- Year: 1992
- Product Line: Unproduced. Later released by Kenner (Tonka) in 1992.
No action figure merchandise based on ALIENS was released in 1986 to accompany the release of the 20th Century Fox movie. Eventually, Kenner Products would create a toy range based on the property in the early 1990’s. Originally intended to be sold under the OPERATIONS: ALIENS brand name, only a few were badged with this label. Yet some Kenner Products items using the original OPERATION: ALIENS identity were released including a board game, jigsaw puzzles, a watch along with a number of other items. All of which retained the full moniker of OPERATION: ALIENS when they appeared on retail store shelves. Kenner later changed the brand line to a more publicly identifiable name by shortening it to just ALIENS.
Aside from a short range of products bearing the OPERATION: ALIENS moniker, other documentation also exists representing the action figure range and what it was to comprise of. A 60+ page style guide used to create characters to be produced as action figures reveals a great deal, indeed.
Presented here are images of the OPERATION: ALIENS style guide intended to be used as a reference for Kenner’s newly licenced ALIENS product line. The style guide outlines and determines the visual language to be adopted during the development and production of this range of new figures. Of particular interest are many of the original OPERATION: ALIENS concepts that would eventually appear as retail items that could be purchased in 1992 onward under the ALIENS product line.
The Gorilla, Bull, Queen and Scorpion Alien are all documented in the style guide as being originally intended for release under the OPERATION: ALIENS series of action figures. All of these figures were eventually released under the ALIENS name at a later date but their origin was conceived earlier.
Also of considerable note are characters intended to be released in the OPERATION: ALIENS line that underwent substantial changes during their development. The original design of the three headed Scorpion Alien is a perfect example of such alterations. This figure, when released in 1992, featured just a single head but according to the style guide, the figure was much more chimera like appearance with multiple heads prominently featured during its early stages of development.
Ripley and other human characters from the 1986 movie, Drake, Hicks, Apone – and the android, Bishop – likewise also appear in the style guide. Each one of these characters also eventually saw release under the familiar ALIENS brand name later the same year.
Finally, the OPERATION: ALIENS name was possibly still under consideration long after the ALIENS line had been released in 1992. As is evidenced by the 1994 date marked on these product packaging samples submitted for approval. These production samples use concepts also outlined in the style manual and are also common with the 1992 released ALIENS line.
For some time it has been believed OPERATION: ALIENS product line was to be based on an animated television show. This has been a popular misconception among fans and no verifiable evidence is available to suggest the purportedly cancelled Korean production ever existed. Recent evidence suggests the existence of the television show was the product of jumping to conclusions by some fans who had discovered hand drawn and coloured images online.
These images were of proposed animated television advertising material featuring this range of figures and was intended to be used to promote the product line. It turns out the production of the OPERATION: ALIENS animated show never occurred and the OPERATION ALIENS brand name was simply changed to ALIENS by Kenner sometime in 1992, possibly for marketing or licencing reasons; but it’s highly likely the name was changed due to ALIEN 3’s less than expected box office return and Kenner preferred their product line to be associated more strongly with the previously released and more popular 1986, ALIENS.
Images courtesy of Derek Ho
