Playsets and diorama pieces are tough things to get away with in popular toy lines these days. So much so, in fact, that toy companies have to trick the market a bit to make them work: Transformers, for example, sells playsets like Metroplex and Fortress Maximus by emphasizing them as robot action figures of popular characters, rather than bases. McFarlane Toys makes playset pieces in LEGO style kit form and lets you buy and combine and them.
And NECA? Having had some success with a latex-and-foam-rubber movie prop-type line that has thus far delivered a life-sized E.T., Gremlins, and even Batman, they’re now using that technique to make a diorama piece that’s in scale with their 7-inch action figures, which collectors have longed for for years. The Space Jockey, as seen in both Alien and Prometheus, was the first apparent victim of chestbursters, and served as a warning (both times!) that went unheeded by curious crews–mess with anything you find lying around, and the rest of the movie will be about y’all dying one by one.
Two feet long and 18 inches high from base bottom to phallic tip top, this playset piece doesn’t have the action features of classic sets, but it does have a highly detailed sculpt based on the original 1979 prop (a different sculpt, incidentally, than on the smaller, micro-sized model NECA put out earlier this year). It’s not going to be offered at mass retail, but will arrive in a “sturdy reinforced corrugated box” from your favorite online retailer, where it will probably cost in the vicinity of $300. If you are hesitant to make room, take a close look at our mini-gallery below to see just how cool it is to let the Alien figures explore this frightening new piece of terrain.
Are you drawn to this like an astronaut to a mysterious alien snake? Or is it a wait-and-see deal, not unlike the forthcoming Alien: Covenant? I know what’ll be jockeying for position in my collection, but what say you? Sound off below!
Images: NECA
