Todd McFarlane Announces That Movie Maniacs Are Returning

[JayC]

According to IGN, Todd McFarlane told them this past weekend during the New York Comic Con that he plans on bringing back his classic movie and monster action figure lines known as Movie Maniacs and Clive Barker's Tortured Souls, with an emphasis on direct to consumer sales. Something we have seen more and more companies do in recent years as retail shelf space for action figures gets smaller and smaller.

There is no denying that McFarlane was one of the original pioneers of the "Adult Action Figure Collector" market here in the United States when he started his company McFalrane Toys back in the 90's, making figures for adults as opposed for kids. In recent years however McFarlane has in large part moved away from that demographic, concentrating more on big license name brands in order to gain a larger presence on the shelves of big box retailers such as Target and Walmart. Licenses such as Halo, NBA, MLB and Rick & Morty, even creating a new line of building block toys in order to try and compete with the likes of LEGO. During that same time, other companies such as NECA and Mezco have worked hard to fill that void left open by McFarlane, creating figures based on horror icons such as Jason, Freddy and Chucky, as well as Aliens and Predator. In fact I think many would argue that NECA not only filled that void but surpassed McFarlane by providing consumers with action figures that not only featured highly detailed sculpts and paints, but also had decent articulation. Something most McFarlane figures sorely lack even to this day, and something Todd himself has been very reluctant to incorporate into his products.

So the question that is begged to be asked, do we really need Movie Maniacs anymore? Can McFarlane really make a comeback in niche market that he once helped create, or have his competitors far surpassed him to the point of no return? See images for some of McFarlane's older Movie Maniac figures below and let us know what you think in the comments section.

[BlackArbor1]

We definitely need Movie Maniacs. Even if they're not as well articulated as NECA's, Todd is willing to get the licenses NECA says are too niche, so while they keep pumping out Aliens and Predators (which I'm not complaining about, mind you) Maybe we can get some other characters like Macready, the Toxic Avenger and, pipe dream I know, Pee Wee Herman!

[Belmont13]

I was a big fan of this line growing up,  still have a few of them.  Now I'm not sure I would be looking forward to this line I have become accustomed to a certain standard when it comes to action figures(articulation, aesthetics,etc.) that I don't know that McFarlane toys will live up to. While I agree Neca that has done a fantastic job, I feel they have become kind of complacent releasing variations of the same thing over and over again, I understand they have to deal licensing issues but still... Another thing is that I no longer feel like collecting figures from movies they kind of lost their appeal to me few exceptions would be an Eric Draven action figure and a Mad Max figure and even then they would have to be close to Hot Toys level for me to invest. 

[GojiBill]

So happy to hear this, I loved the Movie Maniacs line. King Kong, Alien Queen, Pumpkin Head, and Legend Lord of Darkness, just to name a few, were excellent figures. 

[sXeblues]

I’m actually fairly excited by the prospect of the Movie Maniacs line making a return... Of course, I’ll want to see what kind of product we’re talking about, and how they’re going to go about distribution. But, I have fond memories of the line, even though I only ever personally picked up half dozen of them. Most of which I no longer possess, but wish that I did. I think nostalgia for the original line will certainly raise some eyebrows. And then, depending on the licenses that get put into production, there could be a lot of excitement seeing the line being brought back to the fore.

[Georgiasam]

I would love to see more Movie Maniacs. I would love a Jack Torrance figure from The Shining.

[FASVB]

If he manages to introduce some different licenses will be very much welcome, if not he will not be able to top NECA and will fail miserably. Anyway, the articulation is necessary, otherwise are just statues.  We have enough of that already

[GojiBill]

I’ll probably go against popular opinion on this one, but I prefer the McFarlane Alien Queen to NECA’s version. I like the tweaks they made in the design. Granted, the NECA version is far more accurate and poseable, but I still like McFarlane version more.

[JonD7]

I still have those Matrix figures! Great line! I'm still not interested though as I only buy high end stuff now or pops.

[mako]

Seems like an odd time to get his hand back in the ring. I mean with todays highly detailed, highly articulated and easily available figures, EVERYBODY seems to be doing what Toddy Mac tried to do back then with his fragile, rarely articulated pieces of... plastic. Only they're doing it better than he ever did it.

Reminds me of the Twilight Zone where the old boxer wants to get back into the sport despite it being taken over by super powered robot fighters.

[sXeblues]

^ It would be really nice if he put an emphasis on articulation, to match his dedication to nailing down the sort of base, most familiar looks of certain characters.

[kILLMonger]

Movie Maniacs  came at the tail end of my relationship with McFarlane.  He was cranking out statues when I wanted poseable figs.  And NECA was coming on to the scene out McFarlaning McFarlane.  I'll take a wait and see approach.  I will say NECA has gotten kinda lazy without the competition and let a few licenses go due to neglect (GoW, Pacific Rim, Borderlands)...so McFarlane coming back in may finally motivate NECA and rekindle the "license war" to see who can crank out the best figs.  BUT McFarlane had to step up the articulation game.  NECA has shown great sculpts can be poseable.   And we gotta move beyond this horror only tripe.  There are lots of great fantasy/sci-fi films that deserve to be made plastic....we gotta mine those as well.    

[kILLMonger]

Now I WILL go on record to say that instead of Movie Maniacs...how about going back into the Spawn vault and/or giving us some Invincible/Haunt/Tech Jacket figs?

[chowy]

The competition is gonna be really hard. NECA is killing it, but there is always room for improvement

[FASVB]

On 10/9/2018 at 2:25 PM, kILLMonger said:

Movie Maniacs  came at the tail end of my relationship with McFarlane.  He was cranking out statues when I wanted poseable figs.  And NECA was coming on to the scene out McFarlaning McFarlane.  I'll take a wait and see approach.  I will say NECA has gotten kinda lazy without the competition and let a few licenses go due to neglect (GoW, Pacific Rim, Borderlands)...so McFarlane coming back in may finally motivate NECA and rekindle the "license war" to see who can crank out the best figs.  BUT McFarlane had to step up the articulation game.  NECA has shown great sculpts can be poseable.   And we gotta move beyond this horror only tripe.  There are lots of great fantasy/sci-fi films that deserve to be made plastic....we gotta mine those as well.    

I did not collect back then, so my opinion might be off. But Some licences get dumped, mostly because of low sales. 

On of the last examples is Heroes of The Storm. The figures were amazing and the best blizzard figures ever made. I missed Thrall and Sylvanas and I hope to get those still. But they didn't even finish and released Diablo that had all the sculpt done and a prototype shown because of low sales. The price was amazing considering the sculpt and paint of the figures, but in the end Randy said that they were taking losses so they only released the last three figures that were slated to be released and had preorders. 

 

[kILLMonger]

12 hours ago, FASVB said:

I did not collect back then, so my opinion might be off. But Some licences get dumped, mostly because of low sales. 

On of the last examples is Heroes of The Storm. The figures were amazing and the best blizzard figures ever made. I missed Thrall and Sylvanas and I hope to get those still. But they didn't even finish and released Diablo that had all the sculpt done and a prototype shown because of low sales. The price was amazing considering the sculpt and paint of the figures, but in the end Randy said that they were taking losses so they only released the last three figures that were slated to be released and had preorders. 

 

Yeah those Heroes of the Storm were really great looking figs.  I wanted the sniper chick, Jim Raynor, and the angel thing...sadly I delayed and we all know what happened to TRU.  I'd like to think that if they were at Target they might sell but TRU was charging 25 for each....I feel for these toy companies because they are going to price themselves out especially ones like NECA. The hobby is getting to cost too much.  I used to be able to get doubles of figs but 50 bucks for a carded and a opener....yeah...even 25 now makes me think twice about what I get and what I don't

[FASVB]

2 hours ago, kILLMonger said:

Yeah those Heroes of the Storm were really great looking figs.  I wanted the sniper chick, Jim Raynor, and the angel thing...sadly I delayed and we all know what happened to TRU.  I'd like to think that if they were at Target they might sell but TRU was charging 25 for each....I feel for these toy companies because they are going to price themselves out especially ones like NECA. The hobby is getting to cost too much.  I used to be able to get doubles of figs but 50 bucks for a carded and a opener....yeah...even 25 now makes me think twice about what I get and what I don't

Nova and Tyrael at one point were like $16 at Think Geek and you still can find them at BBTS but sold as doubles with the other figures from each wave. Raynor is still available for 27 bucks.  Which is not expensive at all. These figures are supposed to be sold for $30, At least the bigger ones, because they are worth it.