Lee’s Toy Review #123 – January 2003
NECA
Hellraiser
One of the most longed-for horror franchises is about to materialize, in the form of action figures, statues, lunchboxes, and various sundry and other giftware items. It’s a franchise that seemed like it would never see the light of day. After all, if it hadn’t already been done by those companies you’d most expect to have done it, how was it ever going to happen? Then, a couple of months ago the rumor started to leak that a company specializing in entertainment-based-collectibles had secured the rights to the franchise. How did National Entertainment Collectibles Association [NECA] manage to wrangle the license from Miramax when no one else could? “We made them an offer they couldn’t refuse,” said Randy Falk, NECA’s Director of Product Development. “We were able to offer a whole program, more than anyone else was able to.”
Falk, as a long-time horror buff whose experience includes having worked in R&D on McFarlane Toys’ Movie Maniac series, had his sights on Miramax’s Hellraiser property for a long time. “As a horror fan, and with Movie Maniacs being my favorite series I ever worked on, I had the chance to work on some of the great ones, like Jason from Friday the 13th, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Michael Myers from Halloween, Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. The way I saw it, Pinhead was really the only big guy left in the genre, and the only guy with that many movie sequels to his credit. Pinhead was the only major modern day horror icon that hadn’t been immortalized in plastic yet. That’s why we went after Hellraiser as hard as we did. We weren’t the only ones who tried. Everyone wanted to do it, but nobody could get an offer together that worked for Miramax, till we came along.”
“We could see very clearly how much potential the line had,” said NECA Public Relations Director, Chris Farinas. “Within a week of our leaking this licensing deal out, we had people approaching us from all over the world,” Farinas added. “The thing with Hellraiser is that it’s got a worldwide cult following.”
“Once the press release was out that we had the license we started getting calls from parties in Spain, Germany, France, and England, all seeking exclusive distribution rights,” said Falk. The Hellraiser license has opened a lot of doors for us. It was a good move in terms of positioning for NECA.
Though you’ve only been reading about NECA in toy collector pubs for about a year, the company has been around for a lot of years making entertainment and music-based memorabilia, but with an emphasis on music. Its more recent push into Toyland, with the Tron and Nightmare Before Christmas action figures, has already earned the company a new kind of acclaim in both the trade and the hobby and gift markets to which it sells the lion’s share of its product. Brands such as the Headknockers™ line of bobble-head dolls, and the Headlites™ party light sets are already well recognized in the collector marketplace.
So, who is NECA? It’s visionary president, Joel Weinshanker, comes from a 15-year plus stint in the entertainment business. He’s got a real eye for what’s entertainment and hot it translates in bankable nostalgia. The Director of Product Development, Falk, comes from McFarlane Toys where he worked in Research & Development for two years. Falk worked on brands such as Shrek, Metallica, Sports Picks, Movie Maniacs, Iron Maiden, and Metal Gear Solid.
Ed Repka is NECA’s art director. If Repka’s name doesn’t sound familiar right away, it will in a second. Repka directs most of the designs and control drawings. He’s in charge of most of the paint masters and the decos on all of the figures. He’s also oversees the development of all NECA packaging graphics. Repka has his hands on an approval over any artistic aspect of a NECA project. Repka’s background is interesting as it extends beyond the realm of toys. He was the main designer for the Misfits and Megadeth. Repka did all of the illustrations for album covers, t-shirts, and videos. One of Repka’s most well-known creations was the character “Vic Rattlehead.” In addition to the work Repka did with those two bands, he was very active in the garage kit business.
Kyle Windrix is NECA’s lead sculptor. Hailing from Oklahoma, Windrix is another McFarlane Toys vet, having been lead sculptor there for four years. Shawn Nagle is a freelance sculptor who came out of the garage kit industry into Toyland. Nagle has been working with NECA for about three months, and sculpted the Chatterer Beast you’ll be seeing in a future issue.
Sam Greenwell is a freelance sculptor who’s done work for Dark Horse Comics, DC Direct, and Diamond. According to Falk, “Sam does good work, and he’s a good guy.” Greenwell, renowned for his female figure sculpts, sculpted the Wire Twin Cenobite.
Brian Rolls is NECA’s graphic designer. Guys like Rolls are the real unsung heroes of the toy industry. He’s the guy on packaging. It’s his genius that makes you want to collect these toys in-package. He does all the package layout and design, under direction from Repka.
Series 1 Hellraiser action figures are due out on blister cards in April or May, and include: Pinhead, Chatterer, CD, Inferno (one of the Wire Twins), & the Chatterer Beast. All of the figures in this series will be released as an assortment at the same time. An exclusive Wire Twins 2-pack will be available about a month after, via an arrangement with Marz Distribution, one of the companies that wanted in right away once the news broke about NECA getting the Hellraiser license. The Wire Twins 2-pack will come with Inferno (with extended tongue) and her close-mouthed twin. They pack with an exclusive creepy-crawly Chatterer torso.
What are NECA’s plans beyond Series 1? “We’d love to do all of the Cenobites, or at least as many as we can,” said Falk. “But, we don’t want the look of the line to get redundant. We want to have something that’s visually different from the traditional black leather-clad Cenobites in each assortment. In Series 1 it’s the Chatterer Beast, the dog-like Cenobite creature. Later on, with Series 2 we’ll be introducing some of the human victims.
Series 2 is slated
for a 4th Quarter roll-out. NECA plans on, or shall we say “hopes
for,” the opportunity to do most if not all of the Cenobites from the Hellraiser
movies. According to Falk, that’s about twenty some odd Cenobites. “We’re hoping
to do at least four series of Hellraiser figures,” said Falk.
As part of the
conditions of the licensing agreement between Miramax and NECA, the Hellraiser
action figures and related merchandise will only be available via the specialty
market. Stores that are on board right now include the Musicland Group (Suncoast,
Sam Goody, Media Play), and Spencer Gifts.
There were a couple
of major challenges faced by the NECA team when it came to the Hellraiser
license. “The first one was getting the license,” said Falk. “The second, and
frankly the biggest,” chuckled Falk, “was translating the pins from the big
screen to a 7-inch action figure.” In the films, Pinhead’s prickly coif
contained 134 pins. To give you some idea of the devotion to detail lavished on
the NECA prototype 2-up, it’s got 103. Going from resin 2-up down to 7-inch PVC
action figure, Pinhead now has close to 100 semi-rigid plastic pins in his
noggin. “We’re still working out the type of plastic we’re making the pins of,”
said Falk. “They’re not ABS and they’re not soft vinyl – they’re sort of
in-between. What we’re trying to avoid is the kind of breakage you’d get with a
pin that might be too hard and brittle, and the sort of mess you might get with
a pin that’s too flexible. I don’t want Pinhead shipping to stores and looking
like he’s got a bad case of bed-head.”
Speaking of the
2-up, which stands between 12 and 14 inches tall, Pinhead will be cast exactly
that size as a limited edition resin statue, with an end number 1,000 [recently
changed to 1,500 however due to consumer demand]. The statues will be sold
primarily through Marz and Diamond Distribution. “We also held a few statues out
for some of the mom & pop stores to increase involvement, like Entertainment
Earth, Amok Time, and Monsters In Motion. The SRP of the Pinhead statue is
$199.99. The pins in the head of the stature are all metal.
What else is lined
up for NECA in terms of Hellraiser product? “We’ll be doing a Pinhead
Headknocker,” said Farinas. That prototype will be at Toy Fair next month. A
Chatterer mini bust is in the offing too, a prototype of which will also be
unveiled in the Big Apple next month. Also expect to see a set of Pinhead Head
Lites™. The idea right now is to offer a set of lights that alternates Pinhead’s
head with the Lament Configuration puzzle box.
Though this feature has mostly pertained to the
NECA’s licensed Hellraiser collectibles, there’s a lot of other really cool
collectible things to watch for from this group this year. Among them you’ll
find a set of Homer Simpson Head Lites™ and a Homer Simpson Jack-in-the-box. At
specialty retail this month you’ll find Living Dead Dolls and Daredevil
Headknockers™, and a very special, super-limited edition Nightmare Before
Christmas Coffin Collectors’ Set, containing a complete matched-number set of
NECA’s Nightmare Before Christmas action figures on retro style cards. The
Coffin Box itself is made of weighty poly-resin. The Coffin Box set is limited
to just 100 pieces worldwide, and has an SRP of $399.99.