1979 HG Toys Alien Jigsaw Puzzle – Remaster

Back in 1979 20th Century Fox had unwittingly licensed the merchandising rights for Alien to a number of toy manufacturers before realizing the film would never receive a PG rating. What consumers got was an assortment of some of the strangest, most horrifying toys produced for children that would quickly be recalled due to their terrifying nature. This included the legendary 18″ Kenner Alien figure and of course the Earl Norem illustrated HG Toys Jigsaw Puzzle.

alien_puzzle_box

These items are becoming increasingly rare and expensive and finding them in decent condition is even more of a challenge. After months of searching I was able to pick up a copy of the puzzle off eBay (with all the pieces) for about $50. The box was smashed but what I really wanted to do was assemble the 36″ tall puzzle, glue the pieces together and add a really cool vintage poster to my collection. Well, the pieces were kind of a mess – dirty, torn, peeling – so I scanned them in at 1400 dpi and assembled them in Photoshop.

Alien_Puzzle_Unassembled

All the pieces scanned. Couldn’t do them all at once!

Next I cleaned up the puzzle lines, dirt, scratches, and print errors followed by some adjustments in hue, saturation, and contrast.

8 Hours Later…

I put together an animated .gif to show off the transition a bit more. All in all I’d say this project took about 8 hours which was totally worth it now that we have a beautiful version of Earl Norem’s work to admire once more. It’s a piece of Alien history that can finally be appreciated. Who knows, maybe I can get Fox to re-issue this as a poster 🙂

puzzle_full

alien_closeup ripley_closeup

Here are some images of the original pencil drawing which sold on eBay earlier this year.
alien-puzzle-artworknorem2

norem3

Alien © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

12 thoughts on “1979 HG Toys Alien Jigsaw Puzzle – Remaster

  1. This is gorgeous! Thanks so much for preserving Norem’s work for everyone to appreciate. Do you happen to have a bigger image of the assembled puzzle? I’d like to do a post about this and include both images (before and after).

  2. Pingback: Earl Norem’s Giant Alien Illustration—Restored! | 2 Warps to Neptune

  3. Pingback: Spotted Online – Earl Norem Alien Puzzle Artwork

  4. Wow, amazing job you’ve done. This has always been my favourite piece of Alien art and easily one of my favourite of Norem’s entire career. Happy to see I’m not alone in my love for it.

    Do you have this available as a large hi-res file, one suitable for making a nice wall print?

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