1992, Kenner Queen Chest Hatchling Accessory.

  • Year: 1992
  • Size: 3 inches
  • Product Line:  Kenner ALIENS (Tonka). ALIEN QUEEN with Deadly Chest Hatchling.

This chestburster item is dubbed as ‘deadly chest hatchling’ and was included as an accessory to Kenner’s 1992 Queen Alien action figure.  Appearing here are two production samples of the accessory.  The top item is a painted hardcopy while the other is a first shot prototype.  The hardcopy item retains some wax detritus adhering to its head from being displayed at Toy Fair.

Images courtesy of Steve Dwyer.

While indiscernible in the photos, the hardcopy is slightly larger than the first shot.  The minor size discrepancy is due to the hardcopy being an exact 1:1 copy of the original wax sculpt. The steel molds are created from the hardcopy and the production piece output from those molds are slightly smaller. This is common for all early hardcopies compared to first shots or production pieces made from a steel mold.

Details on the hardcopy are also sharper than the production first shot due to it being a direct copy of the wax sculpt. Such detail loss occurs as each generation of the process is removed from the original wax sculpt of the sample.  As a result, fine details are diminished on mass market product when items are injection molded from steel molds.

Unlike the first shot which is cast in plastic, the earlier hardcopy is cast in resin and hand painted.  While the hardcopy more accurately records the original wax sculpt, it is fragile.  Durability of the brittle piece is low and a small drop would be enough to break it.

Another sample of the chest hatchling prototype is visible inside the test package mock up for the 1992 Queen Alien item that can be found here.

Below is another run of three photos depicting Kenner Alien Hatchling work in progress figures. In the first pair of images can be seen a hard copy cast in black, another hard copy that has been hand painted and the slightly shorter test shot figure made of softer and more flexible material.

The third photo shows the test shot sample on its own.  The flexible nature of the accessory figure is demonstrated by squeezing the tail and head together.  Attempting such an action on a hard copy would break the brittle piece.

Images courtesy of Derek Ho.

See more Image Galleries of Prototype figures.