Hot Toys Alien 3 Dog Alien Review

Well it's been well over a week since I updated by blog, I've been on my hols to the North East of England (visiting parents). Tried to get this post on before I left but no such luck tsk.

Anyway moving on, I bought this recently when I noticed Forbidden Planet had this fella in stock and just couldn't resist!

Of course this is the Dog Alien as seen in the movie Alien 3 (or Xenomorph if your a bit of a geek like me). Although I consider it to be a pretty average movie I have to say that I always loved the Alien concept in Alien 3, a more streamlined Alien that was a quadruped due to gestating inside a dog or cow depending on which version of the film you watch heh.

The articulation is really well pulled off, basically very little of it is on show; something which I always love in a 1/6 model. Most of its joints are pretty stiff and work great. It can achieve a really deep crouch considering its bulk.

The majority of its body, neck, legs and arms are covered in latex which works really well and gives it a slick look in certain lights.

Sadly my Alien doesn't seem to want to support his own weight hence the Enterbay stand holding him up, sigh. It's probably due to the slightly loose left hip joint. Not sure if it's something that effects all the Dog Aliens or just mine. Then again of the few Aliens I've bought and the reviews I've read they tend to always have some sort of joint problem. Slightly annoying I guess given the high end price tag, but then again these things have such weight to them it's no surprise they have problems.

The colours in the figure are fantastic, Hot Toys really did a great paint job, capturing the look perfectly. In addition to all the fine detailing, the globe on its head is slightly see through and so is the padding on its shoulder. It makes for a fantastic effect in sunlight or under lighting.

Again the webbing across the mouth is all done in latex and stretches when the mouth opens via a small lever on the rear of its head. Once again even in glorious close up the model stands up to scrutiny.

Of course no alien would be seen dead in sunlight so I took a few moodier pictures in slight darkness. It really highlights the detailing, it's as close to movie perfect that I could wish for. I literally would have killed for one of these when I was a kid haha!

Of course given the subject character he doesn't really come with anything in the way of accessories. He does come with 2 sets of hands, one made from stiff plastic and one posable set made from latex over a wire frame (pretty standard in all of Hot Toys Alien line)

Something else to point out is that as with all of the Aliens produced by Hot Toys the tail is built on a wire frame with segmented latex joints. It can hold any pose you wish and works fairly effectively to balance out the model just like the real Alien would.

I was really happy unboxing this model. It's by far my favorite Alien Model that I own. He just looks great in the dark tucked into a corner. (word of warning though, he comes partly unassembled and getting his leg to attach pretty much made me cry)

Here's a couple close ups of the see through detailing. These are done in a harder plastic and catch the light superbly. Through the globe you can see the skull like structure that the Alien sports.

As previously mentioned the jaws can be opened using a small lever on the base of the head at the back. when pressed the jaws open and the inner mouth slides out, fantastic stuff but I wouldn't recommend you leave the Alien in this pose for too long, it's really sturdy and strong latex but over time it'll stretch and will prevent the mouth from closing correctly.

In summary, if you like the Alien creature and have played with the idea of buying one of the Hot Toys models then I strongly recommend this one. The Xenomorph they did from the movie "Aliens" is getting more and more expensive these days and I really don't care to much for the later Xeno designs.