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Alien (Big Chap)

Comments

21 comments posted
Oh wow, awesome. How do you

Oh wow, awesome. How do you think the rubber will hold up over time?

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JoshB's picture
Posted by JoshB on 31 December, 2009 - 14:57
I don't see any reason it

I don't see any reason it wouldn't hold up fine. The mouth would be the only part I would worry at all about, but the jaw only opens so far so I don't think it would get stretched enough to break.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 31 December, 2009 - 23:25
I'm an Alien nut, and I've

I'm an Alien nut, and I've had most 1:6-scale versions of the creature.

The Hot Toys 1986 ALIENS Alien Warrior from 2004(?) I had seemed to be ok over time. I've found on that figure, besides the fragile joints, the paint will wear away and crack if you stretch the suit out too much. However, if you've got a MISB one, be careful, as I've bought a few where the figure didn't have any of the little plastic sheets, and in the heat the latex suit will bond to the tray. And stain some surfaces out in the open. Also, I've bought a few of these ones from a shop where the owner used to smoke in the store, and it seems the smoke reacted with the latex and made it a bit tacky.

I really disliked the Medicom one. It felt like it couldn't move, compared to the Hot Toys, seemed very fragile, and I felt like the price was way too high.

I think this one is probably closest to the screen-used suit from the 1979 film out of all the figures produced (70s Kenner, 90s Kenner, Medicom 90s, Aoshima 6", McFarlane, NECA, new Medicom ver., Hot Toys). There's a Marmit statue from about 10yrs ago that is the closest thing to the actual costume i've seen. There are still a few inaccuracies in this Hot Toys figure, but they only will really matter to the most obsessive of Alien fans.

The clear dome is nice, but I think the skull inside is a little too "anime" for my tastes. You can't see the skull in the movie, you guys are right, but it was a part of the original costume. It seems like Hot Toys didn't make the dome consistent in color, as some figure's domes are more opaque than others. Some are I had to buy three when I found out and picked the darkest one to hide the skull.

I don't know if it is a brain or a skull. I'd say "brainskull" and not care anymore.

The Big R's picture
Posted by The Big R on 1 January, 2010 - 15:56
So, are the fingers and tail

So, are the fingers and tail articulated with a wire, or some plastic joints in there? Does the rubber suit force the figure back into a mostly neutral pose, or does the articulation hold against the suit?

Prometheum5's picture
Posted by Prometheum5 on 31 December, 2009 - 17:56
It feels like wire to me

It feels like wire to me since it's bendable at every spot. It's not like you can bend it every half inch or anything like that.

As for the articulation, it holds just fine. If you bend a knee or elbow or the waist, it will definitely stay bent. The only place it's slightly restrictive is at the hips. For instance, you can position a leg out at a 90 degree angle and it will revert back to about 45 degrees, which is still not bad. However, if you position both legs at 90 degrees, they WILL stay. So you just can't have one leg up and the other down since the one that's down will pull the other back. Make sense? But it's not like your gonna pose it at 90 degrees anyway. :)

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 31 December, 2009 - 23:35
I'm not sure that's a brain

I'm not sure that's a brain in that head. Looks more like an elongated human skull, complete with eye sockets!

delta7890's picture
Posted by delta7890 on 31 December, 2009 - 18:32
Yeah? Like I said, I'm not

Yeah? Like I said, I'm not well versed enough in Alien lore to be certain. I haven't seen the movie in like 20 years or more. Actually, I've a vague memory of them actually being eggs? Is that right? Sorry, if I weren't so busy this week I'd have taken the time to re-watch the movie and do a little more research. But like I said, I just wanted this published before the end of the day. :)

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 31 December, 2009 - 23:39
To be honest I know no more

To be honest I know no more about the Aliens franchise than you do. It just looks more like a skull than a brain to me. :)

delta7890's picture
Posted by delta7890 on 1 January, 2010 - 10:47
Nice review. I'm curious

Nice review. I'm curious how the Hot Toys entry compares to the Medicom release of last (2009) year?

RobIL's picture
Posted by RobIL on 31 December, 2009 - 19:24
Sorry, can't offer an

Sorry, can't offer an opinion on the Medicom one. Honestly didn't even know that they did one. I DO know that Atom has been raving about the Hot Toys figures and Medicom...not so much.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 31 December, 2009 - 23:40
I like it, but I'm not sure

I like it, but I'm not sure how much the human skull/ giger painting detail actually turned up on screen. It does seem very reminiscent of the Kenner doll, and might be a decent fix while I work up the stones to pony up for that one. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Dave.

Happy New Year!

Materialist Zen's picture
Posted by Materialist Zen on 1 January, 2010 - 11:47
Nice review! Rubber suit &

Nice review! Rubber suit & 14.5" inches tall, sounds awesome, good to see a well priced figure of the original alien.

north-exit's picture
Posted by north-exit on 1 January, 2010 - 17:08
HOT TOYS - Alien (Big Chap)

Another winner from HOT TOYS. Awesome review. Thanks.

grendizer1975's picture
Posted by grendizer1975 on 2 January, 2010 - 04:50
Skull an' stuff...

I pre-ordered the Medicom one and am pretty satisfied but with a couple annoyances, the main being the "1:6" scale. The figure really is only about 12 inches tall. As we all know, Alien is a tall mofo, played by a guy sizing in at about 7 foot something. So, when I set him up next to my Hot Toys RoboCop and Terminator and he was dwarfed, I was pretty disappointed. I wanted that mofo to TOWER! The rubber suit hinders posing a little but not much more, I assume, than mentioned for this Hot Toys ver. When Big Chap came along I read the specs and was elated to find that the 1:6 scale more truly honored the screen-accurate height at something like 14"(even tho he'd still only measure up to Briareos which I feel is still too short. I'm a stickler for true scale among my 1:6ers). But the PR pics made him look all too colorful with a lot of red/rust coloring in there and the above mentioned "anime-ish skull" and the thing I love about the Medicom ver. is the flat gray finish (and accurate skull sculpt) that appears to me the way you'd find the suit/creature if it were right out of wardrobe(I hate simulated wear and blood splatter on my figures - factory fresh is the way for me. Except for when it's TRULY part of the character, like Wall-E). After seeing these pics he looks much more fresh and un-bloodied but I dunno, that funny "anime-ish" skull sculpt bugs me. Torn, torn, torn. Maybe if I could somehow bash the Medicom head on to the Hot Toys body... mmnnneeeeehh.

BTW:
Giger and team cast(maybe even USED) a real human skull in the construction of the original screen-used suit so you can be safe to say "skull" and not "brain".

Robots In Love's picture
Posted by Robots In Love on 4 January, 2010 - 11:18
Before I even looked at the

Before I even looked at the comments section I was wondering how the latex would hold up. Don't people who collect those halloween monster masks have to use baby powder or some such on them? I worked at one of those temporary Halloween stores one year and some of the customers collected masks like we collect figures,and I swear I remember them talking about latex breaking down.

That said,this is an awesome looking toy. It kind of reminds me of the Godzilla Microman or Combat Joe figures,allthough obviously this is much,much better.

kidnicky's picture
Posted by kidnicky on 4 January, 2010 - 16:43
YEP

I also collect some latex masks as well, and they are really tough to keep in good shape. Some have had bad reactions to storage containers, artificial light(florescents), human body oils, and they really loath the heat!

I lost a couple that had reacted to each other in the storage container. I broke them out last Halloween to find them melted togther.

Grandzinga....

Grandzinga's picture
Posted by Grandzinga on 5 January, 2010 - 15:47
That could be a new monster

That could be a new monster character,though!

kidnicky's picture
Posted by kidnicky on 6 January, 2010 - 00:03
Totally. Could be like the

Totally. Could be like the split-face Norwegian monster-dude from Carpenter's "The Thing"!!

:P

--
Sanjeev

Sanjeev's picture
Posted by Sanjeev on 6 January, 2010 - 11:23
Sure

I'll mail it to you if you want to display it!

Grandzinga....

Grandzinga's picture
Posted by Grandzinga on 8 January, 2010 - 13:12
Good points. I honestly

Good points. I honestly didn't even think of that when Josh asked about the latex. I was just thinking in terms of how it would hold up against posing/stretching. It's funny, Dan Roebuck owns what I think is the only boxed example of the original 1948 Don Post Frankenstein mask and the mask literally melted away to nothing inside the box, iirc. Ironically, the box actually specifically says that with proper care, the mask will last for years. Never did specify exactly how many years, though! I've got some old masks that I think are from the 80s and so far they've held up fine.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 9 January, 2010 - 22:32
GREAT pictures. I thought

GREAT pictures.

I thought about getting this one but reconsidered once pictures of the Revoltech Alien Queen came out a few months back. Figure I'll save some bucks and get their figures, even if they are smaller.

Just got their uh, little chap in the mail. Really accurate for his size.

Bongodongo's picture
Posted by Bongodongo on 22 April, 2010 - 18:29