Bringing the 1/4 scale Queen Alien to life, in conjunction with Stan Winston Studio has been an exciting project for the team at Sideshow Collectibles. The project has been spearheaded by John Rosengrant, (a 20-year-plus veteran at SWS, and one of the key artists that created the Queen for the film ‘Aliens’), with the goal being to bring a rare collectible piece of movie history to the fans in a new dynamic fashion.
Working closely with Stan Winston, John started with the original film molds of the 1/4 scale Queen. The Queen sculpture was originally designed as a 1/4 scale maquette, a study piece to be used to create the full-size Queen for the film. The 1/4 scale Queen was also the basis for a miniature rod puppet used in the film making process.
Both the goal and the challenge of creating this unique collectible was to reposition the sculpture into into a dynamic, energetic pose that would capture the true nature of the enraged Queen from the film. Due to the large size of the so-called “miniature,” (nearly 3 feet tall), the designers felt that an animated bust would be the best treatment to display the Queen. Working with that concept, hours were spent making adjustments in the pose until the correct balance was achieved. To set off the Queen, a simple machined but slightly organic base was created. After many attempts that included “Gigeresque” bones and other more ornate details were tried, it seemed best to display her on a strong elegant base that featured the Queen sculpture, rather than the base. With Stan’s approval, the tool masters were touched up, remaining faithful to all the original sculpted details, resulting in what we feel is a beautiful, but aggressive presentation of the original Alien Queen.
