Being a contemporary of the original Star Wars movie, Alien has always been a ripe and fertile ground for the action figure world. Unlike Star Wars, however, Alien was decidedly not marketed to kids upon its release, and aside from a toy here and there, there really hasn’t been much to speak of in terms of toys based on the property until the past few years.
You see, Alien was rated “R,” which meant it took some work for kids to see it in 1979, and it was definitely marketed as a “horror movie,” not as an epic space fantasy, even though that’s exactly what the property resembles more and more as time goes on, so the thought of a toy line probably didn’t even begin to cross anyone’s mind in 1979. However, these days, toys based on characters from popular horror movies have been proving to be a more and more popular part of the toy aisle, with figures bearing the likenesses of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface flying off shelves. All of this makes Alien, as a property, the perfect source for a toy line — it treads that perfect middle ground between Star Wars and horror movies, so we really get the best of both worlds.
NECA has been releasing fantastic, highly articulated figures in a 7-inch scale, but if took Funko’s getting involved before we received the figures that would have been amazing to have gotten back in 1979. These retro, Kenner-style figures based on the property scratch a decades-old itch, and it’s been awesome seeing them released.
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Now, the thing about this “ReAction” line, and this may be a result of three decades of modern action figure conditioning, is that the sculpts, for the most part, are on the soft side. The monsters and horror icons have been great, but standard human characters haven’t fared as well, which is why we’re not looking at the entire second wave here. I’ve dodged the human figures and only picked up these two Kane figures because of each figure’s respective gimmick. The fourth figure in the wave is Ripley in a spacesuit, and I know I need a Ripley if I’m going to have these on my shelves at all, so I will probably cave eventually and pick up a Ripley for myself.
As far as their packaging goes, it’s much like what we saw in the first wave: character-specific graphics under a standard “Alien” logo. The cards all look cool, and I’m tempted to save them the way I used to keep all the cards from my Star Wars figures in the early ’80s. They all look like they would make great mint-on-card display pieces too, but I’m an opener these days, so let’s get to it.
The Alien, who is commonly known as “Big Chap,” looks awesome this time around. The metallic paint on his body is gorgeous, and the white detailing on his head that resembles a “skull” totally completes the look. Had I known this Alien was coming back when I bought the Alien figure from the first wave, I probably would have skipped it.
The sculpt itself is identical to the figure that was released in the first wave, so the only thing new at all here is the paint. That’s enough, though, and the new paint job really does make this feel like a completely new figure.
Like the first Alien figure, the clear-plastic portion of his head is removable, which allows us access to the figure’s action feature. There’s a lever on the top of his head that can be slid forward to launch his “tongue.” This time it’s silver, and, unfortunately, that ends up making it look like as unwrapped stick of Juicy Fruit gum or something. It’s no doubt supposed to emulate the Alien’s extendible “inner mouth,” but it just looks like a silver tongue here. Not horrible or anything, but it’s nothing special either.
For articulation he has the standard “big five”: A swivel head, swivel shoulders, and swivel hips. In addition his tail can also swivel at the base, but it throws off his center of gravity a lot and makes it difficult to pose him.
In the above comparison shot with the wave 1 figure, it’s plain to see what wonders a simple paint job are capable of delivering. I think the figure on the left is going to end up being a standard Alien warrior if I continue adding to this collection, which I may very well do. But if you want just one Alien figure for the novelty of having one, the new one on the right is definitely the way to go.
Kane is about as generic a figure as you could possibly get — until his “gimmick” is put in place. The white suit and bland head sculpt are not the most thrilling design choices in the world, but they absolutely work to his advantage here because they serve as a great base to draw attention to what this figure’s, and the character in the movie’s, purpose for existing is: to be impregnated by a facehugger.
The facehugger is surprisingly detailed when viewed from any angle. There are no paint apps to speak of, but it’s cast in the appropriate color, so paint apps are not necessary, and the sculpt is awesomely detailed for something this tiny.
The facehugger fits on Kane’s head perfectly and looks totally convincing when it’s attached. It’s too bad the only pose the figure can strike to indicate panic is to have his arms extended up in the air. It sort of works, though.
The second Kane figure in the wave is based on what happens after the facehugger has done its job — a little Alien baby bursts from Kane’s chest. This Alien baby is well-sculpted despite it’s tiny size, and the red paint does succeed in resembling gore. And I love that Kane’s eyes are painted to be closed — I guess that means he’s dead? It cracks me up. The Alien baby is fixed in place and is not removable, so the only pose the figure really needs to strike is to be lying on his back while the rest of the crew looks on in horror.
I think this is a fun follow-up to the first wave of figures, and I’ll be honest — even though I’ve been actively dodging them each time I hit my local Barnes & Noble, owing these makes me want to pick up the human figures from wave 1, at least Ripley and Dallas. Once this series is all wrapped up, I wonder if Funko will move on to characters from Aliens? I’d love a Newt in this style.
These figures are definitely worth getting, especially if you’ve been collecting the line form the start. They’re a lot of fun, and the two “Kane gimmicks” are awesome. I got my three figures from Amazon, but they should be popping up at other stores soon.
