Tag Archives: NECA

Cool Movie Toys: San Diego Comic-Con 2019 exclusives

The 50th annual San Diego Comic-Con is finally here, beginning with a preview night Wednesday before it kicks into high gear Thursday. The bigger it becomes (it’s already massive, with a reported average of 130,000 fans from all over the world), the more stars it seems to attract, particularly from the superhero, sci-fi and horror movie realms.

And while throngs of fans descend upon the San Diego Convention Center’s famed Hall H to see panels of stars from upcoming films and perhaps some teaser footage not available anywhere else, there’s a large contingent of fans also attending the annual gathering to get some exclusives: toys and collectibles not available to the general public.

This year’s offerings features a gaggle of new and cool movie playthings, including action figures of actors being produced for the first time, including NECA’s retro eight-inch action figure of the villainous “Karate Kid” coach Kreese (Martin Kove), which comes on the heels of releases of eight-inch figures of Daniel (Ralph Macchio), his coach, Mr. Miyagi (the late Pat Morita) and Daniel’s chief rival, Johnny (William Zabka), as seen in the 1984 film.

Fans who purchase the Kreese figure will also get another special opportunity: to meet Kove, who will be on-hand at NECA’s booth to sign packages of the miniature version of himself. In addition to the Kove figure, NECA’s SDCC exclusive offerings include a special “etched” seven-inch version of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard), just in time for the release of “IT: Chapter 2” in September; and a seven-inch scale figure of the young version of John Connor (Edward Furlong) and his motorcycle from the 1991 blockbuster “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

As NECA’s offerings prove, there’s a big enough market for action figures from classic films to justify the release of action figures of them, even if only in limited quantities.

Continuing its “Jurassic Park” legacy line of three and three-quarter-inch figures in the past year, figures of paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), as well as mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) have already been released, Mattel is about to debut a figure as a SDCC exclusive: Jurassic Park founder John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough). Hammond’s figure not only features packaging that looks like the gateway to Jurassic Park, it includes a stand that holds a cracked open egg with a baby dinosaur.

Images: Hasbro, Mattel

While some toy and collectibles companies are concentrating on releasing exclusive products of vintage movies, others are concentrating on more modern fare. Among them are Hasbro, which is selling an exclusive “Star Wars” Black Series six-inch figure of a Sith Trooper (think of Stormtrooper’s armor, but molded in red), the first new character being revealed for the December film “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

Also being offered by Hasbro are pair of six-inch figures from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) from “Thor: Ragnarok.” While the exclusive figures are packaged separately (with their respective movie title treatment), they are being sold as a set. Per Marvel lore, the Collector and Grandmaster are brothers, after all.

The San Diego Comic-Con runs through Sunday.

Copyright 2019 DirectConversations.com

Tim Burton Book 2
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Cool Movie Toys: Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection, ‘Dumbo,’ Hitchcock, ‘Coraline’

Welcome to the new edition of Cool Movie Toys, where I take a look at some of the coolest movie tie-in product to hit store shelves in the last month.

NECA embarked on one of the coolest movie toy lines in recent memory last year when the venerable collectibles company last July announced at San Diego Comic Con the Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection, which features action figures from some of the Oscar-winning writer-director’s most notable films.

CMT Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection

The company kicked off the collection with an 8-inch, retro-style action figure of del Toro himself, which was followed up by a release of Santi from “The Devil’s Backbone” and Pale Man from “Pan’s Labyrinth.” The latest release in the Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection is a 7-inch scale figure of Ofelia from “Pan’s Labyrinth,” along with accessories including her fairy tale book, three fairies and a key.

CMT Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection 7

With the Ofelia figure, fans can now start recreating scenes from the film, including the harrowing chase scene where Pale Man is in pursuit of the young protagonist.

CMT Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection 5

At least one more figure is on the way from NECA from “Pan’s Labyrinth” with the Faun. With any luck, the line will the larger monument featured in the film as well. One thing’s for certain: NECA’s Guillermo del Toro Signature collection will continue this year with its Faun figure from “Pan’s Labyrinth” in late spring/early summer, as well as Amphibian Man from the Oscar-winning fantasy “The Shape of Water” in the same time frame.

CMT Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection 3

Flying into theaters March 29 is visionary director Tim Burton’s hotly anticipated reimagining of the Walt Disney animated feature film classic “Dumbo.” Toy merchandise has been surprisingly sparse up until this point, but perhaps that will change when the film hits. One of the items hitting shelves is a 13-inch tall plush of Dumbo from Just Play, which has a special feature: press the baby pachyderm’s foot, and it makes a elephant noises.

CMT Dumbo

That’s not the only feature you get when you push Dumbo’s foot. Since the product’s official name is “Flappin’ Ears Dumbo,” the elephant’s oversized ears flap over Dumbo’s eyes while it makes noise.

CMT Dumbo 2

The wonderful thing about companies like NECA and Super 7 is that they have a respect for classic films — particularly horror — and they produce product to honor such films. One of the most recent releases from Super 7, which began its retro 3 3/4-inch carded action figure line with “Alien” a few years back, is of director Alfred Hitchcock. It’s essentially a reproduction of the Master of Suspense that’s previously been issued in color and black-and-white.

CMT Hitchcock front

The new version of Hitchcock that differs from the previous releases is that it’s in color with markings on the figure and card to replicate “blood spatter.” With any luck, Super 7 will make more action figures of directors, because as NECA has shown with its del Toro and James Cameron (a 7-inch figure of the director circa the release of “Aliens”), there’s definitely a market for them.

CMT Hitchcock

NECA, which produced product from LAIKA’s hit classic “Coraline” 10 years ago, is bringing back some of the product from its original line as part of a new deal the toy- and collectibles-maker struck with the stop-motion animation studio.

CMT Coraline packaging

NECA’s new “Best of” PVC set from “Coraline” consists of three mini-figures: Wybie, Coraline (with her black cat) and the Other Mother, which hopefully signals the start of more reissues.

CMT Coraline loose

Also new from NECA is a Coraline figure from its Head Knocker series. Perhaps more Head Knockers from “Coraline” are around the corner?

CMT Coraline Head Knocker packaged

CMT Coraline Head Knocker loose

All photos and text copyright 2019 DirectConversations.com.

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

NECA unleashes Possessed Ashy Slashy to haunt Dana DeLorenzo (again!)

Without question, one of the most entertaining scenes during the three-season series run of STARZ’s “Ash vs. Evil Dead” happened in Season 2 in 2016, when star Dana DeLorenzo’s kick-ass Ghostbeater, Kelly Maxwell, encounters a Muppet-like hand puppet in villain Baal’s insane asylum. Named “Ashy Slashy” after the institution’s newest resident Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), the foul-mouthed, wise-ass puppet was first introduced as a warm and fuzzy therapy companion to Ash, but quickly turned to the dark side when he met Kelly.

Two years later …  just when you thought it was safe to go back to Sesame Street (or more appropriately Avenue Q) … movie and TV collectibles-maker NECA has released its second full-scale version of the Ashy Slashy hand-puppet, the Possessed Ashy Slashy. Unlike the first release of Ashy Slashy last year, the possessed version has jagged teeth and a chainsaw with its own set of teeth sticking out of its blade. In short, he’s battle-ready for those who dare to bring him to life to take a bite out of anybody who gets in his way.

In a phone conversation about “Ash vs. Evil Dead” earlier this year, DeLorenzo fondly recalled her time filming with the fuzzy little bastard, or as she famously called him in the scene, “you felt f—k!” The scene began with Ashy Slashy trying to sweet-talk Kelly, until he bares his choppers, starts up his chainsaw and an all-out throwdown begins.

Among the most memorable – and disgusting – parts of the scene was Ashy smashing Kelly’s face into a used bedpan. As it turns out, DeLorenzo recalled, producer Rob Tapert didn’t  think Ashy Slashy splashy bedpan sequence “wasn’t gross enough” and had her blow bubbles to enhance the effect.

Photo: STARZ

“The blowing bubbles in the bedpan was added later. It was an insane, intense 13-hour day of shooting the original scene with just the puppet, it was exceptionally complicated, it was all crew on deck with stunts and blood rigs, like when Ashy’s puppet head exploded from the gun at the end — that took almost a hour just to set up. So  weeks later when Rob Tapert  said, ‘We need to reshoot the puppet scene,’ and my stomach dropped, and with big eyes I asked, ‘The whole scene?’ and Rob said, ‘No, just the bedpan scene. We’re going to add something to it … we need you to blow bubbles.’ I guffawed because this is what it means to be an actor on a show called “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” DeLorenzo mused. “But hey, at least the scene was with a puppet! Not many people can say that they were in a scene where they got their head slammed into a bedpan they had to blow bubbles in by a demonic, perverted puppet.”

Of course, the duel ultimately ended with DeLorenzo saying the classic line, “Always bring a gun to a puppet fight,” where Ashy Slashy was effectively reduced to a bloody stump with Kelly’s decisive kill shot.

“That’s one of those lines that you know is sooo good and you have to resist the urge to show that you know it’s a good line and try not hitting the gas, or put your weight on it. I recalled the lessons I learned from Bruce Campbell, which was, ‘Just let it be, say the line,'” DeLorenzo recalled. “Since we filmed the scene in sequence that day, by the end I was exhausted and a little sore so it came out in a authentic way, and I think we got it in one take. What a great line. I’m in perpetual awe of writers, particularly ours.”

As it turns out, DeLorenzo said filming the Ashy Slashy fight scene was one of her favorites during the entire series – and lucky for her, she’s been immortalized in world of toys and collectibles since NECA put a photo of her kicking the puppet’s ass on the both sides of the Possessed Ashy Slashy packaging.

“Filming the scene was one my biggest challenges, but like life tends to be, the biggest challenges end up producing the biggest rewards,” DeLorenzo enthused.

How Sam Raimi saved Dana DeLorenzo from possessed escalator
Flashback: Bruce Campbell talks original ‘Evil Dead’ in 2002
Interview: Dana DeLorenzo talks Kelly Maxwell’s journey 
Interview: Dana DeLorenzo talks ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ Season 3
Interview: Groovy Bruce Campbell talks ‘Hail to The Chin’
Interview: Bruce Campbell talks ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ Season 2

Oddly enough, the Ashy Slashy scene was somewhat wish-fulfillment for DeLorenzo, although she originally imagined being a part of a much more innocent puppet scene.

“My first seedling of being an actor and an entertainer when I was 2 came with watching ‘Sesame Street,'” DeLorenzo recalled. “There were kids on there talking to puppets, and I was obsessed with Big Bird, and Bert and Ernie, so it’s always been a bucket list item. The Ashy Slashy scene was not quite that, since I never knew my puppet dreams would come true by grabbing myself in the thigh and giving myself Charley horses, but man, it was pretty close.”

Look for DeLorenzo to be sharing her stories about Ashy Slashy and other memories from “Ash vs. Evil Dead” at a pair of upcoming horror conventions in the coming months. From September 21-23, she will appear with fellow “Ash vs. Evil Dead” cast members Ted Raimi and Lindsay Farris at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey; and on October 27 and 28, DeLorenzo will appear at Crypticon Minnesota in Minneapolis along with fellow “Ash” cast member Lee Majors.

Until then, fans can now see the complete “Ash vs. Evil Dead” series with the release of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” Season 3, new on Blu-ray and DVD (STARZ/Anchor Bay).

As for the real Possessed Ashy Slashy, the puppet went for $5,102 in an “Ash vs. Evil Dead” prop auction earlier this summer via VIP Auctions. Sorry, fans: The puppet’s demise in the show was just a stunt — and a bloody good one at that!

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

Tim Burton Book 2
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Interview: NECA’s Randy Falk talks Guillermo del Toro action figure, more

The creation of action figures for movies and television series is big business in the toy and collectibles industry, but generally the assortments that emerge from any given line generally consist of the characters, creatures and vehicles associated with film or TV shows and nothing more.

But thanks to the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), the action figure business is taking an exciting new direction.

Appealing to the fans who appreciate the talent both in front of and behind the camera, the New Jersey-based specialty collector company has found a niche by making action figures of directors behind famous films. To date, NECA has released seven-inch action figures of directors Quentin Tarantino (in a “The Hateful Eight” costume) and James Cameron (in “Aliens” attire); and now, for a limited-edition figure that will be sold the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) this week, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro.

(photo: NECA)

In a recent email interview, NECA’s director of product development, Randy Falk, revealed that the idea to immortalize “The Shape of Water” filmmaker came about when the company and del Toro worked together on creating figures and sets for two of his classic films.

“We have a great history working with Guillermo del Toro, and when he attends SDCC he always comes by the booth to check out our latest and greatest,” Falk said. “The idea to actually create a figure of del Toro himself grew out of our experience collaborating on ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ over the past two years. We’ve had success in the past creating director figures of Quentin Tarantino and, last year, Col. Cameron (James Cameron), so immortalizing Guillermo was a no-brainer. He loves toys and collectibles and is an icon to our fanbase since he is such a visionary director.”

In addition to selling the 8-inch Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection figure and other exclusives at SDCC, NECA will be revealing upcoming licenses. So, given that “The Shape of Water” won the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards earlier this year, could an Amphibian Man figure be in the works?

“Possibly — (that is) certainly something that is very high on our wish list considering how beautiful that film was and the critical acclaim that followed,” Falk said. “Perhaps we will have more news on this come SDCC.”

In a wonderful bit of symmetry, another exclusive NECA action figure of a director will be available at SDCC this week. The interesting bit is, it’s a 7-inch figure of Shane Black, the director of the upcoming sci-fi thriller “The Predator,” but of Black as his character, Hawkins, from the 1987 classic “Predator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I was fortunate enough to visit the set of the latest ‘Predator’ film back in the spring of 2017 and I sort of bounced the idea off of Shane and his people at that time,” Falk recalled. “We had just finished up our ‘Predator’ 30th anniversary collection and felt like it would be great to incorporate Shane into it … to be able to do his character as Hawkins would be a perfect lead-in to him taking over the franchise as a director and was just perfect synergy. Luckily, he liked the idea and wanted to do it. The timing really was perfect. With the film having a big panel and presence at SDCC and releasing in September, to have the exclusive Shane Black as Hawkins release this July couldn’t be more perfect. The toy gods were smiling down upon us for this entire project.”

While fans are getting the unique opportunity to get action figures of del Toro and Black at this year’s SDCC, Falk said NECA isn’t “actively pursuing” any other filmmakers to make into action figures at the moment. He’s completely open to the idea of creating more, however.

(Photo: NECA)

“We agree it is a really nice addition to get the actual creators involved and into the line where it makes sense. Everything so far has grown out of special circumstances or situations that lent themselves to the creation, and there has been a narrative or compelling reason behind it,” Falk said. “The ‘Aliens’ 30th anniversary for example, Shane being director of ‘Predator,’ the launch of the Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection we have worked so closely with him to create. All those factors helped make those possible and make them special. So, along those lines, I would love to do something with, say, Wes Craven or George Romero if we could find a way to make it special and have it make sense.”

In the meantime, Falk said, fans can look forward to plenty of surprises as the company reveals new lines at its booth at SDCC throughout the weekend.

“We definitely have some incredible surprises in store! I think there is truly something for everyone in this year’s reveals and a few jaw-droppers that no one will have seen coming,” Falk enthused. “We have some reveals involving horror, classic TV, classic ’80s films, lots of nostalgia and lots of fun. I can’t wait to be in San Diego again to debut all the great new items our team has worked so hard to create.”

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

Tim Burton Book 2
Click book cover for info on how to buy!