All this talk about Big Bad Toy Store selling Super7 ALIENS stock at severely discounted prices (See News posts on front page) is a great thing. On the other hand, you can go even cheaper with these bootleg ALIEN vinyl kits available on eBay. There’s many different vinyl ALIEN kits around, but these recast items are indirectly derived from the 1979 Kenner toy – and that’s of immediate interest to me.
These unlicenced reproduction kits are super cheap at less than US$20. …and they’re rough as guts, too which just adds to their charm – or lack thereof – as far as I am concerned. Mind you, they do hail from Thailand so international postage will need to be factored into your purchase. It’s not much.
These bootleg items are direct recasts of the Tsukuda Hobby Jumbo figure released in 1984. The Tsukuda figure itself was a recast of the original 1979 Kenner toy so a direct lineage to the older item is easily traced. We can unquestionably know these recast vinyl kits are derived from the Tsukuda Hobby figure in particular. The sloppy rear details of the head where Tsukuda Hobby filled in the trigger are exclusive to that 1984 pressing of the figure and match similar details on these bootleg items.
So, no. It’s not to be confused with the later 1991 Halclyon kit, though that is understandable as the Halcyon kit is also derived from the 1984 Tsukuda Hobby item. The History lesson is over. On with the show.
These are fun kits to put together but be prepared to put some effort into them as they do require a lot of work. The kit will need a lot of removal of excess flashing from all parts, practice matching parts and quite some time just putting it together. That’s just assembly stage as painting will also be needed.
At under US$20, it’s a fun way to mess around. These items are available from various vendors and they do restock on this odd item periodically. Order here and here. Have fun with this piece of weirdness.
More information, product description and photos of these bootleg oddities can be found here.
-Windebieste.
