NECA made one thing clear at SDCC 2023: they pay close attention to feedback. Be it online comments or pre-sales, they very much follow what the fans say — with words and dollars — that they want more of.
Two action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin sold so well they’ve now spawned a whole line. The My Blood Valentine Miner sold so well as two different cartoon figurines and three retro-cloth costume figures that he’s finally getting a fully sculpted action figure. They mostly want the same figures you want — but need the data to justify them.
Fans of bloody variants should relish two notable new figures in death throes. “First to Fall” Raphael from The Last Ronin comes with arrows you can stick in him, including one that goes right through his leg. And the deal with Peter Weller to finally do RoboCop figures in his likeness will yield an Officer Alex Murphy figure, with interchangeable bloodied and battle-damaged body parts.
Turtles-wise, The Last Ronin line will lean into the flashback scenes to make figures of Mikey, Donnie, Splinter, Leo, and Casey. Meanwhile, the Mirage Comics line will add Rat King, Baxter Stockman, a gigantic Leatherhead, and Casey with red shirt and white shoes.
Perhaps most surprising is how much juice they’re still getting from The Secret of the Ooze, including a two-pack of David Warner’s Professor Jordan Perry in different outfits, a junkyard throne for Shredder (which might be an online exclusive), and Foot Training Keno with out-of-shape Foot Soldier. More is still to come, but at present they do not have Vanilla Ice’s likeness, though there have been talks.
The Universal Monsters crossovers will continue with Wolfman Raph and Gillman Leo. But the cartoon line has some massive highlights, including a quarter-scale Krang (who can double as an oversized version) and a $300 Sewer Lair diorama (above).
The Sewer won’t be a multi-story playset, but rather one large room filled with furniture and accessories; the Target-exclusive accessory set will see rerelease to augment it. Usagi Yojimbo gets a 4-pack for the year of the rabbit, with samurai gear, cyborg gear, 2 versions of classic comic style figure, swappable parts. From Archie Comics, we’ll get Belly Bum — whose mouth will open, and eyeball will move — Mondo Gecko, and a wrestling 4-pack.
Animated “Punk” Turtles will feature new tooling, while new individual Ultimate versions of each main Turtle will come with lots of brand-new accessories, swappable upper and lower heads.
In their horror line, The Nun took so long because NECA had to work out how to do soft goods at that scale — hence her coming as a larger clothed figure first. They’ve worked with the tailors to refine the outfit so it worked at that scale.
Fall should see Halloween Ends Michael, Chucky from the TV show, and a frozen Macready; the latter has extra details, like new tooling on his legs. Universal Monsters glow-in-the-dark Remco tributes continue with Dracula and Phantom, sporting vinyl-ish capes. A deluxe Frankenstein in his chair from The Bride of Frankenstein will debut in color, with no black-and-white variant announced yet.
For the 20th anniversary of House of 1,000 Corpses, they’ll re-release Captain Spaulding and Otis with a few minor tweaks, along with cloth costume Spaulding. Their relationship with Rob Zombie remains strong, and Lily Munster is still coming.
In other movie monster news, Professor Burke from London After Midnight and Count Orlok from Nosferatu take NECA into the silent era. Predator figures will return with Prey, and several variants of the Yautja are planned. Naru and other humans are included in the rights if fans show enough demand for them. Expect more Saw figures, too — we confirmed the bear trap tease they showed a while back was not the one that comes with the Toony-style figure.
Dungeons and Dragons tribute figures will continue. Gargoyles adds Broadway as the Silver Falcon, an as-yet-undecided exclusive, folded wings, new face, jalapeno jar opens. Demona and Goliath “vows” two-pack includes mutliple new faces, and the phoenix gate broken and complete. Elisa Maza can mix and match face plates with hair types. Macbeth is coming, but they’re not finished on the sculpt, still awaiting approval. Steel clan Xanatos includes switch-out portraits masked and unmasked.
Last year, NECA had the rights to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie but not the actor likenesses — as such, they made a two-pack of comic-style figures in movie-accurate costumes as a con exclusive. This wasn’t just fun for fans: it was partly a showpiece to demonstrate to the actors what they were capable of.
Now three have signed — Sam J. Jones, Brian Blessed, and the von Sydow estate. NECA would love to do more if sales merit, but due to the difference in body size with the comic-styled figures, you probably won’t be switching heads back and forth. Yes, they know we’d like a Billy Zane Phantom, but as of now they do not have the rights.
The “Toony” style line will add not just more horror characters like M3GAN, but also a whole wave of DC superheroes, and (separately) Pee-wee Herman. NECA has teased deals with Pee-wee in the past, but this time we can definitely expect more.
Look through our gallery below for more:
