Why...

[Corporal Hicks]

...is the merch stuff (in general) less interesting to people? I mean, according to DH Press their novels sell loads - Forever Midnight went into a second printing - but comments on novels and figures and etc are rather...well, non existant.

[SiL]

Novel Discussions

"Have you read that novel?"

"Yeah. Liked that bit. With the guy. And the thing."

"Yeah, me too. Pity about that other scene. With the girl."

"Thought it could've been better."

"Yeah."

...

"Wanna have sex?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

Toy Discussions

"Oh my God this toy is awesome!"

"I own the toy!"

"Oh my God, you're awesome!"

"But I don't have enough money for the other toy. The bigger one."

"Yeah, me either."

"Looks great."

"Yeah."

...

"Wanna get a life?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

[Corporal Hicks]

...I don't like you.

[Darkness]

Because nothing ever big or momentous ever comes from merchandise. You've got movies and games, no room for anything else.

And what I'm about to say may sound harsh but the way I see it, is that comics, figures etc are for children. Sorry, but that's the way I see it. That and they simply are as far away from canon as they can possibly get.

[Corporal Hicks]

...or you.

[SiL]

But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to toys and comics, there's very little you can really talk about, toys especially. They look cool. They sit on your desk and look cool. Some are even poseable. But they're hardly the best foundation of extended conversations.

Comics you can talk slightly more about, but in the end of the day they're never really gonna be as interesting as the movies or the games. The experience of a game changes each time you play it; The experience of a comic or a book, unless written a particular way, doesn't. A movie goes through a long, slow walk through hell to reach the end, with so many ideas and concepts and deleted or forgotten things that one could talk for days about them.

Toys, novels and comics just don't hold quite the conversationalist punch that games and movies do.

Which is a pity, cos I like 'em, even if they are mostly for children (Although many comic writers and toy makers would disagree).

[Corporal Hicks]

Even though they aren't canonical, novels and comics still introduce interesting aspects that are both talking about. Meh, they sometimes make their way into films too. Novels as pretty much just new movies, except it requires someone to sit down and read. And as you know, not everyone likes to do that.

Sometimes you get lots of discussion - the Hish for example - but...for the most part, it's just negativity.

[SiL]

Well to be fair, a lot of the novels 'aren't so good', not least of all because of the largely unnecessary and almost wholly ill-conceived additions they make.

[Corporal Hicks]

But then again, it's far easier to talk about the negative stuff so can't really say much.

Well to be fair, a lot of the novels 'aren't so good', not least of all because of the largely unnecessary and almost wholly ill-conceived additions they make.

I know that. Hunters Planet for example *shudders at the painful memory of reading*. But there were some interesting stuff. Genocide. I loved that and the civil war thing.

[CplWilks]

So, first post, but i'm with Cpl Hicks!

Me, I love the novels and comics!  I'm always tracking down the books as they're very difficult to get over here in the UK.  My most recent aquisition was the Aliens: Berzerker novel which I loved as much as the comic series.

I feel that most peoples oppinions about the novels generally involve the words 'but its not cannon'.  To whom I say bleah, I don't care, it's a good read.

I'm also a great fan of the comics for much the same reasons.

I enjoy the added depth to the AvP universe.  If something isn't cannon, I ignore what isn't, or try and fit it in (usually with a crow bar).  Or I just gloss over the inconsistency. 

Just my 2 cents 

[Corporal Hicks]

You've got Beserker? It's like the rarest Alien novel. I need it to complete my collection of original novels.

[CplWilks]

Tell me about it 

Found it in Amazon.co.uk's second-hand section - cost about £10.00 Plus p&p (about $20)

A very good read though - pretty much exactly the comic series, but does look nice on the shelf.

I'll keep my eye out for a copy Cpl Hicks

EDIT: Just checked Amazon.co.uk - ALiens: Berserker - £31.95, so about $62 

[fluxcap]

Wow, its no longer a novel, its a collectors item.

[Nihil]

It's hard to talk about toys and be keep the conversation interesting.

[SM]

Comics and novels aren't terribly easy to get ones mitts on for a lot of people.  I'm fortunate that I have a comic shop near where I work that I can get stuff like this, but a lot of people simply can't.  And that said that last Alien novel I bought was Original Sin and that was 18 months and a very favourable exchange rate ago.  And the last Alien comic I bought was... (runs off to check publication dates on the Dark Horse website)...

...9 years ago.  Survival issue 3.

I sometimes wish I'd continued to buy the rest for the sake of completeness, but I'd really gotten jack of the generally shoddy quality of Alien comics which had started out really well but gone steadily downhill in the preceeding 10 years.

Since then the comics have been few and far between and the novels sporadic.  Add to this the fact they can sometimes be difficult to get hold of - doesn't make for riveting conversations.