Tag Archives: Kenner

#0504: Stormtrooper

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

STORMTROOPER

POWER OF THE FORCE II

StormtrooperPOTF2a

When I was younger, I had my fair share of figures from Kenner’s Power of the Force II line. Seeing as it was the only Star Wars line around when I was younger, it was these guys or nothing. So, these guys it was. For whatever reason, however, I never found myself with a basic Stormtrooper figure. In fact, until recently, the only Stormtroopers I had were the vintage ones my Dad gave me. But, now I’m looking to change that (I guess), so here’s a Stormtrooper from POTF II!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

StormtrooperPOTF2bThe Stormtrooper was released in the first 1995 assortment of Power of the Force II figures. He stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 6 whole points of articulation. This is usually the point of the review where I’d say that I don’t know which of the three Stormtrooper designs was used for the figure, but in actuality, it’s fairly clear that this figure is an amalgam of those three designs (and Arnold Schwarzenegger). The entirely of the POTF II line was stricken by some serious steroid use, but the Stormtrooper seems to have been hit the hardest. The most apparent problem with this figure’s sculpt is the fact that he clearly has no neck. Previous troopers didn’t actually show the neck, but they at least made the helmet long enough that you could actually believe there might be one under there. Not the case here. This guy’s just got a head and then some shoulders, with nothing in between. The head sits atop a huge barrel chest that goes into a serious hour glass at the waist, which is certainly an impressive feat, I’ll give him that. The figure then has the requisite arms and legs with a 45 degree bend, just so he can look a little extra awkward. The legs in particular are bad, because they make him rather difficult to keep standing. On top of the oddly proportioned body, the armor is forced to either cooperate with these new found proportions or go home. It’s chosen the former, which means that the details are kind of a rough estimate of what they were in the movies. The figure’s paint is the simplest of the simple, with only a few spots or black here and there, to break up all of that white. The paint is rather sloppily applied; I guess it just follows that rough estimate thing that the sculpt was doing. The Stormtrooper includes his standard blaster rifle, which he can only hold in one hand, and a larger rifle, which he can also only hold in one hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like yesterday’s Obi-Wan, the Stormtrooper was fished out of a rather large box of Star Wars figures being sold to benefit the Farpoint charities. I must admit to being rather excited when I pulled this guy out. Sure, he’s goofy as hell, but he really resonates with me, for some odd reason. I mean, how could my collection possibly be complete without a muscle-bound Stormtrooper?

#0503: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

OBI-WAN KENOBI

POWER OF THE FORCE II

ObiWanPOTF1

Power of the Force II is really important to me. The line is certainly rather dated by today’s standards, probably even more so than even the vintage line, but it brought the Star Wars brand back to shelves after almost 10 years of absence. And, more importantly, it was the line on the shelves in the mid-1990s, just as a certain toy reviewer was getting into action figures. So, today, let’s have a look at that line’s take on Obi-Wan Kenobi, from back in the days when he’d only been played by one actor!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ObiWanPOTF2Obi-Wan was released in the first assortment of Power of the Force II figures, which started showing up in 1995-1996. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches in height and he had 6 points of articulation. Oh boy, that waist articulation! Obi-Wan is based on the character’s appearance in A New Hope. Like the rest of the POTF II line, Obi-Wan’s proportions are a little bit whacked. He doesn’t quite have the body builder’s physique that some of the others did, but he’s got some fairly broad shoulders, and man, just look at the size of those hands! Also, his legs have a pretty odd leg posing, which kind of makes him have to stand with a strange stance. For some reason, his outer robes have been done using a removable add-on. The end result is that the figure ends up quite a bit bulkier than he should be. Since the sleeves are still brown to match the outer robe, I honestly can’t think of the practical use for a removable piece. Admittedly, the head is actually a decent sculpt. It has a passing resemblance to Alec Guinness, if perhaps a little squashed. Obi-Wan’s paintwork is decent. Not great, but certainly not bad. There’s a little bit of bleed over in a few of the transition areas. Also, it’s true to the film, but the figure is rather dull, color-wise. You know what makes people want a figure of an old guy? Dull colors. Obi-Wan includes one accessory: his lightsaber. The lightsaber is absurdly long (taller than Obi-Wan), which kinda makes you wonder if old Ben is compensating for something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This marks the second of this figure that I have owned. I got my original around the same time as all the others I have from this line, which is when they were first released. I ended up trading that figure for a Val Kilmer Batman variant (what can I say, I was young and foolish!).  I’ve gone all these years without picking up another one. While I was at Farpoint this year, I fished Obi-Wan, along with a few other POTF II figures out of a box of various Star Wars figures that were being sold to benefit the two Farpoint charities. So, I not only got to replace my original figure, but I also got to feel sorta good about it. That’s pretty cool, I guess.

#0419: Peter Venkman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PETER VENKMAN

REAL GHOSTBUSTERS (KENNER)

Prior to the last few years, if you wanted any kind of Ghostbusters toys, you were limited to what the Real Ghostbusters toyline had to offer. Seeing as there were only normal versions of the ‘busters offered early in the line, that meant that more often than not, settling for the wacky variants became the best option. So, let’s look at one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This Peter Venkman figure was released in 1990 as part of the “Power Pack Heroes” series of Kenner’s The Real Ghostbusters line. The figure is about 4 ½ inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Peter’s “Power Pack” shtick was a “Bouncin’ Bazooka” which was a missile launcher thing. Pretty much, this series was made up of re-decos of the first series ‘busters. So, it follows that Peter is head to toe a repaint of the original Peter Venkman figure. Fortunately, the original sculpt was pretty good. It’s a nice approximation of what he looked like in the cartoon, and everything looks nice. Peter’s paint job is one of the distinguishing features. In place of the usual brown jumpsuit, he has a dark green jumpsuit, with orange and light green details that form some sort of art deco design. It’s an interesting look, and the paintwork is nice and clean. The eyes are done in a bright green, which looks kind of odd, but it’s not terrible. Originally, Peter included the aforementioned “Bouncin’ Bazooka” and a Lightning Ghost, but my figure never had them, so I can’t really speak to their quality.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I came into Ghostbusters at probably the most difficult time to be a Ghostbusters fan. The glut of movie toys was a good 10 years off, and all of the Real Ghostbusters stuff was gone before I was born. I remember coming across one or two Extreme Ghostbusters figures, but they weren’t the actual Ghostbusters. So, I resorted to finding loose figures at flea markets and antique stores. Peter was an Antique store find, and I think he was the last figure I added to my rather modest Real Ghostbusters collection. He’s actually a pretty good figure, and I find the art deco look of his uniform to be oddly compelling.

#0389: Man-Bat

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MAN-BAT

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Batman: The Animated Series started off with quite a bang (quite literally; it’s one of the first things in the opening credits). The first episode, “On Leather Wings,” showed the full potential of the series, and to this day remains one of my two favorite episodes of the series. One of the most interesting things about the episode was the choice of foe. They steered clear of any of the major Bat-Rogues, such as Joker or Penguin, or even Riddler, and instead turned their focus on Man-Bat, a character who to date still remains foreign to all but the most die-hard DC fans. When people do know the character, they tend to remember the animated incarnation. Today, I’ll be taking a look at Kenner’s version of the character from the tie-in toyline of the time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Man-Bat was released in Series 2 of Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series. The figure marks Man-Bat’s very first action figure, though Kenner themselves had planned to release a classic comic version of the character had their DC Super Powers line continued past Series 3. Man-Bat is about 5 ½ inches tall and he features 12 points of articulation, which was stellar for the time. Man-Bat had two appearances on the show, and the look was a little different in each. This one is based on the first version, which is the actual MAN-Bat (Kirk Langstrom’s wife ends up being the creature in the second, resulting in a “Woman-Bat”). Standards for figures have changed over the years, but for the time, this figure was quite good. It’s not a spot on recreation of Man-Bat, mind you. The shape of the head is a little off, the arms are a bit too skinny, and the legs are a bit too small when compared to the rest of the figure. But, as a whole, the figure makes a good approximation of the character from the show. It’s certainly as accurate as, say, Kenner’s Joker figure, so the inconsistencies help the figure blend more with the rest of the line. Man-Bat’s paint work is pretty straight forward. He’s mostly molded in an appropriate brown plastic, with paint for his pants, eyes, and mouth. Everything is pretty cleanly applied, so that’s good. Man-Bat originally included a small length of string and a hook so that the figure could be made to look as if he were flying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on the first few series of BTAS figures, due to not quite being into collecting. So, Man-Bat was a figure I didn’t have while growing up. I went through a period immediately after my freshman year of college where I attempted to fill as many holes in my 90s collections as possible. Man-Bat was a rather pricey figure at the time, so I had to hold off on him. As luck would have it, while visiting that year’s Mego Meet, I come across a loose Man-Bat for $2 or $3. Man-Bat was certainly one of the more unique figures in the line, and his presence in the inaugural episode of the show means he holds a special place in the line. Incidentally, DC Collectibles has announced that a more accurate Man-Bat will be released in the second series of their own BTAS line. Until then, this guy’s still pretty important.

#0374: Flying Alien Queen

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

FLYING ALIEN QUEEN

ALIENS (KENNER)

Okay, just one more Kenner Aliens review (well, I still have Bishop and the original Hicks, but they’re a ways off). Yesterday, I looked at Kenner’s first stab at the Alien Queen. That figure was actually pretty faithful to the source material, and the few changes they made actually made it a better toy. Today, I’ll be looking at another version of the Queen, this time with a few more liberties taken. So, do they make for a good toy?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Flying Alien Queen was released in the second series of Kenner’s Aliens line. Like the first Queen, she was a later addition to the assortment. This was Kenner’s second figure of the Alien Queen, and it’s a lot more out there than the first. The figure is about 6 inches tall and it features 7 points of articulation. As you can probably guess from the name, this figure’s shtick is that it’s aerial-based. One has to wonder what differences would have to be present in the host for this to come about. Did the Flying Queen hatch from a really large bird? Maybe an angel or something? I don’t know. What’s most interesting about this figure’s sculpt is the complete lack of overlap with the normal Queen. You’d think something like “flying Queen” would just be an excuse to re-use a bunch of parts from the original, but nope, Kenner went all new. For the Flying Queen, it seems Kenner has thrown out the movie Queen design entirely, and instead gone for something all their own. It’s almost as if the sculptor of the Flying Queen was given one of their other aliens as a reference and told “Make a queen.” So, this figure is much more basic alien inspired. The head has the regular Alien shape, and the tail is a bit shorter in length. It’s not bad, but it’s not quite as impressive as the first Queen. A lot of the details aren’t quite as sharp, and the proportions seem a bit sillier. The wings are decently done, but they honestly seem out of place with the rest of the Alien aesthetic. They feel like they’re from another toyline all-together. The paint on the Flying Queen is certainly unique. The figure is cast in a transparent greyish-purple plastic, with some silver airbrushing to bring out some of the details, and a little bit of red thrown in just for fun. The transparent look is actually pretty fun, but you have to wonder why the flying Queen would be transparent purple, while the regular Queen is an opaque black. Best not to think about it, I suppose. The Flying Queen included no accessories, but he does have a wing-flapping action feature, activated by pushing a button on her back. The claw on her left foot is also on a spring, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear way to activate it. It just goes off sporadically.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Flying Alien Queen is the last piece of the lot of Kenner Aliens figures I won on ebay. Of all the figures in the lot, this is probably the one I was least interested in. My opinion of it hasn’t really changed much, to be honest, but my lackluster feelings towards the Hicks Vs. King Alien set does mean that this one moved up a peg by comparison. It’s not a bad figure, but it’s not one of my favorites. It’s a better figure than something like the King Alien or the Alien Arachnid, but those felt like part of the line, while this one seems sort of out of place. This figure seems to mark when the line really started to move away from the movies, which is where I really start to lose interest. And with that, I am done with my Kenner Aliens stuff for a while. The timing actually worked out quite nicely, as they served as a nice little lead-up to Halloween!

#0373: Alien Queen

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

ALIEN QUEEN

ALIENS (KENNER)

In the movie Aliens, the titular creatures all received a slight re-design from director James Cameron and legendary creature effects wizard Stan Winston. It was the first in a long line of tweaks to the Xenomorph design, and it happens to be my personal favorite, mostly due to the fact that it’s the one used in the Greatest Movie of All TimeTM. In addition to creating a new looks for the “drones,” they also introduced a whole new creature design, the Alien Queen! The Alien Queen takes the role of primary antagonist for the film’s final act, and has become one of the most memorable creature designs of all time, right up there with the original Alien. It’s no surprise that Kenner released an Alien Queen in their Aliens line from the early 90s, but what is a bit of a surprise is how close to the original design they stayed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Alien Queen was released in the first series of Kenner Aliens figures. She was actually a slightly later release than the rest of the figures, mostly owing to her larger stature. The figure is about 6 inches in height and she features 10 points of articulation (those extra sets of arms really pull her up here!). There were three versions of the Alien Queen released in this line; this is the first. The final version of the Queen is generally seen as a near-perfect recreation of the Queen’s design, but this one’s not too far off either. They’ve given her an extra set of arms, and the figure is a little bit stockier than the movie version. Her inner mouth is more like that of the standard Xeno as well. None of these things really hurt the figure, so it’s not too bad. The actual sculpt is really very nice. There’s tons of detail work all throughout the figure, with lots and lots of layers and texture. The figure also had a rather large tail that attached to the back of the figure. In theory, I think it’s supposed to be bendable, but I had no such luck with it. The entire figure has been painted with an iridescent black paint, which is a great match for the coloring of the Aliens. She also has proper silver detailing on both sets of teeth, all of which is applied cleanly. The Queen included one accessory: a “Deadly” Chest Hatchling. Obviously, this is meant to be a chestburster, and it’s done rather well, but why exactly is “Deadly” in quotes? Is it not really deadly? Because I feel like John Hurt would like to disagree. Anyway, in addition to that, the Queen also features two action features. The first is an “attacking double jaw” which sends the inner mouth forward. It’s activated by squeezing the back of the Queen’s head. The second is a tail whipping feature, which is activated by pressing a button on the figure’s left leg.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Alien Queen is another piece of the lot of Kenner Aliens figures I won on ebay. I had mostly wanted the lot for the two-packs, but I was more than happy to get this figure as well. In hand, I think this may be my favorite of the Aliens I received. It’s not a perfect recreation of the movie Queen, but this is a pretty neat amalgam of the Queen and the basic drone, almost like a junior Queen or something. I think the thing that shocks me the most is the total lack of re-releases of this particular mold. A Ripley Vs. Queen two-pack feels like it would have been a natural fit for the Aliens Vs. Marine line.

#0372: O’Malley & Queen Face Hugger

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O’MALLEY & QUEEN FACE HUGGER

ALIENS (KENNER)

Okay, so here’s another Kenner Aliens review. This review plays a bit more into Kenner’s wackier sensibilities with the line, while at the same time not going super overboard. What’s noteworthy about this set is that it’s the only set who’s Alien is not a “Xenomorph.” So, let’s have a look at the last of the 10th Anniversary two-packs, O’Malley vs. The Queen Face Hugger.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

O’Malley and the Queen Face Hugger are the final two-pack from the KB Exclusive Aliens Vs. Marine line. They are both repaints of figures from the previous Aliens line.

O’MALLEY

O’Malley! Hey, remember that guy? They hero of the… The guy who does the… He has the… Okay, okay, yeah, O’Malley is another Marine created by Kenner. He’s not really as goofy as ATAX, but he’s still a bit out there. In case the name and the hair hadn’t clued you in, O’Malley is supposed to be Irish. O’Malley is 5 inches tall and he sports 6 points of articulation. The figure makes use of the sculpt from the O’Malley figure meant to see a wide release in the 3rd Series. This featured a unique head sculpt, which may very well be the best Marine sculpt from the line. For a character that seems so one note and bland on the surface, O’Malley’s head sculpt is full of character. He’s got a smug look of assurance on his face (no way he’s making it out of the movie alive looking like that. Sorry O’Malley, your name might as well be Toast). He’s also got a really nasty scar over his eye. Obviously, he’s had a run in with some nasty beasts before. From the neck down, O’Malley shares his sculpt with Corporal Hicks. Hicks’s body sculpt is probably my favorite of the Marine sculpts, so I’m in favor of the re-use here. It’s a quality sculpt and it matches the head nicely. The paint work on O’Malley is more or less the same as it was on Hicks, with changes for the head and some tweaks to the accents on the torso. Everything is nice and cleanly done. O’Malley included a flamethrower clip-on, similar to Hicks’s claw thing, as well as what has to be one of the goofiest weapons in the Aliens line. It’s some kind of grappling thing on an accordion type arm. It’s kind of a funny weapon, but there it is.

QUEEN FACE HUGGER

Okay, so the name on this one kind of confuses me. So, is this a face hugger that has a queen embryo, or is it like the queen of the face huggers? What’s the deal Kenner? Well, Kenner’s kinda defunct now, so I guess we’ll never know. The Face Hugger is about 3 inches in height, 5 inches wide, and 6 inches long. That, by the way, makes this particular Face Hugger about 20x the size of what the actual Face Huggers should be. So, it’s not really a Face Hugger so much as an everything hugger. The figure doesn’t really have any articulation. There’s some movement, but it’s all tied into the action feature. The sculpt is a re-use of the original Series 3 Face Hugger. It’s a pretty good sculpt, and it’s surprisingly accurate to the Face Hugger design from the movies. There’s quite a bit of texturing, and they’ve added some spiky bits, similar to the changes present on the Scorpion Alien. The Face Hugger has what is probably the most drastic paint scheme change of all of the 10th Anniversary figures. The original figure’s paint scheme was similar to the regular Aliens. For this figure, they went with something more faithful to the actual Face Hugger. It’s an improvement, but it also makes the size of this thing even weirder! The Face Hugger included no accessories, but it does have a few action features. The tail can be pulled and retracted, the legs have a jumping action similar to the Alien Arachnid, and the mouth has a pullback opening feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

O’Malley and the Face Hugger were yet another piece of the large lot of Kenner Aliens figures I won on ebay. Neither one of them was super high on my list of desired figures, but they were part of the lot, so I figured why not. In hand, I was pleasantly surprised by this set. The Face Hugger’s kinda odd, but O’Malley is really quite a nice figure. It’s strange that Kenner put this level of effort into a character that no one cares about, but this really is one of their better figures. All in all, this is a pretty winning set.

#0371: Hudson & Scorpion Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

HUDSON & SCORPION ALIEN

ALIENS (KENNER)

The problem with doing large theme weeks and the like is that as you near the end, you really run out of interesting things to say to introduce the figures. Then you have to write these weird meta intros talking about how you have nothing to say in the intro. (BEAT)

So, how ’bout them Aliens figures? Yesterday, I looked at one key Marine missing from Kenner’s first series of Aliens; today, I’ll be looking at the other. That Marine is, of course, Private Hudson, everyone’s favorite over-confidant marine turned whimpering mess! I’ll be taking a look at his proper US release from the Aliens Vs. Marine two-packs, along with the Scorpion Alien.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hudson and the Scorpion Alien were released in a two-pack in the 10th Anniversary Aliens Vs. Marine line. The line was released exclusively at KB Toys, and it was made up of repaints from the previous Kenner Aliens line.

HUDSON

Hudson is easily the selling point of this set. His Series 3 figure never saw a proper US release, leaving a Paxton sized hole in many fans’ Aliens collections. Hudson is about 5 inches tall and he features 6 points of articulation. He sports a new head sculpt, which doesn’t really have much in common with Bill Paxton’s portrayal of the character, but that’s not really news with this line. Hudson has a screaming expression, which fits okay with the character and does make him stand out a bit more from the other, more passive Marines. His sculpted helmet doesn’t match the one on Hicks, which is moderately annoying, but I suppose they wanted each of the Marines to have a unique look. From the neck down, Hudson’s sculpt is the same as Series 1’s Apone figure. Aside from the somewhat odd metal arm thing, it’s a pretty good starting point for a basic Marine, so I guess it works okay. It’s too bad he couldn’t get a unique sculpt like Vasquez, but if only one could get a new sculpt, Kenner made the right choice. Hudson’s paint work is on par with the rest of the Marines; it’s all pretty cleanly applied, and his lower half is molded in the same multi-colored plastic seen on all of the Marines. Hudson has one of the more diverse paint jobs in the series, though it’s not like it’s anything super exciting. Hudson includes a rifle of some sort (not a pulse rifle), and a large backpack thingy with three missiles to launch. Unfortunately, the backpack is a bit on the heavy side, which makes Hudson impossible to stand while wearing it.

SCORPION ALIEN

Believe it or not, against all odds and in spite of the name, the Scorpion Alien is not a Kenner original. It’s actually one of the main line’s closest attempts to capture the standard Xenomorph design. It also happens to be one of the best Aliens in the line, for what it’s worth. The figure is about 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. This figure makes use of the sculpt from the original Scorpion Alien, released in the first series of the original Kenner Aliens line. It’s a decent quality sculpt. There are lots of small details and texture work, and the figure really has some nice dimension. It’s perhaps a tad wider than it should be, but not excessively so. The design of the alien is definitely based on the Xeno’s appearance in Aliens, though there have been a few changes made. The design as a whole is a bit spikier, and a lot of the design has been streamlined, I’d assume to present a more easily animated look. The figure is slightly pre-posed, and it can take a little work to get the figure to stand, but it’s not too difficult to keep the figure vertical. There was definitely a consistent theme to the paint work on the figures in the Aliens Vs. Marine line, and the Scorpion Alien is no exception. He’s molded in semi-metallic black/grey plastic with some silver accents to bring out the details. The silver on this figure is easily the most subtle of this line, which really does this figure some serious favors. The Scorpion Alien included no accessories, but he did feature one of the line’s coolest action features. When the button on the figure’s lower back is pressed, the figure’s upper half pops apart, as if the Scorpion Alien has just been shot by one of the Marines. It’s a fun action feature and it really adds quite a bit of entertainment value to this figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hudson and the Scorpion Alien are another piece of the large lot of Kenner Aliens figures I won recently on ebay. These are two of the figures I was most eager to get ahold of from the line, so I was definitely glad they were amongst the set. Hudson is an essential Marine and the Scorpion Alien is my personal favorite Kenner take on the standard Xeno design. All in all, I really like this set. Sure, Hudson’s slightly goofy, but he’s not a bad figure, and he’s packed with an outstanding Alien.

#0370: Vasquez & Night Cougar Alien

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

VASQUEZ & NIGHT COUGAR ALIEN

ALIENS VS MARINE(KENNER)

The initial offering of Marines in Kenner’s Aliens line is interesting. We got pretty decent Ripley and Hicks figures, but we also got Apone and Drake, two characters who are absent from the last two-thirds of the movie entirely, and a nearly unrecognizable version of Bishop. Key players like Vasquez and Hudson were absent, and when we finally got an additional Marine in the second series, it was ATAX, a character invented exclusively for the toyline. When the third series hit, Kenner tried to amend this, offering both Vasquez and Hudson, but it was too little too late. Retailers in the US were having trouble moving the Marines from the first two series, leading to the cases containing the Series 3 Marines to be returned and, ultimately, destroyed. A fair number saw release outside the US, but not in nearly the same numbers, leaving US Aliens fans out in the cold. Fortunately, the 10th Anniversary Aliens Vs. Marine came to the rescue, offering a proper release of all three of the Marines, albeit in altered colors. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the first of those, Vasquez, along with her foe, the Night Cougar Alien.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Vasquez and the Night Cougar Alien were released as a two-pack in the KB Toys Exclusive Aliens Vs. Marine line, which was done as a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Aliens. Both figures made use of previous sculpts with all-new paint schemes.

VASQUEZ

Vasquez is definitely a key part of what make Aliens so great. She was a really fun character who added a lot to the group of survivors as they battled the Alien hoards (and Paul Reiser). Unfortunately, her role as smartgunner kinda got taken by Drake in the first series (both are smartgunners in the movie, but Kenner seemed set on each Marine having their own gimmick), so she ended up being a little more generic here. Vasquez stands just shy of 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. I don’t know why she didn’t get waist articulation like the others, but it’s not there. Vasquez is a total re-use of the Series 3 Vasquez, who was actually the only of the Series 3 Marines to get her own body sculpt. While she’s not a pitch perfect Vasquez, she’s probably the most film-accurate Marine Kenner put out. Some of the details are a little on the soft side, but she’s definitely Vasquez, and I’m amazed by the lack of 90s-fication that was so present on the other Marines. The paint on Vasquez only furthers her as the most accurate Marine. In the more traditional colors, she’s pretty much spot on to how Vasquez looked in the movie. My one complaint would be that she’s definitely way too pale to be Vasquez. Other than that, her paint is pretty good for the time. She doesn’t really have any slop or bleed over to speak of. Vasquez’s smartgun gimmick was taken, so she doesn’t have one of those, but she does come with what I believe is the only example of a proper pulse rifle from the Kenner line, as well as some large missile launching thing that she has trouble standing with.

NIGHT COUGAR ALIEN

So, the Night Cougar Alien is another Kenner original. That being said, apart from a terrible name, it’s actually one of the better aliens, and it’s got some precedent. Its quadrupedal design is similar to that of Alien3 ’s Dog Alien. I am by no means a fan of the movie, but the design wasn’t bad. The Night Cougar is about 4 inches tall and 6 inches long, and it features 5 points of articulation (there’s a 6th, but it’s tied to the action feature.) The Night Cougar Alien re-uses the sculpt of the original Series 3 version, which was itself a repaint of the Panther Alien. It’s a pretty good sculpt. Some of the details, particularly on the torso are a little soft and basic, but they aren’t too bad, and the figure does offer a fair job of conveying some depth. The figure features a more conventional Alien design than the previous two, which makes this figure work a lot better aesthetically. The original Night Cougar featured some pretty bold red highlights. This figure opts for the more subdued look that all of these two-pack aliens have. While the King was kind of hurt by such a change, I think the Night Cougar really makes it work. It helps that the Night Cougar has the subtlest work with the silver highlights, which really makes the figure look its best. This marks the first Alien to have an accessory; it includes a missile that can be plugged into the figure’s back. When the figures front legs are pushed forward, the head ducks down and the missile fires. As far as action features go, that’s a good one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like Hicks and the King, and Drake and the Arachnid, Vasquez and the Night Cougar Alien were part of a large lot of Kenner Aliens figures I won on ebay. Vasquez is one of my main interests in getting the lot, so there was definitely some pressure for this set to deliver. Fortunately, this set is one of my favorites from this series. Vasquez marks one of Kenner’s best efforts on a Marine, and the Night Cougar Alien is one of their better aliens, which makes this set a real winner!

#0369: Drake & Alien Arachnid

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DRAKE & ALIEN ARACHNID

ALIENS VS MARINE(KENNER)

Drake. Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake. Drake, in case you’re wondering, is a character that does actually appear in the movie Aliens. He’s a marine with a decent amount of screen time. That being said, he’s nowhere near as prominent as characters like Hudson or Vasquez, so his inclusion in the proposed Operation: Aliens cartoon, as well as his place in the first series of Aliens figures by Kenner is a bit baffling. But, here he was, so I guess that’s that. Let’s have a look at Kenner’s second Drake, released alongside the Alien Arachnid in 1996.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the KB Toys Exclusive Aliens Vs. Marine line, done to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Aliens.

DRAKE

So, I can kinda get Drake’s place in the original line, but his spot here is still weird. There were five sets done for the 10th Anniversary. Of those five, three were used to give a US release to the Marines that were supposed to be in 3rd series of the original line. That left two slots, which were given to Hicks and Drake. Hicks is the most pivotal Marine, so he makes sense. But why Drake was chosen over Ripley, or even Apone, is odd. Anyway, the figure is about 4 ½ inches tall, thanks to his slouch, and he features 6 points of articulation. He makes use of the Series 1 Drake sculpt in its entirety. While it’s not a bad sculpt, it share very few common traits with the Drake of the movie. He’s completely unarmored, wearing a headband, and his hair is quite a bit longer than his movie counterpart’s. At the very least, it’s an expressive sculpt. It looks pretty good, and it certainly stands out from the rest of the marines and their more static sculpts. The paint on Drake is pretty good, probably better than that seen on Hicks. Like Hicks, his lower half has been molded in that swirly green plastic to simulate camo. It works better here, mostly due to Drake’s lack of armor. The rest of the paint is all pretty well applied. There’s a little bit of slop on Drake’s Bandolier, but other than that, everything seems to be nice and clean. Drake included his trademark smartgun, as well as a bayonet to go on the end. Because stabbing the aliens with acid for blood sounds like a wonderful idea. The bayonet doesn’t fit on the gun on my figure, but that’s probably just an issue with mine. Drake also had a feature where turning his waist simulated gunfire.

ALIEN ARACHNID

The Alien Arachnid is yet another of Kenner’s aliens they made up for the line. Some of their designs were great. Some were bad. This falls somewhere in between. The figure is about two inches tall, 4 inches long, and 5 inches wide. The figure really only has 1 point of articulation, at the neck, as the rest of the movement is tied into the action feature. The Alien Arachnid is definitely meant to play up the bug-like nature of the aliens, but “arachnid” isn’t the term they want here, I think. Arachnids have eight legs, and this figure only has six, which would actually make it and “Alien Insect.” I guess that just didn’t have the same ring. They could have just added an extra pair of legs to make it work, though. The Arachnid’s sculpt is passable for the time of release, but it’s not really anything special. The figure has a rubber head, which makes the details there a lot softer. Kenner seemed to take this into account by making the rest of the figure’s details softer to match. The end result is a somewhat cheap looking figure, which is too bad. The Arachnid’s paint is similar to the King Alien’s; the figure is molded in a semi-metallic black plastic, with lots of silver highlights thrown in. The highlights still go a little overboard, but they aren’t terrible. The Alien Arachnid included no accessories, but it featured two action features. The first was a water-spitting feature, done by squeezing the head (after filling it with water), and the second is a lever on the back which pops the back legs up and down and moves the front legs back and forth.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original Kenner Aliens hit before I was of an age to collect toys, and these anniversary sets hit before I was into Aliens. Like Hicks and the King Alien, this set was part of a lot I won on ebay. I actually had the original Drake at one point, but I lost him at some point, so I can’t really do a direct comparison of the two. Honestly, it’s a bit of a toss-up as to which of the two is “better.” Drake is one of the cooler marine figures, even if he was a bit off-model. The Alien Arachnid is better than the King in my opinion, but still not one of the better ones Kenner offered. All-in-all, this set is okay, but nothing really amazing. But, it’s also one of the cheapest of the 10th Anniversary sets, so if you just want something cheap amd fun, you could do a lot worse than this set.

Alright guys, I powered through what I feel are the weakest sets in this series. Tomorrow, the good stuff kicks in!