Look wot arrived in the mail today...
It's a Gentle Giant Alien.
The box is enormous and it more or less emulates the original Kenner Productions package to a satisfying degree. It does feature some notable differences in its dimensions, graphics, inserts and construction method and materials from the original 1979 pressing. Regardless of which, it's a fantastic modern interpretation of the original windowed package. This is an absolutely amazing presentation for the ridiculously large figure to be found inside.
Now, about that figure... How about we get it out of the box and check it out..?
Wow! Lookit that!
The Alien itself is almost an exact replica of the the original 1979 Kenner action figure. Except it's kinda bigger. Well, a lot bigger, actually. On its own it's almost too easy to mistake it for the original Kenner figure without any direct comparison. There are minor discernible differences but it's inspirational source is undeniable. You do have to be familiar with the original figure and look closely to identify any anomalies. To be fair, though, the figure presented here is accurately scaled up by 25% making it a whopping 2 feet tall!
So yes, it's massive.
MASSIVE! Unfortunately, this image doesn't really give it any sense of scale, which is where the major differences between it and the original lie. So let's see how it stands up next to one of the older 1979 figures, shall we?
So here ya go. The original Kenner Products Alien is on the right. Aint she dainty by comparison?
All the features present upon the older figure can be found upon the Gentle Giant. The legs, wrists and tail each move around spindle joints. The arms possess the same range of movement via a tensioned ball and socket arrangement. The finger operated spring loaded trigger at the back of the head activates the jaws and tongue. It even has a glow in the dark paint job on its skull to complete the nasty visage.
I spent over an hour taking a ton of photos of the Gentle Giant figure. By the time I'd finished the task I'd become familiar with its outlandish size and the Kenner figure felt small by comparison. It was a weird sensation becoming so habituated within such a short time to the enormous Gentle Giant figure that the original felt small when I went to pick it up. Despite the original being 18", it felt diminutive after handling this enormous interpretation of the Big Chap! Wow...
I am so totally stoked at this item. It was discounted by the vendor by 20% and while it still wasn't cheap, it was totally worth purchasing it at the price I got it for.
-Windebieste.
