Aliens Day - Space Marine VASQUEZ!

Aliens: Space Marine Vasquez - Aliens Day Exc Kenner Repaint - NECA 2017

As much as I enjoy all aspects of pop culture - especially pop culture nostalgia related to my childhood in the 1980s - I usually shy away from the grittier properties when it comes to my action figure collections. When I look at my toys I want to see bright colors, ridiculous costumes, and upbeat properties. So militant characters with guns and dour faces rarely make the cut. I've made a few exception recently when it comes to the Aliens line by Neca. The main release figures look great, and I really appreciate looking at them in the stores, but the gimmick that pushes me over the edge and gets me to open my wallet are the fun Alien Day repaints in bright classic Kenner colors. Last year we saw Ripley in her purple shirt and yellow boots, and this year we get Vasquez in her blue bandanna and bright red shirt. But where Ripley was sold at TRU, this Vasquez is exclusive to thenecastore.com. She may still be available, but on some screens it says she's sold out. Hopefully everyone got her. Let's check out Vasquez below!

Aliens ELLEN RIPLEY!

Aliens - Space Marine Lt. Ripley - TRU Exclusive (Kenner Repaint) - NECA 2016

I always struggle with buying detailed movie-based action figures. I love pretty much every pop culture franchise out there, and it seems natural that I would want to include action figures from them in my collection. But from an overall aesthetic, my collection is 90% bright and colorful superheroes. And movie figures are almost always dark and gritty with an attempt to have lifelike details that really contrast from my She-Ra and Harley Quinn shelves. I have really struggled with all the awesome Ellen Ripley toys that have been coming out in recent years for just these reasons. But then NECA announced a Toys R Us exclusive repaint of Lt. Ripley from Aliens in the brighter "Kenner" colors and I knew this would be the one for my collection. The original Kenner action figures from the early nineties looked nothing like the movie characters, but I have a soft spot for that particular phase of the hobby. Thank goodness the fine crew at NECA has an eye for nostalgia as well. Let's check out Lt. Ripley below!

Aliens LT. RIPLEY!

Space Marine Lt. Ellen Ripley - Aliens: Series 1 - Kenner 1992

I've had this figure of Ripley for quite a while and never really gave much thought about reviewing her.  It's not that this isn't a great little figure, but it always seemed a little generic, brightly colored, and too unlike Sigourney Weaver to warrant much attention.  This toy line from Kenner came out six years after the film's release and coincided with the release of Aliens 3 (which didn't get much love from the plastic world... or the film critics).  Anyway, like I said, I never really gave this figure much thought until a reader of this blog pointed out the similarities between this figure and the Karen Ross figure from Kenner's 1995 Congo line that I reviewed last week.  I'm a sucker for interesting little tidbits like that so I immediately began researching shared Kenner moulds.  I've been aware of the Robin Hood / Star Wars parallels for a long time, and I was really excited to think I might have found my own (Thanks to Artistix!).  Interestingly, these figures share almost no identical parts, but I am just as intrigued by the level of minor retooling that I guarantee no one would have cared about.  Let's check out the Ripley figure (and clone) below.