Here’s a loose dorsal crest for your 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy currently for sale on eBay. It’s priced at a low, low US$25! Now that’s cheap!
Yeah. There’s a good reason for that. You might not like to get too excited so quickly. Make sure you know what you are buying before putting some cash down on this item.
Loose dorsal crest pieces from the old ALIEN toy like this can – and do – sell upwards of US$60. Selling for over one hundred dollars isn’t uncommon. There’s a very good reason why this particular item is so cheap. That’s because it’s a reproduction piece – and that condition will influence the listing’s price dramatically, substantially lowering its value.
There’s a small industry in the toy collector scene where people churn out these facsimile pieces to help populate and complete old toys like the 1979 Kenner action figure; and opinions on their existence varies wildly. There’s good, too. Firstly, it’s important to realise this crest is not an original piece. It wasn’t made by Kenner forty years ago and it’s certainly not vintage or native to the toy. A number of problems arise with items such as this.
Adding a piece like this to your ALIEN is a good way to make it “feature complete”, for sure; but doing so will reduce its 100% authentic rating substantially. Even if you have a “feature complete” figure, it’s almost guaranteed to be devalued for this reason. Serious collectors do want 100% complete items but most will balk if the figure is less than 100% original. Even figures with multiple missing parts are more desirable to some collectors than one that is “feature complete” and populated with fake parts.
And that’s the real problem here. These parts are not the real deal. They are not genuine. They are fakes. Reproduction pieces like this are found constantly on eBay. In this instance, the vendor has made the responsible disclosure and declared the piece is indeed a reproduction part. That doesn’t always happen. Nonetheless, this reproduction part will sell as genuine parts are uncommon at best and when they do become available, cost three times the amount being asked for here.
So why would anyone want to buy a fake part like this? That’s a good question. Adding such a part to the figure does bring it closer to being “feature complete” and that’s what many people want. Not everyone is going to have the chance to bid or purchase an original piece extracted from a wrecked toy. Considering the ALIEN toy is now forty years old and an anticipated 80-90% of them now lack this piece, the purchase of a reproduction part is a viable option for many people. The demand is there and people can’t be blamed for wanting their Kenner ALIEN to look complete.
Which raises other issues as well. This is one of those things anyone looking to purchase one of these four decades old vintage toys needs to keep in the back of their mind. Are all parts original or vintage? Ask the vendor if you have any suspicions – but even that is no guarantee they will know unless the action figure has been in their possession since new. These toys have had forty years to change hands multiple times, most of them losing any sense of ownership history with many of them being populated with reproduction parts like this. The vendor may not even be aware it’s a problem and declare it’s 100% complete and 100% genuine, even if it’s not.
Such common reproduction parts can also include the dome and the mouth pieces comprising the tongue. These can be easy to spot for someone familiar with the figure – but for someone less knowledgeable it’s possible to pay way to much for a “feature complete” figure that’s been populated with fake parts. If you have any suspicions, you can find groups on Facebook that can help. Always provide photos, as many as you can. Failing that, I’m knowledgeable enough to be able to spot a reproduction part and feel free to email me here, windebieste@hideousplastic.com.
-Windebieste.
