Wednesday, June 1, 2011

FigureHero Alien Killer Accessories and Weapons Set Version 3 Preview

Exactly what a USCM (United States Colonial Marine Corps) Marine needs to kill xenomorphs (lit. "alien form" — from Greek xeno- or "strange" and -morph, shape) as seen in the film "Aliens", the 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton.

This is the FigureHero Alien Killer 1/6 Scale Accessories and Weapons Set (Version 3). Of the 3 sets seen so far (2 sets have already been released), this is definitely the best one BUT there is still no armor in this set. The company obviously knows that many 1/6 scale collectors are very keen on the Hot Toys 1/6 scale USCM 12-inch figures and they have released the camouflage uniform in the first two versions. Now we see the weapons set. So will version 4 be the USCM protective armor and helmet as worn by Michael Biehn as Corporal Dwayne Hicks and PFC Jenette Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein)? One can only hope.


The weapons used by the Marines of the United States Colonial Marine Corps (USCM) were based on real, fully functional weapons. British armorers used guns they found to be the most reliable when firing blanks and those which looked futuristic. The M41A pulse rifles were created from a Thompson SMG, with an attached forend of a Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun and a Remington 12 Gauge Model 870P receiver with barrel.



The Marines of the USCMC (United States Colonial Marine Corps) famously carry the M41A Pulse Rifle as their standard issue weapon. In the film, the weapon is described as a futuristic assault rifle with a magazine capacity of 99 rounds of 10mm caseless armor-piercing ammunition with a pump action 30mm grenade launcher mounted underneath the barrel.


The M56 smart guns carried by Vasquez and Drake were based on the German MG-42 machine gun and were maneuvered with steadicam harnesses created using old motorcycle parts. Unfortunately, no smart guns are included with this set :(

The film crew found the M240 flamethrowers the most difficult weapon to create and use, as they were the heaviest and most dangerous.


The M240 Flamethrower was most notably used by Gunnery Sergeant A. Apone (Al Matthews), Private M. Drake (Mark Rolston), and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) when she famously tapes it to an M41A Pulse Rifle before she goes to rescue Newt (Carrie Henn). These flamethrowers also appear to have been created from parts from M16 rifles with the M203 handguard. The 'faux' flamethrower used the upper receiver assembly of an M16A1 - cut into two parts, using the top handle facing forward, but the section with the ejection port turned backwards.


Besides weapons, the USCM also has some useful accessories. Among them is the Motion Tracker. Essentially, it is a high-powered ultra-sound scanner that uses doppler-shift discrimination to filter out moving objects from the stationary background.




The FigureHero Alien Killer 1/6 Scale Accessories and Weapons Set (Version 3) will also come with the personal hand welder (compact welding torch).


BIG major boo-boo here: Why is there a tracker screen on the welder? That's totally WRONG!!! These people obviously never watched the movie or did any research before producing these.


I don't really care for these little buggers - "chestbursters". The chestburster erupts violently from the host's chest after the facehugger "impregnates" the host. It then matures to an adult phase within a few hours, shedding its skin and replacing its cells with polarized silicon. Due to Horizontal gene transfer during the gestation period, the Alien also takes on some of the basic physical attributes of the host from which it was born, allowing the individual alien to adapt to the host's environment.


Check out my post of both Hot Toys 1/6 scale United States Colonial Marines (USCM) Corporal Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn) and PFC Jenette Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) 12-inch figures HERE.

Related posts:
An earlier post on "Corporal Dwayne Hicks USCM" on November 12, 2008.
Another post on Vasquez with more pictures of the M56 smart gun
Check out Hot Toys Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) with 1/6 scale Power Loader HERE
There's also the Hot Toys Nostromo Executive Officer Kane from the first ALIEN movie

2 comments:

WookieBreath said...

Late to the show. But where can I still buy this?

alex teo said...

Perhaps u can try ebay as most shops will have sold out these sets by now