When you’ve finally gotten Peter Weller‘s likeness rights after years of trying, but there are only so many variants of RoboCop that can be made to look any different from one another, what do you do for an encore? If you’re NECA, you make pre-Robo Alex Murphy and gore him up. Shown first at San Diego Comic-Con, the Ultimate Alex Murphy figure now stands revealed in all its glory, and in a special package for Cyber Monday that will include a Weller-autographed card.
Murphy’s Law
Officer Murphy can be posed clean in his body armor then switched out for various stages of violence. Pop off a hand and replace it with a dynamic blast of blood from gunshots. Pop off the arm altogether and replace it with a bloody stump. Switch out the “clean” torso for one riddled with bloody wounds and replace his cool, calm, collected head with un-helmeted and screaming variants. Director Paul Verhoeven had to fight the MPAA to retain this level of violence; you’ll only have to fight fellow collectors online to grab one on Monday, November 27 at 12 p.m. ET. This version, which includes a signed replica OCP ID card, is limited to 475 figures.
Will there be a second run without the card? Let’s just say NECA rarely lets an all-new sculpt go to waste and it would be unlike them not to make one more available, especially since Weller’s rights used to be too expensive for domestic toys. It’s likely that even the newly negotiated figure was one the company needs to milk as much as possible in order to maximize returns. Kenner and cartoon-styled versions as convention exclusives wouldn’t be out of the question if past licenses are anything to go by.
Because all the actor likenesses in the movie are distinct from the movie rights, don’t expect NECA to necessarily make any more human characters unless they had particularly “toyetic” variants and agreeable performers. RoboCop fans may want Clarence, but they — and That ’70s Show fans — alone might not be enough to justify paying Kurtwood Smith what he deserves.
Take a look at more images below:
