UPDATE: Sold for US$158.50 (54 Bids)
Are you looking for a nice, cheap 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy? There’s no such thing any more but there is an average condition sample being auctioned on eBay right now. Bidding started at US$19.99 yesterday and only 2 bids have been placed. You can bet this situation won’t last long despite a global health crisis. Apparently, people still want to buy forty year old broken down, ugly old toys. Who would have guessed?
This particular sample can be considered average at best. He’s missing his dome and the lower part of his tongue. While these appear to be the only pieces missing, his problems extend well beyond absentee body parts. The photos accompanying this piece aren’t the best quality and a number of other issues are evident – and others may reveal themselves to an uncautious new owner. Let’s check ‘im out in some detail from what images are available, including the blurring ones, in the listing.Looking at the head – and it’s hard to tell in these photos – the glow in the dark paint on the figure’s forehead could be a touch up. These forty year old toys are often scuffed and scratched, often missing paint on the head. As this figure is demonstrating a variety of issues and the head paint looks a little too clean with some hard edges present on the paint especially above the eye socket, it is a high possibility some rework has been done to restore the glow in the dark paint.
Inside the mouth, we can see the upper half of the tongue is still in situ but the lower half is absent. Furthermore, a slight colour mismatch in the remaining tongue piece compared to the other scuffed metal mouth parts may indicate the piece is a reproduction part. It could very well just be the lighting and lack of focus on the piece and may be original but facsimile parts often populate these old toys.
Also of considerable note regarding the mouth is the open position the lower jaw is in. Considering this action feature is activated by the pressing of the trigger at the back of the head, the trigger should be in its uppermost position. Here, it is not. The trigger is released. Having the jaw open and the trigger in its default released position is highly indicative the internal mechanism is damaged or misaligned. A problem not easily fixed without knowing exactly what it is, if at all possible.
Looking at the shoulders on this item, we can see the shoulder crest has a larger than normal separation between the torso halves. There’s also another gap where the head joins onto the neck. These gaps are indicative of a figure that has been previously dismantled and worked on but not correctly re-assembled. Such an exercise is frequently done to repair these toys and gaps from incorrectly assembling it after reattaching the arms can happen if not managed carefully.
The vendor does state the crest between the shoulders appears to have been glued in place by a previous owner. While it’s not desirable to have it returned in place in this manner, it’s not uncommon and of more significance, it means the piece hasn’t been lost. This looks to be an original piece and not a reproduction.
From this point onward, there isn’t too much wrong with the figure. Both of its arms are attached. The lower four posts on its back are all in correct alignment. There are no gaps on the legs joining at the hips and the tail is present for the full length. Oddly enough, this sample has issues from the shoulders up – as many issues as you could care to nominate; and conversely from the shoulders down it’s in as good a state as you could ask for. Usually when found in such average condition, these toys have issues evenly distributed across the figure. This one appears to have problems only with the head and shoulders. The rest looks good.
No doubt this figure will climb well above what the current two bidders have placed on this vintage toy. Damaged as it is, it could still easily climb to well above US$100. We’ll see how this one pans out.
-Windebieste.
