2019 …and Welcome to the Big Four-Oh.

Posted on 31/12/2018 by windebieste

Here we are at the very start of 2019. This year will be ALIEN’s 40th Anniversary and is expected to be a significant year for fans. Despite the fact ALIEN was released on May 25, 1979, celebrations for the movie occur on April 26 – 4/26 being a reference to the planetoid (LV-426) the ALIEN was initially discovered by the crew of the Nostromo.

This year’s ALIEN Day should be something special and we are hoping April 26 will carry some big reveals, that’s true. Maybe some info regarding a movie or the rumored television show will be unveiled. That would be nice. We already know there’s a new video game currently in development by Cold Iron Studios and hope more info will be forthcoming regarding that item and certainly 4/26 is an ideal date for such reveals.

On the action figure and collectible front, we already know NECA, Mamegyorai, Sideshow and a bunch of other companies are also planning to bring goodies to your eager fingertips this coming year to embrace the Big Four-Oh Anniversary. We expect a slew of new product to be announced and released as well. No doubt Super7 will also be bringing more SPACE VILLAIN goodness into our lives, be it either in 3.75 inch format or another 18 inch Super Size 1986 ALIENS Kenner tribute figure, it’s all welcome. Here’s hoping we shall see some details regarding their ReAnimation figures that were quietly teased some time back.

Either way, I’m looking forward to all the announcements, reveals and releases happening throughout next year. All in all, I bid everyone a Happy New Year and to stay safe in what is rapidly becoming a crazier and crazier world with each passing year. For us ALIEN fans, though, it looks to be a very promising 12 months ahead, indeed.

Bring it, I say! My wallet is certainly not ready; but I am.

-Windebieste.

VIDEO REVIEW: Hiya Toys Crusher and Raven Aliens.

Posted on 30/12/2018 by windebieste

It’s New Year’s Eve and what better way to wind up the last day of the old year than with a video review? Here is yet another appraisal of ALIEN figures by Baptiste Coudert. This time he’s evaluating Hiya Toys Crusher and Raven figures, a pair of Aliens appearing in the video game ALIENS: Colonial Marines.

I’ve featured Baptiste’s reviews on HIDEOUS PLASTIC before. Many times in fact. What exactly is it I like about them? Is it the charming disembodied French accented voice extolling the virtues of space monstery goodness..? Is it the hairy arms constantly in view manipulating ugly ass toys..? Is it the no nonsense presentation focusing unerringly on the topic of discussion, reviewing ALIEN action figures? Well, actually, it’s all of these things. They’re all signature marks that work as a whole – and I love it.

Thank you, Baptiste. I am looking forward to more video reviews from you in 2019.

-Windebieste.

Sideshow Collectibles Upcoming Alien Mythos Legendary Bust

Posted on 30/12/2018 by windebieste

Sideshow Collectibles have announced the latest addition to their long running, wide range of high end collectible goodies.

Aside from this image, there doesn’t appear to be any more details other than what they have to say about it, which isn’t much. “Sideshow’s Alien Mythos Legendary Scale™ Bust is coming next in our line-up of Alien collectibles!” No dimensions or pricing is available yet but you can visit Sideshow Collectibles’ page featuring the announcement of this item.

-Windebieste.

Gingerbread Alien Emerges.

Posted on 29/12/2018 by windebieste

Normally I’ll just post about toys and action figures. Stuff made from plastic, usually. On occasion I will also indulge in posting neat stuff made from other materials, too, like this fantastic custom plush Alien.

Recent movies will have you believe the rogue android, David 8, created the Alien but today’s piece of unique xenomorphic creativity is made from gingerbread. Nonetheless this astonishing food sculpture by Caroline Eriksson is made of dough, prompting my response, “Look on my gingerbread works ye hungry and drool!”.

Anyway, go check out the Red d it discussion regarding this tasty terror.

In closing this News post, I’d just like to request to NECA, how about a ‘gingerbread’ tribute action figure sometime in the future? Who wouldn’t want one of these in their collection, even it was only 9 inches tall?

-Windebieste.

NECA Shows off More ALIEN Resurrection Figures.

Posted on 29/12/2018 by windebieste

NECA, who appear to be the only organisation promoting content over the Christmas break have released a pair of images of their upcoming ALIEN Resurrection Alien Warrior figure on their Twitter page.

Not a lot of information right now except NECA tells us “The Resurrection Warrior is coming for you this Spring. #facehuggerfriday“. So, notwithstanding any delays, we can expect this fellow to be released sometime early 2019. Not long now.

Continue reading →

NECA Releases Updated ALIEN Action Figure Visual Guide.

Posted on 27/12/2018 by windebieste

NECA’s latest annual release of their ALIEN action figure identification chart was released on Christmas Eve. It has been updated to include all of their ALIEN action figures to date, including AvP, Kenner tribute items and any convention exclusives. Also included in the chart are upcoming ALIEN Resurrection figures, Kenner tribute items and assorted other miscellany that is scheduled for release in 2019.

Here’s what NECA have to say about it, “We’ve updated our visual guides to include all announcements & releases to date. Both versions include all figures, with the second showing the updated card backer art! Each is available as an extra-large, 300 dpi JPG.”

NECA’s ALIEN chart is getting large as the years pass by with almost 90 items on it now. You can download the high resolution chart in 2 flavours directly from NECA.

-Windebieste.

NECA Reveals Kenner Drake Tribute Figure.

Posted on 25/12/2018 by windebieste

NECA have revealed in a timely Christmas Facebook post our first clear tease of their upcoming tribute figure based on Kenner’s old 1992 Drake action figure.

Drake looks like he’s going to be hauling his signature smartgun into combat against those pesky xenos with this release! Not a lot of information has been made about this item just yet but NECA did have this to say about it “ Lock & load. Blister layout for the Kenner inspired Drake figure #necaxmas“. Sounds good to me. Drake is going to team up well with previously released Kenner themed Ripley against those varmint space bugs.

NECA had a very quiet year with ALIEN releases in 2018. It looks like they’re correcting their absenteeism and gathering their strength for a full on assault in 2019. It is after all, ALIEN’s 40th Anniversary next year. Should be quite a year for everyone, I’d say.

-Windebieste.

Updated: Bootlegs, Knock Offs and other ‘Illegal Aliens’.

Posted on 24/12/2018 by windebieste

Just in time for Christmas; and a continuing work in progress is the site’s exploration of the oddities and curios found in the ALIEN bootleg market place. Largely consisting of pirated and unlicenced product, this section of the site has been expanded and added to.

New additions to the section now include items released by Chap Mei, Wing Sang along with other lurid pieces of questionable quality. This section is getting large now so it’s been split into two. Part One: Kenner derived pirated stuff; and of course, Part Two: Imitation product, much of which I have added today.

Have fun with this batch of oddities and after looking at these pieces of lurid junk you’ll probably never look at another ALIEN action figure the same ever again.

Enjoy your Christmas break.

-Windebieste.

NECA Teases ALIEN: Resurrection Ripley 8

Posted on 21/12/2018 by windebieste

What? A week has gone by already..? That went fast! Christmas must be soon. Time always speeds up when Christmas nears. Anyway, NECA have released a teaser image of their upcoming Ripley8 figure on their Twitter page.

Here’s what NECA have to say about this item. “Ripley 8, the third and final figure in our upcoming Resurrection assortment due Spring 2019. early test sample shown. Not Final”.While I’m not a fan of this movie, this test sample looks impressive. Looks like Ripley8 is going to be blessed with 3 accessories. A pair of rifles and a basket ball.

You know that scene where Ripley8 throws the basketball over her shoulder and scores a goal through the hoop? Yeah. Sigourney Weaver actually landed that shot without looking. So I’m happy to see the basket ball is included in this set.

-Windebieste

NECA Teases Resurrection Clone Alien.

Posted on 16/12/2018 by windebieste

For this week’s Facehugger Friday, NECA posted our first good close look at what the creatures from their ALIEN Resurrection series will be like. This figure is 1 of 3 items included in their upcoming ALIEN Series 14 action figure set.

NECA provided this information in their recent tweet, “Let’s go swimming for #facehuggerfriday, testing the range of motion and head movement on the new Resurrection Warrior coming Spring 2019.”

Continue reading →

Prototype Gallery Update – Xenopod Dragonfly Alien

Posted on 12/12/2018 by windebieste

I’m always happy to post new content into the Prototype ALIEN action figure gallery and this one is a beauty!

Here is one of the oddities known as a ‘Xenopod Alien’ or ‘Locust Alien’. Kenner were experimenting with this concept in various forms during the mid 1990s and this 4 winged variant sample has now been added to the page dedicated to these prototypes.

Thank you Steve Dwyer for sharing these images with us all

-Windebieste.

About that 1979 ALIEN Board Game.

Posted on 09/12/2018 by windebieste

In 1979, Kenner Products released three retail items designed to capitalise on the then recently released ALIEN movie. While the famous 18 inch tall children’s toy was the main item in this range of merchandise a (2 to 4 player) board game and a manually operated crank handle one minute movie viewer were also made available to the public.

Here we will be focusing on the board game, specifically some of its curious features along with exploring other international variants of the well known item. One particular feature of note is the cover of the board game which depicts a cropped image of one of Kenner’s 18 inch toy appearing against a still shot of the three Nostromo crew members about to enter the newly discovered derelict space craft of unknown origin.

In this regard, it is notable all images appearing on the package art of these items featuring the famous ALIEN toy and logo have all been censored, permanently disfiguring and concealing prominent evidence this figure was actually a prototype. It is possibly either a hard copy or test shot of the toy which differs from final retail samples and reflects Kenner’s frequent use of such prototype use during promotional exercises of their products. Here, conspicuously absent from the image, is the translucent nature of the dome on the head through which the glow in the dark paint application of the creature’s “evil brain” is normally visible. Continue reading →

NECA Teases ALIEN Resurrection Newborn and Packaging.

Posted on 08/12/2018 by windebieste

Today NECA posted an image of work in progress of their upcoming ALIEN: Resurrection Newborn action figure on Twitter. Looks like the figure will be packaged in a gatefold box with window much like their recent ALIENS releases.

NECA offer these details regarding this image: “A belated #facehuggerfriday gives you a look at this long awaited figure’s packaging layout. Bonus adjustable display stand included as well. Resurrection fans rejoice!”

The figure looks great even though the movie isn’t at the top of most fans lists. Let’s hope the display stand included with the figure is an improvement over NECA’s previously released shonky and mostly useless display stands.

The Newborn will appear as part of NECA’s upcoming ALIEN Series 14 action figure set. It will be their first set of ALIEN: Resurrection action figures. Characters expected to appear in this new set include the Newborn, Ripley 8 and a Resurrection Warrior Alien.

-Windebieste.

Happy 2nd Anniversary, HIDEOUS PLASTIC!

Posted on 08/12/2018 by windebieste

Yep. That’s right. For 2 years now, HIDEOUS PLASTIC has been live. It’s been relatively smooth sailing throughout the past year with a lot of News postings on the front page and other content scattered throughout the site as well. Notwithstanding a period of about 4 months where everything slowed down to a crawl due to moving house at the time, I have returned to making regular updates.

I’m still living in a house full of unopened boxes and still tidying up my old residence but generally speaking, the uncomfortable and difficult move has gone as well as could be expected. No breakages and nothing lost during the move. That’s a win!

Nonetheless, everything is ticking over as planned here on the site and it has grown substantially during the past 12 months. Established areas like the News and Reviews, areas have grown and I’ve added a ton of Other Stuff as well. There’s a lot of content here now. Take some time to look around. If you interested in ALIEN stuff, I think you’ll like it.

To help celebrate our 2nd ‘birthday’ online, I’ve cobbled together a list of my Top 10 favourite ALIEN action figures. Go check it out! There’s a good diversity in there but there’s no surprise to regular visitors of HIDEOUS PLASTIC which item came in at No.1. I mean, really..? It’s not that hard to guess.

Also of interest to visitors will be the welcome News of progress on the upcoming book, HIDEOUS PLASTIC – In stores everyone can hear you scream. I had a very, very successful and rewarding meeting with my publisher during November (Nah… I didn’t tell anyone about it. 😉 ) and we have decided we’re ready to publish early next year.

To this end you can expect the very first full color 200+ page book dedicated to the 1979 Kenner ALIEN action figure available around March, 2019. That’s Official.

This has been complete for some time and is now in the hands of the publisher for editing, typesetting etc. At this point I’m happy to discuss my next Project. These past 8 weeks have been spent laying and revising the groundwork for HIDEOUS PLASTIC Vol.s 2&3. It’s no secret my intention to release a non-fiction trilogy based on ALIEN action figures has always been on the cards but until now these 2 volumes have been pushed into the background. They are now both being brought forward for full development.

While the development to completion of these next 2 books is heavily dependent upon the success of Vol.1, my publisher is confident that this will be the case. The pipeline to see Vol.2 appear in about 24 months time; with Vol.3 to follow up sometime soon after that, has been set in place. Yep. We are doing it!

So, here’s a little preview of what to expect. I’ve posted these images before but the cover mock ups for both books provide you with an indication of what the content for each one will be:

So, with 4 productive years behind me (I’ve been working on the first book long before the website was launched) and at least 2 more work intensive years ahead, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped and supported this site.

Thank you to everyone who helped expand and contributed to the various sections of the site, especially the Kenner Prototypes gallery. That stuff is incredible and that area of the site was not possible to build without your assistance. Thank you to everyone who called my attention to Newsworthy items. That activity will always be welcome, no matter who it comes from (If you have any News relating to new and upcoming ALIEN action figures based on any of the 8 ALIEN/AvP movies, please let me know! It’s always welcome! Not just Officially released merchandise either. I’ll post News regarding Custom made and other Art Project items as well.) and finally, thank you to every one who has visited this growing site during the past 24 months. It means a lot to me to see you return.

My level of commitment here continues unabated and with your support, it will be rewarding for all concerned. Thank you everyone. I am proud to have been able to make this site an online experience for visitors to enjoy.

May there be many more years ahead.

-Windebieste.