Tag: alien

Alien – Real Action Heroes

This was another random discovery on Mandarake. The description and picture didn’t match, but decided to go for it anyway and see which of the Real Action Heroes Alien figures this was…. and it turned out to be neither of the ones I was guessing it was. This one is #41. 

Here he is, on a Play Arts Kai stand:

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S’cuse the derpy pose XD. Some of the threads on the joints had become loose, so I added some PTFE tape, so this is slightly visible due to his transparent nature. If it ever bothers me, I’ll replace the PTFE tape with clear nail polish, but PTFE tape is what I had to hand. 

Overall, he’s one cool-looking dude, but it is a rubbery plastic outer, so it had got very sticky with age – ended up giving him two baths to get rid of the sticky residue. 

‘Face’:

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Scratches on his teeth were prior damage. Could get some silver paint/marker to fix this. His mouth has been sculpted well, and he has his inner mouth, as any Alien should. 

Crotch (because apparently I deemed this as a shot worth taking):

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Here we can see some of the mechanisms, and the way his rubber suit is almost like a swimsuit. 

Feet:

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Here we have some shiny silver toes. Paint and sculpt is nice. 

Left:

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Love the sculpt on the side of his head, and he’s a decently poseable figure. Even with his joints tightened, he doesn’t stand too well on his own, so I’d recommend getting a stand, if you get any of these Alien figures. 

Hand:

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These hands are just the rubbery plastic, plus some silver painting on his fingernails. 

He does have a second pair of hands:

These are hard plastic, with a singular wrist joint. I prefer the spiky ones.

Right:

Looking symmetrical to the left side. 

Back ‘pipes’ side:

Details look nice and crisp. 

Back:

Not too much to see back here, but we can now get a good look at his tail. 

Tail joint:

This is the part I dislike most about this figure – the tail goes onto a rubberised “spike” so it can fall off easily and isn’t poseable. Wish they had a hinged joint here, so you could move his tail to the side at lest. 

Tail in all its glory:

This thing is long and does pose issues when placing him on a shelf. The rubberised nub does allow it to bend to the side a bit, but can be knocked off in the process. 

Tail tip:

Nice bit of sculpting to end his tail. 

Head dome:

The details in here are sculpted nicely, and the transparent dome works well. You do get some dots on the dome, from the spikes pressing against it. This is also probably some of the plasticiser that’s leaked out over time too. 

Overall, I really like this figure, especially for the price I paid. He hasn’t aged too well, but the faults are mostly minor and fixable. For anyone interested, for getting off the plasticiser (sticky stuff) I used either hand soap or washing-up liquid, or possibly both. And some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease. Due to his head already having some potentially liquid dots in there already, I was careful not to dunk his head in the water, just in case it leaked (which would be a pain to fix). 

Alien – Predator Thermal Vision ver

One last xeno before we break from the the xenos…

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This very green grid alien. Yes, he does glow in the dark, but no… I didn’t take any photos of the glowing. So for this one, we’re mostly judging it by the sculpt – and I think it looks good. 

As far as the thermal vision goes, the green does match, and I like the way the base is a solid black, to match the lack of thermal signature ti would have. Also makes for a good, strong contrast to the figure. 

Left:

I like the way the tail is posed, going around the alien. Here we also have some super-long back pipes goin’ on too. Head is nicely detailed in the sculpt, and we have the grid pattern of the “grid alien”. 

Right:

Here we see the Alien doing some stalking, unbeknownst it is being watched. Sculpt on this side is also fully-detailed, with sculpting on its limbs, and I like the shape of its body. 

Back:

The body transitions nicely into the tail, and the pose works from the back too. 

Upper shot:

Some of the tail spines probably lack a little definition, but not too bothered about that. Here we can see where the pipes are joined to the body, but I don’t find it overly noticeable. 

Overall, I really like this figure, and was glad to get it for a decent price. Originally he was a bit more than the other figures in the “basic” set, but got him for the same price. He glows decently well, and seems to have some variation in his glow, so looks good at night too. 

‘Alien’ Bobblehead

So this one… I bought this from a local-ish action figure shop, he had no idea where it came from originally…. and neither do I. The figure itself has no markings, is made from resin, and is numbered but not signed, so I assume this some rando-artist item. 

So here is this piece:

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From the front, we have something that seems to be a xeno crossed with H R Giger’s original art. The base appears to be based on an Alien egg, though this is where the bulk of the damage is on the figure – I plan to paint these in a similar colour at some point (maybe even try and get some putty out and reshape the missing bits…). The centre of its chest deviates from both the original and film designs, as it has two ribs instead of one central one. Also the shoulderblades are longer and larger. We have some strange posing with the arms, but I suspect that was to simplify the moulding process for the resin, giving this alien a stylised look of its own.

Left:

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Here we see the head is more penisy, which follows Giger’s design more than the films. The shoulders seem to be a less-shaped version of the film version. The mould is nicely detailed though, and the shading on the figure is nice. The red and silver of its lips and teeth has been nicely done. If you look near the neck, you’ll see a little of the resin has been chipped off due to the bobblehead feature. I guess this was made when bobbleheads were in! With the egg part, the veins on it have been highlighted with paint, which I like. Whilst the eggs themselves don’t have veins, they’re usually on the ground below, which I assume where the inspiration for this came from. 

Right:

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This side has fared better, and isn’t chipped by its neck. Here we can see the alien is a bit tubby – I feel the body needs to be a bit thinner and a bit more shaped to give off a full “Alien” vibe. 

Top of head:

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The details are nicely rendered, and feel like a simplified version of the Alien Warrior head design. 

Back:

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Here we don’t have protrusions, which again, was likely to simplify the moulding process… or to make the mould smaller. I suspect the artist didn’t want to cast and glue/pin the extra pieces on, so they’ve come up with their own back design. which works decently well. With Giger’s originals, they did (tend) have protrusions, but from lower down and flatter on the back. Again, the tail is flattened against the body to make it an easier mould to deal with. 

Inside the ‘egg’:

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I like the way the tail curls around and sits in the bottom of the egg. We have some liquid detail in the egg, which I like. 

Bottom:

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Apparently there are 1199 others out there… do you own one? Know anything about this? If so, please comment below! Water is from rinsing the dust off this fellah – he was very dusty when I got him and in need of a clean. 

Overall, I like this unusual piece – I feel it’s a more “inspired by” piece, as it doesn’t follow one particular Alien design, as far as I can tell. There are shortcuts the artist has taken to make it easier to cast, but overall, these mostly work, and make it its own piece. Don’t think I’ll get much use of the bobblehead functionality though, lol. 

(Also what’s it with amateur artists not signing their stuff?)

Chestburster Victim & Facehugger Keyring – Aliens

Now for a bit of an interesting figure… one that’s part of the scenery…

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This wasn’t a figure I was planning on getting, but saw it for a reasonable price, and decided to go for it. Thinking of posing this with one the xenomorphs in the same Eaglemoss series. 

The sculpt is surprisingly detailed, and the paint is mostly good, which is a surprise for an Eaglemoss figure. There are some parts where the clothing paint does go onto the fines, but most strands are OK. The clothes are well done, and are shaded well, and the blood isn’t half-bad. My biggest complaint with the figure is the skin colour feels a little too ashen, and could’ve possibly done with a splash of skin-coloured paint. 

Chestburster close-up:

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A chestburster’s head… in full, gruesome detail. I think this has been done well, and we have the t-shirt pushing back from the wound. I feel there’s some inaccuracy in how this would look irl, but I think the artistic liberty does help the chestburster stand out. I feel a little more detail in texture could’ve gone into the hair, but I don’t think this is a big thing, and the paint is nice on the hair, with the strands on the victim’s forehead. 

Sides:

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The sides of the figure look nice, with the alien wall texture continuing around the figure. 

Back:

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Was quite impressed with this – they’ve actually textured the back, so if you have this at an angle where the back shows, it will still look “the part”. The paint here is also nicely and subtly shaded. 

Due to the subject, I don’t think this figure will be especially popular, but it is nicely done, and would look nice in a diorama. 

As a small added bonus, here’s a keyring by Tsudaka Hobby that I picked up in a Suruga-ya order:

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It did come with the key loop, but I removed this to more easily place it in an ita bag (featuring all my favourite things). The legs and tail are very flexible, so they’ll bend if caught on anything. The black wash is OK, but I wish they left a little more on to soften the effect. The bottom of the facehugger is also sculpted decently well. I like this keyring, and glad I got it. 

Aliens x M.U.S.C.L.E – Series 2 – Part 3

Now for the rest of the figures in this wave.

First up, Burke:

I like the texture on the guy’s shirt – how to do a plaid shirt when you don’t have colours to use. I like the sculpting on this one – detail has been put into the clothes, with the wrinkles, pattern and his shoes. Another hairline to report on the back though. He does have a watch sculpted too, which is nice to see. Overall, I think this is a decent figure.

Hicks:

Hicks, giving off a strong Duke Nukem vibe. I think they’ve gone overly Nukem with the hair, which is what does it. Still, not a bad little sculpt, but probably not going to please someone who needs their figures character-accurate. 

Hudson:

Erm… and now I’m getting Frakenstein’s Monster vibes from this one. For me, this doesn’t really feel like Hudson, and looking at pics on Google Image Search… I’m still feeling that. The hair doesn’t look right, and his face looks derp. If we ignore it’s supposed to be Hudson, he looks OK for a generic army dude… though I think his face needs changing so it doesn’t look like he’s going “uhhhhhh”. 

Lastly, Vasquez

(she better not get my blog flagged again!):

That. Face. That…. face. They went for annoyed Vasquez, but ended up with pissed off granny. The mouth is too long, and I think the facial features are too squat, leading her to look older and angrier. They did give her dog tags though…. Her gun looks OK as far as sculpt goes – can’t blame the for filling in the smaller holes, for structural integrity. Also mine is a bit bent, but I could ix this, so I don’t regard this as a negative of the figure. 

If it wasn’t for the weapon and the headband though, I think it’d be a bit confusing who this is supposed to be… Again, OK for generic army dude, but kinda fails at being Vasquez.

Again, a mixed bag as regards figures. I think they’ve tried to add more to these figures, which has mostly worked, but have ended up with some odd faces, which doesn’t help with recognising them. This set has some highlights and some lowlights, so I’d recommend just getting the set(s) with figures in that appeal to you. And maybe not look too closely at the faces. 

Alien Warrior – Alien Vs Predator

This xenomorph is based upon one in AvP, according to the box. This one I randomly came across on Suruga-ya and thus I decided to order it:

And he’s a big mofo… bigger than my backboard. In terms of painting… he’s black. And a bit more black. So,um, nothing to talk about here as regards paint… but the moulding makes up for this. 

‘Face’:

He has a translucent dome, but you can’t really see through it – just the vague shape underneath. The detail in the moulding is visible here – I love the texture on the webbing bits of its mouth. 

Chest:

The bones look good on the chest, and plenty of details further down. 

Left:

I like the preparing-to-leap pose. It’s also done so it’s fairy well balanced, and will happily stand on a flat surface. 

Arm close-up:

Again, good sculptwork that captures the textures and details of a xenomorph well. 

Right:

From this site, its tail tries to stab the camera :P. The back pipes stick out well, and we have the other wibbly protrusion here too. 

Side of head:

Liking the details on the neck, but the shoulder ridges look a little odd – there’s not a huge amount of texture on them, and I’m not convinced over the way the arms join into it. 

Back:

A lovely amount of sculpting back here – I like the spine and the lines that join up to it. Its hips stick out nicely too.

Tail:

One vicious-looking tail! Love the end of the tail. 

Overall, I like this figure. It’s a big, solid figure that’s well-sculpted, and balances well. If you want a cheapish statically-posed Alien figure, I would recommend this FuRyu series of figures. 

Alien – Clear ver – Alien Resurrection

Saw this dude on Mandarake and decided to add him to an order. Was on the fence as I don’t always go in for clear versions of things, but the coloured version of this figure I have is in poor condition, and, well, it’s a Xeno. 

Front:

I was pleasantly surprised by this figure – the details are reasonably visible, thanks to the figure size and the yellowish tint. Not sure if the yellow tint is intentional or something that’s developed over time, but it works for me, lol. 

And yeah… I still had the Demogorgon on the table… He will balance without a stand, but he’s much easier to balance with one. 

Left:

I like the tail on these figures – works well to counterbalance the figure, and looks good. I like the details in the sculpt on the legs and his chest.

Head close-up:

He doesn’t have any detail on his dome, but the side moulding makes up for it. Plenty of tendony things going on here. 

Right:

His “pipes” have a nice texture sculpted onto then. His splayed feet do help significantly in balancing him too.

Arm close-up:

I like the flange detail, and they’ve also captures the round markings. His arms also rotate at the shoulder, which gives you some customisability to his pose. His hips also rotate, which is mostly useful for balancing purposes, and you can rotate his head a bit, but I don’t find that too useful. His tail can also rotate at the base, if you want it pointing sideways.

Back:

Here we can see his spine is sculpted, and some of the details on his legs. The tail works well with the pose.

Overall, I’m happy I got this. I wouldn’t pay a huge amount for him, but for the bargain price I paid, I’m certainly happy with him. 

Alien Big Chap – Alien – Revoltech

I couldn’t come back from Japan without an Alien figure:

The first thing that stands out on this figure is the detail in his head and on the main part of his body. He also has some copper-coloured highlights on his body, which stand out more in-person than they do in this photo.

A closer look at that head:

The ridges are nice and pronounced, and the shading on the plastic looks really good. Not many figures have the clear plastic shaded, so a plus for this figure. 

Left:

Here we can see the highlights more, and his slender hands. I think the shading on the “back pipes” is a bit overdone, but still looks cool. I like the neutral-ish pose for his hands. 

Close-up of a hand:

The fingernails are painted well, and I like the way they’ve sculpted his tendons. The brown-to-black paint is blended well. The lines on his arms are sculpted well, and he has the pokey bit from his elbow. 

Right:

Love the shininess and the detail. The fin that pokes up above the “pipes” has a nice evenness with the parts protruding. You do rather see the ball joints in his legs quite well from this angle though. 

Closer look at the tail:

I think the texture has been replicated well for a 1/12 figure. Some colour highlight here too. Tail indeed does end with a barb. 

Back:

Everything barring the ball joints looks good back here. I think if this figure was reproduced today, they’d use smaller ball joints for the knees and ankles, so they don’t protrude so much. I could run my hand down the middle of that back though… and down his tail. 

“Pipes”:

I think the colours could have been blended better here, and made a bit darker. Looks kinda odd having the tips be such a bright colour of brown. 

And what kind of accessory would a xenomorph come with?

An egg, complete with facehugger! I really love the paint job on these two, and the amount of detail that went into the bottom of this facehugger. 

Side view:

Not too much to see here, but nice to see it isn’t totally flat, which makes it feel more natural. If you can call it natural. 

Back:

The level of detail is replicated on the back – his spine looks good, and you can see where the body goes into the “fingers” of the facehugger. The egg has a very nice green-to-black fade going on. 

Top of the egg:

The detail looks really good here too. The facehugger is a separate part, so you can display it separately if you wish, but the egg holds it sturdily despite the small connection between the two. 

Egg base:

Love the wormy, alien texture here too. The paint is also neatly done, and this is actually slightly transparent, which looks really good in person when the light goes through it. 

Overall, I’m very pleased with this figure. Would recommend to a fan of xenos, but don’t expect anything in terms of accessories – the xeno is “as-is”, plus the egg. Both are great pieces imo. 

Predalien – Eaglemoss

This is the third of three figures… and the reason the blogs about these figures got delayed.

Here’s the reason why:

Yeah, how did this pass QA?! The figure was pretty recessed in the box, so not convinced this happened during shipping. 

So a grumbly email and another wait… and we have:

This dude, who hasn’t been headbutting stuff lately! However, I think his paint job is slightly dodgier in places – note the unpainted bit on her hand, but that’s far less annoying than a scratch. 

So let’s look at the entire front of him:

They’ve chosen a very dynamic pose, which adds to the figure. There’s a good amount of contrast in the dark and light areas of his body. 

Left side:

He’s quite dark on  this size. Here you can see the dreads that are part of the signs he’s a predalien, along with his feet and colouring. 

Right side:

Here you can see his tail – which is definitely one of the selling points of this figure. Almost looks like he’s holding it from this angle! The painting has been nicely done on his tail, and the leg sculpts look very nice from this angle. Can see a couple of places where the dark overpainting didn’t quite get into the gaps, which is a bit of a shame. Guess the person who painted this one didn’t quite have enough paint on their brush or poke him enough. 

Back:

Some nice details back here, but not so easy to photograph them from this angle. Love the alien backpieces. Horns? Spikes? Protrusions?

Close-up of the base of his tail:

The moulding and paint transition from his back to his tail is very nice. And ridges have been replicated well.

The end of the tail:

Mmm, wouldn’t want to get hit with that! A suitably vicious tail!

Close-up of the base:

The mould of the broken mask is nice, but there is some silver slop at the top of the mask on the base, which can show from some angles and look a little odd if you’re looking close. At this angle though, it looks nice. Base is painted well – love the rust details on the grate. 

This one is my second favourite. If it wasn’t for the dark overpainting paint flaws, he’d be vying for the top spot, but he just isn’t quite up to the swimming alien for me. 

Swimming Alien – Eaglemoss

This is the second of the three Eaglemoss figures I bought. 

Swimming Xeno! I really like this figure, and is probably my favourite of the three. 

Here he is swimming the other way round on his base:

Not sure which display option looks best. His tail is impressively moulded and painted, and I love the way it sticks out. His head is shiny, which is a nice touch. He also looks like he’s swimming, so that’s a definite bonus!

Here is his other side:

Not much in between the two sides. Both look fine.

Here is a close-up on his back end:

Looks nice :).

And the front end:

Here you can see the shiny effect on his head, and his back “spikes” reaching up above him.

From above:

Head so shiny, you can see me! His pose does look kind of flat from the top, but that’s no biggie to me. 

And his belly:

He has a hole for the post that holds him above the base, but the paint shading has been done well on him. With the glossy finish on his legs, he could almost be wet. 

Close-up of the base:

A nice range of props, coloured green to match the film and look underwatery. See? They can blend paint! 

I love this dude – he will take up a decent amount of space, being so long, but with the rod, he can stand above other small figures, so he shouldn’t be too bad to display. 

Eaglemoss Alien Queen

Suddenly…. a wild super-large box appears! Wasn’t quite prepared for the size of this one. Thought they must have padded the box for the figure, but nope, it was taking up the whole of the box sent!

For a metal-based figure, this thing is large. It came as three separate pieces – the tail, her body and the base. Once assembled, it’s rigid, and I’m not worried about it disassembling itself, so that’s good. The detailing and paintwork are both nice. Due to my shit lighting, the base looks a bit arse in the post-editing, but Eaglemoss has some high-quality photos.

And here’s more of my derpy ones:

This last picture has less editing, so the base looks much more like it does irl. Went hunting for a discount code (which I found!) as I thought I might be slightly disappointed by it but nope… totally happy I got this one. With the code, I’d say it was worth it.