to produce the figures themselves, but as a smaller company, there were concerns they would be able to produce enough of them to meet demand.  Funko stepped in to assist, and built an entire imprint out of it in-house, applying it to a great many of the licenses they already had.  The actual Alien line was initially limited to the five figures that there were already existing prototypes for from Kenner, since that’s all there was.  Funko retooled and repainted to put a few others out, but we didn’t really see truly new* figures, notably the missing three members of the crew, until ReAction moved back under Super 7 exclusively.  A decade and 40 ReAction Figures reviews ago, I actually reviewed the very figures that launched the whole imprint, and now I’m finally adding two of the three missing crew members to the mix!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Parker and Brett were released alongside a bloody deco version of the Alien in the second of the three “Crew of the Nostromo” three-packs, which Super 7 used to re-release the first series figures in new colors and add the missing members of the crew once they took over the line solely.

PARKER

Hey, it’s Parker!  The most sensible person in the movie after Ripley, and also Yaphet Kotto doing his Yaphet Kotto best.  In case you’re wondering, his Yaphet Kotto best is “being Yaphet Kotto.”  Just so that’s clear.  Parker’s seen here in his main garb from the movie, sans-jacket, but before he loses the headband and button down shirt.  The figure’s just over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Parker’s sculpt was new to him, and a pretty good mimic of the five Kenner sculpts we got.  The head has a passing resemblance to Kotto, while still being within that Kenner realm of “not really a full likeness.”  I’d say it’s still a bit better than the first series figures, and certainly a lot better than Funko’s in-house stuff.  Parker’s paint work is also a noted improvement on the earlier stuff, losing some of the coldness of the first series, as well as its relative sloppiness.  There’s an errant mark of white just above his mouth, but otherwise, it looks pretty good.  Parker was packed without any accessories; it’s a shame they didn’t at least repack the flamethrower here, but the multipack thing offset that, I guess.

BRETT

Parker’s “Right” hand man, Brett!  …Do you get it?  Cuz he always says “right?”  Isn’t it funnier now that I’ve explained it to you?  Look, I bet Brett would have laughed at it.  He would have at the very least said “right.”  Brett’s really only got the one look, and that’s the one he gets here.  I mean, I guess you could do the “turning into an egg” Brett, but that seems like a weird way to go.  The figure’s 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s got another unique sculpt, and it’s honestly another pretty solid one.  It feels very authentic, and, much like Parker, I feel the likeness, this time of actor Harry Dean Stanton, is actually not bad, especially given the stylings.  Honestly, I think he reads better as Stanton than the NECA figure, just by leaning more into caricature, and thereby missing the issue with the more subtle details not quite working.  His paint work is similar to Parker’s, and it’s better than what came before.  I do somewhat miss the pattern on the shirt, but that’s probably not very true to the style.  The jacket lacking the “NOSTROMO” on the back feels like more of a glaring omission.  Also an omission is the lack of a cattle prod accessory for him, but it’s once again a multipack thing, so there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Somehow, I just missed these.  I know there was the exclusive release where they did the single cards, and then the three-packs followed, and I just never got to getting them, and then they were gone.  I had the NECA figures, of course, but I likewise never got the whole crew that way, either.  These ones landed in front of me a month or so back, and I was honestly pretty happy to find them.  They’re certainly my favorites from the crew, and I like having them to go with the rest.  I guess now I just need to find a Lambert.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

*I know there are the two Kane figures that are new sculpts, but they suffer from some of the worst of Funko’s in-house sculpts, and they’re heavily reliant on each other.  Also, we already had a Kane, so…