McFarlane is on the back burner. NECA Toys is it! (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

As some of you know I am a big fan of McFarlane Toys and have been collecting his stuff for years, mostly movie themed figures. While I still think he's awesome, I have discovered NECA's line of REEL TOYS which IMO is managing to top McFarlane at every instance!

3 months ago I had 7 18" McFarlane figures, now, thanks to NECA, I have only two, the rest I replaced with NECA's version which tops's the McFarlane one's in scupt, poise, paint and above all...movie accurate likenesses of even his human figures. I subsequently sold the rest to my boss. I understand however, that some former McFarlane Toys employees are now doing sculpts for NECA!

NECA's 18" 'Jason Voorhees' is insanely accurate!

Not only is it a virtual replica of Jason as he appeared in Friday the 13th part 7 The New Blood but also a stunning representation of Kane Hodder himself who played Jason!

That, I think, is the one major distinction between NECA and Todd, Todd does excellent work at creating detail and produces a figure that, while accurate in detail, appears fantastical. NECA excells at not only capturing minute details, like the little dot on Micheal Myers' neck, but also at capturing the esscence of the actor who played the charactor.

For instance, McFarlane's 18" Micheal Myers is very detailed, but doesn't necessarily resemble any one scene in any of the films or even resemble Nick Castle as MM, his machanics coveralls are too slim against the body, he never holds his knife with the thumb tucked (it's up on the top of the knife's handle when he stabs Laurie in the shoulder in the orignal film) and their is too much blood sloppily spattered all over it that doesn't look like blood, but rather red paint.

The mask also isn't quite right when compared to NECA's version, which is cinema perfect. I didn't see this imperfection until I saw NECA's side by side with Todd's, and upon comparison with the original film.

NECA's 'Micheal Myers' is so accurate to Nick Castle's body, build and charactor it's not even funny, the way he's standing, the way his coveralls are baggy, the way he holds his left hand down low, all perfect. For those with the 25th Anniversary dvd, the picture of Micheal standing at the top of the stairs on page two of the booklet, is precisly what this figure resembles.

NECA's 18" 'The Bride', Uma Thurman, from Kill Bill Vol. 1 which I just got last week, is, well I could spend all day on that one! Except for the blood, she didn't have enough on her. No biggie, I added the rest myself which was fun. I hear that Uma herself had final approval of that one. Even her Hattori Hanzo sword looks sharp enough to cut you!

I always like it when something get's left off of a figure whether it be blood or some details so I can have fun adding them myself. I now have NECA's 18" 'Freddy Krueger' and 'Jack Sparrow' coming from e-bay, once the Freddy comes, the McFarlane one is outta here.

I still love Todd though, he's slipping a bit with human likenesses (his NASCAR line is terrible this time IMO), but his more fantastical figures are first rate. The 12" 'Predator' and 'Alien' are still two of my favs. And I really hope he does a 12" 'Robocop', his 6" one is incredibly detailed! I know that McFarlane Toys still reigns supreme for sports (except the mentioned NASCAR line) and 'Spawn' figures, but for film inspired work, he has been unseated IMO.

So, anyone else here discovered this exciting Toy manufacturer? I'd love to hear your thoughts on them.

Sorry about the long winded post, but I just didn't think it could get any better than McFarlane, I was wrong. I know, i'm just the biggest dork aren't I?

 

[Matty P]

big fan of NECA here. I've got a couple of their 7" Hellraiser figs, the Freddy vs. Jason boxset and will be picking up the Michael Myers/Dr. Loomis boxset ASAP. That one looks very nice (and the reviews have been great too). Looking forward to their "Cult Classics" figures in 2005!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Matty,
you won't be disappointed in the Myers and Loomis box set, it's incredible. Even upon close examination with a magnifying glass, i'll be dammned if it isn't a dead ringer for Donald Pleasance!

I made a black back-drop for mine, just to give you an idea. It really sets it off and gives the whole porch scene a genuine "night-time" look.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Hey guy's, I also found out that NECA will be doing an 18" Endoskeleton from T2 and another Jason figure, this one will be 19" and modeled after Ken Kirzinger's appearance in Freddy vs Jason. Both have a 2005 release date.

Where are my fellow figure lovers!?

 

[Matty P]

I actually just got into figures this past year, seems like it was good timing since the majority of my stuff is NECA...a couple of movie maniacs from McFarlane and some Mezco stuff as well (family guy, scarface)...just another way for my money to disappear!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Matty,
I know what you mean about the expense, it can be terrible, that's the only downside to collecting. It's a pressure thing too, if I see a new figure at Spencers Gifts, i'm always afraid that if I don't buy it right their and then i'll miss it.

I missed Todd's new 'Predator' line from AVP because I hesitated, and once the film opened they disappeared! I can't even find them on e-bay! Of course the stores still had plenty of 'Alien' figures from AVP.

 

[Rhett_Y]

I have been collecting figures for a very long time. Mainly Todd and Star Wars. I have to say the NECA figures look freaking incredable. I want the Hellraiser series. This is all I need another brand to collect..lol....

With Todd I mainly collect the spawn series, not to much into the other stuff...although I do have the KISS/Iron Maiden/Ozzy sets...lol.... I want the Piece of Mind set from NECA....

Thanks for the heads up!!!!!!

R~

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

No problem, Rhett.

Here's something else, NECA either has out now, or will have out an 'Alien' and 'Predator' bobblehead figure. Now, I don't care for those, but if NECA is producing likenesses of those charactors, it's quite concievable, given their apparent love for making 18" figures, that we could see an 18" 'Alien' and 'Predator' from them one day.

Here's to keeping our fingers crossed. In any case, SOMEBODY make an 18" 'Predator'! I don't care who, Todd, NECA or whomever!

And of course, i'd gladly give up three of my ten fingers for it when it happens.

That is, for me, the holy grail of figure collecting.

 

[Matty P]

just wanted to share the good find I had at the mall last night...had pretty much given up hope of finding an 18" Pinhead w/ sound but luckily the Spencers Gifts I went to had one left and an 18" Chatterer...the best part? $19.99 for Pinhead and $9.99 (!) for Chatterer...nice! These were my first 18" figures and it looks like I may be hooked on them now...

-matt

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Congrats on the find, Matty.

It's true, it's very addicting, it's also really expensive most of the time.

I have 8 18" figures both from McFarlane and NECA, and the second worst thing about collecting them, besides the price, is finding room to display them, they're huge!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I should also mention that I contacted Randy Falk who is the production designer at NECA just to let him know how much I loved the figures. I told him that I have them set around my home theater and he e-mailed me back and said he'd love to see pics of my theater!

I was a little shocked, and flattered too.

He also said that they have alot of awesome new 18" figures lined up for 2005! He didn't confirm an 18" Predator though, which is what I asked him about...but he didn't deny it either.

 

[LarryDavenport]

How about posting a link?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

A link to what? My HT pictures? I don't have any, perhaps I should have mentioned that. :b

 

[Matty P]

some pretty cool news today regarding NECA's Cult Classics line...Leatherface has been bumped to Series 2 while Mohawk (gremlins 2) is added to Series 1. And the mystery figure is revealed to be Patrick Bateman from American Psycho...sounds like a good start to me!

www.necaonline.com/cultnews1.html

-matt

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Just thought i'd ressurect my old thread to tell the figure lovers here about the 18" T2 Endoskeleton I just got. It is, in a word, incredible!

Here's my modest review, enjoy...

Never let it be said that NECA skimps on detail, every hydraulic (which actually work), cable, piston, joint, nook and cranny has been reproduced and results in a truly imposing figure. As soon as I unpacked the box from the other box that the ebay seller put it in, I couldn't get it out of it's box fast enough! I undid the twist ties that bound it to the cardboard backing faster than ever before!

Put simply, no Terminator fan should be without this one!

I would even go so far as to compare it to the models that were used in the film itself, minus the ultra chrome finish, which is my only complaint about the figure...it isn't shiny or metallic looking enough. It boasts a pretty standard high gloss silver paint that resembles neither metal or plastic but somthing in between. But I suppose, if your truly a brave soul, you could fix that by applying chrome automotive paint to it. If you goof, though, that's an expensive goof that could ruin the figure if you aren't careful. I'm not willing to try that, so i'll leave it be.

One of the most striking features about the figure are the red light up eyes, which are both bright red and are of equal brightness, in fact when you look at them directly straight on, they act almost like tiny flashlights that are super bright! When activated by a button on the side of the head, it suddenly comes alive and truly looks as if it's scanning the landscape, looking for it's next human victim in the war against man and machine. One minor complaint, the eyes don't stay on long, they only stay on for a few seconds before turning off.

The features of the phase plasma rifle have all been captured, just as you see in the opening of the film when he steps on the human skull and the camera pans up.

Flexability is great with a large amount of articulation points, as I said almost all of the major hydraulics work on this figure, so when you pose it it really stays in proportion to how it actually moves in the film. It also comes with a second attachable right hand so that you may choose to pose it without the rifle, but let's face it, why would you want to do that? Most amazingly, when you turn the head right or left, the hydraulics that attach the head to the inner chest cavity actually pull up on the mechanisms inside the chest which really gives you a sense of the anatomy of this killing machine.

Mouth opens up and down with small hydraulics that extend up into the cheek bone areas, a detail that could have easily been either left out or cheated, but once again NECA comes through.

Which brings me to the head, man, there are some eagle eyed folks over at NECA that did not miss a single solitary thing! Every line, every tiny hole is there, of course this includes the Endoskeleton's CPU port on top of the skull made famous by the SE of the film. I even tried examining the head with a magnifying glass and it holds up, almost frighteningly so.

So that's it, now I realize that these threads aren't very successful, but I know that there are people here that love this stuff as much as me, even if they don't post about it, so I just wanted to tell you about this. As I said, if your a Terminator fan, seek out and buy this thing, because once they're all gone (a very popular figure from all accounts, i've only found them on ebay as the specialtly stores in my area can't keep them in long), unlike Arnold in the first film, it won't be back.

Mcfarlane is almsot completely out of the picture for me at this point. He is making very unfortunate cutbacks and corner cutting on his movie lines. :frowning: The second series in the Alien vs Predator line will only be 5" tall? WTF?

Todd, dude, we want LARGER, not smaller, your going the wrong way. Of course he continues to put all of his effort into his sports lines. That said, though, I am looking foreward to his Napoleon Dynamite line

BTW, I also have on order NECA's 18" Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, 18" Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses and the 20" Aragorn which has been out for awhile now, but i'm just now getting to it. I will post reviews for those as well as soon as I get them if I have the time.

Lastly, my most highly anticipated figure this year is without a doubt NECA's 18" Robocop which will debut in September. That almost makes up for still having no 18" Predator...almost.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

BTW, Matty, because of your post I sought out and bought an 18" Pinhead off ebay a couple of months back, I just wish I had gotten it as cheap as you did. :frowning: