The Alien™ Franchise

[MisterPL]

This is easily the line that has inspired me most. I can't get enough. Between army-building all the xenos and making customs of characters that appeared on-screen as well as off, I'm not ready to see it go.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Alien Day is Friday. What are the odds we’ll see something announced or released that day?

[MisterPL]

I'd say zero since it appears DST has dropped the license. ☹️

Except for Bishop, Ferro, a dropship, a xenomorph and about a dozen characters from Alien 3, the crew of the Betty, a hybrid and Ripley from Resurrection, almost the entire cast of Prometheus and a few others from Covenant, not to mention all the comic book and video game source material available, they've mostly milked the property dry.

 

Mostly.

[BuffaloDelorean]

I could be wrong, but I think the assortments that weren’t based on the first two movies (“Legacy” and Covenant) didn’t do as well.

Clean Bishop is definitely a hole in the line, but he’s not much of a draw without the dropship, and that much tooling seems like it would be hard to justify based on specialty orders.

We probably could have gotten a Bishop and rave Xenomorph two pack at some point, but I think that ship has sailed.

[MisterPL]

Covenant Minimates were pretty lame. The TRU assortment didn't have any human characters, just poorly executed critters and a Walter synthetic mislabeled as "David."

The specialty wave offered a couple main characters in spacesuits they hardly wore, a Shaw who was barely seen in the movie, and the same mislabeled "David." Pairing them with aliens was a no-brainer but, again, these were the same poorly executed critters available at TRU.

It's hard to tell how well the Legacy assortment might have performed since it was intended for TRU but released to specialty. Obviously the quantities would be skewed. Personally I loved the variety offered in that wave and I've lost track of how many Ripley/Dillon sets I bought to create the other inmates of Fury 161 (Ten?) but I thought it was a relatively strong assortment though it wasn't perfect.

The Dillon/Ripley set would have been better off with a couple extra heads to create others characters instead of the eggs (only one appeared briefly onscreen), the facehugger (which never appeared on anyone's face), and chestburster (which looked nothing like the one in the film).

The Isolation set was terrific! Adding Amanda showed promise. I was hopeful that this was an indication of where the line could find fresh blood.

Both Resurrection sets were solid. They were light on props but Call had an alternate look and the albino xenomorph that came with Johner was a fun variant. I was looking forward to more characters from that movie, especially since they didn't offer a Ripley.

I'm just not sure how you can't get retailers jazzed about the Alien franchise on its 40th anniversary but we're talking about a toy company that can't sell Gotham even when Batman finally shows up.

Sidebar: I honestly think that TRU's shared characters across the Minimates brand killed interest at specialty, especially when the MSRP is $9.99 a 2-pack while TRU was offering them at $7.49.

[MisterPL]

And I know FYE only has 228 locations but if they take Vinimates in sufficient quantities, wouldn't they be able to stock 4-packs of Minimates?

[elhonez]

I think with Predator, I'm pretty happy. I finally got my Hawkins, and the first movie is really the best, so I won't die if I can't complete the Lost Tribe.

But with Alien, man we need a clean Bishop. I get that a dropship is probably 99% unlikely at this point, but Bishop and Ferro are needed to put a bow on this line and call it done.

[Mystery Man]

Agreed. I’m dying for a clean Bishop and Ferro. 

[MUUK76]

On 5/19/2019 at 4:12 PM, Mystery Man said:

Agreed. I’m dying for a clean Bishop and Ferro. 

Me too.

[MisterPL]

NECA is just now announcing 40th anniversary figures. Better late than never, DST. Or maybe start planning for that 40th anniversary of Aliens with a Dropship that includes Ferro and Bishop.

[arnim zola]

Mega Construx has been releasing alien minifigs since a little after the last DST aliens and predators dried up. I think they let that licensing category dry up and move on. 

[MisterPL]

Different product category (or at least it should be; Mega Construx is construction sets) but, yeah, DST has clearly moved on.

[thereasonsy]

I’m loving the look of the 40th anniversary stuff people are making for Alien. Hope the props are compatible so that our Minis can get so cool gear. Also should probably watch the movie...

[RedTiger95]

Looking back at the Aliens line, it would seem like this was the one of the most lucrative series outside of Marvel for DST. We had boxsets, counter dumps, multiple deluxe packs, even a vehicle with one variant. No other line got that treatment, I guess this is just me speaking in memoriam.

 

[youbastards]

Agreed, it could still be going too, with a little creativity.

[thereasonsy]

On 3/1/2020 at 4:24 PM, youbastards said:

Agreed, it could still be going too, with a little creativity.

I think this is the crux of the problem.

[MisterPL]

I'm not sure how much creativity is required to offer the main characters. There was never an Alien from Alien 3 nor was there a Ripley from Resurrection.

(And, no, the facehugger and pod that appear in maybe one second of the film don't count.)

[The Rise of Justice]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can point me in a direction to locate both versions of the APC. Thanks 

[MisterPL]

I just went down a rabbit hole looking for one. I'd recommend keeping an eye on eBay. Luke's Toy Store might get one in from a collector if you're lucky. 

If you're desperate, Walmart has these. They probably scale well but obviously need a better paint job and I doubt the interior is as nice.

Good hunting!

[The Rise of Justice]

Hi and thanks. I found some of the clean version Minimates APC on hobbymeister website. I bought few, I am an army builder. They were 33.00 shipped each. Just thought I would let you know. The dirty version seems to appear on and off on eBay. So I will find one someday. 

[MisterPL]

Glad you were able to snatch them. It's a cool little toy. 

If your only interest is army-building, you can always beat up your own clean APCs, of course. The deco on the official "battle-damaged" version is pretty uninspiring. They just sponged mud on it, as I recall. As a completist, I bought a couple clean ones just to have two Gormans (alternate noggins!) and the dirty one for the Ripley with the ever-so-slightly changed facial expression.

Someday I may get around to giving that extra clean APC some proper battle-damage.

[SCW]

Anyone know where I can find an Annalee Call Resurrection Minimate? I mostly just want her hair. Does anyone else have that hair? I've seen a few on Ebay, but they seem to be overpriced at the usual haunts. 

[AugieWargo]

26 minutes ago, SCW said:

I mostly just want her hair. Does anyone else have that hair? I've seen a few on Ebay, but they seem to be overpriced at the usual haunts. 

Don't have a spare of her. I do know that the hair piece is the same one that comes with the Nova Corps Centurion. It goes for around 9 dollars on ebay.

[SCW]

4 hours ago, AugieWargo said:

Don't have a spare of her. I do know that the hair piece is the same one that comes with the Nova Corps Centurion. It goes for around 9 dollars on ebay.

Cheers! According to the Minimates Database, it's a similar hair piece, but not the same one. Unless I'm looking at something wrong. Might work for my purposes though. 

[AugieWargo]

13 minutes ago, SCW said:

Cheers! According to the Minimates Database, it's a similar hair piece, but not the same one. Unless I'm looking at something wrong. Might work for my purposes though. 

Oh shoot. When I went through the drawer to see if I still had a spare Annalee, the Nova mate was in there and I only saw the hair piece through the bag didn't think to look at the Minimates Database. Sorry about that.