MOVIE MANIACS 6

By: Scott Collura
Review Date: Thursday, June 26, 2003

The notion of an ALIEN VS. PREDATOR team-up has long thrilled fans, and it has come to fruition in a variety of mediumsthough the film version has yet to materialize (Paul W.S. Anderson is reportedly at work on a script for such a film right now, however). Still, fans of these two breeds of space-faring movie monsters have managed to subsist on a diet of comic books, video games, and to a lesser extent, toys, in order to get their Alien/Predator match-ups.

Last year, McFarlane Toys brought us one step closer to realizing this concept with their Movie Maniacs box set, a nicely realized pair of oversized action figures depicting the toothy Alien of ALIEN fame going mano a mano with the armored Predator of, well, PREDATOR fame. It was a cool set, and it certainly whet the appetites of those dying for the long-in-development movie version.

Well, now we've got MOVIE MANIACS 6 from McFarlane, the company's annual offering of nasty killers and critters from the cinema immortalized in plastic form. But one can't help but be a bit disappointed by this latest collection, for rather than depict a wide range of characters from various movies as the sets usually do, all we get this time out is variations on the ALIEN and PREDATOR figures. Yes, these are cool toys. But unless you're a huge Alien/Predator fan, you're not going to be terribly excited about this run.

The two

standard-sized Alien figures come from the two weakest ALIEN movies: the Warrior Alien from ALIEN: RESURRECTION and the Dog Alien from ALIEN 3. The sculpts on these two are great, with all the spiny, boney, vertebrae-tinged grossness of the creatures perfectly captured. In fact, it's strange to even be able to stare so long at these figures, since we're so used to only seeing fleeting glimpses of the Aliens in their respective movies. The Warrior Alien stands upright, with a huge, winding tail, and a creepy, silver-hued smile (or is it a grimace?). The figure is a sort of rusty brown color, which doesn't seem accurate compared to the movie versionthough of course I could be wrong, having only been able to sit through the film once myself.

The Dog Alien takes an appropriately canine pose, resting easily on all fours. Like its Warrior brethren, it is fairly well articulated for a McFarlane figure (the company's toys have tended to become more statue-like over the years), while the "secondary jaw" which pops out of the mouth is a nice touch. The Dog's paint job is closer to what one would expect from the Aliensa grayish, silver look. Looking at the package art reminds one of a key aspect missing from these two, however: that gross, translucent drool that makes the creatures so memorable.

The Predator figures are less interesting in that their movie counterparts were never very scary, though in simple terms of action figures these two are actually more fun because of their various accessories. Predator 2, from, of course, PREDATOR 2, has a severed limb (complete with Day-Glo green blood), a helmet, body armor, and weapon that resembles a mean Frisbee. Predator the Hunter, from the same film, has that same kick-ass Frisbee thingee, plus a huge spear (though no Day-Glo blood, fortunately for him). Both figures feature nice articulation, particularly in their torso sections, and they thoroughly resemble the creatures from the film.

But it's

this year's Alien Queen box set that is the prize piece of the collection. The Queen is huge, and scary, standing upright and painted perfectly to match her cinematic inspiration. She comes with a "cocooned terraformer base," which is a nice way of saying that there's a dying colonist stuck to a wallwith a chestburster coming out of her! She even looks like the actress who Ripley and crew stumble upon hanging from a wall in ALIENS. It's a great setone of McFarlane's best. But still, I don't want to see any Aliens or Predators in MOVIE MANIACS 7 next year.

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