Tag: independence day

Alien Shocktrooper – Independence Day

This was another super-cheap Western figure from Mandarake that I couldn’t not buy. Also… shiny…

Shiny and blue is also a winner with me :P. And tentacles. This figure feels very 90s. And being 90s style, it has to have an action feature:

Not entirely sure if this cardboard dude is supposed to come out or not. He doesn’t easily, so he’s stayin’ in there. Here we can see there is plenty of glitter underneath the sealant. 

Here is the head closed:

The red eyes stand out from the rest of the figure, but aren’t too hash a contrast. The sculpting is good for its age, though the colours chosen are probably somewhat Marmite if you like them or not. 

Left:

Here we see the majesty of this thing. The tentacles take up quite a bit of room, but the upper ones have wires, so they can be posed. The lower two he stands on are solid so they can prop him up. The purple accents on these tentacles are a nice touch. The upper tentacles are pre-attached, but the lower ones are an absolute arse to get in – would recommend warming the figure to ease insertion. 

Close-up of the body:

Still looking shiny and decently detailed. The protruding bit on his upper back is the clip you squeeze to open the head. The head will spring closed. 

Right:

This shot shows the levers and hinge aren’t really that hidden. Does give you a good grip to open it though, which makes sense as a toy aimed at kids. 

Close-up of the lower tentacles:

Decently detailed, and reasonably easy to balance him on these back “legs”. 

Back:

All the tentacle you could need! Haven’t posed them much, but with some fiddling, they’d look good.

Close-up of the tentacle ends:

Here we can see there is more than one tip type, which is a nice detail. I like the way these came out. 

You also get a host dude:

He has a certain amount of flexibility, but isn’t designed to be poseable. The paint colours are nice though. I’ll either find somewhere he can hang onto, or maybe hang him onto a tentacle. He’s a decent little accessory to the figure, but he’s not capable of standing on his own, so that’s a bit of a shame. Would have more display potential if he did. 

Overall, I like this figure, not sure who I’d recommend it to. It also came with a floppy disk, but haven’t been bothered to try and see if it still reads. As of the time of writing, here’s some videos that I found of the mission disks that came with these figures: https://www.youtube.com/user/JTcheatwood/videos They’re all very short minigames (my brother had the Area 51 one as kids, which came with a mini playset, which is why I know the vague content of the disks). 

Alien Attacker – Independence Day

So now for the FACTS loot! First up is this spaceship that came with a collector’s edition of Independence Day. It came with the box, but not the Blu-Ray, though with the Blu-Ray it’dve been a lot more costly… and I don’t care about Independence Day that much. Just wanted the cool spaceship :P. 

Here it is – it has a nice plaque stand. so you know where it is from. It sits on two plastic supports, and is relatively sturdy. 

Closer look at the stand:

Here we see the base pattern, nicely shaded, and the plastic supports that peg into the ship. 

The underside of the ship:

Here we can see the two slits that the stand pegs into. Most of the paintwork is a black wash, but it isn’t evenly applied, so there’s lighter and darker areas, which gives the ship more detail. Some silver paint on the back, which provides a bit of a contrast. We can also see the guns that dangle down from the bottom.

Here’s a closer look at one of the guns:

They don’t give an overly detailed vibe, but they do the job. 

Left top:

The detailing is good, but the paint job just leaves it looking a little on the plain side. I love all the etched patterns and the fin on the top. 

Top front:

Windscreens are there, but no detail really. Would’ve been nice if they were in reflective paint, or there was suggestions of detail inside the ship – looking at some pics of the movie, there were lights inside. Also there seems to be a lack of wash or paintwork on the parts either side of the windscreen. I think it’s this and the lack of variety in depths of the etching that leaves it looking plainer than it should. It’s fine for a cheap figure, but I wouldn’t pay a massive premium for it. Also with most of it being the plastic’s colour, it does leave it looking like a plastic model. 

Top-down:

The patterns are what “make” this ship, along with its unusual shape. A credit to the original designers. 

Back:

Yep, that’s a ship’s arse. Line of the fin is good. Looking closely, there’s some stray grey paint on the base… 

If you like this ship design, I’d recommend it if you can get it cheaply. It’s definitely not the worst collectable that came with a movie or game (Max Payne 3 statue anyone?) , but I don’t think it would be winning any awards either. I think it’d make a great base for a custom paint job, but alas, I’m not the one to do that. Well, not at the moment anyway. I’m mildly a sucker for ships, and I liked the look of this one, so decided to get it. I don’t regret it, but do think the paintwork could’ve been better on the ship itself.