NECA - Planet of the Apes

[stickman]

Well, I would love to see at least 3 waves this year. While everyone is spending their money on the announced pre-orders Neca will be playing catch up. If the do their pre-orders in March it will be a couple of months till Series 3 is ready, unless they are getting ready now and plan for them to go directly to the shelves skipping pre-orders all together.

Also, I wonder if the POTA license would do better as a Neca exclusive, with Neca selling directly to customers, getting rid of the middle-man, like Sideshow does.

 

[ApeManRyan]

Alright here's my second Promo to support Ape Day! Having fun with these and thinking of a third one to make. I want this line to continue for sure! Series 3 for me is going to be too good. Want to build my Conquest Army!

Ryan

 

[stickman]

Nice, keep them coming!

 

[wax murderer]

You do all realize that march 8th is a Sunday,right? Of course,that's not as significant as it used to be...anyway,' sounds like a plan to me(like we need an excuse)...PS

 

[Protozaius]

The fact that the third wave is not up after Toy Fair is VERY troubling. Was there not enough support for the line during that week?

 

[Chockles]

maybe retailers/buyers were more interested in Aliens and Predators as it seems like it that way.

 

[sallah]

The fact that the third wave is not up after Toy Fair is VERY troubling. Was there not enough support for the line during that week?

Wave 3 is a definite... Straight from Randy. They are just waiting to announce it until all the details on how they will be available are set. All ducks in a row...

And yeah- I chose Sunday because I figured most folks might be off work and can participate by getting online/ going to stores.

Sallah

 

[Jayrod88]

I watched Planet of the Apes today with my wife. She said the masks looked like ****!
I said " *****, it might be our anniversary, but thats Award Winning special effects and make up!"
Looks like a Apes marathon on the couch for me the rest of the weekend!
#ApeStrong

 

[Icarus]

I wonder if the POTA license would do better as a Neca exclusive, with Neca selling directly to customers, getting rid of the middle-man, like Sideshow does.

I think the POTA line will do better now if NECA went direct to consumers. Now that the main characters are already out (Cornelius, Zira, Zaius, Ursus, etc.), the "casual fan" may not be as inclined to pick up Aldo, Urko, Veska etc. The mass commercial market may not be as receptive to second- and third-tier characters whereas diehard fans would buy an Ursus/Zaius steamroom 2-pack if they had the opportunity (LOL). This way NECA can increase its profits by cutting out the middleman despite a smaller production run of product. This may also increase the chances of humans being added to the line as ComicCon exclusives such as a Taylor/Nova 2-pack or a deluxe 5-pack of the Mutant Council. That would be the Ultimate!

 

[stickman]

They are just waiting to announce it until all the details on how they will be available are set.

Sallah

? What do you mean? They get sold to retailers and are made available. What else do they have to do?

I watched Planet of the Apes today with my wife. She said the masks looked like ****!
I said " *****, it might be our anniversary, but thats Award Winning special effects and make up!"
Looks like a Apes marathon on the couch for me the rest of the weekend!
#ApeStrong

Oh the simple joys of growing up with CGI. You should also explain that the make-up had to be applied every single day, to every actor, under the hot rays of a blistering sun. How far movie magic has come. Glad to hear that the both of you enjoyed some time together.

 

[Protozaius]

Today's movie magic seems less magical.

I showed the film to a friend of mine (who is WAY younger than me) and kept telling me that it was stupid that all of the different Apes species wear the same clothing.

To quote Steve Martin..."Well excuse me!"

 

[mattb483]

To me CGI is horrible in most cases... "Cough attack of the clones cough" I can were a little cgi being ok but most movies today over do it. It makes a movie look like a video game! Planet of the apes is a classic and revolutionized film making back in the day! I think people forget that in planet of the apes the apes were supposed to be more human like.

 

[Protozaius]

I hear a lot of people who think that the Tim Burton re-imagining of POTA had better makeup because they looked more like apes than the original. But that is a misconception... John Chambers, the man behind that classic Ape makeup, stated that when he was designing the look, he wanted to approximate the evolutionary development of the simian species; project what he thought Apes would look like over time.

And, of course, he did it BRILLIANTLY.

 

[Stryker2011]

Yeah, too much CGI to is killing modern films, and taking away from the "realism". I was distracted more often than not by Gollum in the LOTR films, but the fact it was pretty much just him as a major character that was CGI let me enjoy those movies. The Hobbit films on the other hand suffer greatly from having too much of it. I didn't believe Azog and many of the other Orcs and Goblins from those movies as they just didn't look right. Too "clean", maybe. The original makeup versions done in the LOTR looked much more realistic to me. I have the same feeling watching the new POTA movies. As good as the CGI is, and as advanced as its come along, I still can't help but think it still looks far more fake than a guy in makeup.

 

[Jayrod88]

I hate CGI.

Jurrasic Park 1 , T2, and Abyss are the only movies that used CGI right. Sparingly. To many companies use it damn near the entire movie. Prop designers, studio designers, make up, wardrobe, set designs, anamatronics, are all lost arts. There are ways to make special effects that don't involve computers. I get into arguments alot with friends on why there aren't "Movie Classics" being pumped out anymore. Lets face it, the last true Classic was Gladiator the Gaurdians of the Galaxy. Those movies had movie magic. Sure the CgI was pumped up. But CGi has killed the experience. Maybe its a coming with age, but the atunning visial of a movie is a let down when you can clearly see CGi. Jurrasic Park was blended perfectly. That was 1993. Look at Star Wars Episode 3. It looked like a cut scene. 10 years in between JP and EP3 and the CGi graphics degraded? Its lazyness. I guess thats the beauty of owning movies! You re-experience the magic.

 

[ApeManRyan]

John Chambers is a master. Nothing but the best. The Tim Burton Film also had great effects and I give Burton credit for going with make up instead of full blown CGI. I can handle CGI but prefer practical effects. Most people in this day in age think CGI is the most realistic thing as for us who like oldies believe practical is the reality to movies. We each have an opinion and my brother would probably be on your guys side for sure since he HATES CGI and I'm not a big fan of it but at times it's needed and if both would work together more in this day in age we could have some cool looking movies. But as of now we are stuck with CGI being the new thing and I accept it for what it is.

 

[mattb483]

Yeah CGI has taken away from the movie magic. If beneath the planet of the apes was made today the gorillas marching thru the desert would have shown an army of thousands of soldiers all cgied!Same with conquest that's what made classic films great is all the extras hired and costumes. I love the pirates of the Caribbean films cause they have done CGI right. They have built sets, ships, model ships hired tons of extras. The only CGI used is for the ghosts pirates and Davey jones crew... Anyways I've seen the new pota films and I thought they were good. I just can't get to excited cause I know of they ever get to the original pota films there still gonna have CGI apes.

 

[stickman]

Great conversation fellas. Before CGI, I was totally blown away by the ape make-up. As a kid I wanted to be one of those gorillas so bad. I tried to make a costume once but came nowhere close. Jessica has an amazing outfit and I see a lot of pictures of her with other die-hard POTA fans.

I met and spoke to Randy at NY Comic Con back in October about the then-proposed gorilla army 2-pack. He said that to keep the cost low, he couldn't include all the accessories including the bandoliers and the bugle. I told him at the time that the bandoliers were one of the most important accessories in the set and that if you had to omit something, it should be one of the two snare catchers but he wasn't convinced.

Who knows, we may see the bugle yet. It seems that in each series there is at least one gorilla soldier variant. The next is Aldo, after that a gorilla TV series 2-pack with "II" and "V" white stripes. Originally it was going to be a gorilla TV series 3-pack with the addition of the "M" white stripe included. Then, we have Urko.

If the line ever goes to Series 5 and beyond, another gorilla soldier variant would be included as a cost-cutting, low re-tooling strategy. We still haven't seen a hunt leader with the gylths on his bandolier. That figure would be ideal with a bugle. Another variant that comes to mind would be a gorilla with a side pistol holster (the one that shot Brent in the arm in Beneath). So as long as the line survives, gorilla soldier variants will be made and a good chance the bugle may show up along with a whip and a net.

I would love to have this line continue to include those figures!

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Jessica, if you are out there and have your ears on, I have a few questions for you regarding Neca's Astro Taylor. Would you be able to shrink his head down from 1:9 scale to 1:10th to fit the smaller scale? Did you buy the figure, and have you, or are you, going to try this? Is there any chance you can be commisioned to shrink Zira's head a little, like you have done to yours?

Matt, Did you use a stencil to make your ape flags? There was a member in the other Save Apes thread, named Angel of Music that made incredible customs, flags, bandoliers, man catchers, bugels, slave wagon, sorely miss him. I was wondering if you can make a television, red gorilla head flag?

 

[mattb483]

Hey sticks I actually just used some white 100% cotton I bought from a fabric store, then mixed the gesso and water together tobpread on the cloth to thicken in and then put it in my printer. how ever I'm not to happy with it. I'm thinking of buying some pink cloth and then printing it on that instead and yes you would be able to do the same for the red flag with the ape head. Do you have links to that Angel of music person I would love to see his customs!

 

[stickman]

Hey sticks I actually just used some white 100% cotton I bought from a fabric store, then mixed the gesso and water together tobpread on the cloth to thicken in and then put it in my printer. how ever I'm not to happy with it. I'm thinking of buying some pink cloth and then printing it on that instead and yes you would be able to do the same for the red flag with the ape head. Do you have links to that Angel of music person I would love to see his customs!

Hi Matt, here are a few pictures of my collection that I found in my library that include Angel's work: