Right, first things first. This is a drone alien as characterized by the smooth dome on the head. Big Chap from Alien was a drone, and the hordes of killers in Aliens with the non-smooth noggins are the warriors. It’s been thoroughly documented on various sites — just google it. That is the only issue that I have with this figure other than fact that the movies Aliens vs. Predator and AVP: Requiem aren’t that great.
AvP came out in 2004 to the excitement of all Alien and Predator fans as this was their chance to see the two species go toe-to-toe with each other. You might recall at the end of Predator 2 a certain alien skull that appeared in the ship’s trophy cabinet. Well, that got the fans all riled up to see an Alien vs Predator movie, but they had to wait 14 years. I’m certain there is a good long story as to why, but I’m not interested. I’m just glad the movie was made, and while not perfect, it is extremely entertaining. But not great.
The aliens in this movie are what are classified as drones in the alien mythos. They have the smooth head as opposed to the “skull-like” heads of the alien warriors. You might remember Big Chap from Alien — smooth head. Same with these bad boys. Bandai did an incredible job with these figures. At first I was a bit worried about their being slightly small, but then I remember that in AvP the aliens are smaller; they aren’t fully grown like the ones in Alien and Aliens. The timeline of the movie is hours and not days. Remembering that, then these figures are perfectly scaled. The stand about 6.5 inches tall, taller than a Marvel Legend, and they look fantastic as they tower over ML and S.H. Figuarts. I know that Big Chap, which comes out in May, will stand just over s7 inches tall.
The sculpt on this figure is amazing. There is pure love that went into the sculpting and I can stare at it for hours. Every aspect of an alien is captured in detail in this sculpt. I haven’t counted all the pieces, but there are a ton and they move and fit together masterfully. The head is the winner for me; it’s scary as hell and embodies everything that I love/hate/fear about these made-up creatures. One thing to note, these aliens were digitally designed for the movie and were not the traditional guy-in-a-rubber-suit aliens. As a result, the overall proportions might seem off. They are, as they should be, and are perfectly captured in this figure.
Bandai incorporated their superposeable articulation into this figure. I can’t even begin to count the joints, but at first glance it seems to be the same articulation that you can find on Godzilla 2000 or most S.H. Figuarts. You can pretty much pose this figure however you want. There are some restrictions in the ankles and wrists and the ball shoulder (out and up “bird flapping”), but that’s about it. The tail is amazing and has a piece of die-cast on the tip — pretty cool. The tail can pop apart, making it easy to pop the end off and make a spear — like the one used at the end of AvP.
Please be wary of the tail. I’ve had two of these figures so far, and one of them has a tail that doesn’t attach very well, and the other required some massaging. It’s possible the one with the problem is unique.
The articulation breakdown is as follows:
ball toes
hinged feet
ball ankles
hinged ankles
double knees
swivel thigh
hinged crotch
ball hips
ball waist
ball abs
double ball neck
hinged jaw
moveable inner mouth
double ball shoulders
swivel bicep
double-hinged elbows
swivel forearm
swivel wrist
ball wrist
swivel hand
ball hand
ball tail x10 (need to double check)
The paint is very well done on these figures, and if you take the time, you’ll see what I mean — complex. I like the final silver wash that gives the aliens a kind of … slimy look to them. Very cool indeed. I included some packaged pics below, and I’m doing my best to remember to take packaged pics, but I forget to do so in my excitement to open the toys.
One final note: the figure comes with extra hands, an alien egg, a chest-burster, and stand. But I’ll be covering the eggs and chest-bursters in a future article.
You can get these online at:
And as always discuss this topic further on
