UPDATE: Sold for US$275 (1 bid).
Here’s a nice pick up for someone wanting a complete 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy – and who doesn’t want one of these beauties, right? OK. So, maybe not everyone does want one but there sure is a lot of them around; what’s more, eBay has this lovely looking sample with bidding starting at US$275. Sounds like a lot but it’s a reasonable price for one of these 40 year old toys now. 
This is indeed a sweet tasting morsel of blended styrene shaped into one of the world’s most notorious toys. This Kenner ALIEN action figure has everything including the dome, shoulder crest and both tongue parts. Well, the box and accompanying poster aren’t present, but it’s a good solid clean looking critter and would make a great addition to someone’s toy trophy shelf. Someone will snap this up at a decent price. That is, if bidding doesn’t become some crazy tit for tat escalation. Mind you, those sales are fun to watch.
-Windebieste.
While 4 figure prices for one of these toys is common anywhere in the world, at this price you would want the package and contents to be complete. Sadly, this is not the case with this item. This sample, manufactured in the US, is good in all details but it is missing the head dome on the figure and the front plastic window from the box. Had these items both been present, then the asking price of AU$1,500 would be realistic (I can’t believe I said that. lol. but it’s true). Unfortunately, this level of incompleteness does knock a substantial amount off the value of the item.
This arm’s general appearance is good and when attached to a figure it will present well. Importantly, all six finger tips and the elbow spur are present and undamaged. It doesn’t appear to be cracked or be contaminated with glue residue at the ball joint, either. It just needs a little cleaning to get some of the dust and gank off it and it will look terrific. That’s no big deal of itself. Some hot water, mild dish washing detergent and an old toothbrush will work perfectly to remove any mange that is currently adhering to this limb.
Needless to say, it’s clearly a high starting point to commence bidding. For this kind of money you would want them to be in immaculate condition, at the very least. It’s hard to determine if that is the case on these images due to the fact the vac metal surface on the front may be displaying damage or they are simply reflections of a nearby dark surface. As someone recently commented on Facebook regarding one of these sales they would expect these pieces to be made of silver. That’s not an unreasonable expectation considering the asking price, but no. They are not. They’re just vac coated styrene. Completely worthless materials – except for the demand that surrounds them due to their age and them being in this shape, that is. Crazy stuff either way.
It’s not just the arms on this item that are glued in place but the legs are too. Such repairs as these render these normally articulated joints immovable making the figure permanently fixed in this stance. The tail, hands and tongue all look like they can operate as normal but the major limbs will not move. That’s a sad waste of a potentially good figure that could have otherwise been salvaged and fully repaired retaining its full articulation. 
So, once again, both legs, tail, quad dorsal appendages are present. As is the head, which is a little scuffed about but at least the jaws appear to work. While listed for US$275 (or Make Offer) it’s definitely not worth that kind of money. The Kenner Snake Alien included in the listing does nothing to justify the price. That 1992 vintage toy is worth about US$10. While there is nothing particularly special about this figure to justify it’s price, it does present other opportunities to understand a little known feature of these figures that is worth knowing. 
Bidding starts at US$150 and the seller is offering the option to Buy Now at US$250. Not a bad deal despite the deficiencies this sample exhibits. Aside from the mutilated dome, which looks like the figure has had a nasty face plant and shattered the piece, it also has the lower right quad dorsal appendage rotated out of alignment which indicates internal damage to the piece. Not a killer issue of itself but still noteworthy as part of its condition. The four decades old toy is also covered in dust from long years of neglect. 
These arms are frequently missing from figures and they do appear on eBay around once a month or so; sometime in pairs, sometimes individually like this. A US$50 price tag on a single limb like this unusually high. The limbs aren’t missing anywhere near as frequently as the dome or the crest on the back of the figure and as such demand isn’t quite as high. A single limb usually sells for around US$25; 2 for $30-40 is common. So this is definitely one of the more expensive samples of this single piece I have seen listed for a long time.
The large articulated ALIEN toy was originally anticipated to be Kenner’s next big thing following their line of Star Wars product. It didn’t turn out that way and Kenner were left with a problem – how do you promote thousands of stock items that are unsuitable for the market they were intended? You understate it, that’s what. Let’s take a look at how this grotesque toy was promoted by its manufacturer at Christmas in their very own end of year product catalog. 
