Hot Toys - MMS 106 - Alien - BIG CHAP collectible figure

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Iono, it just seems counter-productive for that post to be brought back, when we've already been over it -- pick your fave. If Giger does decide to make a figure himself, fantastic. But I doubt that'll be the case, so why bring it up again and again?
 
Dweeb stays inactive for weeks and then necro posts his own post?

Hilariously stupid.

See ya in another month Dweeb. :rolleyes2
 
Wow, I tried to sift through that gigasmic post above, he made some good points. Yes, camera angles and multiple suits will result in most people having a differing point of view on the fine details of the design –BUT– I still haven't bought a 1:6 scale Alien figure (which I desperately want to) because none of them have evoked the same "feeling" that I get when I watch the movie.
That profile comparison picture does nothing to convince me that the Hot Toys version is accurate. I think we can all agree though, that:
A - It does look like the alien
B - Has some great, great detail
C - It's very high quality
I am not denying that it's a nice figure... and obviously nobody would mistake it for anything but the "big chap" alien... but it still drops the ball in key areas that really ruin it for the hardcore fans.
In my opinion, the head and overall face are the big letdown. I don't care how you spin it, that mouth just looks wrong. Regardless of lighting conditions or suits choices, I don't think the alien ever had an expression like that on it's face. If the artist had simply frozen a frame and used that as his inspiration I'd be much happier... unfortunately, as-is, the face resembles nothing you'd see in the film.
Am I the only person who'd find it refreshing to see a collectible featuring the mouth closed, with lips covering the teeth? That'd be a really creepy vibe. I'm almost bored to death of the lame "menacing" look that they clearly tried to give this figure. The mouth shows too much emotion, if that's the right word for it... I could almost imagine it smiling, and that's just wrong.
 
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Yes, camera angles and multiple suits will result in most people having a differing point of view on the fine details of the design
when somebody shows an elephant and says it's a rhino, there is no "camera angle" effect i think.
 
when somebody shows an elephant and says it's a rhino, there is no "camera angle" effect i think.

Well, I was talking about fine details.
But if all you got in a scene was a close up of an arm or leg, you could mistake a rhino for an elephant. They both have tough, leathery, grey skin.

Anyway, I was just trying to sympathize with other people's points of view. I still don't really think the HT figure closely matches what was in the flick (well it does "closely match", just not closely enough for some of us).
 
Wow, I tried to sift through that gigasmic post above, he made some good points. Yes, camera angles and multiple suits will result in most people having a differing point of view on the fine details of the design –BUT– I still haven't bought a 1:6 scale Alien figure (which I desperately want to) because none of them have evoked the same "feeling" that I get when I watch the movie.
That profile comparison picture does nothing to convince me that the Hot Toys version is accurate. I think we can all agree though, that:
A - It does look like the alien
B - Has some great, great detail
C - It's very high quality
I am not denying that it's a nice figure... and obviously nobody would mistake it for anything but the "big chap" alien... but it still drops the ball in key areas that really ruin it for the hardcore fans.
In my opinion, the head and overall face are the big letdown. I don't care how you spin it, that mouth just looks wrong. Regardless of lighting conditions or suits choices, I don't think the alien ever had an expression like that on it's face. If the artist had simply frozen a frame and used that as his inspiration I'd be much happier... unfortunately, as-is, the face resembles nothing you'd see in the film.
Am I the only person who'd find it refreshing to see a collectible featuring the mouth closed, with lips covering the teeth? That'd be a really creepy vibe. I'm almost bored to death of the lame "menacing" look that they clearly tried to give this figure. The mouth shows too much emotion, if that's the right word for it... I could almost imagine it smiling, and that's just wrong.

I completely agree, that was exactly the point I was trying to make earlier in the thread, particularly about simply freezing a frame of the movie and basing the figure on that overall look.

And I'd also love to see an Alien with the closed lips too!
 
Lips closed may be tough. I guess I was trying for this look...

alienchrometeeth2.jpg
alien.jpg
 
Wow, I tried to sift through that gigasmic post above, he made some good points. Yes, camera angles and multiple suits will result in most people having a differing point of view on the fine details of the design –BUT– I still haven't bought a 1:6 scale Alien figure (which I desperately want to) because none of them have evoked the same "feeling" that I get when I watch the movie.
That profile comparison picture does nothing to convince me that the Hot Toys version is accurate. I think we can all agree though, that:
A - It does look like the alien
B - Has some great, great detail
C - It's very high quality
I am not denying that it's a nice figure... and obviously nobody would mistake it for anything but the "big chap" alien... but it still drops the ball in key areas that really ruin it for the hardcore fans.
In my opinion, the head and overall face are the big letdown. I don't care how you spin it, that mouth just looks wrong. Regardless of lighting conditions or suits choices, I don't think the alien ever had an expression like that on it's face. If the artist had simply frozen a frame and used that as his inspiration I'd be much happier... unfortunately, as-is, the face resembles nothing you'd see in the film.
Am I the only person who'd find it refreshing to see a collectible featuring the mouth closed, with lips covering the teeth? That'd be a really creepy vibe. I'm almost bored to death of the lame "menacing" look that they clearly tried to give this figure. The mouth shows too much emotion, if that's the right word for it... I could almost imagine it smiling, and that's just wrong.

Ooohhh, this is going to be fun!

Since my post is buried between ALV's posts, I decided to extract it and repost it here. There was a first part that is not in the big quote that gets reposted every time, but I'm too lazy to look it up. There was also a big post by myself listing all the inaccuracies of the HT figure (for the accuracy nazis like myself), but I'm too lazy to look that one up.

Anyway, I was getting tired of seeing my post for accuracy being lost in between two posts against accuracy.

Thanks for the answer ALV!

You make interesting points, but I think you're still ignoring a couple of big salient facts:
1. There is a statue sculpted by Giger himself on top of a casting of Bolaji Badejo's body. That statue was in turn used to make castings for the suit. The same statue exists today and is open to the public in Giger's museum in Switzerland.
Thus, if you're sculpting the alien, you can refer to it or photographs of it to get your details and proportions right. Surely that would be the closest anybody could get to the source material, regardless of paint apps, camera angles, lenses and lighting.
2. The iconic face and head of the alien, the one we saw in enormous close-ups on screen was the Rambaldi hero head. There was one of those made and you can see it in the movie and in production videos and stills. It's pretty easy to tell which one it is, because it's always shown with the mechanisms at work. So, again, it's not that difficult to refer to that one prop to get the closest possible to the iconic look, regardless of stunt heads or changes in props.

Furthermore, there were no changes made to the appearance of the alien on purpose during filming. I don't know where you have that info from, but I have not read or heard about it anywhere.
Scott does say that he wanted the audience to be guessing as to the look of the creature, and filmed it in different poses and extreme close-ups, with flashing lights and semi-darkness to make it difficult to get a grip on its actual look (and to avoid the "man-in-a-suit" look). But he never made changes to the suit or look on purpose. There's only the matter of a smaller suit (although with the exact same appearance) made for a stunt-man and the tail being attached on the groin instead of the back to make it look longer in certain scenes (although you never actually see that). But both instances were dictated because of production needs and not for the sake of making the creature's look change.

As to the fact that each has an image of the perfect alien would be, yes, of course; but that is true of any collectible. Take SST's Jedi Luke for instance: some like the expression, some don't, but we can all agree that the likeness is there.
Take Medicom's and NECA's aliens: both look quite different from each other, but we (meaning us ____ retentive super-fans ) can all agree that the "likeness" is there. NECA's has larger (perhaps oversized) teeth and Medicom's has a more pronounced back-slope to the head and the teeth look more like they were half-hidden under the lips. That falls within the artist's take on the source material and what each artist finds more alien about the alien. It's their personal response to the alien-ness of the design and what impacts them most. Going back to Jedi Luke, what inspired the artist (or the creative director) most was the inner struggle and not the determination of Luke, thus the sculpt SST gave us.

But HT's figure goes beyond that. If you look at Giger's statue, you will notice that the lower legs have no "grill" patterns on the sides, only on the back. On the forearms it also only has those grill patterns on one side, not on both.
Look at the Tsang's sculpt. He just put that in because he thought it looked cooler I guess. That's not the same as making the figure a bit skinnier of slightly more muscular, or making the teeth slightly larger or giving the hands a dynamic pose. That is plain and simple making things up, things that simply are not on the original sculpt made by the artist (which s there for everyone to see). Which would be fine if HT hadn't marketed and advertised this as the "most accurate representation of Giger's alien ever".
Nobody gets pissed off at Takeya's aliens, because they are "Takeya" aliens. Unfortunately, HT has their aliens under the Movie Masterpieces banner, not the Tsang Masterpieces banner. So they should be accurate to the source material.

As to your last point, my only comment would be: if the figure were accurate, would it sell less? With the awesome detail, paint apps and base that HT has given their figure, with accuracy to boot, it would sell even more than it has.

And of course it is possible to make an accurate figure even taking into account the artist's personal touch. Just take a look at the Cinemaquette, Marmit, NECA and Medicom collectibles.

And thanks again for the great conversation! I just hope this is not boring people out of their minds...
But, as you can see, I love talking about alien!
:peace
 
I am not denying that it's a nice figure... and obviously nobody would mistake it for anything but the "big chap" alien... but it still drops the ball in key areas that really ruin it for the hardcore fans.

Exactly. They made it very generic, just like they made the dog alien and Aliens warrior generic...unless they really were trying to make the dog alien's mouth look like a piranha's, then it wouldn't be generic because they succeeded at that. But anywho my quota of generic and innaccurate HT aliens was already filled by those two, I had no need for another. They very much took an 'any which way will do' approach, possibly with some compromise to get the opening and closing mouths and extendable tongues.

Am I the only person who'd find it refreshing to see a collectible featuring the mouth closed, with lips covering the teeth? That'd be a really creepy vibe. I'm almost bored to death of the lame "menacing" look that they clearly tried to give this figure. The mouth shows too much emotion, if that's the right word for it... I could almost imagine it smiling, and that's just wrong.

Yeah I'd like to see that, a sculpt with permanently closed mouth and with the translucent-looking sheath over the teeth. Of course it'd have to be on an otherwise poseable figure as thats all I collect.

As for the look they went for on this figure I wouldn't describe it as 'menacing'. Thats the problem, I find it comical looking if anything. Thats perhaps what you're getting at when you say you can imagine it smiling - I know what you mean, it looks like its on the cusp of a big grin.
 
Abake, it was answered with a very well thought out and factual account of the situation....so I dunno what you're on about really. ALV427 gets the cup for me, I think he's given an unbiased and accurate account of the facts surrounding the A3 creature.

How could anyone come to any other conclusions when what's been said is verifiable fact, not supposition as you're entire argument is to me, Abake.

I found your post in between the quotes just fine, but I actually like reading and writing, it's hardly a novel. Reading is good, post counts are bad.

The Hot Toys Alien figure as better than most in the accuracy stakes, but as can be seen from the montage, no Alien figure actually represent the prop entirely, it can't because of all the factors with lighting, etc. that have been pointed out.

Just buy whatever toy you think is the best likeness, buy them all, it's that simple.



ALIENheadcomp.jpg




"Hello Abake,

Thanks for the reply. I don't think that I've deliberately ignored anything, I think have thoroughly reviewed every source I can get my hands on, but you seem to be ignoring many of the core points I made, and you are still revolving around the central argument that the HT's ALIEN isn't screen accurate and it's likeness doesn't represent what's seen in the movie; a generic version that Joseph created without giving it all that much respect in relation to the original. I think it is relatively accurate to the screen and Gigers' vision and sculpts, and I don't think that it's wrong to suggest. I don't think I'm the only one that can see things differently for you and the others. Why get hung up on the figure having to precisely imitate a particular facial expression that's seen when the ALIEN is visible? Do you really think that's it's possible without all the lighting and FX, or do you think they play no real part in the Alien's overall appearance in the film?

All of the statues and figures out there are sculpted in positions and exhibit facial expressions and artistic licence that doesn't represent what's seen in the movie, all of them. Where do you draw the line and accept that there isn't a single figure that can represent every scene that we see because there were many suits and heads used that were all built with slight differences. You don't seem to factor that in or acknowledge it in any way.

The nature of the suits and heads constructions, maintenance and repair dictated varying degrees of subtle differences; like the domes shape, ribbing and finer facial details and arrangements etc. The Rambaldi head had a different appearance than the other five or so heads, so using that particular head design would accurately represent the total ALIEN III design that we seen in the film, and it wouldn't have the overlook of the design that majority associate with it, it would look totally different that any statue we've seen out there so far.

As far as I'm aware, Giger made a polyester statue that was formed from a rough plaster cast of Balajio. Then he created his basic design over the polyester form and the basic plaster and cork chip negatives were created from that. The moulded components were cleaned and trimmed before being extensively customised and modified with other latex details, convoluted tubing etc.Finally being painted and airbrushed etc. Other elements and details of the suits and heads were also cast using plaster and plasticine components that Giger carved and sculpted for the hero and stunt suits; like the feet, glove and finger elements etc. The plasterers would make an accurate cast of the polyester masters and then carve and refine the basic and finer details as accurately as the moulding process they were using at the time would allow for. All the latex was hand painted in to the mould in a laborious process that slowly built up layers until the desired thickness in all the areas of the mould was achieved. That same process was used to produce various components of the suit that were also tailored to Bolaji and the stunt-men Eddie Powell and Roy Scammelland for the specific requirement of the days filming.

There were at the very least 6 heads production heads made, one mechanized, one half mechanised, two unmechanized and a few more made of foam rubber etc. for the stunt-men. The plaster moulds used were only capable or reproducing a fairly basic representation because of the complex curves and shapes involved, and most of the fine detail was added using plaster and plasticine, glued on rubber tubes, detailing etc. and thus, no two heads were constructed identically, they all had variations with the shape of the domes and muscle and tendon details around the mouth. Various artist were involved because of critical time restraints. But Giger.would ultimately supervise and help shape and paint all of them to insure that most of the heads stayed fairly faithful and accurately represented his vision; constrained with the limitations of the materials available in the day that were required for the various tasks, and Scott and Co's artistic crimp.

As the heads and suits were patched up and repainted, those minor individualities and peculiarities would obviously become more apparent. But I think that was fine with Scott in light (forgive the pun) of his various comment about wanting the audience to experience a constantly changing ALIEN so they didn't get a fix on the exact shape and details for the purposes of suspense; so we would use our imagination to complete and add additional layers to terrifying images; heightening the fear and suspense surrounding the creature. It wouldn't interfere with what he want to achieve, and ultimately contributed in immeasurable ways to the overall effect.The Alien was rapidly growing, ageing, changing.

The mechanical heads were created using other techniques and Giger would have made sure that those heads were as faithful as possible to his art; fitted it in with the overall look of the other heads as best as possible. Again, those slight differences in the dome and other facial features appearance and dimensions were perfectly and completely compatible with Scott's film vision. Giger originally intended to go in a more organic direction with the set and the ultimate Alien III design but Scott and Co ultimately had the final decision witht he designs and the rest is history.

The mechanized heads minus the lighting, camera lenses/shot angles, FX and tons of KY jelly etc. wouldn't have anywhere near the impact they do without them. His head was the ugliest of the lot, it had a different appearance to the rest because of the extra mechanical features etc. Scott and Co worked very hard and would have gone through many different angles, perspective and lighting arrangement to achieve the final version we see in the film, you can't separate them; they all very much essential to each other. That's why I have to laugh a little when I read people saying that it looks nothing like the shots we see in the film, what else can you do.

I have seen Giger's concept drawings and photos showing the leg "grills' in positions that closely mirror the design of the HTs figure, but again, there really isn't enough material out there to say if the position and features are totally correct or incorrect. The Giger statue argument isn't all that convincing to me because it was only a guide for the moulds and isn't representative of all the positions details on all the suits I've seen. It's not even really known if it was the exact sculpt the ALIEN III is based on, but I think it probably was. I think Joseph wouldn't have been able to avoid it as a reference, I can definitely see elements in his sculpt.

I don't have any real problems with the small paragraph of Hot Toys claims, that probably has more to do with the marketing department than anything Joseph would have claimed. I think he's smart enough to know that it's not something you can claim with any single ALIEN figure, you would need a set of them, and because you would need to recreate the lighting and FX that were used in the original film to achieve that perfect film look, and that's obviously totally impractical in the real world, even for the hardest or hardcore fans. But I basically agree with the asertion that the figure is the best 1/6 scale posable Giger ALIEN available.

I think many sculptors get fixated on recreating the biting scenes and try blending the mechanized heads with the other head shapes and designs, but to me it makes the heads look like they are all mouth, like the NECA and Marmit etc. They have slightly overly exagerated features proportions and details to me. They exaggerate and overemphasise the fierceness' of the monster by playing with proportions and elements of the sculpts and paint. Something for everyones imagination, I guess.

I like them all for different reasons, but I'm realistic enough to know that I'll never be able to own any one version of the ALIEN that encomapses everything that's seen in film. I have many versions, but nothing that will ever perfectly capture what's seen on screen - never. I'm cool with that because I have a good understanding about the techniques use to create what's seen on screen. Even if it is possible, you would still require a set of figures, not a single one.

If you can honestly say that you think the HTs ALIEN doesn't represent; isn't based on Giger's concept and what's seen in the movie then who am I to argue with your perception and imagination etc. I tend to look at things holistically and don't get hung up on minor details that may or may not have been part of the movie used suits and heads. We don't have enough high resolution photos and detailed reference materials available to do that with any real clarity or certainty.

I don't want to get drawn into a hopeless debate over our individual visions and versions of the ALIEN, it's pointless when everyone sees something different. There are certain constants, but they have more to do with the overall shape of the creature, rather than the absolute specifics of the finer details. I don't want to get bogged down in a conversation about the dimensions of convoluted hoses and the relative positions of abstract shapes and element used in the suits and heads design; life is just too short for all that... Well, maybe for a while if we were discussing it face to face.

I'm sure your opinion of the figure will change when you receive it and see it in 3D, I think you'll be happier with it because you've probably only seen 2D photos of it on the web. You would think it's just a giant ugly mouth with many of the pics commonly used to criticise it. That's my take on all this."
 
A-Dev "Exactly. They made it very generic, just like they made the dog alien and Aliens warrior generic...unless they really were trying to make the dog alien's mouth look like a piranha's, then it wouldn't be generic because they succeeded at that. But anywho my quota of generic and innaccurate HT aliens was already filled by those two, I had no need for another. They very much took an 'any which way will do' approach, possibly with some compromise to get the opening and closing mouths and extendable tongues."




A-dev, I disagree, that's just your opinions, I think the figure looks menacing enough, the photos are so ugly here, they all exagerate what the toy really looks like. The photos don't accurately give you an impression of what the figure is ALL about. I think you should use "In My Opinion" a lot more, you wriite like the whole world agrees with everything you say, and that ther's no other way to think about things. It's very antagonistic for people that love the figure. The toy isn't just a mouth. LoL.
 
looks good enough to me...photoshop it with the same background and shading etc. and you've got a dead ringer.

A-dev, I disagree, that's just your opinions, I think the figure looks menacing enough, the photos are so ugly here, they all exagerate what the toy really looks like. The photos don't accurately give you an impression of what the figure is ALL about. I think you should use "In My Opinion" a lot more, you wriite like the whole world agrees with everything you say, and that ther's no other way to think about things. It's very antagonistic for people that love the figure. The toy isn't just a mouth. LoL.

And THAT is just YOUR opinion.

I love how some people drone on and on about other people's opinions and how they should word them...and then do the same thing. :rolleyes2
 
A-dev, I think you should use "In My Opinion" a lot more, you wriite like the whole world agrees with everything you say, and that ther's no other way to think about things. It's very antagonistic for people that love the figure.

I know I'm sorry, I get that, particularly the last sentence of yours I quoted. I've come to blows with people who've dismissed certain things I really like as 'junk' etc. Its just writing "in my opinion" in every single post would get tiresome very quickly.
 
Haha. Almost everything said on the boards should have "IMO" in it in my opinion.

LOL, this figure and people who admittedly defend it is very antagonistic those who seek movie accuracy in their hot toys figures...... IMO. :lol

BTW, people state their opinions as facts all the time.
It's something others simply have to deal with. (IMO) :gah:

This can get very redundant..... IMO. :lol
 
I can't believe this same argument has been going on for months. Time to lock it up.

633802199316121515-ThreadLock.jpg
 
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