Everyone lost their minds when Spirit unveiled their new Jack Skellington animated prop today but hardly anyone noticed when the new Area 31 Alien animatronic showed up on their site. The new alien animated prop came in under the radar earlier today and I happened to stumble across it when looking for another prop. I imagine we will get a video on Spirit Halloween’s Youtube page in a few days to show it off and introduce it to everyone like they do with just about every other new prop that has come out for 2017.
I’m not really into alien animatronics or do any kind of Area 51 when I set my stuff up for Halloween but this new prop may make me rethink all that. It looks to be really well done and from what I can see in the pictures, it looks like something straight out of science fiction movie. The alien looks great but the contraction it’s stuck in is what really sells it for me. It looks really creepy like something out of the old Alien movies with Sigourney Weaver.
The Area 31 prop stands right at 6′ and weighs only ten pounds. It obviously doesn’t talk but if you hook it up to a fog machine you can get a pretty creepy effect where it looks like it’s smoking.
I can’t wait to check the prop out up close when the Spirit Halloween stores start opening in a few weeks. I don’t want to buy it online without getting a chance to see what it looks like in person. Sometimes the pictures can make props looks great but when you see it up close it can look a little cheesy. On the other hand, props can also look pretty bad on a website but when you see it for yourself in a store it blows you away.
At $179.99 the prop Area 31 Alien is reasonably priced. I might pick the prop up this year but I also may wait to see if I can get him a little cheaper closer to Halloween or maybe even half off on November 1. It’s always a gamble waiting to see if you can find good props the day after Halloween. If a prop is done really well there is a good chance people will buy them up before Halloween. Sometimes you can find a straggler or two and pick them up late for a good price. But if you really like a prop I always advise anyone to get them before someone else does. Props tend to sell quickly and most times the big box Spirit Halloween and Halloween Express stores don’t reorder.
If Spirit put the Area 31 animated prop up on their site with no fanfare I wonder what else they have up their sleeve for 2017? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.
