The last week has seen some excited activity across the ALIEN fan community with anticipated news of an upcoming trailer for the new ALIEN Romulus movie being expected. Such excitement, driven by leaked (but unverified) information involving the potential plot of the new movie detailing the discovery of the original creature from 1979’s ALIEN floating in space. It is brought to the Romulus station, where aboard the deep space biological research facility, a sample of Engineer pathogen is extracted from the creature. Staff reverse engineering the substance create a new generation of hostile alien forms to serve as the catalyst for ALIEN Romulus’ main narrative.
Further alluding to the trailer’s then imminent release, yesterday ALIEN Romulus director Fede Alvarez released a single word on instagram, “TOMORROW”. Today, the eagerly awaited minute long teaser trailer has become available to view on YouTube.
While little to no indication of prior leaked plot details are present in the trailer, classic ALIEN iconography is prominently present throughout. Art direction reminiscent of the original movie, facehuggers – lots of facehuggers and what appears to be early model pulse rifles appear in this Scott Free/Brandywine production. Video game ALIEN Isolation would also appear to have significant influence on the movie’s content. Unconfirmed leaked plot details are still withheld from public eye in this trailer
Movie release News isn’t normally something I discuss on HIDEOUS PLASTIC as this blog’s focus is primarily concerned with merchandise inspired by these movies. In this regard though, a new movie will prove to be an absolute gold mine of potential new action figures, toys and other goodies coming our way. And that interests me greatly. As such, relevant News gets mentioned here. No doubt this new entry into the ALIEN series will generate more licenced material for the consumer market. I’m all for it.
What can we expect in regards to licenced material inspired by ALIEN Romulus? Who knows? I do hope long time companies such as NECA, Super7 and a dozen other organisations will once again hop onto the band wagon to gleefully serve up a slew of grisly looking space monsters to warm our hearts. I for one am looking forward to seeing fresh Alien types replicated in action figure format. Of very special interest to me would be at least one interpretation of the original Big Chap in the now atrophied state if it appears in this new movie. That’s got to be on the cards.
Oh, my! After forty five years, 20th Century Studios may yet entertain us with the possibility of the original Alien may be coming back? That detail is still yet to be confirmed – or denied. Nonetheless, where’s Kenner Products when you need them?
-windebieste.
He’s lacking three pieces commonly missing from these old toys. The head dome and both pieces of the two-part tongue are absent. Other than those errant parts, he’s all there. The notorious crest between the figure’s shoulders which is frequently absent is present here. Both arms are included in the sale but they will need to be re-attached. Not a difficult task. Aside from this basically assembly, he just needs a good bath with a toothbrush in hand to knock all the dust and dirt off of him. The only real concern with this sample is the possibility of the functionality of the lever operated mouth not working.
It’s a wonderful backhanded celebration of Kenner’s ALIEN toys of yesteryear, ranging from their original nefarious release of 1979 and through the decade of the 1990s. Kenner released several product lines of toys inspired by all of the ALIEN movies during the late 20th Century. All of those toy lines featuring implacable hostile space creatures marketed towards children based on movies children were not recommended to be exposed. It’s a fabulous piece of single panel art and commentary.
Here’s more of what NECA has to say. THE NECA VAULT HAS OPENED! We’re unlocking the NECA Vault for the next 4 weeks to bring back limited quantities of some of your past favorites! Skip those aftermarket prices and treat yourself to the rare figures you missed out on with flat rate bundle shipping for all in-stock NECA Vault items! As a bonus, you can also get some of these rare finds for their original retail price! Also, don’t forget to read their
When I first read about this item, I was sure it was a gag; but no. Here’s the description direct from the publisher, “Follow Ripley and the rest of the Nostromo crew on a space adventure that introduces the alphabet from A to Z. With fun illustrations, this light-hearted re-imagining of the iconic movie ALIEN will delight fans young and old, as well as Little Golden Book collectors through(ou)t the universe.” I know people who are already speculating how this is going to work. They are wanting “C is for Chestburster”, “F is for Facehugger” and “H is for Headbite that leaves large chunks of your brains hanging out of your skull”. It’s a safe bet the usually difficult letter to assign, “X is for Xenomorph”, will be present.
So I placed my order with AliExpress, expecting an incredible piece of junk to be delivered and hoo-boy! I was not disappointed. Mind you, I would have had a completely different response had I not known the level of junk I was about to receive. It only matches the advertised sample by a significant stretch of the imagination. I sure would have been sorely disappointed had I not known exactly what was heading my way. This tragic “bait and switch” item now has a new home, it has been added to HIDEOUS PLASTIC’s lengthy examination of 
This past year has been a little scant on the ALIEN merchandise front. I’m guessing official licence holders are currently tooling up, preparing to be dedicated and committed to manufacturing tie-in goodies for that aforementioned new ALIEN movie when it is finally released. Those companies won’t be ready to make any announcements until sometime next year. Making tie-in merchandise is a lot of work but I’m guessing next year’s ALIEN Day (April 26) will be an opportunity to showcase and reveal content for us to eagerly gobble up. Such major announcements have been lacking in recent years on ALIEN Day but I’ll be covering as much as I can here on HIDEOUS PLASTIC when it happens. Good times ahead, for sure! Get Excited!
If they’re not rare, as clearly and obviously indicated here, then what is the driving factor for the high price on these old toys? A lot of it does come to to “cool” factor, for sure but there’s more than that at play here. Importantly, it’s the toy’s reputation that drives these high prices. These toys were intended for children “AGES 5 AND UP” and failed miserably at retail due to the movie ALIEN being released with an R rating in the US. The Kenner ALIEN was the first mass market toy released to retail with an adult movie rating and it happened accidentally. It also caused conservative parents to respond to its release in an extremely unfavorable way. Some claiming it was “demonic”, “offensive” or just downright inappropriate for children.
This item would have been purchased via the JCPenny catalog and accordingly posted to the purchaser via mail inside the corrugated cardboard mailer box included in the listing. Such mailer boxes are very rare. This one is in great condition but the high starting bid is difficult to justify. If you are looking for a perfect condition and unopened sample of the nefarious Kenner toy at this price, this item will not satisfy your expectations. The blue themed package has been opened and the front window is loosening around the bottom of its frame. The figure itself is in fantastic condition, true; and the presence of the ratchet zip ties continuing to fasten it to the red insert card is testimony to this fact. There’s also a poster included but it’s seen better days with multiple undesirable creases though it. This item is far from being a pristine and unopened sample that such prices can command and the presence of the third party mailer box is a great inclusion in the sale; but it hardly warrants the 
Well, that worked out kinda neat, hey. This is great! Now I just need to find a badly dubbed Hong Kong version of ALIEN and burn it to disc as contents. If you want one of these paper inserts for yourself, that’s no problem at all. Below is the full uncropped image. It’s yours, if you want it. Just click on the image, a single image gallery item will open and it will then be ready to download. Feel free to use as you see fit as there exists no copyright on AI generated imagery. Have fun with this:
So, for collectors who are agonising over why you can never find a sample of the rare red Gorilla Alien at toy fairs, second hand toy dealers or eBay, you can stop hunting now. You simply won’t find one. Eric Fisher has explored the non-existence of this decidedly fake figure along with several other suspicious items you may (or may not) be able to add to your collection. Sadly, this appears to be the case. It’s not real. If you are interested in anything relating to Kenner’s ALIENS toys of the 1990s, especially obscure facts and information on the toy line, the 
I’m not an autograph hunter so I’m not familiar with some of the names scrawled across the outer surface of the box. Nonetheless, among at least seven signatures present are actors Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Mark Rolston (Pvt. Drake) and William Hope (Lt. Gorman). Also present is 20th Century Fox advertising consultant, Charles Lippencott. This item will be a wonderful addition to someone’s collection. It’s way outside the scope of my finances but no doubt it will eventually go to a deserving home where it will be appreciated.
Here’s what Funko have o say about this item, “An extraterrestrial threat is scoping out your Aliens collection! This black light Pop! Heralds a neon blue and green colour way whilst showcasing the Xenomorph’s poised attack stance, ready to prove its might as an apex predator. Be sure to act quick and add this incredible Pop! Vinyl figure to your collection today!” This item is some kind of “store exclusive” probably intended for the US market. It’s a safe bet though, you’ll find it anywhere Funko POP! figures are sold. …and that’s just about everywhere. I gotta say it. While I am not a fan of POP! items and don’t own any, the lurid colours is very appealing and I may yet add one to my collection. Maybe.
This head is missing some critical features with parts such as the upper dome and both tongue halves being absent. The chrome finish on the teeth is chipped and worn. On the other hand, the mouth trigger still works and the jaw opens. That’s always welcome. The upper head surface paint is still present, if a little rough in places, but it will continue to serve its purpose, function as intended and glow in the dark. It’s an unusual green custom paint job, probably done on the toy four decades ago by a creative child wanting to further embellish the toy – or possibly done by some basement stoner, bored with life. I’ve heard enough such stories to know it’s well within the realm of possibility. It’s definitely an ideal piece if you want to further customise one of these old toys and this is a perfect sample to exercise further creativity if that is your inclination. There is absolutely nothing wrong with transforming degraded samples of these vintage toys into an Objet d’Art. Just don’t attempt to remove the 3rd party paint with chemicals – you’ll risk damaging and dissolving the features – and that kind of damage is significantly uglier result than the hand crafted highlights that have been applied to this piece. Worth US$50? You have to decide that for yourself. I know if I needed a head in this state (it still works!) I’d buy it. Maybe for no more than US$40, though.
At a glance, this item appears to be a near perfect example of the toy but the dome is in less than desirable condition for the asking price. Large cracks at the rear of the dome along with a pair of minor cracks towards the front mar its near perfect presentation. Sadly, these cracks will always be present regardless of how well they have been repaired. Make an offer. There’s no telling how long this item will remain available but he won’t last long, regardless of the negotiable asking price.
I’m not even going to attempt to speculate on how errors of this nature happen during production. They just do; but there appears to be a great many samples of figures boasting anomalous features out there in the real world. A lot of them. I’ve only been able to document just a small sampling which are known to exist. Go check out the ALIEN freakshow where other 
Obviously there’s a lot of parts missing from this toy and it’s not priced to be sympathetic to anyone who may want to ‘DIY’ their own Kenner ALIEN. Nonetheless, it’s a good base for a complete rebuild. There’s signs of wear throughout the figure and you’ll need to spend a substantial amount of more coin just to acquire the parts necessary to complete it’s presentation. To do so, you’ll need: both arms, both legs and the tail just to get it to a basic presentable state. Those are relatively easy to find. The more elusive parts such as the head dome, dorsal crest and both tongue parts may present a challenge, both to your patience and your wallet. Nonetheless, some of these parts necessary to rebuild this item can already be found on eBay.
This sample is a little rough around the edges with some burring along the connectors with other minor imperfections present. Nonetheless, this item is a genuine piece salvaged from a forty year old vintage toy and not a reproduction part. Prices like this are commonplace, matching the demand for these elusive parts. Along with the dome that sits on the head (and to a lesser degree, the dual tongue halves) this item is the most sought after body part for collectors wanting to complete their own Kenner ALIEN toy. An estimated 60-70% of surviving samples of the toy released in 1979 now lack this odd shaped piece. It’s worth watching just to witness the duration of the sale and see how long it takes to sell. Someone will buy it. It won’t take long, even at this price.