NECA

In November of 2008, the popular collectible miniature game Heroclix was pronounced dead.

Heroclix was, and remains, the only published game where you can effectively and officially make teams of your favorite DC and Marvel heroes and bad guys and pit them against one another on a battlefield, using tiny figures that display a wide array of numbers and symbols to describe each character’s attributes. You could make DC’s Superman fight Marvel’s Hulk – and not only that, but you could make at least six or seven different incarnations of each do battle.

(Of course, Superman’s flight and ranged combat ability would give him the upper hand, but the Hulk could probably do some serious damage if you get him angry enough, or if you use ’smart’ Hulk with the giant gun.)

Over the game’s evolution, WizKids released over two dozen different sets of characters from throughout the universe of comic books. I was a pretty dedicated player from the moment that the game was released, and introduced many, many of my friends to it. We staged battles in my dorm room, over the internet, and anywhere we could find the time and space. We ran to the WizKids booth at ToyFair and got sneak peeks at production samples and asked prying questions. In short, we were fans.

The game evolved, the rules changed, and eventually, things got a bit too complicated for me to casually enjoy anymore. I gave up the game itself when I lost the ability to fly in Iron Man carrying The Thing and have him destroy everything in his path in one big move – but I kept on collecting the figures. Tiny superheroes are keen. Topps purchased WizKids, and before too long, Topps decided to very, very suddenly kill off WizKids, stunning the gaming community, as well as employees who were sent scrambling for new work. Just like every high school in the US, they were deciding to put all of their available funds towards sports-related things and leave the artists and nerds in the gutter. I’m not making this up – this was in the official statement. They did, however, decide to keep such wholesome, intelligent, and not at all alarming things as ‘Baby Bottle Pops’.

I kept my Heroclix. They were still useable, and almost every major and minor comic character had been made already – from Captain America to Zombie Colonel America, Frankenstein to MODOK – and even a gigantic Fin Fang Foom piece. There were talks of small gaming companies banding together to keep the game alive, but nothing came to fruition. Licensing Marvel and DC characters is not cheap.

In September of 2009, NECA quietly displayed a Heroclix piece at one of their convention booths. This was enough to stimulate hope and interest throughout the entire gaming community once again. Almost a year to the day of Heroclix meeting an untimely death, NECA released the ‘Hammer of Thor’ set, based on the titular Marvel Comics superhero – and still using the reconstructed WizKids to keep things in order.

While I don’t know if this ranks among the great comebacks of popular things pronounced dead, like Polaroid film, Justice League Unlimited action figures or Futurama, it’s certainly something that we gamers can all appreciate. Now, we can pit ‘Thor, Frog of Thunder’ against, oh, let’s say Ambush Bug.

If that last sentence made you at all excited, you’re a nerd. Welcome home. Let’s game.

Every year, the hardest part of Toy Fair is scouring the thousands upon thousands of unique offerings to decide which will appeal the most to collectors. An item might be exceptional, but would someone want more than one of it? Does it come in variations? Does it lend itself to display? Would multiples of this thing make its inherent value, aesthetically or practically, increase?

I’m at a crossroads, so I’ve been becoming extra particular. Toy Fair makes that very, very difficult. Plastic seductresses at every turn, luring me onto the bone-crushing edges of folding tables and drowning my resolve. I’m a fat man set adrift in a sea of bacon and Twinkies.

Here’s the ‘everything else’ of Toy Fair 2009, with apologies to all of the omissions I’ve made for the sake of brevity and not appearing like an overexcited puppy.

BANDAI! Bandai is all about the Kamen Rider, Dragonball (both animated and live-action), Ben 10, and Power Rangers. Every one of these things lends itself to collectability – forming color-coded teams, completing sets of alien transformations, and in the case of the live-action Dragonball figures, completing a big, blue, translucent figures from parts contained in the packages with every other figure in the line.

Most of these are properties that have been brought over to the US from Japan (except for Ben 10), but like most Japanese-to-US interpretations of things, they’re tweaked for wider acceptability to the US audience – though I noticed two things from Bandai that defy this trend. First, the upcoming Dragonball Z gashapon sets, which for all of their popularity and collectability in Japan, rarely see success in the US. These are little, plastic sets of pieces that are assembled into a highly detailed statue, diorama or character, and I’m a huge fan of the genre. I think that the overarching opinion of these is that kids in the US don’t have the patience to put together their own toys, and I wouldn’t totally disagree. Second, the Japanese ‘Mugen’ series of keychain toys, which I’ve blogged about previously. I don’t know if the Mugen Pop Pop makes silly noises in Japan, but at least the theory remains in tact.

I’m a huge, dorky fan of Japanese TV show monsters, with my own collection of kaiju toys, so the more bizarre monsters I get, the better. Much of what Bandai produces is all about the heroes and their transformations – I’d love to see some of the creepy, foam rubber monsters that have appeared in these shows – seams and all. Click here for the Bandai Gallery.

NECA also produces a whole bunch of great-looking toys that are just beyond the cusp of what I actively collect. Most of their properties are video game related, with a focus on giant, ugly, terrifying monsters from Resident Evil, Gears of War, and other figures from violent or scary games. They also are continuing their ‘Cult Classics‘ series of figures, which are all about movie monsters – both classic (like the various possessed forms of the girl from The Exorcist) and modern.

Most interesting to me is the continuation of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, which are based directly on the art from the original comics, as opposed to the films or cartoon. So far, we have the four Turtles and a pack of convention exclusive Mouser robots, but NECA was displaying the sculpts for April O’Neill  (who, debatably, is not based on original comic art), Shredder and Krang, and a bad guy grunt. Anything based on the work of a specific artist is always attractive to me. Also, anything that involves a creature that’s a malevolent brain. The NECA Gallery is here.

Mezco (who are one of my favorite companies) was also present, having skipped NYCC one week earlier, but was not permitting photography. Their biggest announcement was the Little Big Planet property, based on the amazingly creative PS3 video game. As it naturally lends itself to customization and variety, it’s a natural fit with the whole toy scene. A wide range of figure sizes are planned, starting with a series of costumed Sackboys and Sackgirls, including a very awesome robot & devil – two themes that I tend to collect.

Mezco is also continuing with their many stylized versions of horror movie icons Freddy, Jason and Leatherface – plush, 3.75” (Star Wars sized) figures, 12” figures, with my personal favorite being ’surgeon’ Freddy from the 6” scaled line (whose many costumes are always great), and of course, the giveaway, Toy Fair exclusive 3.75” ‘glowing mask’ Jason.

Figures and props from the upcoming Wolfman movie were also debuted, as well as a whole series of products based on the ‘Goosebumps‘ series of children’s books. Bookmarks, keychains, plush, and my favorite, the M.U.S.C.L.E.-styled ‘Pocket Horrors’, which are mini, unpainted figures of various monsters and beasts from the series. These should go great with Hasbro’s ‘Handful of Heroes’ minis and your generic army man, as there seems to be an industry-wide return to basics.

I’m also a fan of Hexbugs, being a lover of both robots and bugs. These are small robotic creatures that are programmed to skitter around, and respond to light, sound, or touch stimulus by adjusting their movement to either move towards or away from said stimulus. The newest Hexbug is the Inchworm, joining the original cockroach-like bug and the Crab. The Inchworm differs by being actually radio-controlled, so you can direct its movements consciously, instead of just watching it bump into things. For a robot of such a tiny size, it’s an impressive feat, and I cam imagine a whole handful of these operating together in some kind of tiny robot rumble. Not out yet, but on the horizon, is the Ant – which runs around at a breakneck speed that has to be seen to be believed, and is engineered to thwart that most heinous hindrance of small moving toys : the carpet. It’s a little terrifying and thrilling, and it’ll probably freak the brains outta your cat.

Schleich is a well-known name in unarticulated figure production, most notably for their Fairy and Smurf lines, with many older or exclusive Smurf figures going for high prices on the secondary market. Smurf dedication is kind of epic, rivaling the intensity and complexity of even Pez collecting, and books have evolved around the figures in Schleich’s Fairy collection, so both properties are something to watch. The Schleich Gallery is here.

My award for ‘Nicest Guy at Toy Fair’ goes to Micah Linton, creator of Weebeasts. With an extremely small number of original, creator-owned booths at Toy Fair compared to past years, I was really curious to see who made it this year. Micah’s Weebeasts are a unique concept, as they combine a series of books with a surreal, almost-Bosch-looking doll. His books wordlessly chronicle the evolution and progression of his Weebeasts as a species, and are done entirely in pastels and pencils, calling to mind the aesthetics of primitive, ancient recordings or cave painting – all while still detailing a very clear, very methodical progression. This set of three books (so far) were packaged in a handsome slipcase, and came with a Weebeast doll. His display included a whole bunch of Weebeasts dressed in costumes made by family and friends throughout the world – at least a few of them probably generated by his whirlwind library tour.

We talked about art and publishing a whole bunch, and I was inspired by his organic, ‘art for the sake of art’ approach to his whole property. So, Micah, not only were you refreshing to talk to, but I wish you lots of continued luck as you spread the Weebeasts around.

If there was a definitive trend at this year’s Toy Fair, it was ‘toys that go online’. Many, many different properties incorporate an elaborate (but kid-friendly) online environment into regular hands-on play, from Bella Sara introducing flocked mini-horses to their existing online world, to my favorite new discovery, Freaky Creatures, which are full-sized action figure that all have online components for care & battle. With a system of cards, flash drives and really interesting character designs, I’m excited to play with some of these soon – especially because they has a cthulhu-based figure that they let me take home, name Cthonus.

Sometimes, I like to think that they schedule Toy Fair to fall on Valentines Day because they know I’d be tremendously lonely and depressed otherwise. The free swag that accompanies the day is certainly a bonus. Instead of chocolates and kisses, I go home with free dolls, keychains, pens and action figures. What more can the lonely geek ask for?

Aside from the gentle curves of a woman.

We’re almost done with the nigh-insurmountable mountain of Toy Fair 2008 coverage (here, here, here and here), but no action figure, TV or movie geek could be satiated without a detailed mention of everything that happened over at the Mezco and NECA booths during The Fair.

[Click here for the full Mezco gallery at our Community!]

Now, I’ve been a dedicated Mezco fan since I first saw their Hellboy movie figures back in 2004. The movie hadn’t yet come out, and comic-based movies (and figures based on comic movies) have had a history of, well, sucking – but the Hellboy figures were outstanding items, and the movie turned out to be one of my favorite films. This year, for the first time in 4 years, Mezco’s booth had new Hellboy movie stuff for me to ogle.

Two waves of 6” figures are planned for Hellboy 2 : The Golden Army, due in theaters on July 11th. Like the figures from the first movie, they’ll be fully articulated and sculpted impeccably. Included in the first wave will be Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and finally, Liz Sherman, who was tragically absent from earlier figures. I have a thing for Selma Blair, and that thing is MY LOVE. Also in this first wave will be Johann Krauss, and bad guys Wink & Prince Nuada. The second wave (which was forbidden from photography, but looked stunning) will include a wounded Hellboy & a t-shirt Hellboy, as well as the beautiful Princess Nuada, the horrific Goblin (who is attached to a rickety wooden cart of some kind), and the huge, ominous Angel of Death. It’s a truly amazing collection of figures that completely blew me away. Even as stand-alone monsters, they’re really, really great.

Mezco is adding onto their usual offerings with small busts of Hellboy and the Right Hand of Doom, 18” figures of Hellboy and Abe, and at least eight 3.75” figures. These tiny, Star Wars-sized figures will have all of the articulation and sculpts of the larger figures, so nothing is lost in translation – an amazing feat that other companies would do well to learn from. Mezco revealed to us that while the tiny figures were cheaper in materials cost, the cost for the molds to cast the small figures was actually greater than the cost for the larger figure molds, due to the intricate details. There’s a certain production number somewhere in the middle where the cost justifies the product, and with all of these companies making 3.75” figures this year, I’m curious exactly how it balances.

Of course, Hellboy wasn’t the only license of note, as Mezco also has the Heroes TV show license. None of these figures have been released yet, but Mezco is already three waves deep into the sculpting, and the likenesses are really staggering. I’ve commented here before on the strange, imperfect likenesses that Mezco released as their PR photos, walking a weird line between photorealism and comic-styled artwork. As it turns out, you just need to see them in person. They’ve applied every ounce of accuracy and skill that made me love the Hellboy figures to these Heroes figures. Forget everything you’ve heard about the figures not being perfect likenesses – they ARE perfect – and the character selection couldn’t be better.

The first set of 5 includes Hiro Nakamura, Claire Bennet, Sylar, Peter Petrelli and Mohinder Suresh. Hopefully, the varied images in our gallery here will clarify some of the misperceptions about the figures that I, too, was guilty of. Keep on clicking around though, as ten never-before-seen figures were also revealed! Included in Wave Two are (and I’ll try to say this with as few spoilers as possible), Horn-Rimmed Glasses guy, Niki & Jessica Sanders (with alternate heads), Matt Parkman & Molly Walker, Mr. Linderman, and Future Peter. Wave Three will include Nathan Petrelli, The Haitian, another version of Hiro from season 2, Elle Bishop, and another character from season 2 that’ll pretty much blow your mind if you haven’t been watching loyally as I have.

Mezco rounds out this license with 9” figures of Sylar, Niki / Jessica, Peter and Claire. Also, like every other company’s been doing with toys this year, wait for a 3.75” line. Sylar vs. Darth Vader vs. Serpentor vs. Doctor Doom isn’t very far off now!

It’s also worth mentioning that Mezco is on their 15th series of Living Dead Dolls - the cute-grotesque series of dolls that pays homage to some of history’s most infamous killers and movie murderers. I suppose they’re all either zombies or about to kill someone, but they’re a very popular collection of higher-end dolls that tend to be collected by cute goth girls – so I can’t argue. The less said about ‘Gangsta Babies‘, the better. Seriously – I don’t want to get drive-by’d from a stroller.

NECA also had a presence at Toy Fair. This company seems to pick up an odd assortment of movie-related licenses of all genres, but with a focus on fantasy and horror above all else. In the past, they’ve made action figures for Nightmare Before Christmas (a line that just ended, sadly), Planet Terror, 300, Reservoir Dogs and A Christmas Story. Despite the Christmas Story figure line being ostensibly dead for quite a few years now, NECA has just revealed an additional figure for the line in the form of bully Scut Farkus, sculpted in a perfect, creepy sneer.

[See the full NECA Gallery at our Community by clicking here!]

NECA’s Harry Potter line continues, and likely will continue throughout the release of every foreseeable movie, with figures that include all of the wizard kids, Voldemort, Snape, Dumbledore, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, Mad-Eye Moody and even a handful of the fantasy creatures. I’m no Harry Potter fan, nor have I personally seen the movies, but the figures are another example of the great likenesses that NECA captures for cult-favorite characters. There’s only so much I can personally geek-out over. I need to set limits so that I can be a functional adult – it’s nothing personal against Harry Potter.

Speaking of cult-favorite, my personal highlight at the NECA booth was the figure of Beetlejuice, perfectly rendered with a chubby Michael Keaton face and stained, striped suit. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a Beetlejuice figure that wasn’t from a bizarrely tangential animated show. He’s a great movie ‘monster’ as it stands, and I’d love to see figures of Lydia and the families with a build-a-sandworm – though a few less-than-great figures of the ghost family were released some years back. Let’s just start over. And next time you guys make Ghostbusters figures, make some of the Ghostbusters, okay?

Also an unusual license for NECA, but a great one, is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This isn’t the movie license, or even the cartoon license – this is the license to make figures from the original comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Believe it or not, these original comics were a fairly complex drama, and drawn in a very different style than what ended up being animated in the 90s. These comic-accurate figures will all come with red masks and different weapons, and be sculpted to look ‘drawn’, with all of the original ink lines intact. April O’Neil will also join the line (but was forbidden from photography), and a series of black & white turtles (colored like the original comics) will also be released. They will all come with interlocking bases to form a scene together.

In terms of even more entertainment properties, Amok Time is a newcomer company with some interesting licenses. Not only are they making 12” figures from the original Lost in Space, but they’re doing the same for the original Battlestar Galactica, and Gort and Klaatu from ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still‘. Any of these will stand proudly right next to your high-end Sideshow Collectibles monsters, with a few additional B-movie monsters round out the collection, from movies I’ve never heard of, but look visually entertaining.

[Click here for a gallery of toys from Amok Time in our Community!]

The highlight at Amok Time’s booth was the 12” Elvira figure, which sported another perfect likeness, and would absolutely go well in any ironic monster display. I’ve been told that the figure will be solicited in late 2008, so there’s going to be a wait to even order it. On the bawdy end of things, Amok Time is producing bookends in the likeness of adult film star Seka, as well as a 12” figure of the same. True to form, all of these things, even the bookends, will have removable clothing. Two Bettie Page figures are also being produced, to the delight of pin-up fans everywhere.

Stay tuned for one more post about Toy Fair 2008, in which I summarily round up the rest of the awesomeness and finally put these life-consuming toys behind me until next year.

We’ve entered the fourth and final day of the San Diego Comic Con, the largest and most extravagant geekfest of the year. Somewhere out in sunny California, fidgety nerds are eyeing up new toy lines, meeting demi-celebrities and shaking sweaty palms, and finally mustering up the necessary wherewithal to drop some serious coin on that back issue they need to complete their collection.

And I’m sitting at home, on the internet, playing a game of anxious nerd catch-up. The news is fast and furious, and I struggle to keep on top of it, jumping from site to site, scanning photos for hints and wallet-redefining prospects for the rest of the year and beyond. Sure, I’m usually the guy reporting live from Toy Fair or the New York Comic Con – both sacred destinations for collectors of my inclinations – but it’s mildly disconcerting to be stuck at home while the plastic, articulated world continues to turn…. without me.

Here’s the thing about conventions, though : I hate them. Maybe ‘hate’ is a strong word, but I have an intense discomfort with crowds and noise. It’s not debilitating as it once was, but I cope with it through distraction and keeping escape routes in view . I don’t like being randomly touched and brushed up against, and I don’t enjoy finding myself squished to the back of a Marvel Legends kiosk with the warm, eau de hot dog breath of a thousand nerds entering my facial passages as my muscles tense in potential fight-or-flight energy. Hearing this year’s message board reports of some of the behaviours at this year’s Comic Con has almost completely allayed any regrets I have about being stuck in upstate NY for the time being.

These reports have included, among other things, shameless nerds of the portlier variety deciding that shirts were just far too warm for a San Diego day. This, plus left-than-deft navigations of the cheek-to-cheek crowds in the convention halls, have resulted in some less than pleasant, and fairly moist, situations. At least during Toy Fair, everyone’s in February-sensible suits. The worst we got there was a guy in a suit holding a Water Wiggler in front of his groin and shouting, “C’mon, Jen, it’s only me!” across the Con floor.

Of course, despite this well-known unpleasantness, us distant nerds commiserate and get a telling twinkle in out eyes at the mere mention of ‘San Diego’. San Diego has almost always been the only opportunity for collectors to see the new wares in person before they hit the shelves, since Toy Fair is an industry-only event, and New York Comic Con is still relatively brand new. With the meager showing at this year’s Toy Fair, though, and many companies (including the comparable and omnipresent Sideshow Toys) simply not going to Toy Fair next year due to the associated costs and relatively low yield of visitors and buzz, let me say that SDCC is the new Toy Fair. I’ve said it. Toy Fair is a dying animal, and we’re only going to find it under the canoe in the back yard in a few years, looking for a cool place to spend its last moments on this Earth. While Toy Fair was always a place to get great photos in relative tranquility, at least we’ll have the shuffling, shoving claustrophobia of the Comic Cons to score our worthwhile press coverage.

I’ve personally been watching San Diego Comic Con coverage for news announcements relating to the things I collect. NECA’s Castlevania figures are on display for the first time, including a mysterious strip of obscuring tape covering up the chest of the Succubus figure, leaving collectors asking, “nipples?” It would seem unlikely that a company would cover up a small patch of cleavage, but stranger things have happened.

The biggest announcement of all came with the revelation that Mattel is now allowed to make action figures of any DC Comics character they want, when previously they were limited only to characters relating directly to Superman and Batman. Indeed the DC Superheroes line was the best of 2007, featuring great articulation and sculpting, even if many of the more interesting figures were near impossible to find. Now, with the addition of Red Tornado, Etrigan the Demon, Orion, and a build-a-figure of my favorite, Metamorpho, the possibilities seem endless. I just hope that my local Wal-Mart, which hasn’t restocked the DCSH line since late May, will deliver this gold unto me. Additionally, Mattel’s animated ‘The Batman‘ line will begin to incorporate additional DC Characters, such as Hal Jordan and Hawkman, into its lineup.

In further DC Comics news, my very recently-voiced prayers for Jack Kirby New Gods action figures have been answered by DC Direct, and we’ll be getting a line of those before too long. Also, a 13” Green Arrow just about makes my life complete… never mind that he comes with more arrows than I’ve ever seen together in one place.

Hasbro’s also landed one of the most requested movie properties of all time : Indiana Jones. SDCC had a display of these figures in both regular and ‘Galactic Heroes’ forms. For those of you who don’t know, and I bet there are many since our readers tend to be of the ‘have a life’ demographic, they’re cute-ified 2” figures of various characters from Transformers, Star Wars, Marvel Comics, and whoever else Hasbro has the license to at the time. So, for everyone who’s always wanted a 2” Indy… here’s your chance.

Along with a handful of interesting comic book announcements which are probably too obtuse to go into detail about here, (because this IS a comic con, remember?), SDCC seems to be a volcano of information the likes of which we’ve never seen.

And as long as I can absorb it without absorbing the volatile essences of perspiring, agitated people jostling around me, that’s okay by me.

New York Comic Con has begun today, but before any of that can be processed and photoshopped, organized, recovered from and foot-blisters gently soothed, there’s still a good handful of Toy Fair to get through, so expect NYCC coverage this Wednesday. If we manage to get in the doors, and if we aren’t ushered out by fire marshals, and if Peter David doesn’t start eating people at his booth. Which really isn’t that much hyperbole.

Mezco Toys has stood out in my mind for the past several years due to their completely flawless handling of the Hellboy figure lines, from movie figures and into the Mike Mignola designed comic book figures. Somehow, Mezco Toys (one of the smaller action figure companies) had managed to merge form and articulation in a perfect mix beyond what and major company was doing, and still went severely underappreciated. They are a collector company, staffed by incredibly talented fans and toy enthusiasts.

Check out the full Mezco gallery here.

Unfortunately, there are no future Hellboy products planned at this time except for the comic line’s Abe Sapien, which is a beautiful thing. Alas, it will be a San Diego Comic Con exclusive item, because (and say it with me), “Dammit, SDCC gets all the cool stuff!” We were told that it would likely also be available through Club Mez, Mezco’s online collectors club, which I’m still trying to justify shelling out 40 dollars for. Action figures for the next Hellboy movie have not been determined yet, and figures based on the animated movies are not being handled by Mezco. Though they should be. I’d trust them with pretty much anything.

They will continue with their popular South Park and Family Guy figure lines, which have thrived for a few years now. Bringing cartoon characters into three dimensions has always been a challenge for toy companies, and both the successes and failures could be seen throughout Playmates’ hold on the exhaustive Simpsons license a few years back. Mezco’s holding strong with unmistakable renditions of both core and auxiliary characters from both shows, with an Eric Cartman variation planned for every South Park wave. Admittedly, it’s a visually unappealing show that revels in its 2-D-ness, but the figures remain popular. Some excellent fan-favorite cameos of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin as Bionic Peter, Lando Griffin and Astronaut Peter are also planned, most of which appeared onscreen for about ten seconds total. Also included will be the creepy Performance Artist, Chris on a treadmill, Quagmire in a robe, the Black Knight, Bonnie Swanson and Diane Simmons. Creepy old man Herbert was released as a Club Mez exclusive this past year, to much acclaim (and griping that he wasn’t released to the general public). Mezco is also planning a box set of miniature figures in a Drunken Clam pub playset environment. They continue to bring animated characters to life with their upcoming Underdog line of figures, which has nothing at all to do with the regrettable live-action movie of the same name. Pure classic animation here, which will hopefully sell better than the failed Pink Panther line made by Palisades Toys before they folded.

What we also saw, but could not photograph, was a line of Goonies action figures, done up in realistic style, and featuring an enormous Sloth, and amazing renditions of Mikey, Mouth, Chunk and Data. Needless to say, we were giddy. More news and images will surely be forthcoming.

Mezco also dips liberally into the ‘horror’ end of things, being responsible for the popular Living Dead Dolls, the next series of which will feature the theme of ‘bad luck’. Collect all five and you’ll be able to assemble a creepy little charm! Also, that Texas Chainsaw Massacre babydoll thing is probably the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. Maybe not so much the idea that a small child could obtain a My Size working chainsaw and go on a killing spree, but that they’d have the concentration to be able to sew a mask out of their victims’ skin. In addition to that horrible fare, Mezco presented the usual array of 7” action figures of horror classics, including a tuxed-up Freddy Kreuger and various Texas Chainsaw Massacre figures. Add to that an array of mini-dioramas of horror movie scenes, horror character dolls, more 7” zombies (including a bowling woman and a guy who looks like a preacher, both covered in blood and brains), and you have Mezco.

NECA carries things in a very similar vein and quality, also addressing cult properties in both horror and fun varieties. The first thing that caught my eye was the display of Nightmare Before Christmas figures, which will be entering their 6th and 7th waves of four figures each. At this point in the evolution of the line, they’ll be revisiting Oogie Boogie (previously only available in a box set), Jack Skellington (this time, with his desk), and a third Sally (with cauldron), with the addition of a 2-pack exclusive Sally in Santa suit. Fans of the line will also note the Creature from Under the Stairs (which had three seconds on screen, literally), the Melting Man, and the Corpse Boy & his mother. As usual, these figures will be packed with great accessories. It won’t be too long before we see every single character brought to figural form. Can we see a deluxe Hanging Tree, guys?

The rest of the NECA gallery is here.

NECA has also just released the first four figures from the movie 300, again with the same tremendous attention to detail that they’ve shown the Pirates of the Caribbean line. While no future 300 figures were shown (and the possibilities for figures seem large, especially with army building characters), a few Pirates prototypes were shown, including a 2-up of Slo Feng from the upcoming third movie. Continuing with their movie properties, they’ll also be producing figures from the upcoming ‘Grindhouse‘ films, which got the following reaction from me :

“Holy crap, does that chick and a … gun…. for a … leg?”

Yes, she does. And as far as the action figure goes, you can switch it out with her actual leg, which also comes with the figure. Which is a fairly powerful testament as to why I love action figures. As if I needed more convincing, there’s a Quentin Tarantino figure with an alternate head, featuring a gouged-out eyeball. Which I’ve wanted to do to him at least twice in my life, but now I don’t have to, because the action figure sates my bloodlust. This alone is enough to pique my interest in the clearly gory, pseudo-explotation film that this promises to be. And because it’s a natural progression, they’ll also be doing Harry Potter figures. None of them, unfortunately, will have their limbs replaced with deadly weapons, but at least the prototypes looked pretty scary accurate.

Finally, NECA continues to explore ‘classic’ items, such as David Bowie’s Goblin King character from Labyrinth, which is sure to be a ridiculous hit with the ladies, and should be followed up by a handful of Brian Froud-inspired goblins. The Player Select line will also continue to explore popular video game characters, such as God of War’s Kratos, and the ever-popular Lara Croft, all in the popular 7” scale. And all, of course, absolutely beautiful.

These are two companies who have taken figural quality to new levels and kept it there, creating interesting, accurate toys that appeal to collectors of both toys and movie memorabilia, spanning genres and audiences alike. So watch out for ‘em.