One of the Legendary Hallowed Sci-Fi Collectible Toys is a big honking creature from ALIEN which Kenner cranked out to confused toy buyers around 1979. Attempting to capture some form of this magic is the Warrior Alien in this giant 2-pack, which are roughly 10-inch scale. Oddly, this very xenomoprh would be redecorated and packaged with a 12-inch Hicks a couple of years later-- so scale be damned, have a big bug.
This is an amazing piece not just because it had such a limited market-- Kenner was experimenting with other collector stuff around this time-- but because it was basically a giant Kenner figure. You get five points of articulation and a bendy tail, it's extremely unimpressive from an engineering standpoint, but as a collectible it's exciting and funky. I mean, Gentle Giant has been doing good business on 12-inch upsized versions of old Kenner 3 3/4-inch figures, so in a way you could say Kenner was ahead of the game here. Or extremely cheap. Either would be true, because I have to assume the main reason this figure exists was to get another squeezing of the Ultimate Predator mold from a few years earlier. (That large Predator figure was a de facto specialty exclusive as Kay-Bee and the major toy stores didn't-- or rarely-- stocked it.)
This particular incarnation seems to mix up elements from ALIENS and Alien 3 with a splash of silver paint from... something... I'm not sure what. The set played off the comic book rivalry, which in turned followed a legendary 5-inch Kenner ALIENS vs. Predator 2-pack which we'll talk about here soon. With long limbs and pretty good detailing, it wasn't a terrible toy at the time although it aged quite quickly as McFarlane and NECA would basically crush Kenner in terms of sculpted detail for the collector market. There's not a lot this figure can do other than stand around and look cool, and its greatest triumph is merely existing. Did you ever get a look at the crap Kenner was making in the 1990s? Shaq Attaq. R-rated movies and weird comic book team-ups were and remain bizarre choices for a kid-driven toy company.
The alien's pose is similar to the Acid Alien which would come a few years later, and its unique pose may require some futzing to get it to stand just right. This sample was in a box I've hauled from home to home since it first came out, and aside from some minor dome scuffing it's in wonderful shape. He stands just fine, but I'm not sure what gravity will do to him in a few months. I have high hopes, and most Kenner stuff will remain standing if it stood up well when it first came out.
As someone who unconditionally loves pretty much anything Kenner did before the 1995 revival of Star Wars, I can appreciate this for what it is: big, awkward, and not at all authentic. Today this Ultimate Battle Set is worth about $20 tops-- I'd actually suggest passing on it in favor of the individually packaged large Predator and/or the set with the Alien and Hicks. Although in either case, the deco on alien creature leaves something to be desired. It's big and cheap though, and that counts for a lot in my book.
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