While delayed about a year, the Alien 40th Anniversary celebration is now officially underway from NECA. In Alien, the crew of the USCSS Nostromo investigate, what they believe to be a distress beacon on an uninhabited moon. When Kane, one of their crew, is brought back unconscious with an alien parasite attached to his face, the crew unknowingly invites a hostile life-form onto their ship. Shortly after Kane awakens, a small creature bursts from his chest, and begins to grow rapidly. The surviving crew is left to battle the ferocious alien creature. The creature takes out the crew in a series of violent attacks, leaving Ellen Ripley as the last serving crew-member of the ship, narrowly escaping and forever left to battle the creatures.
For the line up, NECA is mixing all-new new figures in with updated re-releases of a few others. In total, there are three series of figure. Series 1, which we are taking a look at today, is exclusive to Target stores. This assortment includes Ellen Ripley, Arthur Dallas, and a Prototype suit Big chap Alien. Series 2 will be a more widely available release, as those will be available via online shops and “Mom & Pop” retail stores in July. The second assortment includes all-new figures of Samuel Brett and Dennis Parker, along with a blood covered Big Chape Alien. Finally, Series 3 will be coming to Walmart stores soon after that. The final assortment includes an all-new Ash, a Gilbert Kane with the actors likeness, and a Big Chap Alien.
Our friends at NECA have sent over the Alien Series 1 Figures to review. After the jump, you can read my thoughts on the figures, and check out my photo gallery. Look for this assortment to hit stores before the end of the month.
Alien 40th Anniversary Series 1 by NECA
Pros
- Fantastic retro style packaging
- Prototype Suit Big Chap uses the updated Ultimate body
- New paint apps on Dallas really improve the figure
- Ripley’s new accessories are great
- New Jonesy the cat can fit into the pet carrier
- Lots of subtle changes and upgrades throughout
Cons
- I personally prefer Ripley’s original head sculpt
- The space suits could use updated articulation
Overall
The new Alien 40th Anniversary assortments feature great retro style packaging, which pays homage to Kenner’s original packaging for their never released Alien figures. The style was used on other official Alien products of the 80’s, and we’ve seen this style used on other throwback releases by multiple companies. The window boxes are collector friendly, and the figure can easily be placed back in for display or storage. On the back, you get a full check list of the figures coming to the line up. Ripley includes Jonesy the cat, a flamethrower, a motion detector, and a pet carrier. Dallas includes a pistol and a light. The Concept Big chap has no additional accessories.
At first glance, these seem like simple repacks of previously released figures. But closer inspection reveals some small, and even some significant changes. For the most part, the changes on both Ripley and Dallas are cosmetic (save for Ripley’s new portrait). Articulation and range of motion remains the same on those two.
Ripley has the most immediately noticeable changes of the three. She includes a completely new head sculpt, with updated digital printing for the facial detailing. Other changes include different coloring on her undershirts, a different skin tone, and pure white shoes, as opposed to the gray of the original releases. The digital printing on the new head sculpt looks really good in-hand. However, I’m not the biggest fan of open mouth expressions on figures this size and I tend to prefer the original portrait sculpt. I’d love to see that sculpt updated with digital face printing. Ripley’s new accessories are excellent additions, and worth picking up just for those. The new Motion Detector is spot on. But it’s the new Jonesy and pet carrier that most fans will want from this set. Jonesy fits perfectly inside, and the carrier opens from the top, but the entire lid is removable to make it easy to get Jonesy in and out. This version of Jonesy is in a sitting position, and has a poseable tail and ball jointed neck.
The Dallas figure doesn’t undergo quite as many changes as Ripley. The figure itself is pretty much the same. However, there were a number of paint changes. The biggest difference is in the face, which is using digital printing for more refined facial details. The face looks much more natural now and makes a good case for replacing the first release with this. The painted sculpted decals on the suit have more detail painted in, and his name tag is completely different now. there are other color changes here and there, such as the white areas of the suit. those have been changed to a more tan color. Nothing earth shattering, but different enough to be noticeable. I do wish they had updated the articulation here a bit, mainly in the elbows.
Another big change is with the Concept Prototype Big Chap Alien. This release is quite different. The biggest change is that the figure utilizes the new body from the Ultimate Big Chap Alien figure. Compared to the first release of the Concept Xenomorph, you get updated articulation, and some updated sculpting throughout (including the face sculpt). The figure is also using a more translucent plastic, making it much closer to the initial concept of the pale Xenomorph, which was intended to be translucent and ghostly looking. The figure is also subtly more yellow in color, and silver paint has been added on the nails and teeth.
The Series 1 figures are a solid kick-start to the Alien 40th Anniversary celebration. Each figure is an update over the original. Whether those changes are enough to upgrade your collection is going to be up to collectors. However, the packaging makes for a great sealed display, and when all nine figures are together, that’s going to be a fun looking display.
Series 1 hits Target stores by the end of June. Check out a selection of photos below, and the full gallery after that.
Backgrounds featured in some of the pics are from Extreme Sets – use code TOYARK at checkout for 15% off your order!
NECA Alien 40th Anniversary Series 1 Figures - Toyark Photo Shoot
The original sculpt on Ripley was not perfect, but at least the likeness was there. This looks totally wrong.
Dallas looks way better ( was hoping for an unbeanied head like lambert ) but ripley looks worse.
Nothing from this wave for me. I've still got the previous Ripley they did unopened and I only care about the crew if they are in their regular outfits.
If Sigourney Weaver had gone nuts with cosmetic surgery...this is what she would look like.
Ripley is the only one I want from series one, mainly for the new accessories.
I have to agree I prefer the original headsculpt, a shame we may never see it with a printed face. The likeness is there on the new one, but there's something off about it, not sure what.
The new Jones looks great, and I love that we finally have the cat carrier and the motion detector. I actually made my own back when the first version of her came out almost 5 years ago.
Dallas does look improved for sure, but I don't need another one. I'll stick with the original release I have, I'd rather save to money for another figure.
I have no interest in the prototype big chap.
Speaking of which, I have had zero luck with the ultimate big chap. So far I've bought and had to return 3 of them because of quality control issues.
Are these Target exclusives?
Wave 1 will be at Target.
Wave 2 will be online shops (BBTS, EE) & small “Mom & Pop” toy stores.
Wave 3 will be at Walmart.
What happens to Neca?
Ok, better articulation, but same body for all figures, the worst Ripley face I'd seen in my life, Dallas improves but no to the likeness point, Prototype Alien bad paint. So are you telling me that after many years, the only thing that you can improve is a bit of articulation and a bit Dallas face and in general the old ones are better?
No Lambert? Is that a cat really? And you have the nuts to put the prototype pics on the back of the box.
So I will do the same in my work, every 2 years I will remastered my music, only a bit, and I will sell it as anyversary editions 5 or 10 times....lol
Come on Randy....for the love of God...
Is it me??? The Ripley fig reminds me of the show......
"Plastic Surgery Gone Wrong".....Man, what a bad face sculpt.
Remember; The Catwoman???...And I don't mean, DC Catwoman.
She kind of looks like her (to me).
Holy shit, this is the worst Ripley likeness I've ever seen. She literally looks disfigured, like a grotesque blow-up sex doll that was left too close to a blast furnace or a plastic surgery addict from an episode of "botched." Fucking gross.
NECA done fucked this figure up. It's hideous. Fucking pissed about this.
In related news, Ian Holm passed away today.
Wave 1 will be at Target.
Wave 2 will be online shops (BBTS, EE) & small Mom & Pop toy stores.
Wave 3 will be at Walmart.
NECA done fucked this figure up. It's hideous. Fucking pissed about this.
And how the hell you fuck up a cat idek...
Dammit! Found the pic from the initial Ultimate Ripley reveal and they originally WERE going to use the original head sculpt. But after this pic was taken I guess they decided hiring their drunken custodian to a new head sculpt was a better idea.
Damn, I was bitching at why NECA doesn't follow the example of other companies like Mafex that actually put a plug in the dome so that it always sits right, and by these pics of the prototype alien it looks like they actually are doing that! And they positioned it wrong!
Fucking hell!
Anyway, I got the Ultimate Big Chap, and it's a great upgrade, but I hate the way the dome is placed.
As for this set, I'd like to get Ripley for the motion tracker and Jonesy's box...
Even Jonesy looks bad.
Not the best neutral face for Ripley. When overpainting goes wrong. Can see what they were trying to do and bring out more details out of the sculpt, but especially for Ripley, not improved from the earlier release. Shame.
That said, the real shame is when you look at pics of Ripley in Joe's gallery where he bathes her face in colored lighting (see below) and it essentially washes out the hideous shading on her cheeks, forehead, and chin. Like I said, the sculpt actually becomes semi-acceptable in that instance. Too bad NECA seemed determined to do everything in their power to completely fuck this figure up.
I wonder if it's possible to use alcohol or something to remove the shading and actually redeem the figure slightly?
damn i was so thrilled to get this but wtf?
just look at her face, its like she smelled a very bad fart
Okay, okay, I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. Now that I have the figure (I came across the full wave in Target this afternoon), I have to say that the face sculpt looks MUCH better in-hand. It's not perfect (again, the shading on her cheeks/forehead looks odd), but the likeness is actually pretty good from certain angles. It looks fairly good to the naked eye but there's just something about the sculpt that doesn't translate well to photography at all for some weird reason, as evidenced by my pic below. I'm looking at the figure on my desk and it looks fine, but I look at the pic and I'm all like, "huh?"
So, if you don't have the original, I think it's safe to pick this one up. Plus, the paint is sharp on everything and the accessories are all killer.
I give up. I've now lost track of how many weeks I checked my nearest Target for this wave and found nothing. All I wanted was Ripley. What was even the point of tooling new accessories and a new headsculpt if these were going to be impossible to find? I think it's rather telling when there's been roughly a dozen or less of her on ebay at any given time for double the price or more.
I was checking twice a week for at least 12 weeks since these were first spotted in the wild. Found nothing, not even remnants. The next closest store is far away, I only got to check that one 3 times and again no sign of them ever being there. I've only run into the guy who stocks the section once, and he claimed he'd never seen them before. It's a joke.
What really prompted this rant is that I saw someone ask on twitter about this wave and if they would ever be offered online and Randy said that he thought they already had been which I'm 99% sure never happened.
I think Neca has no idea just how poorly these were distributed at Target. I know I'm not alone, there are others who have never seen these once. Distribution has really taken a nosedive this year. My Target has skipped the last two predators, instead they just keep stocking reissues. Instead of Alpha, we got Lasershot. Now instead of getting battle armor lost, we got Ahab. I don't get it.
Full Thread: Alien 40th Series 1 Photo Gallery
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