NECA's Randy Falk Talks Defenders of the Earth, Turtles And More Including The Possibility Of Turtle Vehicles And Playsets

[JayC]

NECA's Randy Falk sat down with Pixel Dan to talk about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jaws, Defenders of the Earth and more.
 

Some of the key takeaways from the interview include the following:

There will be 4 NECA SDCC exclusives offered this year and they are looking to work with some of their retail partners so they will be made available both online and at brick and mortar stores, since the con itself has been canceled.

Randy confirmed that a Rocksteady in Bunny Suit figure will be offered in one of the LootCrate bundles, to go with the Bebop in a Bunny Suit, as seen in the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode “The Turtles and the Hare”. The Bebop figure is only available when you buy all the 3 Turtle crates as a bundle. The Rocksteady figure should be the one offered in the cartoon based crate, to go along with the Mirage Shredder and recently announced Arcade Electrocuted Turtle figures.
    For the TMNT movie line coming to Walmart, things start off in June with the Casey Jones and Raph in Disguise 2-pack. Casey's mask is not removable, however they did sculpt an unmasked head. Unfortunately they were not able to get the actors likeness rights in order to release it.

After the Casey 2-pack, they will be re-releasing the 4 movie turtle figures in 2-pack form. The only real difference with these Walmart versions and the previous Gamestop ones is, the new Walmart ones will feature additional headbands.

There is a Movie FOOT Clan Army Builder Pack coming and they are hoping to be able to include the weapons rack previously released in last years SDCC exclusive set.
 

Beyond that Randy said they have two more 2-packs for the first movie coming to Walmart as well as some type of movie accessory pack. Then of course they also have the TMNT II The Secret Of The Ooze Super Shredder   deluxe figure and Tokka & Rahza 2-pack. The Tokka and Rahza 2-pack will cost more than their other 2-packs and likely cost around $60, as opposed to $50.

For the Target exclusive TMNT animated series line, Randy said wave 3 will be shipping soon and wave 4 will soon follow after that. By the end of the year Randy expects that they will have released around 40 different animated series figures.

Randy said they are looking to release the TMNT animated series diorama that was on display at Toy Fair. Originally they were looking to first make it available during SDCC this year. Now it will likely be offered as a specialty store item with hopes of getting it out by end of year. Sometime after series 5 gets released.

While NO where near being confirmed at this time of being able to happen, Randy said they had been doing some design work on possibly doing a Animated Series Sewer Lair diorama. The idea would be that it would attach to the building diorama so you would have the building above ground and the lair under the street. They have also been looking at ways of possibly doing a Party Wagon van vehicle.

Randy goes on to say that they have a big expensive Turtle item coming to Target which is set to be released in mid-november, just in time for the holidays. This item is going to cost around $100. If that item sells well, it should help open the door to being able to do other things like the Sewer Lair and Party Wagon.

Randy also indicated they really want to do a Usagi Yojimbo figure for the Turtles line, but that some additional negotiations still need to happen first. The Usagi character is controlled by it's creator Stan Sakai, so they need his blessing as well as Nickelodeons to make that figure happen, which Randy doesn't foresee being a problem.

Randy also teased the possibility of doing characters like   Napoleon Bonafrog and his entire clan.

More quarter scale figures are coming as well. For the movie look for Splinter and Casey Jones to be released some time in 2021. Randy said they also plan on doing animated versions of the 4 turtles, with the idea that each will come with interchangeable facial expressions.

Outside of Turtles Randy talked about things like how they have been working on a huge 30" Jaws shark figure which will feature a diorama base and articulated jaw and fins. Because of the size and cost, they may end up looking to crowdsourcing to get it released.

Randy said they have a couple more Godzilla figures coming, but then after that the line will likely go on hiatus due to there being a new master toy license holder for the property. I don't think we should expect any Kong vs Godzilla products from NECA.
   

The newly announced 7" scale Defenders of the Earth line likely won't be released until 2021. Randy hopes that either Target or Walmart will carry these figures. The plan is to release Flash Gordon, Ming the Merciless and The Phantom first, followed by Mandrake the Magician and Lothar. Other figures have been sculpted for the line which they also plan on releasing. If the line does well then they may look to expand it and do figures based on the Flash Gordon comics and animated series.

Randy finished up by saying they people should look for more NECA product in general being available in more Walmart stores by September.

[IronWill72]

Definitely picking up Tokka & Rahza as well as Super Shredder (were those Target also or just Walmart?)!  Was really hoping we would see the Defenders line drop this year!!!!  Hoping NECA branches the 7" line into a few more like the Defenders.  Much like the DC/Predator/Alien how about Judge Dredd since he crossed over also!

[Kenwriter]

6 minutes ago, IronWill72 said:

Definitely picking up Tokka & Rahza as well as Super Shredder (were those Target also or just Walmart?)! 

The new 7" movie turtle figures are exclusive to Wal-Mart.

[memocromatico]

30" Bruce????? SOLD!!!!!

[JayC]

12 minutes ago, memocromatico said:

30" Bruce????? SOLD!!!!!

Sounds really detailed but also sounds like its gonna cost in the neighborhood of several hundred dollars. I have to wonder how many will be willing to plop down that much for a big shark?

[JayC]

18 minutes ago, Neovorticism2 said:

Something that has become clear to me lately is that nowadays almost any crowdfunding campaign, whatever it may be, has a chance of being founded, whatever it is, there will always be people willing to throw lots of money at them.

That is true.

[Roadpigmaster]

I'm all about collecting the Defenders of the Earth... Also continue the NECA TMNT cartoon collection... By the way I'm still looking for Bebop and Rocksteady!

[mako]

1 hour ago, Roadpigmaster said:

I'm all about collecting the Defenders of the Earth... Also continue the NECA TMNT cartoon collection... By the way I'm still looking for Bebop and Rocksteady!

Same here. Although, and I've said as much before, I hope when they say the DOE line is 7" scale, they mean like the Animated Turtle line's 7" scale, which is actually closer to Marvel Legends scale.

'Cause, Man, I really want Marvel Legends scale Defenders of the Earth figures.

[supermancrotch]

FLASH GORDON OF DEFENDERS OF EARTH IS A TOTAL SEXY MAXI HYPER MACHO

[IronWill72]

7 hours ago, mako said:

Same here. Although, and I've said as much before, I hope when they say the DOE line is 7" scale, they mean like the Animated Turtle line's 7" scale, which is actually closer to Marvel Legends scale.

'Cause, Man, I really want Marvel Legends scale Defenders of the Earth figures.

Unfortunately I believe these will be true 7" scale like the DC Batman/Superman/Predator/Alien wave.  Imo these did not scale well with ML.  On the plus side I consider that Batman and Superman to be the best version of those 2 characters in figure format, so expecting big things from the Defenders line!!

 

[Roadpigmaster]

41 minutes ago, IronWill72 said:

Unfortunately I believe these will be true 7" scale like the DC Batman/Superman/Predator/Alien wave.  Imo these did not scale well with ML.  On the plus side I consider that Batman and Superman to be the best version of those 2 characters in figure format, so expecting big things from the Defenders line!!

 

I remember in the 80s how awesome that cartoon was and finally after more than 30 years they are coming in action figures form...

I used to have the Galoob figures but I sold them because they are not a good representation of them like other toy lines are...

[mako]

1 hour ago, IronWill72 said:

Unfortunately I believe these will be true 7" scale like the DC Batman/Superman/Predator/Alien wave.  Imo these did not scale well with ML.  On the plus side I consider that Batman and Superman to be the best version of those 2 characters in figure format, so expecting big things from the Defenders line!!

 

Possible, but then we haven't seen them compared with any other figures so anything goes right now. Who knows, maybe Neca has an "Animated" scale just for TMNT and other toons.

Probably wishful thinking, but hope never killed anybody.

[MutantEquality]

Where's the frick is the talk about the new Krang Android body? Come on!

[mako]

Now that I think about it, wasn't there talk early on of a Foot Soldier multi-pack coming sometime this year? That could be the 100 dollar set mentioned. I'm all about army-building, but I don't know that I'd go that far.

[Roadpigmaster]

4 hours ago, mako said:

Now that I think about it, wasn't there talk early on of a Foot Soldier multi-pack coming sometime this year? That could be the 100 dollar set mentioned. I'm all about army-building, but I don't know that I'd go that far.

Interesting, it's a possibility and we will have to wait to see if indeed is that for the $100 deal.

[JayC]

11 hours ago, MutantEquality said:

Where's the frick is the talk about the new Krang Android body? Come on!

It's mentioned in the interview, but nothing new that we didn't already know about it since Toy Fair was revealed.

[InspectorZartan]

I’m hoping that Defenders of the Earth does well enough that we’re finally able to get figures of the teens/kids.  They were key characters we’ve never ever gotten.  

[SpiderS]

I am really glad they going forward with Phantom figure, I don’t care much about others in the series but he’s must have for me even tho he will not fit my collection that well. 

[Roadpigmaster]

3 hours ago, InspectorZartan said:

I’m hoping that Defenders of the Earth does well enough that we’re finally able to get figures of the teens/kids.  They were key characters we’ve never ever gotten.  

Garax and the Ice Robots could be a great pack for future waves...

[GojiBill]

Giant Alien Queen happens and 30” JAWS gets options, but no love for a KotM King Ghidorah release, bollocks.

[TheMikeSnyder]

I didn't really grow up with Defenders of the Earth, but I'm definitely going for that Phantom figure.

[Roadpigmaster]

4 hours ago, TheMikeSnyder said:

I didn't really grow up with Defenders of the Earth, but I'm definitely going for that Phantom figure.

You can watch the episodes on Tubi so you get familiar...

I have all the episodes on DVD...

[JayC]

I didn’t really watch the show either but like the characters. I am also interested in seeing more from Boss Fight Studio for the 4” stuff.

[Roadpigmaster]

51 minutes ago, JayC said:

I didn’t really watch the show either but like the characters. I am also interested in seeing more from Boss Fight Studio for the 4” stuff.

In an interview with one of the boss fight studios founders, he stated that they been trying to get the Defenders of the Earth license but they didn't were able to get it so they focus on doing Flash Gordon all versions (Not DOE), the Phantom also trying to make different versions from the comics...

Here is the interview.

 

[JayC]

Yeah they had the figures on display at toy fair.