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FLASHBACK: ‘Alien’ toy commercial from 1979

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It’s not quite as disturbing as, say, Midnight Cowboy Underoos or Deliverance trail mix, but there was a backlash in 1979 when Kenner made a fun plastic toy based on Alien,” a movie that certainly earned its R rating.

I wonder if those kids ever made it out of the kitchen...

The 18-inch toy didn’t last long on shelves, according to Jay West, a world-class collector of “Alien” (and our “super-fan”contributor covering the alternate-reality game for “Tron: Legacy”) -- the outrage of parent activist groups sent the plastic creature into retail exile, which, as you might suspect, makes the toy even more coveted by today’s collectors.

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Anybody who brings one of these to our “Alien” screening on Sunday gets a free poster of Darwyn Cooke’s amazing illustration for the Hero Complex Film Festival.

-- Geoff Boucher

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