Loving the Alien Ornament from Hallmark

I'm sure that most Alien franchise fans have this item by now, but I'll say it anyway: the Alien ornament from Hallmark is fantastic!

Dozens upon dozens of Alien statues, model kits, busts and action figures have been released during the last few years, but this is the first collectible that has been made for your Christmas tree. The ornament's design is based on H.R. Giger's original "Big Chap" costume from Alien and the amount of detail on the ornament is extremely impressive for its scale--it even includes the semi-transparent dome that masks the creature's skull-like face. Furthermore, the creature is sculpted in a hunched position, making it look somewhat like a gargoyle perched on the edge of a cathedral.

For as impressive as the ornament is, the Alien uber-fan side of me would have preferred to have the creature depicted in a slightly different way. In the director's cut of Alien, there's a brief glimpse of the Xenomorph hanging motionlessly among a series of chains, like a praying mantis waiting patiently for its next meal, seconds before it descends to attack Brett (Harry Dean Stanton). Sculpting the Xenomorph in that position would've added an extra layer of menace to the ornament, as if it were hanging motionlessly among the other tree decorations until an unsuspecting Christmas elf wanders by.

An artist's depiction of the Xenomorph,

as seen in the director's cut of Alien.

Personal gripes aside, the Alien ornament does have another benefit outside of adding parasitic, biomechanical horror to your holiday festivities: It is also close to scale with the dioramas that that McFarlane Toys made for the 2004 Alien vs. Predator (AVP) movie. So, once you're done displaying this movie monster on your tree, you can put it alongside the AVP dioramas for display with the rest of your Alien merchandise collection during the rest of the year.