Here’s something you won’t see every day. An immaculate and extremely well preserved Kenner ALIEN toy from 1979. This particular boxed sample is unopened and in near pristine condition. It sold at auction today for US$2,700 at Prop Store Auctions. A solid and worthy price for a boxed figure with all contents in such outstanding condition.
Unlike some of the items I’ve listed on HIDEOUS PLASTIC recently, this item can genuinely wear the claim of being “rare” and it unashamedly makes those other items look like pieces of commonly discarded junk, which probably isn’t far from the truth in some cases. This isn’t some average condition figure, missing common parts, either. Nor is it an already opened item including box and poster. More so, its condition also exceeds most other figures found in unopened boxes. While it is true this Kenner ALIEN toy carefully displayed inside a custom made protective acrylic case has never been opened, its condition easily transcends even those lofty claims!
This is one of six boxed figures taken from an original 1979 Kenner corrugated cardboard shipping case discovered recently. Such shipping cases were used by Kenner to transport these toys to stores around the US and they contained six of these boxed toys per case. Thousands of shipping cases were distributed to outlets around the country by Kenner and extremely few of the cases survive today due to their highly disposable nature; and those that do survive are opened. An unopened shipping case featuring half a dozen of these toys is the Holy Grail of the 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy line.
Having been protected inside the confines of such a shipping case for four decades, this exceptionally fine boxed ALIEN figure has not seen the light of day for forty years, or thereabouts. As a result, this figure – and the unopened box it is packed inside – is in immaculate condition, the likes of which are rare in the very truest sense of the word. What’s more, this sample hasn’t ever been stowed on store shelving for sale so no shop soiling or scuff marks from being handled are present on the box. You wont see these nefarious old figures in any more pristine condition than this.
As this item has been freshly removed from it’s shipping case, it is in astonishing and excellent condition. There is absolutely minimum wear on this unopened box, the colours are vibrant and fast without any discernible blemishes and all of its features are as close to being perfect as can be expected from a splendidly preserved sample like this one. Figures such as this are as close as possible to how the presentation of this figure would have looked in 1979. It earns a rating of U85 from the Action Figure Authority (AFA), meaning this particular boxed sample is “uncirculated” and has never been previously stocked on store shelves. It’s as high a rating from this widely well regarded toy ratings organisation that an item of this vintage can expect to be graded. Forty years of age will have some effect on it so any score of a higher, true perfection is simply lost to time. Such scores of 100 are rarely handed out by the AFA, even on much newer items, anyway. This is absolutely as good as it gets for one of these Kenner ALIEN toys.
This is an astonishing sample of the old Kenner toy. Figures in this condition do crop up from time to time. As noted above, this is one of six items from a recently opened shipping case and it is understood to not be the first one sold. There may be another one – or more – yet to become available for sale either on Prop Store Auctions or eBay. As this is an excellent and pristine unopened and never handled sample of the old Kenner toy it is no surprise that it sold for US$2,700. Extremely high quality figures in this condition are in big demand from serious and wealthy collectors wanting (near) perfect versions of this classic vintage toy in their collection.
Congratulations to the winning bidder of this item. You can be proud of owning something truly rare and remarkable.
-Windebieste.
