Scorpion Alien, Aliens by Fox/Kenner

I was 11 years old when this toy was released in 1992. I remember first encountering it and the rest of the Kenner Aliens line in the toy isle of a supermarket while on holiday in France. I hadn’t seen the Alien films but was transfixed by the toys. So, while my parents gathered the groceries, I stayed in the toy section ogling the figures, inspecting each one. Despite my pleading, at the end of the outing my mum wouldn’t buy me any. This makes complete sense – the Alien films are rated 18 (R-rated), suitable only for adults! Yet, here was a line of Aliens toys marketed for children. A bit odd!

I came into possession of this toy in an unusual manner, on another holiday a year or two later. This time, in Wales. But I didn’t buy it in a shop, I found it on a deserted beach! Strolling across a huge stretch of damp sand, there it was just lying there, nobody else in sight. I guess some unfortunate person had lost it some days before. It was dirty with sand in the crevices, but it cleaned up quite nicely. So, embracing my fate, I took custody for the little lost alien and have taken care of it ever since. The original toy came with a small ‘face hugger’ but I never found that on the beach!

Of all the figures in the Kenner Aliens line, the Scorpion Alien is the closest match to the warrior aliens that actually appear in the film ‘Aliens’. It’s a reasonably faithful recreation of that rugged humanoid xenomorph design, which was modified from the sleeker design from the original 1979 film. The broad strokes are all in place – the suggestively phallic tubular head, the humanoid form, long spines projecting from the back, and a long tail. Some extra prongs on the the arms and legs seem to be unique to the toy, and give it a spikier appearance compared to the film version. The toy is also a little bit more squat.

The sculpting is meticulously detailed and the pose is dynamic. The plastic is black with a shimmering metallic highlights, much like a beetle’s exoskeleton. The teeth are highlighted in silver. For an action figure it looks really high end and stands out well on a shelf. It balances perfectly on two legs. The feet are quite large, which helps.

While this toy is nominally inspired by a scorpion, the other designs in the Kenner line that fascinated me so much in the supermarket were inspired by other animals. We’ll be reviewing some of those soon, and those designs were much more on the nose. So, a few years later, when I finally saw the movie, I was surprised and a little disappointed that there were no bull aliens or gorilla aliens in it! I’m sure many kids who saw the toys before the films had a similar experience. I think the animal-alien designs featured in a graphic novel.

As an action figure there are several points of articulation. The head rotates, although its movement is slightly blocked by the spines on the back. The arms rotate at the shoulders, the legs rotate at the hips, and the tail rotates at the base.

The toy has an action feature activated by a small button on the lower back, disguised as one of the vertebral spines. This causes the torso to ‘explode’ into three separate pieces: the head with the red internal organs (maybe a ‘heart’, if the xenomorph has a heart?), the chest with one arm, and the back with the other arm. It’s a satisfying feature that works well, even after being buried in sand! The artwork on the box shows a cartoon of the alien mid-explosion – you can see why a mother might raise an eyebrow.

The xenomorph is probably my favourite movie monster of all time and I regard both the original and first sequel film as masterpieces. This is a ten on ten action figure if ever there was one, a toy that truly does the xenomorph and the film franchise justice! Highly recommended!