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Aoshima Aliens Dropship 02 and APC Models + Hicks and Powerloader vs Alien Figures
Aliens is possibly my most favourite science fiction action movie. This movie released in 1986 some 38 years ago as I write this in 2024. It's hard to believe it was that long ago as I watched it in the theatre back then. It is a great sequel to Alien and was part of a trend of great science fiction sequels like Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan, Empire Strikes Back, and Terminator II. While Aliens is an action movie follow-up to the horror of Alien, these movies have stood up to the test of time and influenced science fiction and anime for years to come. Apparently Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z fame said that Alien was his favorite sci-fi movie and Frieza's 3rd form is inspired by the film.
In Aliens, the story picks up more than 50 years after the events of the original Alien movie. Our heroine, Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), is rescued from suspended animation. In Alien, Ripley's ship stumbles upon an alien spaceship on the desolate planet LV-426. Inside, they find a cache of alien eggs that unleashes a face-hugger which infects one of the crewmembers. Things go horribly wrong and the alien wipes out the entire crew except for Ripley who finally kills it. In Aliens, a human colony has been established on LV-426, with the goal of terraforming the planet. The colonists find the alien ship and contact is subsequently lost with them. Ripley joins a squad of Colonial Marines as a specialist on the alien threat and goes on the condition they are going out there to destroy them."
On LV-426 there isn't just one alien this time, there is a whole swarm of these acid-blooded baddies. The marines land in their dropship and use their APC to arrive at the colony. There are no survivors other than Newt, a child who is a traumatized, yet resilient survivor. Newt clings to Ripley like a lifeline. Ripley’s maternal instincts kick in. She’ll protect Newt. As the marines continue to explore, everything goes south, and they end up in a fight for their survival.
Marine dropship from Aliens with missile pods deployed.
In this post, I'm going to show the dropship, a figure of Corporal Hicks, and the powerloader. They kind of make up the main part of my Alien/Aliens collection. I don't know about other people, but I consider the Alien franchise to have ended after Aliens. The other movies were just bad. I hear good things about Alien: Romulus, but haven't seen it yet.
There are a number of famous props from the movie that include the dropship, the APC, and the famous M41-A pulse rifle that fires 10mm caseless from 99 round magazines. Seeing the dropship model become available was amazing and it sold out pretty quick.
Back in 2005 I was in the early stages of collecting anime figures but ran across the pre-release announcements for the Aoshima produced dropship and APC from the Aliens movie. They were pretty expensive for the time, costing about 3x what a typical anime figure would cost but it was the shipping that was actually the killer as the model was heavy and the package was bulky due to the large styrofoam box molded to fit the model. The shipping cost like half the price of the model or something like that. I still wanted it, so my bank account emptied.
In Canada, the dropship cost $115.91 CAD for a completed, plastic and die-cast model. The weapons pods all move, and the APC can be stored in the cargo bay for quick deployment like it happened in the movie! The dropship weighed 1.48 kg with dimensions measuring 41 x 28 x 16 cm. It is getting up to half a metre long. The APC came in a separate package (more shipping) and cost $34.41 CAD. This completed model was mostly die-cast metal with wheels that turn, the gun turret moves on the track and swivels, and the nose-gun also moves. The APC weighed 0.22 kg with dimensions measuring 8.2 x 17.1 x 7.5 cm. Both models were in 1/72 scale and the dropship came with a figure of the alien queen while the APC came with a couple of marines. Unfortunately there were no miniature pilots in the cockpit which would have been pretty cool.
Top: Dropship in the Sulaco hangar prior to launch with ramp down. Middle: Dropship in flight with missile pods deployed. Bottom: APC loading into dropship by backing up.
The Aoshima dropship is a hefty model that takes up a bit of room. They sold a dropship 1 and a dropship 2 as the marine assault ship carried two on board. I basically shot pictures of it on the floor as my regular backdrop wasn't large enough for it. It looks very military from the boxy shapes, drab olive green colouring, and gunship like bug appearance with missile pods deployed. Not bad for a fire-support troop transport to bring soldiers to the surface. I still like this ship design and the APC doesn't look too bad either, but lacks ground clearance for a real all terrain vehicle. Both vehicles pack a ton of weaponry and the APC is also has a squad operations centre to coordinate the marines.
Aoshima Aliens Dropship 1/72 Scale Shots
The dropship is a well-built and detailed model that I still treasure today. Lots of fun to look at and occasionally play with. I don't have the original packaging (it's pretty large to keep around), but I did find a video of an unboxing which I will include below. I really like how the missile pods can deploy on the model, but the real knockout feature of this model is the fact that it can drop the assault ramp and have the APC roll right out like in the movie. I have a video of that later on here. After almost 20 years of very light use, the ramp seems to jam a little now, so it took several tries to get a nice clean deployment on video.
Front view of the dropship with ramp down and missiles undeployed.
Overhead angle view with dropship, APC, marines, and alien queen.
Front overhead view. It is quite a boxy ship that is all engine at the back with fins.
3/4 front view from the side. Squat and mean looking.
Side view. Main body is all cargo bay.
Overhead with missile pods deployed and marines facing off with the queen.
3/4 view from front showing the missile pods deployed. The flip open like in the movie.
Another view of the dropship with APC. The alien queen is going to get blasted by the APCs main guns.
Front view showin the APC coming down the assault ramp.
Closeup of the APC and the dropship.
Dropship deploys APC video clip.
Video of the original package. There are either Mandarakes in Singapore or he was in Japan to buy it at Mandarake!
Corporal Hicks Colonial Marine Action Figure
There was a series of these figures as part of the Aliens New Movie Maniacs Series 7 from McFarlan Toys. I only bought Corporal Hicks - my favourite marine from the movie. There were two versions of him, one with helmet, one without. This figure was released in November of 2004, before the dropship came out. It's funny, I thought I got him after the dropship - but this is one of those things lost in the mists of time. It is six inches high at about 1/8 scale.
Hicks from the front with his pulse rifle ready to fire. It looks like he is in the alien hive from the floor decking.
Nice view of him with the pulse rifle from the side.
Hicks Up Close. The detailing on his face, armour, and the rifle is pretty good.
Hicks from the other side.
Alien Vs Power Loader
I picked this figure up from the Aliens Colonial Marines Videogame Collectors Edition. It came out in 2012 and the game was only okay. It was kind of fun but I found that the aliens move way too quick. The statue is about 7 inches high and is actually quite detailed. You paid extra for it, but it was worth it. There is a colonial marine driving the loader and an alien is likely about to give him a bad day.
Front view. An alien warrior has jumped on the loader.
Closeup. The weathering the loader and highlighting on the alien are pretty nice.
Another view. The base is kind of plain, but it serves its purpose.
Sideview of the loader and you can see how detailed the arms and body of the loader are. Look at all the hydraulic cables coming out the back of the loader!
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this retrospective on Aliens and the figures it inspired.
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