UPDATE: Sold for US$200.
Looking for a poor quality forty year old toy to throw US$200 at? Well, good fortune is smiling upon you! One matching that description is available on eBay right now for US$199.99. Aren’t you lucky?
Let’s get this out of the way first. For US$200, you can easily purchase a better sample of the toy than what is being offered here. For what you get, this poor ALIEN toy is horrendously over-priced. It’s easier if we start with the usual suspects. All the pieces commonly missing are absent from this figure; and then some. Gone are the head dome, both parts of the tongue and the crest between the shoulders. Also missing is the tail. The arms are included in the listing, but you’ll need to re-attach those. Everything else is there – but even some of those remaining features on the toy have problems. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Starting with the head, its glow in the dark paint work is chipped. That’s a common problem and nothing unusual on played with samples of the toy. There’s also a similar issue is the quality of the teeth, which feature a heavily worn and chipped chrome finish. That’s common too. More of an issue is the failure of the lower jaw to close. Here it is hanging open and that’s a sign the internal mechanism is damaged or jammed. If it’s jammed it may possible to fix it with a good mouth flush to wash out any gunk that may be preventing it to close. It’s just as likely some other problem is at play here, though. For example, part of the internal geared sliding mechanism may be damaged. Or it’s possible both springs that close the jaw (and also retract the tongue) have become loose or lost. These are issues that may not be fixable due to the inability to access the interior of the permanently sealed head.
Peering inside the torso, we can see the four pins that prevent the arms from collapsing into the body. They’re worn but all appear to be present. None are broken and that’s a good thing as these four pins assist in holding the arms in their correct position on the torso and are easily broken. Here, they still present. As for the rest of the torso, it’s unfortunate the slot that mounts the crest on the rear half is chipped on its upper most edge. It may not be able to hold a replacement crest in place even if you can find one. It will just fall back out Unfortunately, the tail is completely absent and, presentation of the figure is dramatically reduced. It’s an easy task to disassemble the figure and fit a replacement onto the torso – but but you’ll have to find a forty year old replacement tail first.
Below average condition figures like this one featuring so many missing and damaged parts are common. You can often find them on eBay with bids starting as low as US$0.99. They quickly generate interest and escalate in bids. Normally they will sell for between US$50 and US$120 when this many critical pieces are absent from them. Add to that list the number of other issues (chipped paint on head and teeth, damaged jaw mechanism and damaged slot on the back) and the vendor’s asking price is way off the mark.
The big question then is this. Will this incomplete, damaged old toy sell at this price? It probably will. There’s a high demand for these vintage toys. This one will probably be ideal for cannibalising for some much wanted parts. Severed arms are in high demand for reconstruction projects. Even the ill functioning jaw won’t prevent the head from being a fine replacement for one in worse condition. This damaged and mistreated figure may even be a good candidate for restoration but boy, he needs work. The base is all there – it just needs a ton of attention and a bit more money to purchase absent parts but it can be made to look decent but more mileage. Nonetheless, cash and other resources will need to be brought to bear upon this item to make it look decent.
It’s a below average sample of the forty year old Kenner ALIEN toy. For this amount of cash you can purchase a better quality version of the same item. If you are considering this one, make offers to the vendor rather than purchasing it outright; and no more than US$150.
-Windebieste.
