Alien Queen (Aliens, Movie Maniacs Series 6 by McFarlane Toys)

Buy on

Buy on

Buy on

Today I’m finally sharing one of the crown jewels of my collection, monster or otherwise, the Alien Queen by McFarlane Toys, part of the Movie Maniacs line. I’ve been planning on reviewing this one since the blog was launched but had it packed away so that young eyes wouldn’t be disturbed by its horrifying tableau. With the release of the excellent (so far) Alien: Earth series I felt extra motivated to finally dig it out of the closet and share it. This alien queen was released in 2003 and is still regarded as one of the best action figures of the queen ever made. I bought it around 2013 and found myself so utterly satisfied with it that I haven’t really pursued any Alien collectibles since. Nothing can compare.

This alien queen and her human victim depict the queen as seen in 1986’s Aliens, which is tied with Terminator 2 as my all-time favorite action movie. The alien queen is also one of my all-time favorite practical effects in a movie. Brought to life by Stan Winston studios the 14’ (4.2 meters) queen required 14-16 operators, stunt actors inside of her limbs, a crane to keep her upright, and a network of hydraulic cables. She was truly a marvel of movie magic and along with the animatronic dinosaurs from Jurassic Park represents practical monster effects at their peak.

McFarlane’s queen measures about 24” (60.96 cm) by herself. Including the cocooned victim the entire piece measures about 30” (76.2 cm). The queen stands on a grated platform with the aid of a metal rod in each foot that fits into a peg hole. She cannot stand without her base. The piece with her prey can connect to hers via two different points. We’ll review them separately, starting with the queen.

The queen is articulated but given the nature of the piece the articulation isn’t of much use. It works better as a display piece than as an action figure. Her head is articulated at the neck and is supposed to snap into place tilting up or down, but it doesn’t work on mine. The larger set of arms are articulated at the shoulders and wrists with ball joints but not at the elbows. While unpacking my queen from storage the left arm snapped off and I had to glue it back on. Given the age of the figure I’m not surprised but it does mean I won’t be trying out any poses with this one, for fear of further breakage.

The smaller set of arms easily pop in and out of their sockets and this allows them to swivel about. The torso is articulated near the hips, allowing the body to be tilted to the left and right. The legs are only articulated at the hips, and the tail can rotate around at its base. The tail is rubbery with a bendable wire inside. Some bits, like the shield on the head, the neck, and the tail are rubbery and slightly sticky, so pardon any hair and dust that might be stuck to them. I tried my best to clean it off.

Although the figure is exquisitely detailed, it is not 100% accurate to the queen we see in Aliens. The shield is narrower than what we see onscreen, and the body is a bit bulkier. These things are only really noticeable if you’re making a side-by-side comparison. There might be other inaccuracies as well but nothing that’s obvious or worth taking issue with. The queen is painted gray and black with a brown wash over some places. She has a glossy coat that makes her appear gross and wet. The teeth in her barred mouth are clear and translucent, and her claws are brown.

Moving on to the victim we get a female colonist cocooned in an industrial looking setting. She’s attached to a wall covered with pipes, wires, grating, vents, nozzles, and an electrical box.  She’s attached to it via stretched, green and gray, mucus-like plastic that is pliable and somewhat sticky. The unfortunate prey item looks appropriately sickly and horrified. More than just cocooned there’s actually a little chest burster in the process of doing what its name implies, and it can be moved in and out of her chest via a plunger in the back. The chest burster is tan with silvery teeth and coated in blood.

The human’s right wrist and head is articulated, but I see no reason to play around with them. The industrial bits are all black with gray speckling over them. The human has short black hair, a blue short-sleeve shirt, and gray pants. She’s painted a sickly skin-tone color with dull pink lips and black eyes with dots of white eyeshine. Green goo drips down her body and there’s some blood painted around her chest. It is absolutely grotesque, in a good way, but you can probably understand why I kept it hidden away from my offspring instead of on display. Going forward I might just display the queen without the human victim. There’s a new little one about.

I think the set would have been better if the queen came with some eggs, Ripley in the power loader, or Bishop’s torso, but it’s still a cool one-of-a-kind piece none-the-less. The articulation on the queen leaves a lot to be desired, especially since it has become brittle with age, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a better-looking queen for display purposes, even 22 years after its release. The figure holds up well otherwise, with no sign of age-related decay.

The McFarlane Movie Maniacs Alien Queen is a masterpiece and the clear centerpiece in any collection of Alien toys. It is hard to believe it but when this set came out in 2003 it only cost about $20. If it were to come out today, I don’t see it costing any less than $70, which is about what I paid for it on the secondary market 12 years ago. Today, this piece will run you about $100-150 which honestly, still isn’t that bad and should be worth it for diehard Alien collectors.