ALIEN DAY is April 26th, 2016
You say "celebration of consumerism", us geeks say "reliving the glory days!" (exclaims myself as I cannot afford to buy stuff but appreciate the sentiment lol) - but regardless the intent, seems THE thing these days is to celebrate what has gone on before, and in this particular case, be prepared for ALIEN DAY on April 26th!
"Following in the footsteps of last year’s Back to the Future day, Twentieth Century Fox has today announced that April 26 will be Alien Day. A celebration of the science fiction horror franchise, Alien Day’s celebration on 4/26 is a nod to the exmoon LV-426, where the xenomorphs were first discovered in Ridley Scott’s 1979 original. Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products will have a few treats arriving on Alien Day, including a limited edition replica of Aliens' Reebok Stompers." (reported comingsoon.net)
Complete with an official website @ www.alienanthology.com, and of course a hashtag "#alienday426" (can't survive online without a hashtag these days!), expect tons of related merch to teases and tempt fanboys and fangirls across all nine realms of pop and sub culture! I would be extremely interested to see if folks in the indie toy / bootleg toy / art toy scene would be getting into the game :)
Collider lists a series of releases, a extract of which is listed below ("toys", to be exact :p)
– Funko LLC‘s Aliens Queen & Power Loader and Ripley figure set in the tradition of their wildly-popular ReAction retro action figure series. (Above: First seen at New York Toy Fair 2016)
– NECA‘s first ever Lieutenant Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) and Newt (Carrie Henn) figures as well as the release of a Kenner toy-Inspired Ellen Ripley figure.
– Hot Toys will announce an all-new Alien Ripley 1/6th figure.
(Above pic via OneSixthScale Prestige Figurines on Facebook / Closed Group)
– Kotobukiya unleashes an assortment of highly-detailed collectables, including a 1:10 scale Warrior Drone ARTFX+ statue from Aliens and mini “Big Chap” figurines.
– Super 7 has developed several toys in honor of Alien Day, including Alien Muscle figures on card, an Alien ReAction carrying case with exclusive Alien figure, a Nostromo playset Kit Bash kit, a Japanese vinyl Queen and Aliens Glassware.
– Japan-based toy company Medicom Toy will release a VCD (vinyl super deformed) Alien figure and a retro style Aliens figure via Diamond Comics.