Hot Toys Alien Warrior - What a piece of junk!

[prefused]

The Neca Alien is probably way too tall to be in scale with the HT stuff, correct?

NECA only made the Aliens warrior in 7" scale.
their Alien Big Chap closer to 1:4 scale. huge. it's more accurate than the HT one though.

 

[kairus]

anyone have any problems with the predalien rubber?

any pics for example if available

 

[Biojex]

anyone have any problems with the predalien rubber?

any pics for example if available

I've had him for over a year now and no problems. lets hope it stays that way

 

[holtrax]

Uhmm, my cars door rubbers are 10 years old and haven't cracked. And they open and close everyday, 5c rain, sleet, sun, 55c summer winds, they're still fine.

Think about it it's a business model that HT uses.

a.) Make the products out of lasting rubber compounds that are slightly more expensive to produce? Your production costs go up. Add to that the fact that returns on products will be low as all figures will meet the expectations of clients.

b.) Make them out of the cheapest air forced rubber compounds for vastly reduced production costs. Knowing that your target market are collectors who at the first sign of wear will replace their purchase with a brand new one and you'll get incredible revenue.


It amazes me that some people think that the management of large multinational companies and distributors are a bunch of highly educated, serene, balanced well intending group of helpful people.

In reality (as you can see) the management at Hot Toys are a group of get rich quick low life cowboys intent on S_H_A_F_T_I_N_G their target customer base for every penny that it's worth and enjoying boosting their golf holidays and poker funds.

and ye sheep willfully and joyfully bend right over.


In the mean time use rubber sealant every few months(available from any high end automotive detailer) on the figure's rubber. This will replace the natural rubber moisturiser in the compound (it's the depletion of this that causes cracking).

You might want to test a few products for shine first, see what you like. Smartwax and poorboys sealant leave a satin finish when you buff them out.

Not to jump to the defence of ht or anything but at the same time its not going to help them to produce figures in such a bad shape that don't last very long. Word of mouth travels fast in the online collecting community and their profit margins would sink drastically if people realised they were producing rubbish. I think this figure the exception rather then the rule because normally they do outstanding work.

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

This won't come as news to many of you, but I just felt I had to vent regarding the deterioration of my Hot Toys Alien Warrior in only a year or so.

One of the reasons I bought it was that it was so poseable. Inspired by the many extreme poses in the various reviews, I was really excited about showing it crawling one day, and standing upright the next. However I quickly realised that the paint on the rubber parts of the model comes off very easily, so in reality I've kept it in the same pose for weeks on end, only changing it occasionally.

Even so, nothing prepared me for just how badly the rubber sections would deteriorate:

I promise you, that's from standard handling - I haven't "played" with it. The stuff just comes off in your hand.

Then there's the fact that the tendon in the mouth tore the very first (and last, until today) time I opened it:

As for the joints. Well from the off I had issues with the feet and legs not staying in their sockets. I tried all the usual fixes, and managed to improve the joints marginally, but even so the left foot was a lost cause and has thus been superglued in place pretty much since I got the figure.

What's worse though is that having had it in the same pose for a few weeks I went to gently bend the right leg today, and the damn thing just snapped!

FFS! Combined with the fact that hardly any of the limbs stay put, the arms dangle loose in their sockets, the rubber is torn and the paint is worn away, I'm now left with this pile of junk:

The sad thing is, I really love the figure, and have defended its design on here and elsewhere. But here's the real kicker - I bought it on eBay from Canada and it cost me £130 shipped to the UK. The state it's in would be bad enough if it was a high street toy which had been properly played with, but a high end collectable? Outrageous. And of course, I can't take it back to the shop.

Anyone considering buying one of these - beware. Unless you're very lucky and get a perfect specimen out of the box which you then intend not to touch, I'd steer well clear.

I guess the only way forward now is to fix it with glue in a pose I like, and maybe try a re-paint. Some consolation I suppose.

Lets be true to our self and come to the conclusion that it is a pile of junk.
Hot toys need to make a DX version made out of metal.
Make it a real biomechenical creature.

 

[Dwibzle]

EDIT
Post removed

 

[tnaig001]

As I said in a previous post: It's obvious that the figure has had acetone or some other chemical applied to it in a misguided attempt at cleaning/repainting it or something. Looks like they spat the dummy when they realised they'd ruined it, snapping the leg joints or something, I don't know exactly. But there is now way that is representative of what we can all expect from these figures. HT would be out of business pretty quickly if that were the case, retailers wouldn't stock their products, prices would plummet at the very least.

I really dun think this is a fair comment. do you have one of these aliens warrior?

I do and it has ultra brittle joints, esp at the knees! Hot toys even sent me replacements when my first pair broke.

However, this is the one lemon among the many HT products to date that have this atrocious problem. That is prob the reason why they are still in biz.

 

[abake]

My HT Aliens figure broke rather quickly as well at the knee. I had a replacement leg sent over from HT.
And while the damage is nowhere near what happened to DSD's figure, mine also has paint peeling. It's just a part of life witht hese figures. It's also happend on the AvP figure, although very minor.

 

[wookster]

There seems to be a lot of accusatory comments flying around. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, I put my ALIENS warrior away about 9-10 months ago, and apart from some loose joints he was in good condition (think I'll try and break him out soon to see if he's stayed OK in storage). But there is no denying this particular figure had issues, the weight of voices seems to prove this point.

However I don't believe that anyone here has deliberately sabotaged their figure, and without any kind of proof accusing people of such behavior is pretty low, nor do I believe Hot Toys knowingly put out a figure with issues, and when people contact them in a fair time frame after purchase they do seem to try and put things right if they can.
I do also see most manufacturers improving the quality and fabrication across the board, but all improvements mean that there has to be a learning curve. As I said, I've had no issues with my warrior, and non with any subsequent ALIEN figures, and although these look like toys, I never treat mine with anything other than care, I don't wear kid-gloves but neither do I pull them about too much. That's not accusing anyone here of making their figures break, I know first hand how sometimes just a gentle re-pose can end in disaster (my Medi comic Spidey is testament to this).
So, can we all (I know most are.. ), but can we keep it civil.

 

[DSD]

Thanks Wookster. I was pretty offended that someone could even suggest that I'd do that.

As I said earlier in the thread, the main draw for me in getting this figure was its extreme poseability. To get the figure into some of those crawling poses, you need to handle it. I guess my inexperience with these high end figures must have made me less careful than I would be now, but even so I'm disappointed that it degraded so quickly. Even more so because it's an awesome figure, when it's in one piece!

 

[Dwibzle]

There seems to be a lot of accusatory comments flying around. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, I put my ALIENS warrior away about 9-10 months ago, and apart from some loose joints he was in good condition (think I'll try and break him out soon to see if he's stayed OK in storage). But there is no denying this particular figure had issues, the weight of voices seems to prove this point.

However I don't believe that anyone here has deliberately sabotaged their figure, and without any kind of proof accusing people of such behavior is pretty low, nor do I believe Hot Toys knowingly put out a figure with issues, and when people contact them in a fair time frame after purchase they do seem to try and put things right if they can.
I do also see most manufacturers improving the quality and fabrication across the board, but all improvements mean that there has to be a learning curve. As I said, I've had no issues with my warrior, and non with any subsequent ALIEN figures, and although these look like toys, I never treat mine with anything other than care, I don't wear kid-gloves but neither do I pull them about too much. That's not accusing anyone here of making their figures break, I know first hand how sometimes just a gentle re-pose can end in disaster (my Medi comic Spidey is testament to this).
So, can we all (I know most are.. ), but can we keep it civil.

Wookster, you deleted my post because of something you thought I was saying, not something that I had actually said. I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that I was saying that he deliberately sabotaged the paint on figure, I never said that, I didn't imply it, I didn't suggest it, I don't believe that he did damage it intentionally, who would deliberately do something like that. I wasn't accusing all the people in this thread, and I'm not in denial about the paint on rubber figures being susceptible to paint lifting under the right circumstances, QC issues etc. I think you're expanding on comments that weren't even there man. I was only referring to DSD, not other people that have minor paint and loose joint problems etc. Like you, my figures are fine and show no signs of damage, they have some slightly loose joints, mine aren't anywhere near as bad as some I've read about. I've had them in various poses since I received them and see none of the problems that some describe, I guess I got some of the good ones too. Extreme damage like DSD's isn't what we can all expect from these figures, it's the exception, not the rule.

I was giving my opinion about the amount of damage I saw to his figure, it's suffering from a little more than just peeling paint by the look of it, the lack of colour on some of the existing paint would suggest a chemical reaction of some sort, maybe that just the camera flash and lighting. I think the community would have had more reports of serious damage like this by now if it was purely a manufacturing related issue, surely he couldn't be the only one with such extreme damage. He saying that the damage was cause by "standard handling". Sounds funny to me, I just can't make the connection with what he's saying and the amount of damage we're seeing, doesn't add up to me.

 

[wookster]

I don't mean to cause offence to anyone, but I thought it was more your tone that was accusatory, and I quote-

As I said in a previous post: It's obvious that the figure has had acetone or some other chemical applied to it in a misguided attempt at cleaning/repainting it or something.

You may believe that the figure has had chemicals applied, but to say 'it's obvious' is in effect saying you believe your take on the events that lead to its condition to be the only possible reason for its sorry state.
In much the same way as we have been lucky in getting figures that are largely undammaged, it is possible through any number of reasons that DSD received the runt of a particular litter.
It's just better to keep things civil, it makes for a better environment for all of us.
This is a discussion forum, not an gladiatorial arena.
Think before you type!

 

[The Ween]

I have one of these. So far no problems, but I don't mess with mine much.

 

[sandman1]

Just a thought, but would repainting the figure with liquid latex (thinned and tinted w/oil paint) work to repair/cover up the degraded area's? I've made a few stop motion puppets and they never degraded to this point, so it might work on these figures. I've wanted to get one of these aliens for some time now, but I won't spend the money ($100+) for one if it's a hit or miss situation. (Unless I can find a damaged one to experiment on).
I think the joints,since they are hidden well, could be replaced using joints from other figures or manufactures, but again, just a guess.
Just some thoughts on the subject....

 

[dano669]

has anyone thought of clear coating the aliens again,It worked for me.
after reading this thread and also receiving a pre-broken figure it try not to move it to much.Also has anyone thought of recasting the joints and offering them cheap,sounds like that is the major problem.Id do it but I have no experience yet in casting and molding.I certain there is some one out there who could do this.

 

[dano669]

This is probably a contributing big reason why Hot Toys is not proceeding with the Alien Queen. Fans will go nuts and crazy for it but if you can't perfect a paint that can stay on rubber for a LONG time...then why would fans spend possibly around $400 on it knowing it'll break down after about a year?

I'd love to have a HT Queen...but if her paint breaks down like this...then most likely not.

there was a guy on ebay at one stage selling a 1/6 static queen.It was based on the halycon model kit of old.looked great,wish the guy would make more.

 

[CelticPredator]

I clear coated it. Did nothing. Made the rubber hard, and more cracky.

 

[tylerdurden]

wookster, why was my post removed?

i didn't make any accusatory statements, i merely explained that i have also personally seen paint peeling on the aliens warrior figure, and that a friend had his repainted.

what's so inflammatory about that?

 

[rivera2171]

I clear coated it. Did nothing. Made the rubber hard, and more cracky.

Well that sucks.I was thinking of doing that to mine.The brown version I have is getting dull on the rubber parts while the plastic is still nice and shiny. Celtic,what kind of clear coat did you use,acrylic or enamel?

 

[dano669]

I clear coated it. Did nothing. Made the rubber hard, and more cracky.

worked fine for me.I used tamiya clear coat.the only thing ive noticed is it a little and I mean a little crackly on the mouth tendons.
perhaps not coating that area might help.I also think its how much you play with them too.I pretty much set and forget my figures.