Tag Archives: Samuel Brett

#3693: Parker & Brett

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

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…

#2548: Brett

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

BRETT

ALIEN: 40TH ANNIVERSARY (NECA)

“Parker, what do you think? Your staff just follows you around and says ‘right’. Just like a regular parrot.”

What good is a manager without some staff to manage?  Parker’s definitely the brains of the Nostromo’s maintenance division, but he’s kept company by his slightly slower on the uptake subordinate, Samuel Brett.  Played by veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton, Brett has the misfortune of becoming the titular creature’s first victim, but is never the less a memorable part of the film’s cast.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brett joins Parker as part of the second series of NECA’s Alien: 40th Anniversary line, where the two ship alongside a variant of the main alien.  If Parker’s been scarce as a toy, Brett’s only been scarcer, with only a Minimate preceding this release.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Much like Parker, Brett’s got a lot of articulation, but the range isn’t quite all there.  It’s a little better here than on Parker, and the double joints on the elbows help a little more with posing.  That being said, those double joints aren’t really much to look at, and do end up being more than a little bit jarring in regards to the flow of the sculpt.  The actual quality of the sculpt’s not bad, but I’m not sure it’s quite as strong as Parker’s, which is interesting, because my opinions on the two were swapped based on the prototypes.  Something seems to have happened in the production process, however, and the likeness in particular on this guy took a real hit.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not nearly as spot-on as it looked to be in early shots.  The rest of the body’s not bad, apart from the previously mentioned issue with the wonky elbow joints breaking things up. The detail work is crisp, and there’s a lot of effort that’s been put into making him look properly disheveled.  The only part that’s not really got that disheveled look is the bottom of the shirt, which just ends up looking a bit too neat and even by my mark.  Brett’s paint work is overall pretty decent.  There’s a reasonable amount of accent work going on in the uniform, which helps the make the sculpted details pop.  The head gets the worst work again, unfortunately, with the eyes in particular just seeming…off.  Like, possibly misaligned?  It looked like this on all of the figures I had to pick from, so it seems like a line wide issue of some sort.  Brett’s packed with a motion detector and the same cattle prod that came with Parker.  He can hold them both a bit better than Parker could hold his accessories, so that’s a plus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Parker was definitely my most wanted member of the Nostromo crew, but Brett wasn’t too far behind him, so I was quite happy when they were confirmed together for this line-up.  I find Brett’s got more issues that hold him back than Parker, but ultimately he’s still a good figure, and I’m glad we got them both.

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

#0993: Nostromo Crew Minimates

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

DALLAS, LAMBERT, BRETT, & XENOMORPH

ALIEN MINIMATES

Nostromo1

“In space, no one can hear you scream…”

Well, unless you’re talking about Lambert, in which case everyone can hear you scream. Constantly. With no end in sight. Ugh. Okay, perhaps that was a bit harsh. May what Lambert was really screaming about was the lack of any action figures. Well, scream no more Lambert, because Diamond Select Toys has got you, along with Brett and Dallas, covered, thanks to the awesome set of Minimates I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Dallas, Lambert, Brett, and the Xenomorph were all released together in the Hastings-exclusive “Nostromo Crew” set, the second Alien-themed boxed set from DST.

DALLAS

Nostromo2 Dallas, captain of the Nostromo, is the one <human> member of this set who isn’t a stranger to action figures. In fact, he’s the one character who’s shown up in just about every major scale that Alien merchandise has been offered in, and he’s even got another Minimate on the way. This ‘mate shows Dallas as he spends most of his time on-screen: in his Nostromo crew uniform, wearing his signature jacket. Dallas is constructed using two add-on pieces, for his hair and jacket. The hair is a re-use from Marvel Series 31’s Captain Marvel. It’s a well sculpted piece, and it’s appropriately ‘70s enough for the look Dallas is sporting in the movie. The jacket is the same basic jacket piece we’ve seen several times before in this and other lines. It’s a pretty generic piece, and it works great for Dallas. The painted detailing on Dallas is really awesome. The face has a spot-on likeness of Tom Skerritt, and the rest of the body features a ton of fun little details. I like that he’s got the little Weyland/Yutani logo on both his jacket and his shirt, and I really appreciate the dedication to getting the lacing on the front and arms of his jacket just right. Dallas is packed with a spare set of arms, allowing for a sans-jacket look, as well as a small pistol, a flamethrower (with a flame attachment), and a clear display stand.

LAMBERT

Nostromo4Lambert is the Nostromo’s navigator. She’s also one of the three members of the crew to go out on the surface of LV-426 and is one of the longest lasting members of the crew. As such, it’s a bit surprising that this is the first time she’s ever made it into action figure form. Maybe all that screaming deterred people. Lambert is seen here in her attire from when she’s on board the ship. It’s not the most exciting look ever, but it’s the one she spends most of the movie in, so there’s that. Lambert has add-ons for her hair and her vest. The hair is re-used from the T2 line’s first Kyle Reese figure, and it’s admittedly a bit off for Lambert. In the movie, her hair was a fair bit more close-cropped than this piece depicts, and she would probably have been more suited with something like the piece included with Cpl Hicks. The vest is the same piece as Dallas’s, and it works perfectly fine here. Lambert’s paint isn’t quite as exciting as Dallas’s, since it doesn’t feature as many fun details. That being said, it’s still high quality. All the details are nice and sharp, and she looks pretty much as she’s supposed to. The face is a bit on the bland side, but there’s a fix for that I’ll get to in one second. For accessories, Lambert includes a flamethrower (no flame trail this time), a pistol, an extra head, and a clear display stand. The best piece by far is the extra head, which depicts Lambert with the frightened look she has on her face for most of the movie’s runtime. Where the normal head is a bit bland and expressionless, this head is pitch-perfect for Lambert.

BRETT

Nostromo3Brett is the lowest ranking member of the crew, and the first casualty of the full-grown Alien. He’s kind of a tragic character really, being little more than a working class yes-man who just wanted to be paid his fair share. Like Lambert, he’s never gotten an action figure before. This figure depicts Brett in pretty much the only thing we ever see him wearing: a uniform with a Hawaiian shirt over it, and a Nostromo-branded baseball cap. Brett gets add-on pieces for his hair/hat, jacket, and the lower part of his shirt. The hat comes from the first series of Walking Dead Minimates, and it’s a pretty good fit for Brett. The jacket was used on Star Trek Legacy’s Picard ‘mate, and it offers a slightly different jacket from the other two figures in this set, in order to differentiate that Brett is from engineering, rather than the bridge. Brett also gets a hand holding a cigarette, which helps add a nice extra bit of character to the figure. As far as paint goes, Brett’s is pretty great. The face isn’t quite as spot-on as Dallas was, but you can still definitely see a lot of Harry Dean Stanton in there. The rest of the body has a lot of other fun details as well, and I’m particularly pleased with how well the Hawaiian shirt turned out. I also really like the fact that there’s a fully detailed waist under the extra bit of shirt, which is fully distinct from Dallas’s. Brett includes an extra set of arms for displaying him without the jacket, as well as an extra normal hand, a pistol, and a clear display stand. It would have been nice to get the little stunning device he had while chasing the newborn, but what he got is reasonable.

XENOMORPH

Nostromo5Well, I suppose you can’t really have an Alien set without throwing in at least one figure of the title character, can you? So, here’s the third of the four versions we’ve gotten of the Big Chap. Structurally, this is more or less the same figure as the Xeno in the first Alien boxed-set, which itself wasn’t too far removed from the various versions of the Xeno we’ve gotten from the main Aliens line. Aside from the slight inaccuracy on the hands (which are three-fingered like the Aliens design, rather than six-fingered like the Big Chap is supposed to be), the various pieces are all very nicely sculpted and are quite accurate to the source material. The one change to this figure from others is the jaw. Other versions of the Big Chap have all had an open jaw, but this one is closed. A minor change, to be sure, but one that adds a nice bit of variety. The paintwork on this Xenomorph is also pretty similar to what we’ve seen on other Xenos. The details are nice and sharp, and the figure has a cool glossy sheen. The dome is now more of an amber hue than other versions, which actually looks really cool, and allows you to better see the underlying skull. It’s hard to say who some of the accessories in this set were supposed to go with, so I’m going to lump the newborn and facehugger in with the Xenomorph. In addition to those two pieces, the Xeno also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I kept meaning to pick this set up, but not having any Hastings stores anywhere near me meant getting this set would be a little bit of a hassle, so it kept getting put off. With Hastings’ announcement they were filing for bankruptcy and closing down all the MovieStops (one of which I have near me), I decided to take advantage of the ensuing sale to pick up this particular set for a little bit less than its original value. Dallas is a very well-done figure. It’s immediately clear who he’s supposed to be, and the small details really seal the deal. Lambert isn’t the star of this set, but she’s certainly a solid ‘mate. The extra head in particular does a lot to make her even more worthwhile. Brett is a really fun figure, and probably my favorite in the set, even if he’s not quite as good as Dallas overall. Still, he’s a fantastic addition to the crew. The Xeno doesn’t really do anything new or exciting, but he’s still just as good as any of the prior Xenos have been. All in all, not a bad set. I’m glad I finally got one.

Nostromo6