Kenner/Hasbro Alien and Predator figures

Believe it or not, toy companies once made action figures for really violent movie properties like *Rambo*, *Terminator 2: Judgement Day,* and *Robocop* which they marketed towards kids. One of the earliest instances of this trope in action is Kenner’s *Alien* and *Predator* toyline.

## **Summary**

Throughout the early 1990’s, Kenner/Hasbro produced a series of action figures and vehicles based off the two violent movies where kids could pretend to gun down some Xenomorphs with Colonial Marines or have them be hunted by a Predator while taking on the Alien Queen with Ellen Ripley inside the Power Loader. Throughout its lifespan, there were several attempts and new ideas made to keep the toyline alive and fresh, but many of these ideas never made it off the drawing board and that is what we’re here to cover.

## **1979 Big Chap and the 3 3/4” Figures**

Fresh off the success of Ridley Scott’s game changing film, Kenner wanted to make merchandise based off the film despite being much more graphic than the likes of *Star Wars*. They originally made prototypes of a 3 3/4”Xenomorph, but discarded those in favor of a much larger 18” figure. A true representation of H.R. Giger’s frightening creature, it had a removable dome that exposed its skull and a button at the back of the head that activated its second inner jaw. Several sets were released and it had it owns commercial where children played with the figure that lead to outrage from parents who swamped Kenner with complaints that their offering was far too terrifying for kids to handle. This, along with the toy’s overall poor sales, led to the company not just recalling all the released products, but cancelling development on another *Alien* toyline they were producing. Made to be the same size as their *Star Wars* action figures, this line would have included not just the Alien, but some of the film’s main characters like Ellen Ripley, Dallas, Kane in his spacesuit, and Ash.

Several of the original 18” Kenner Alien figures still exist and some reproductions along with similar scaled figures by NECA exist, but many of the minted box sets go up for about $1,000, incomplete/damaged sell upwards of $300, and even replacement domes for the creatures head fetch $100 just by themselves. It doesn’t help that the figures themselves have a reputation of being poorly made with their back spines being very flimsy and breakable (especially the central spine), the rubber rings made to hold the arms together becoming brittle by age (some cases end in amputation), the body’s metal ring that held the tail together having a tendency to sever the plastic anchor, and its inner jaw often falling out and becoming misplaced. In fact, the pristine versions are the hardest to find of this toy.  As for the proposed 3 3/4” line, Funko announced in San Diego Comic Con 2013 that they acquired the original unpainted molds for the action figures and teamed up with Super 7 to produce manufactured replicas of the original 1979 casts and were released in the early winter season of 2014 with great success; leading Funko and Super 7 to make more 3.75 inch figures based on other adult properties (*Predator, Terminator, Back to the Future, Gremlins*, Ellen Ripley in the Power Loader and Queen from *Aliens*, et cetera).

## **1990’s Alien and Predator action figures**

Six years after the success of James Cameron’s action-packed sequel, Kenner released their *Aliens* toyline which featured a lot more content than their first tango in 1979 and had cross marketed mini-comics by Dark Horse. The toyline was known in some regions as *Operation: Aliens* which was said to be the name of an *Aliens* animated series that was being produced in Korea and cancelled at the last minute with only one test pilot made, but that is actually false as the show was never even approved of by Fox Kids and the screenshots that people believe show proof of the test pilot are actually composed stills from a lost commercial advertising the Kenner *Aliens* toys.  Though two years earlier back in the 1990 New York Toy Fair, there was a 4 1/2” blue plastic prototype figure of an Alien Warrior that was shown back when the line was still in its planning stage. At least four or five were made for the event, but never released.

Sold on an eBay bidding were pieces of artwork for a planned expansion of the *Aliens* line known as “Power Brigade.” The drawings showed Marines wearing high tech weapon suits with one character named Dietrich who was to feature a cap firing action that would go off when activating his kick feature. This was around 1994 when Kenner started to add the Predator Hunters and APC Vehicle into the mix. The new recruits would have included characters from the first *Predator* movie including Dutch Schaefer (with a Hi-Tech variant), Blain, and Billy who were supposed to be released alongside O’Malley, Vasquez, and Hudson, but never came out. It’s possible they were only made as prototypes or rough mockups. Two unreleased Space Marine vehicles include the Drop Ship Vehicle Playset that would’ve included an opening cockpit, two fold out missile pods, a rear rotating turret that could telescope upwards and rapid fire six Alienator missiles, an alien containment chamber, and a detachable mini scout ship that forms the nose and cockpit section. A prototype model was demonstrated in Toy Fair 1993 and was never heard from again. Another vehicle that came very close to being released was the Mini Dropship which was cancelled from the Aliens line, but cheaply retooled by Kenner/Hasbro for the VR Troopers line of toys. A possible APC Vehicle was planned by Kenner for the *Aliens* line and evidence of its conception points to a Previews and Advance Comics catalog from 1994 along with two Drop Ship vehicles. It was scheduled for release in May of that year, though nothing came out of it. In 1994, Kenner had ideas to further expand their *Aliens* toyline with the sub-theme “Hive Wars” which would have included the Predators. Some of the chosen names for the tie-in comics were “ALIENS vs PREDATOR vs HIT SQUAD” or “H.E.A.T. SQUAD” or “H.E.A.T. FORCE.” Only a few of the figures were released though as many stores stopped placing orders and the line was ultimately cancelled. Many of the products that were to be made included a 3-pack of a Xenomorph, Yautja, and an original marine character named Smash Mason who the prototype is described as having a bright neon coloured outfit with black/silver highlights and tied back blonde ponytail with two hose-attached silver guns that plug into pegs on his backpack. Many of the planned Predator figures were the “Air Attack Predator” who was unique in that it was female and she would have included a two handed blade accessory, a winged cape, and is the most elusive and mysterious out of all the prototypes. The Underwater Scuba Predator is unique in that he would have featured articulated ankles and neck joints that would allow him to be placed in a swimming position. He would have included a forked trident weapon and a swivelling mounted spear gun for his right shoulder. His skin texture resembled that of an alligator and reportedly had a finned head with a mouth regulator similar to a fish. Two peg holes were inserted onto his face so its presumable a removable mask would have been made. The Heavy Infantry Predator was said to be a deluxe figure judging by his size as he’s a huge brute with four arms and a huge back mounted spring firing missile launcher. He would have come with a removable helmet and bladed staff weapon. One of the unpainted prototypes is owned by YouTuber Washubot.  A second version of the released Night Recon Predator was to be made with alternate colour schemes, a rifle gun, removable mask, a knife accessory that was repurposed from the Hive Wars Hicks figure, and a reptilian cyborg bird. One of the more obscure unproduced figures from this era was the “Hatching Pod/Egg Alien” with two versions in existence: The rarer one had an egg pod with four petals that opened to reveal a new type of alien sitting in the center with a very long chin, spiky tail, and human looking hands and arms with four fingers. It can be seen in the unproduced Hive Wars comic which reveals that the petals also double as wings. The more common version was a two part opening egg that revealed a more insect looking alien with longer arms along with a shorter second set, smaller hands, two stubby legs, and was attached to the egg via the rear end. The last figure to be produced in the series was the R’Zor Space Marine who was said to have armour that resembled those of the Predator’s with a double wrist blade gauntlet (one set for each arm) and a strange looking handheld weapon. Some of the working names included Q-zor, R-zor, and Razor Marine. Only a few packaged samples along with Night Recon have been sold to collectors, but were simply slapped onto existing *Aliens* blister cards.

While not quite cancelled, there were plans to release the Ellen Ripley from the Aliens 4-pack as a stand-alone release, though nothing came out of it.

In 1993-1994, Kenner attempted to market their Aliens merchandise in the United Kingdom as Operation: Aliens which was mostly successful and some of the products in the United States beared the same logo. One item that almost hit store shelves was a handheld electronic LCD game named Operation: Aliens developed by Tiger Electronics Inc. The game was cancelled and never released though a still working copy is owned by Marc H. Caiwezel of Aliens Collection.com who Tiger Electronics personally gave to him.

With all of the Kenner throwback figures being produced by NECA these days, it’s possible that we may see a resurrection of these rejected ideas.

## **Galoob Micro Machines sets**

Given Hasbro’s acquisition of both Kenner and the San Francisco toy comapny Galoob who were well known for their Micro Machines line, it only makes sense to talk about some of the products that Galoob made for *Alien* and *Predator* as they made tons of playsets and miniature ships based off familiar settings from the films. Originally, Galoob planned on releasing the three original *Alien* and *Predator* blister card miniatures into one big box set for each respective franchise. While the *Aliens* box roughly includes the same vehicles and characters, the one proposed character that was never released in any other Micro Machines set was Ash: the traitorous android from the first movie played by Ian Holm. There would have been two version of him with a normal body and one with his decapitated head and spewed fluids all over his body. The *Predator* box prototype roughly features the same blister card sets, but features an unproduced white truck that was used by the guerrilla camp as a water pump generator. No doubt, it was replaced by the much preferred Predator dropship. Rumour has it that Galoob planned for a series based off the fourth film *Alien: Resurrection*. One toy that at least made it into prototype stage was a transforming playset based off the head of the Newborn Alien when opened would turn into the interior of the Auriga ship. Some of the action features would have included an escape pod and some kind of Alien chestburster figure. One *Aliens* toy that was never released was the LV-426/Outer World Station Action Fleet Playset: the “missed” crown jewel of any Aliens fan collection. It would open to show the outside of the colony complex along with a flip open Derelict ship and pull out Space Jockey. The interior of the colony and atmosphere processing station would have included action features like fold down ramps, opening doors, wiggling facehuggers in stasis tubes, an escape tunnel for Bishop’s figure, the hive with an Alien Queen figure and opening eggs, and minifigures of Gorman and Ripley in the Power Loader. Painted and unpainted prototypes do exist along with an original box prototype that sold on eBay for 100 dollars. Another Action Fleet set based off the Special Edition of Aliens would have included the Jordan Tractor-Prospector eight-wheeled vehicle along with figures of Newt’s parents. Two incredibly cool Predator ships (one red and one blue) were planned with designs taken straight out of the Dark Horse comic series *Bad Blood*. The blue one would feature dual cannons on both sides and an opening cockpit. The red one which resembled some sort of insect or lizard would have featured moveable wings, an opening cockpit and rear cargo hold. Each ship would have included two Predator figures for each set. Both of these prototypes sold on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

## **The Signature Series**

As part of Kenner/Hasbro’s last dance with the *Alien* franchise, six figures based on characters from the film were released in 1997 as part of the Signature Series. Though according to conceptual artist Dave Dorman, eight of them were planned with the missing two being Colonial Marines, which is unusual given that they never appeared in the film nor were they even considered for some of its earlier drafts.

On that same year for the same line, a figure of “Big Chap” was to be made in celebration of the original *Alien’s* 20th Anniversary. It was sculpted with great care by the design team using every bits of 2D and 3D references to make it as accurate as possible. It was sculpted in a very dynamic pose that came in eight parts (two arms, two legs, torso, tail, back spines, and head). The figure was sadly never released though several multi coloured prototypes are still out there. It is unknown if any packaging designs were made and there is no available artwork.

## **Gallery**

Advertisement for the original Kenner 18” Alien figureThe original prototypes made for the 3 3/4” Kenner Alien lineFunko and Super 7’s remake of the Kenner Alien figuresAlien prototype figure made by Kenner for the 1990 New York Toy FairAnimation cels from an unaired commercial advertising the Kenner Aliens toyline that often gets mistaken for a cancelled test pilotTOY FAIR 1993 with IRA GALLEN PART 2 ALIENS EASYBAKE1993 New York Toy Fair coverage (the Dropship prototype can be seen at the 7:28 mark)Test shot of the Hasbro Signature Series Alien 1979 action figureMicro Machines Predator: Bad Blood blue ship prototypeMicro Machines Predator: Bad Blood red ship prototypeMicro Machines Jordan-Tractor Prospector prototypeScuba Diver Predator prototypePainted Heavy Infantry Predator prototypePainted Night Recon Predator prototypeAir Attack Predator prototypeThe second version of the “Hatching Pod/Egg Alien” with the larval sac attached to its rear endMini Dropship prototypeConcept art for the Aliens: Power Drive expansionThe “petal wing” version of the “Hatching Pod/Egg Alien” prototype

## **References**

1. ↑ https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Alien\_(Kenner\_figure)
2. ↑ https://www.kennercollector.com/2013/06/super7s-alien-reaction-figures-san-diego-comic-con-exclusives/
3. ↑ https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/articles/the-operation-aliens-conspiracy/
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5VrFJBNAig
5. ↑ http://www.alienscollection.com/marc.html
6. ↑ https://www.hideousplastic.com/?page\_id=4244