Ridley Scott's 1979 movie Alien is my husband's all-time favorite movie. Because he is a toy collector and figure modeler, our house contains more Alien paraphernalia than I might like. When I saw my darling hubby come in with yet another Alien toy, I was nonplussed, however after he pulled the 3 Mez-Itz figures out of the box I was surprisingly amused.

Product Description:

Mez-Itz are the Mezco Toy Company's addition to the very popular scaled-down, "super deformed" toy movement. From Kubricks to Mini-mates, the super-tiny action figures have been selling like hotcakes in recent years, so more and more toy companies are jumping on the bandwagon. Mezco's version, called Mez-Itz, stand roughly 3 inches tall, have flat-topped heads, and have interchangeable parts (arms and lower-bodies that are easily removed and swapped out). There is a simple, base body style that almost all figures, from monsters to superheroes, conform to.

The figures included in the Alien Mez-Itz set are "The Warrior Alien", "The Astronaut" (which I assume is Kane, the John Hurt character who is "infected" in the original movie), and "The Space Jockey", which is the large, dead alien in the huge, impressive chair that the crew of the Nostromo find when investigating what they think is a distress signal. The two conventional Mez-Itz each come with a separate base, whereas the Space Jockey is a part of his base.

The Astronaut and Alien figures have standard Mez-Itz articulation. Their arms swivel at the shoulders, their hands spin at the wrist, they can twist at the waist, and their legs can move forward and back. They have removable arms (at the shoulder) and lower bodies (via a joint at the waist). Their hands are very Lego-figure-esque, although the Alien's hands have a bit of claw-detail.

The manufacturer recommends the Alien Mez-Itz Set for children ages 3 and up.

Low-Down on the Figures:

The Alien: He stands 3 inches tall and has the Alien-esque super-long head topped by a translucent, see-through dome. His basic body is black with silver details, but in addition to the normal body are the Alien-shoulder ridges, rib-cage, and spikes on his back. He also has a long tail made from a super-soft plastic, making it flexible and bendy. One of the coolest Alien features - the extra inner-jaw, is included -- just push a sliding lever at the back of the figure's long head and the outer-jaw will drop open, exposing the inner-jaw that moves forward. The base, which consists of a floor and back panel, is shaped to look like the interior of the ship where most of the movie took place (the Nostromo).

The Astronaut: I'll just call him "Kane", since that's who it is supposed to be anyway... He too stands 3 inches tall and is wearing a "spacesuit", complete with a large helmet, that is an accurate-yet-simplistic rendition of Kane's suit from the movie. His suit is orange with brown trim, and in addition to the conventional figure body are shoulder plating (just like the suits from the movie) as well as additional mechanisms on his chest and back. The helmet is definitely the coolest part, with the bulbous clear faceplate (with some "condensation" around the edges for realism) through which you can see Kane's face (complete with flat-topped head). Turn the light on top of the helmet and the face revolves around inside the helmet to reveal Kane after he has been attacked by the face-hugger, with the face-hugger's long fingers wrapping around his poor head. Kane's base is from the scene where he falls into the egg-area, complete with 3 eggs. One of the eggs is open, and a separate, soft-plastic face-hugger is also included.

The Space Jockey: The Space Jockey is not your conventional Mez-Itz figure. Like the one in the movie, he is fused with his pilot's chair and cannot be removed. In fact, the only touch of Mez-Itz on him is his flattened head. The Jockey and his chair can be pivoted around on the floor-base, but that's the only movement available on the figure. Although the top of the Jockey's head is roughly 3 inches high, the chair continues up to a high point of over 4 inches, and the full length of the figure is 7 inches -- massive by Mez-Itz standards. What makes him impressive is the detail! My husband, who had a few larger, very highly-detailed Space Jockey models already, claims that he can tell that the Mez-Itz Space Jockey is actually made from larger model that has been scanned in and shrunk down (he says he can tell by the unique front-end sculpt), thus it is packed with tiny details and is very impressive looking.

Our Experiences:

As I mentioned above, I'm very well acquainted with Alien toys, but these have quickly become my favorite. We also have a few other Kubricks and Mini-mates around here, and while I think they are cute I don't expect much from them. One thing that you usually give up when you scale down a figure is detail and cool extras. That's why the Alien Mez-Itz surprised me so much! I was initially impressed with the detail. The Space Jockey is just as detailed as any large toy, and both the Alien's and Astronaut's heads are made more interesting with their clear domes. The bases were also nice additions, adding more "meat" to the figures. What surprised me the most was the Alien's inner-jaw, complete with "pop-out" mechanism, and the Astronaut's revolving head, revealing both pre-attack and post-attack versions. I was not expecting those kinds of extras on toys that were so small. Those cute features really won me over!

About the only bad thing I can say about the set is that it didn't come with instructions. Sure, that might sound silly when you are talking about such tiny figures, but while we found the Alien's inner-jaw button easily enough, we didn't know Kane's face swiveled for a while. Because the mechanism that turns his face is a part of the suit (the light on top of the helmet), no one thought to try turning it. We didn't find the face-hugger side of his head until we'd had the toys a few days, and even then it was totally by accident! They should show the two faces on the back of the box or give some indication that there is a spinning mechanism.

My 2 year old likes the figures too, even though we don't let him play with them unattended (the removable arms are definitely small enough to be choking hazards). My son always says "Hi" and waves to The Astronaut, and can identify the Alien and Space Jockey by name (yes, he's growing up amongst my husband's toy collection, which explains why I am concerned about his mental health...)

Final Thoughts:

I admit that I've liked this type of toned-down, super-small figure ever since they started appearing on the market a few years ago, but the Alien Mez-Itz figures have really surprised me with their detail and their cool additional features. I love being pleasantly surprised, so I have to give them a big thumbs up! I highly recommend them for anyone who loves the original Alien movie.




Manufacturer's Website:
http://www.mezcotoyz.com/


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 12.99
Type of Toy: Action Figure