In 1992, Kenner released a toy line for a cartoon titled "Operation: Aliens". The cartoon ended up being cancelled, unfortunantly, but Kennner had lots of merchandise for the show, so they ending up releasing them uner the name "Aliens". Series 1 (1992); - When Series 1 was released, we were introduced to some Marines & Aliens. The Marines were Lt. Ripley, Corp. Hicks, the Bishop Android, Sgt. Apone, & Sgt. Drake. They each came with a pair of stickers & at least 1 gun. The Aliens that were introduced were the Scorpion Alien, Bull Alien, & Gorilla Alien. The Queen & Powerloader Vehicle were released shortly after. All these figures, excluding the Powerloader & Queen, had comics. Also,the 3 aliens were included with different colored Facehuggers.
Series 2 (1993); - When Series 2 was made, we got a Kenner exclusive Marine & more Aliens! They were ATAX, who came with a Queen costume, & the Aliens were the Rhino Alien, Mantis Alien, Snake Alien, Queen Facehugger, & the Flying Queen. We also got an AVP 2-Pack & 3 new vehicles! The Evac Fighter, Stinger XT-37, & Electronic Hovertread!
Series 3 (1993); - We got 3 new Marines in Series 3! They were Vasquez, O'Malley, & Hudson. Sadly, they were all released only in the UK, as well as in Australia/Pacific market (*NOTE: these figures from Australia were packaged in "U.S." styled cards.) Kenner sent many cases of these marines to North American retailers, but they denied the new marines because the marines from Series 1 were failing to sell. Kids were only interested with the Aliens, so Kenner sent 36 cases back to its China division. 24 were destroyed, so only 12 cases of each marine are known to exist. New Aliens were the Panther Alien & the Killer Crab Alien. There was originally going to be a Mini Dropship vehicle, but it was cancelled. Later that same year, we got the Night Cougar Alien ( repaint of the Panther ), Wild Boar Alien.
Series 4 - (1994); This was the final series for Kenner's Aliens figures, sadly. There were no more marines made, but there were certainly new Aliens! They were the King Alien, Electronic Swarm Alien & the Arachnid Alien. The King and Arachnid aliens were the very last to be produced and shipped. This is evidenced by the fact that these are the only 2 figures missing from all cross-sells on the cardbacks. They're not even listed or promoted on their own cardbacks. Kenner also released a Queen Hive Playset with real ooze! This playset was perhaps the best piece produced by Kenner for the line.
Hive Wars - (1998); after Kenner's Aliens demise, they released a new line featuring figures not in the original toyline. They were the Acid Alien, Hive Warrior, Night Recon Predator, Warrior Predator, an android-looking Corp. Hicks, & Integer 3, an android.
Aliens vs Marines - (1996); Kay-Bee Toys made repaints of some of the marines with n in sets known as the Aliens vs Marines. There was Corp. Hicks vs King Alien, Vasquez vs Night Cougar Alien, Drake vs Arachnid Alien, O' Malley vs Queen Facehugger, & Hudson vs Scorpion Alien.
TRIVIA
- Only Ripley, Hicks, Apone, Drake, Bishop, Scorpion, Bull, Gorilla, Snake, Mantis, Rhino, Queen Facehugger, & AVP 2-Pack came with comics.
- The Mantis Alien comic #10 "Swarm" is sometimes mistaken as the #9 while the Snake Alien comic #9 "Night Strike" is mistaken as the #10.
- The Mantis alien originally came packed with a DH Mini comic, but was then released without a comic. This indicates that the Mantis figure was a transition point in the line.
- There was a limited run in 1997 of Aliens and Predator figures that were repainted and releases they K-B Toys.
- Although there are only 12 of the US Hudson, Vasquez, & O'Malley figures, Kenner produced nearly 10,000 of the UK counterparts.
- not all figures in this line had international distribution: there is no evidence of an international-package Arachnid alien, or similar of the Queen Hive playset.
- The most popular Space Marine is vasquez, the most popular vehicle is the Powerloader, & the most popular Alien is the Warrior from the AVP 2-Pack