Got my Aliens Snap Kit case today in the mail...
OUTSTANDING figures... ALl of them. You get 12 figures to a case, so you're getting doubles of two figures. I got one extra Marine and one extra Alien. That's cool I guess but two Marines would've been preferable of course.
The articulation has some limitations, and that is to be expected. These aren't actually toys, they're described as "model kits", however they're bitchin' model kits to-scale to Star Wars figures. The Aliens are BIG hulking figures, the Marines/Ripley are definitely the case's highlight though.
The likenesses are pretty good to the characters, though the Ripley and Hicks figures are questionable... Almost makes you think there was likeness issues involved. The details on the uniforms are outstanding. Every little thing like zippers, pockets, armor buckles, laces on boots, flashlights, ammo, etc., is in there somewhere... Lots of detail.
The Marines you get are an odd mix... Ripley and Hicks make sense as 2 of the only survivors of the movie... You get Sgt. Appone and Cpl. Drake as well though, who if IIRC bite the big one early on during the Marine's exploration of the mining facility. I figured you'd get Vasquez and Bill Paxton's character first, but whatever.
The figures are FRAGILE... At first. I broke a knee joint on Appone and had to do some knee replacement with my extra Marine (I got 2 Drakes). This annoys the ever loving piss out of me, but it's my own fault for not taking the time I needed to, and doing this at home where I had a hot pot to boil water and do this intricately. The figures need hot water to snap most of the joints together, and it's a good idea to loosen the complex knee joint (it's weird) with boiling water. The figures have a knee joint exactly like Bespin Vader's in that it is a self-contained point of articulation that snaps into a calf piece and up into a thigh piece separately. Cool, but it's uber fragile as I noted, and the pin broke on Appone. I think it's made of styrene though, and I'll be able to weld it with the proper adhesive.
The Aliens could use some accessories, especially since you essentially are buying the same figure in various decoes... S ome chest bursters, some face huggers, some eggs. These all would've gone a long way to improving value there. The Marines/Ripley come decked out with ammo though. Hicks especially has a lot of gear.
As noted there's some posing limitations, but not much. These are essentially super poseable figures with lots of well hidden joints. They pop apart easily sometimes (Ripley especially) but the end figure is really something special and they're great for adult collectors. Not so much a kid though.
All I can say now is that I hope I can maybe nab a Marine or two more, and I'd dig another Aliens set... I want Vasquez, a Paul Reiser figure... They could give me Bishop too, he rocks. It'd be cool to get more of the Aliens characters though for sure. I don't know where to go from there though. The Snap Kit design would do well with other film lines like Terminator, Predator (original), Predator 2, etc. I figure if they did AvP, they may go with one of those... And I'm in line to buy. These things rock.
EDIT:
By the way I paid a LOT for these... They're not cheap. But a case of 12 worked out (after shipping) to about $12 a figure... That's not horrid, just not great really... I'd like more Marines but not at the prices I see singles going for, not by a long shot.