Official NECA Terminator Thread

[jye4ever]

Ok then how about a Beyonce Lady GaGa Alien Hybrid crossover?

 

[DiFabio]

When I think of assimilated I think of Kim Kardasian.

Quick, throw a predator mask onto her or something and sell that ****!

 

[a-dev]

But even then, it's still mostly garish variants that aren't even from the movies that I don't think you're interested in.

What did they make that you liked in the past year? Vasquez, Frost, Newt, and City Hunter? That's like 1/4 of what their output.

There was also the Alien 3 wave...and the Alien Queen and Powerloader don't seem so long ago either...I don't feel like I've experienced any large barren patch with the Alien franchise...Predator maybe but that's only because I limit myself to P1 and P2 and they've been focussed on AvP for the past while and they seem to be doing a good job there.

The particular things I want at this point from Alien and Predator are mostly human figures and (we're told) they don't do as well at retail so I will never expect human figures to make up the bulk of their output. I'll take who I can get and just ignore most of the other stuff.

You know that annoying argument people make in defence of Hot Toys where we fans of older licenses are supposed to be thankful for the rainbow Iron Men and Porcelain Stormtroopers because it allows them to do more niche stuff supposedly (a single Ripley figure that they make us wait years for )? I think it better applies to this situation here, where all those nonsense candy coloured aliens and predators (which I'm guessing people must be buying) facilitate the production of human characters.

The thing that's getting on our craw is can't some of the profit from all this repainting and re-use be turned toward getting out just the single remaining primary character from T2. It's just....it feels rude if they don't make him. Especially after they made Newt for Aliens.

a-dev didn't mention Robocop 1 and Die Hard 1.

A key word in my post was 'among'. Aliens and Predator are among my favourite movies. So rest assured Robocop and Die Hard are also up there. Now please call off your dogs, there's a tree branch digging into my back.

 

[jye4ever]

sit DiFabio sit

 

[DiFabio]

Yeah the only thing I get from the Aliens line is the Marines (since I've had terrible QC experiences with their actual Aliens and think Ripley is too ugly to own) so maybe the selection is a little better than what I made it out to be. I won't give you the Alien Queen and Powerloader though, because those feel old to me (they came out around the time of ED-209, which has to be a couple of years now since I can't remember when I got ED-209) but I forgot about baldy Ripley and the weyland yutani commando which were definitely 2016.

Still, I think all those variants are obnoxious and they definitely seem stuck in Kenner Land now with no end in sight. That blue Kenner one and the pink cotton candy are just downright irritating. I'm getting flashbacks from the early 90s where these lame ****ers were plaguing toy shelves for years at like KB toys. Alien and Predator DID NOT have the same prestige Kenner Star Wars, Kenner Batman and Kenner Jurassic Park had. I guess you can't really blame Randy and NECA since those are what sells (though I'm skeptical that they even do well when I see what's shelfwarming at my stores) but it is disappointing. I don't get what's going through some of these collectors' heads with all these multicolored Iron Men, Storm/Clone Troopers, Aliens and Predators. It's a disease. That variant concept bothered the hell out of me with Batman back in the day, but now companies are doubling up on it with everything else.

They are getting better with the human character selection Aliens, especially with Vasquez, but are things that dire over there that they need all those recycled Aliens and Predators to keep everything afloat? I think it's a damn shame that classic Terminator hasn't had a full fledged line since like 2011 where it was a reused T-800, reused T-1000 and a new Kyle Reese. These couple of Ultimates every few years is a real bummer. Would it kill them to get a wave that has a reused Arnold, reused T-1000 and then an all new John Connor something? Split the costs, profits and losses Wave by wave like Aliens. Can John not be short packed to make him more desirable? NECA has saved so much on new tooling with Terminator and this goes all the way back to 2009 where they consistently recycled and reused. In some instances, if just feels like they come off as a bunch of stingy cheapskates. If it's not their dodgy quality control where they're cutting corners, or telling people to take a hair dryer or boiling water to their toys, it's the character selection.

And if there are plans to offer more for 7" Terminator beyond a 3D Galleria and Robocop vs Terminator video game things, it's be nice to get some hints or a couple of winks or something. I can see Terminator not being as popular as Alien and Predator, but it's looking more like Robocop, Rocky and Rambo everyday. They don't even try to renege ride the Terminator brand with anything that groundbreaking. Then when that half assed Motorcycle Cop T-1000 sells poorly, the little cinemachines are left unsold, the blown up QS Arnold sits around and the Robocop/Terminator repaints pegwarm, we'll get the whole "Terminator just doesn't sell" spiel.




Tl;dr:

Maybe Terminator just isn't *gasp* a good seller. Obviously we can't see the numbers, but maybe Cameron's Terminator merchandise isn't as hot as we think they are and we're in the minority with want we want. I mean hell, a good majority of people didn't even seem to realize that there were Terminator figures before the Ultimate line and only have a passing interest in them. Maybe I'm the one that is out of touch and putting too much stock in Terminator's popularity. It's too bad Salvation and Genisys were garbage and didn't revitalize the brand like T2 did 26 years ago. Not even anniversaries or 3D rereleases seem to be doing any good.

 

[snoop101]

Yeah I never understood the aliens and predators are what sells best stand point. I know I'm only seeing it from a customers point of view, but from my experience personally, there's always a TON of the weird colored Aliens and Predators on the shelfs. That's all there ever is. It's partially what makes seeing the occasional marine from Aliens so exciting, even if it is a secondary character like Frost.

 

[Drone]

You know that annoying argument people make in defence of Hot Toys.... I think it better applies to this situation here, where all those nonsense candy coloured aliens and predators (which I'm guessing people must be buying) facilitate the production of human characters.

^This, and I think the twitter storm that led to DiFabio being banned, points to what I believe will be a growing challenge for NECA and their ability to continue releasing more of the occasional movie figures that we want.

I'm in agreement with the theories a few posts back about the likelihood that Randy is misdirecting us in his responses - at least about John Connor - so that we'll all be 'surprised' when the figure finally is revealed. And I absolutely agree that we will continue to get human characters in the Alien and Predator lines so long as those lines continue to thrive. But I think such characters will become less and less likely, and before long certain characters that might currently be possible (such as Reese, Harrigan, or Dallas in Nostromo gear) will actually become impossible.

I alluded to a some kind of 'growing challenge' above, and basically what I mean by that is this: the high profits that NECA sees from their repaints and re-uses, coupled with Randy's very successful engagement of his social media following is creating huge momentum for more of the same junk that we don't want, which will only make it all the more difficult for him to justify figures that require higher costs and greater effort to produce.

All that being said, I would like to try to convince you all (or at least those of you who still can - sorry DiFabio) to start being active (or more active) on NECA's twitter feed. There's a lot happening there that we can use to our advantage to influence Randy's perspective on what the fans want.

 

[Drone]

Here's a good example from earlier today of the type of twitter conversations that could and should be happening more often:

https://twitter.com/NECA_TOYS/status/835534498490114048

It starts off with a familiar response from Randy dismissing any likelihood of Harrigan - nothing new there - but what's great is the numerous comments that follow in support of the original poster's request. Other fans chime in to express their hope for a Harrigan figure as well, and even start talking about how many different versions they want - and (at least so far) none of the brown-nosers have jumped in with their usual 'rolley-eyes' comments to try to shut anyone down.

In picking twitter battles, I think the correct strategy is not to try and convince Randy of any viewpoint that contradicts NECA's current product trends, but rather to reinforce and support the community of like-minded fans (who are already there on twitter, just seemingly outnumbered) so that all the praises and requests for more 'fan-fiction' figures are balanced out by praises and requests for more movie figures.

 

[DiFabio]

Yeah, that's actually an impressive amount of responses and positivity towards Harrigan. And yeah, the usual suspects haven't ruined it yet.

They could make so many versions of Harrigan too with just the slightest of variations ala Arnold's Dutch.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

a-dev didn't mention Robocop 1 and Die Hard 1.

a-dev hasn't seen First Blood.

Wait, let me fix that to make it more fair,

View attachment 326859

Even Ash from ED2 is getting two new sculpts, accessories, and a new figure as part of a set.

 

[a-dev]

That blue Kenner one and the pink cotton candy are just downright irritating.

Yeah I really can't understand the appeal of those. Some people call NECA figures junk, obviously I disagree, but to me those variants really are Happy Meal nonsense. How would they even have mass appeal? A casual shopper won't have the slightest idea why there's a ****ing pink Alien. I suppose the packaging might explain it, if they bother to look at it. Even then will they want it? I dunno.

I mean hell, a good majority of people didn't even seem to realize that there were Terminator figures before the Ultimate line and only have a passing interest in them.

That's something I noticed when looking at the youtube reviews for the various ultimate figures - most of them didn't have the originals. This was pretty frustrating since I really wanted to see comparisons. I was like ''do you guys even collect, bro?''

Here's a good example from earlier today of the type of twitter conversations that could and should be happening more often:

https://twitter.com/NECA_TOYS/status/835534498490114048

It starts off with a familiar response from Randy dismissing any likelihood of Harrigan - nothing new there - but what's great is the numerous comments that follow in support of the original poster's request. Other fans chime in to express their hope for a Harrigan figure as well, and even start talking about how many different versions they want - and (at least so far) none of the brown-nosers have jumped in with their usual 'rolley-eyes' comments to try to shut anyone down.

In picking twitter battles, I think the correct strategy is not to try and convince Randy of any viewpoint that contradicts NECA's current product trends, but rather to reinforce and support the community of like-minded fans (who are already there on twitter, just seemingly outnumbered) so that all the praises and requests for more 'fan-fiction' figures are balanced out by praises and requests for more movie figures.

Do we reckon Randy reads all these follow-up comments? I don't know exactly how twitter works.

 

[Joda]

Yeah I really can't understand the appeal of those. Some people call NECA figures junk, obviously I disagree, but to me those variants really are Happy Meal nonsense. How would they even have mass appeal? A casual shopper won't have the slightest idea why there's a ****ing pink Alien. I suppose the packaging might explain it, if they bother to look at it. Even then will they want it? I dunno.

Strangely, I'm not even sure there are 'casual shoppers' for a company like NECA anymore. Aside from Toys R Us, there pretty much online only for most people (at least here in the states). They really are catering to a specific market, which sadly seems to be mostly the kind we see on their Twitter Feed...

 

[MaulFan]

Last I knew, the 2009 era Terminator figures go for like double retail now, so I'm sure for many, Ultimates have been first crack. Timing can suck, I had no collectibles cash when the original Dutch figures cMe out and seconday market prices are crazy, I'm very glad for the reissues.

 

[ApeManRyan]

Man Randy and the Neca lovers are serious over a comment that is so true.... DiFabio should of never gotten banned for the truth. Even if you rehash some more figures that would still be better then nothing. Kyle or future Kyle or John Conner like all of you are asking. They just don't listen or they are hiding exciting news who knows. Neca and Randy as a whole are tricky to tell what's going on. The fan boys are more annoying then anything. They just care about the skittle line.

 

[henzINNIT]

I'm a proud Neca fan-boy. They are hands down the best company in their field at this point, and have made so many impossible dreams come true. I got a great looking Terminator with Arnold's likeness, then every look I could ask for. Then a great T1000. Then a Tech Noir version. Then Kyle. Then Sarah. I've had many grails in this line, and that is a testiment to the company.

That said, I don't like Neca's hypocritical stance on the Terminator expanded universe. Randy has been clear that they won't touch anything beyond Cameron's films. That's quite limiting. They have pretty much scupted themselves into a corner at this point, exhausting the well of Arnold variants, and it appears that characters like John are going to be a hard sell when there are no "sure-fire" successes to package/release alongside him. Maybe Alien and Predator do just sell much more than Terminator does, but I can't help but think that part of the depth of those lines is Neca's willingness to pull from all of the films, games and spin-offs.

I want T3 figures. I hate Salvation, but there's some nice Stan Winston designs in there. There's a ton of stuff to mine from but they won't. That is frustrating.

 

[a-dev]

I'm a proud Neca fan-boy. They are hands down the best company in their field at this point, and have made so many impossible dreams come true. I got a great looking Terminator with Arnold's likeness, then every look I could ask for. Then a great T1000. Then a Tech Noir version. Then Kyle. Then Sarah. I've had many grails in this line, and that is a testiment to the company.

I agree, they've done fantastically for us Aliens and Robots fans, leaving everyone else in the dust. And they've tackled other classic 80s licenses aswell, I'm thinking Rocky, Rambo, Conan, Gremlins, even E.T. Going back further they've done Planet of the Apes. Unfortunately most of these weren't big successes for them - Rocky must have done reasonably well that those figures are being reissued and Gremlins is an ongoing line. I think the others are dead though. But, y'know, they tried all those rather than just finding a money-maker and going with that to the exclusion of everything else.

That said, I don't like Neca's hypocritical stance on the Terminator expanded universe. Randy has been clear that they won't touch anything beyond Cameron's films. That's quite limiting. They have pretty much scupted themselves into a corner at this point, exhausting the well of Arnold variants, and it appears that characters like John are going to be a hard sell when there are no "sure-fire" successes to package/release alongside him. Maybe Alien and Predator do just sell much more than Terminator does, but I can't help but think that part of the depth of those lines is Neca's willingness to pull from all of the films, games and spin-offs.

I've thought about that aswell, the part in bold. I mean the upcoming rosebox figure would have been an ideal companion release for a John Connor but there they go blowing that opportunity. But maybe that won't stop them putting out yet another Galleria T-800 if/when they put out John. I can envision a T-800 and John 2 pack ala Ripley and Newt and the T-800 could get that new mid-torso joint from the 1:4 figure.

As far as exhausting the well of Arnold variants - not just yet actually, there's some from T1 they could do - one very distinct (eye surgery scene) and one not so distinct (Motel attack with jacket zipped up, technically the tanker truck version should also have a zipped up jacket). For T2 they could yet do an Ultimate Steel Mill T-800 and a SWAT assault version (no knee damage yet, teargas launcher)

Trouble is I'm not sure they care enough anymore to go ahead and do these, not with the way Randy talks about Terminator. Would he even think of some of these variants let alone consider them worthwhile making? And you know his stance on anything outside the Cameron films.

 

[snoop101]

It's hilarious that Randy won't go near T3 or Salvation yet they made figures from Genisys.

 

[Kaiju]

 

[jye4ever]

I don't think that's a good example as that movie is a holiday classic that plays 24/7 on some channels, you don't see T2 getting round the clock play like that.

 

[Kaiju]

If they had some T-800, Sarah, and John box set like that you can't say it wouldn't sell.