HMV Alien Head - The Pictures, The Verdict...

[AgentCool]

I'm not sure if anyone else has covered the UK version of the Alien head yet but anyone who feared it might be inferior to the Japanese edition can sleep soundly tonight. The Alien head is of excellent quality. It is surprisingly weighty though a little smaller than I was expecting. This is to its advantage though as instead of a big hollow plastic piece of crap, it feels like its worth a lot and is noticably thick and solid.

Inside there are 9 slots for the discs (obviously) though actually getting them out when you want them could be a bit of a chore as you have to remove the top of the head which requires it to be slid back and lifted off.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the head and it is easily worth the £64.99 I paid for it.

Also, though the head itself isn't numbered (I haven't seen a number anyway), the box containing the head says "4085 of 9124" so I'm assuming that is how many are being made for HMV.

[Fordy]

How did you only pay £65 for it?

[Indiana Jones]

HMV originally had it listed at £74.99 and with the £10 discount voucher that you can find on the net it brings it down to £64.99, the bad news for most though is that the price went upto £99.99 so the best discount you can get now is either a £15 voucher bringing it to £84.99 or a £20 discount bringing it down to £79.99 but you will have to find something which will bring the price over £100 to get the £20 discount to work.

[Fordy]

Originally £74.99, thats nice of them to fleece customers for more money.

[FiggyD]

Is the head a HMV exclusive or will it be available from other stores?

Can you confirm what soundtrack is on them, is it DTS or only DD as rumoured, as this is what puts me off somewhat from getting it as I want the DTS versions.

Looks nice though.

I reckon you'll find it's the same as the regular region 2 quadrology DVDs.
Alien - DTS
Aliens - no DTS (only Japanese version with DTS)
Alien 3 - no DTS same as above
Alien Resurrection - DTS

I can't confirm this but its most probably true.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by FiggyD

Is the head a HMV exclusive or will it be available from other stores?

It is an HMV Exclusive, at least they give that impression by listing as "Alien Quadrilogy: Alien Head: 9dvd: Box Set: Hmv Exclusive: Special Packaging" on their website.

[Daywalker]

Originally Posted by Pioneer

Can you confirm what soundtrack is on them, is it DTS or only DD as rumoured, as this is what puts me off somewhat from getting it as I want the DTS versions.

Looks nice though.

It comes with the standard R2 Quadrilogy boxset. HMV had said that there are only 2,500 of these available but it was never really confirmed, mine only had 2124 on a slip of paper taped to the box but if markwpage has "4085 of 9124" on his it looks like HMV may have been telling porkies!
It is very nice though (although my missus hates it sitting in the front room )

[jamesbocco]

Mine said 4000 odd of 9124 and so did my friends so I assume this 9124 is the amount made. It is surprisingly still available from HMV. I hope they don't keep producing it for much longer though and that there are actually only 9124 available!

But yeah, it is V nice - a lot more sturdy than I thought it was gonna be. Can anybody confirm if this is EXACTLY the same as the Japanese version in terms of size?

I already have the Jap quadrilogy so it will slot in nicely to my new centre piece!

Cheers!

[Marv]

Got mine today aswell and its alot nicer than it looks in pisc although the above pics come close to it. Stuck my qaud discs init, will lieave the ones that came with it sealed.

[SimonO]

I take it none of you have got kids..? That thing still scares me!!!

[JAMESTALKALOT]

no: 4603

Without discs


And With


With the cash off from HMV and with my old set (well this new sealed set) getting sold to my sister for £30 this baby cost just over £30

I took a chance on it but I'm glad to say It was one worth taking. Top stuff

[John Woo Style]

TBH it sounds like the heads themselves are actually Japanese ones - maybe the sales of the sets vs. the quadrilogies on their own was uneven, or maybe there weren't enough of the little Kubricks made, so HMV Japan transferred them to HMV UK? It would explain the numbering being whatever of 9124 though, right?

[Lex]

I haven't bought one of these yet as I cannot fully convince myself that it is worth the money! (especially as I already have the R1 Quadrilogy)
I asked the guy in HMV yesterday whether it was a limited edition or not, he looked on his computer (computer says no) and it is apparently on permanent re-order which basically means that it is not limited stock - he said that normally when a product is going out of print the computer will say "re-order until..." or "limited availability".
So I am wondering whether if it is a permanent item it might come down in price...

So should I rush out and buy it now or wait? What do you think?