UPDATE: This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.

Listed on eBay today is this curiosity.  This 40 year old 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy being sold in Japan includes it’s box and poster.  Painted in flat gun metal grey with silver highlights, this is a modified figure and significantly removed from its original condition.  Yet, it still maintains all of its original parts.  It’s 100% complete.

While it is unusual for a custom item like this one to include a box, it certainly does happen.  Neither the figure or the box can be considered in excellent condition, though, and certainly a long way from the “Near unused“ state the seller is claiming.  The US$999 price tag is very hefty.  For this coated item to be anywhere near that value, it would have to have been painted by HR Giger, Salvador Dali or maybe some other artist of reputation or fame.  Sadly, I suspect this is not the case.

I own several custom Kenner Aliens, one of which has a very similar presentation to this sample and they they do look neat with all the silver highlights.  Gentle Giant did release a 24 inch tall silver tribute version of the Kenner toy some years back, in 2015.  This wasn’t the first silver mass produced ALIEN figure, either. Silver Aliens can trace their way back to 1997 when Tsukuda Hobby released their silver coated ALIEN figure derived from the Kenner toy.  Of course, silver has been a feature of the original figure with its prominent chrome mouth parts of the teeth and tongue since the ALIEN toy was first released in 1979.  Silver is good.

Unfortunately, in this case, painting the figure in this manner can devalue it.  Such changes as this do remove the item from its original condition.  It’s not a bad thing of itself as custom work like this one can take a stock item and transform it into a unique objet d’art.  The problem of course is obvious.  Most people seeking these four decades old toys are looking for samples as clean and close to original condition as possible.  Being coated from head to toe in dark grey and silver paint will immediately eliminate this item from their list.  The price doesn’t help, either.  …on the other hand, it does include the box and the poster.

These two items do elevate the value of this item but they each have condition issues.  The box is typically battered and the red ink has been bleached out by UV damage – usually a result of being left standing in direct sunlight for several years; and the poster has the usual creasing and holes in corners that can sometimes plague the condition of these printed documents.  The value of an item like this painted figure along with its other important inclusions is difficult to establish.  It’s all there but in a degraded state.  That certainly doesn’t help.

Mind you, some people really love custom stuff.  This is a unique item – but being unique doesn’t equate to being in demand. The price of US$999 is difficult to justify despite the presence of the box and poster.  A more realistic price is around the US$500 mark because the presence of those printed items are what help drive the value of this listing up.  The figure itself is heavily modified.  Alone, it’s probably worth about US$150. It does have all of its original parts in place and that’s a good thing; but in this condition it’s more or less ‘broken’ or ‘faulty’ in the eyes of many collectors.

Many potential buyers viewing this listing will just bow their heads in sympathy for a vintage figure that otherwise could have been a fantastic sample without the unnecessary paintwork.  If it was in original condition, then yes.  This figure sample, box and poster could have easily pulled up to US$1000.

Regardless, it will eventually sell.

-Windebieste.