On my constant hunt to find Kenner ALIEN figures that can be restored I found this excellent choice. He’s a little worse for wear and a little beaten up but with some love and attention I will transform this item into something jaw dropping and special. I’ve done it many times before and I’m itching to do so again soon.
This mangy looking fellow is in a common condition for these vintage figures and potentially an excellent candidate for a full restoration. The critical pieces are present with both arms ‘attached’, the legs looking good and the tail still has the tip on the end. The head is the only real concern. Aside from the fact that it is missing the tongue, it looks severely scuffed. Not a problem. I came across a decent head the other day, one with all the mouth parts present and I might use that clean and near complete item on this figure.
Looking at the back of this figure, we see it’s had its arms strapped to it via rubber bands and this will need to be changed and arms fixed in place properly. Not a problem. I can disassemble this item and securely anchor those arms internally without making any changes to the figure at all.
What’s more important is the spike that should be present in that slot where the rubber bands are passing through the torso is missing. I’ll have to revert to using a reproduction piece to replace that. The same has to be said for the head dome. I’ll need a repro piece for that as well as genuine ones are rare to find and extremely expensive. I know a few people who can help fill those spaces with custom stuff. So the prospects of getting this average condition figure to full ‘feature complete’ display worthy state is very high.
Once this figure is fully rehabilitated, it will look absolutely smashing! It will join my growing army of 1979 Kenner ALIEN action figures that will become available as Top Tier Rewards in the upcoming KickStarter campaign. Currently, 25 of these will be offered to Backers who want a copy of the book and a 1979 Kenner ALIEN to go with it.
-Windebieste.
