In 1979, Kenner’s Alien action figure was the toy to get. Huge, and prohibitively expensive compared to a kid’s allowance, it depended on parental goodwill to purchase. And that was in short supply.

Frequently, one of the main points of an Alien movie is that a xenomorph is lurking in the dark, just waiting to strike and eat. And there’s nothing most people can do about it, because it’s strong, ...