Fistful of Aliens

Fistful of Aliens was a game using collectible figures produced by the Yes! Entertainment Corporation. They had a production run from 1997–1999 with 2 series produced. They were discontinued before the 3rd series was released, when the company went bankrupt. The figures were sold in various packages. The standard offered 4 visible aliens and 1 hidden mutant or RAMM. Also for purchase was a Space Pod pack where you would get the figures above, plus a small ship to store your figures in. Series 2 introduced spring-loaded missile weapons, Crystalite power players, and the SciRoid Battleship. All packages included instructions for gameplay, a chapter of the overall story, and a collectors card for the mutant or RAMM in that package.

tory

The setting for the game was in the "Outer Galaxies" in the year 3037. Three alien races constantly war with each other, but due to their unique physical traits, no race could ever be the victor. In an attempt to bring unity to their races, the elders of each planet created SciRoids (Scientific Androids) to create a super race of mutants that would share all 3 traits of the alien races, and would rule over them peacefully.

However, because of the instability of the alien's genetic makeups, no more than 2 species could be combined successfully. The end result was a race of mutants that widened the rift towards peace. Because only 2 species would be represented by a single mutant, the third race would always feel enmity towards them. In addition to this, a rare alignment of the planets created an energy feedback at the VirtLabs; causing nuclear explosions that resulted in the birth of yet another race of beings called the RAMMs (Rare Alien Metallic Mutants). The RAMMs were cloned versions of the other mutant warlords, only bronzed over and super powered.

But the SciRoid's greatest failure towards peace was the creation of the E-RAMM warlord, Jangutz Khan. He became the high commander of all the mutants. Although he was a combination of 2 species like his brothers, he exhibited signs of the 3rd species' traits and was thus as close to a perfect mutant as you could get. However, this imbalance caused his mind to slowly degenerate until he was completely mad. The elders decided that the mutants were only inhibiting peace with their power, and had them sent into exile. This transformed Khan's madness into rage.

Khan intercepted the space pods his brothers were exiled in and rebuilt them as machines of war. The mutants then returned to their homeworlds and began enslaving their lesser alien cousins; forcing them to battle to the death with slaves of the other mutants. Khan's final act before he left the galaxy for parts unknown, was to capture the SciRoid peace ship, force the SciRoids to rebuild it as the flagship of his mutant army, and to toss the SciRoids into the vacuum of space.

The Races

The "Dredrocks" are the strongest of the three races. Living on the planet closest to their solar system's sun has given their race tough, leathery, red skin and dull grey eyes over the millennia. And their constant laboring in the mines of their planet have given them incredible muscles and thick nails for digging. They are a primitive race, but they are valuable to the balance of the war; as once they smell the stench of Gangreen slime, they are whipped into a frenzy and hunt the creature down, eventually crushing it like a bug.

The "Gangreens" are an insectoid race that live on a marshy, swamp planet. They are a carnivorous race that dwell in the slime pools waiting for their next victim to pass by, regardless of whether it is a fellow Gangreen or not. Although they are easily crushed by Dredrocks, they have the advantage over Bluespews, as their natural body slime neutralizes a Bluespew's acid and renders them helpless against the Gangreen's vicious mandibles.

The "Bluespews" live on the farthest, and coldest planet in the solar system. They are by far the most intelligent and arrogant of the three alien races. Bluespews have evolved several natural adaptations to survive on their frozen world: such as large eyes to see in the dim light and webbed feet to help them keep their traction on the ice. Bluespew blood is highly acidic, and eventually burns the outer layers of their own skin into an armored exoskeleton. While they may fall prey to the Gangreens, the Dredrocks are no match for their acidic touch and are dissolved in minutes.

The "Mutants" are composed of 2 alien species. They are typically stronger than each of the 2 alien species that share their traits. And they completely dominate the 3rd alien race that they do not share traits with.

"Dredrock-Gangreens" are muscular insectoids with sharp claws.

"Gangreen-Bluespews" are intelligent, acid spraying insectoids.

"Bluespew-Dredrocks" are equal parts muscle and mental prowess.

The "RAMMs" were originally clones of the 2-species mutants until the VirtLabs incident caused their skin to bronze over with a radioactive carapace. They were respected by both alien and mutant and managed to control the peace for a short time. But they too were recruited into the war, since no race would truly accept them as their own; because of their positions to abuse their unstoppable power.

Gameplay

Each player was to select 6 aliens and 1 mutant/RAMM to bring to battle. This was the standard setup. However, a player could also bring 1 weapon and 1 power player to use in battle if they saw fit. The first to win 4 battles out of 7 won the war, and got to keep the losing player's figures (if playing for keeps) but could continue to battle their remaining figures, or arrange a prisoner swap to regain a lost figure.

If a player used a Jangutz Khan figure in their army, they could battle with 6 mutants and/or RAMMs in lieu of the weaker aliens. Although this combination practically assured victory, players using Khan could also bring a weapon and power player with them.

Battles were fought by randomly selecting a figure and tossing it into battle. As in the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, one alien figure would always beat (and be beaten by) another alien figure. If the 2 figures were of the same race, the victor was the one with the highest point value printed on the bottom of their foot.

Mutants would always defeat an alien of a race they didn't represent, and would battle using points vs another mutant, or an alien sharing their traits.

A RAMM would only point battle with another RAMM; destroying anything less than itself.

Finally, a Jangutz Khan figure would never lose, and could only tie with itself or a SciRoid.

Notable Released Characters

"Jangutz Khan" is the main villain of the series. He is a giant Bluespew-Dredrock mutant who exhibits Gangreen traits. He is also the only E-RAMM (Extremely Rare Alien Metallic Mutant) in existence. When commanding an army, he is the first to engage the enemy; emitting a thunderous laugh before decapitating his foes and keeping their heads as trophies. He won 348 consecutive wars while in command of the SciRoid Battleship, and cloned himself many times over before he was forced into exile.

"Rammstash", "Rammworm", and "Rammerface" are a trio of RAMMs who were at ground zero when the planetary alignment occurred and caused the birth of the RAMMs. They are the second strongest beings in their galaxy save for Khan himself. They have the ability to disappear and project their image around their victims to confuse them before reducing them to ash with radioactive breath. They have only been visible for 500 years.

"The SciRoids" are a pair of blind, scientific androids built as a joint operation by the elders of the 3 alien races. They were to formulate a plan for peace. They toiled endlessly in their VirtLabs for the solution, but each endeavor they undertook met with failed results. It is said that they spent 1 million years trapped in the core of a black hole. But it is unclear if they did so before their involvement in the war, or after Khan jettisoned them from their ship.

"Blaze", "Monsoon", and "Twister" were another failed experient of the SciRoids. They are 3 female aliens (the only females depicted in the series) who had their racial traits completely removed by the SciRoids. The experiment was meant to see if the aliens could be altered so that no race had dominace over another. But what was left were colorless beings that consumed the nearest energy it could to maintain its existence. These "Crystalites" consumed the elemental forces of fire, water, and wind respectively, and escaped.

The Jangutz Khan and RAMM trio figures were available as a mail-in premium. They came in special collectors cases with their own special collectors card. Khan also came with a child's size t-shirt. The SciRoids came as part of the SciRoid Battleship (available only through the Sears catalogue), and the Crystalites were available for purchase in the series 2 packs.

Notable Unreleased Characters

"The Elemental" was the prophesized hero of the series; a perfect collection of the 3 races, who would come and deliver the aliens from war by ruling over all 3 races peacefully. As series 3 was never produced, the story was left incomplete. A preliminary story was later released that had The Elemental fleeing some Dredrocks on their homeworld. But that is the only information available.

"Blackout", "Eternal Abyss", and "Dr. Dark" were yet another failed SciRoid experiment. After discovering what happens when an alien has its racial trait removed (as with the Crystalites), the SciRoids created a potion that would remove all power from an out of control experiment. However, the potion itself grew unstable and manifested as 3 living "Shadows"; beings composed of nothingness.

While the Shadows were sculpted for series 3, they were never released. There is no information on The Elemental ever being sculpted.

Notes

As the RAMM trio have only been visible for 500 years following their creation, it can be assumed the war has been raging for a very long time. The fact that the SciRoids themselves ended up spending 1 million years trapped in the core of a black hole, only furthers the notion.

In Italy, Fistful of Aliens were released as Exogini: Series 3. They were not originally marketed as a game and thus their point values were vastly random. Also, Italy did not receive any of the weapons, ships, power players, or special figures. But they did receive special repaints of the 2 species mutants.

All story, gameplay, and character information was originally available on the official Fistful of Aliens website. Though that site is no longer online, it is mirrored at:http://www.raumhafen.de/galerie/rubber_guys/foa/index.htmlAll other information can be obtained from the inserts and cards inside the packages themselves.

External links

* [http://www.stashmatic.com/entities/list?Series=Fistful+of+Aliens&entity_id=92 Fistful of Aliens figure database (with images) at Stashmatic.com]