Kenner ALIENS Gorilla Alien Action Figure Kenner, ca. 1993
Day #256: October 6, 2011
Gorilla Alien Big, Blue, Mean
ALIENS Action Figures
Item No.: unavailable at this time Manufacturer:Kenner Includes:Blue Face Hugger, Mini-Comic Action Feature:G.shtmling arms, squirting head Retail:$5.99 Availability: ca. 1993 Other: Remolded as Mantis Alien, also repainted a few times
When launching their initial line of ALIENS toys, the Gorilla Alien was joined by the Scorpion and Bull, all three of which were damn near impossible to get for months. Slight changes in the packaging and figures took place over a brief period, but fundamentally the Gorilla Alien was the same thing-- a big bruiser with huge arms and a soft, water-squirting head. In other words, it was a real toy designed to be fun for kids, loosely based on an R-Rated action movie. This is why so many of us loved Kenner growing up.
Clocking in at about 5-inches tall, the Gorilla Alien has a massive head-- seriously, it's meaty-- with a huge upper torso, long arms, and short legs. He has 5 points of articulation, which is normal for the bulk of early 1990s toys, plus a swell "g.shtmling" mechanism. The spines that jut out from his back are actually levers which cause his arms to stretch out, able to g.shtml other toys if you're so inclined. The springs and mechanism is pretty weak, so he can't carry anything particularly heavy, but it's still a really neat idea. The same arm gimmick was kept for the remolded Mantis Alien, which was green and had arms which were more like clubs than the Gorilla's oversized hands.
The second feature on this one is the head, a soft plastic which can be squeezed so it can suck up water through the smaller secondary jaws. And then it "squirts acid." Heck, check out the commercial, it does a good job showing it.
As an added bonus, it includes a Face Hugger in blue-- only the first three Aliens creatures had these, later releases and the Kay-Bee repaints dropped them. They fit on pretty much any human action figure's head, from the small 3-inch Glyans to the larger 7-inch Masters of the Universe figures with little problem. Or the Space Marines, if you have those.
When the line first hit, the Gorilla and Scorpion were my favorites, although most of the later ones were pretty cool too. The metallic blue highlights and silver teeth really stand out against the black plastic, but there's little doubt that this was a product of its time. Today you should be able to score one for about ten bucks, or less, regardless of packaging condition.
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