Toy Fair 2020: NECA

For a genre cinephile like me, there’s really no better place to be at Toy Fair than the NECA booth. As always, their display was filled with awesome new action figures and collectibles ranging from horror, to 80s classics, to long time genre favorites like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Aliens, and Predator.

One of the biggest draws of NECA’s display this year was their rapidly-expanding TMNT collection. The latest from the incredible Ninja Turtles Movie toy line include 7″ scale action figures of Tokka, Rahza, and Super Shredder from Secret of the Ooze, as well as Casey Jones and Raph in trenchcoat disguise. These figures will be released throughout the year exclusively at Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, Target’s exclusive Animated Series line will continue, as well, with two-packs including Splinter and Baxter Stockman, Zorax and the Triceratons, Roadkill Rodney, General Traag and Granitor. 2020 will also see a line of Target exclusive Ultimates join the collection, including a Foot Soldier with lots of extra, swappable parts, Metalhead, and Krang’s Android Body.

Technically, Alien celebrated its 40th Anniversary last year, but the festivities continue in 2020 with a new collection of figures based on the movie that launched the franchise. The collection will feature three waves of three figures each, with the first (Ripley with new realscan face paint apps, a clear prototype Big Chap, and Dallas) exclusive to Target; the second featuring Parker, Brett and a bloody Big Chap (exclusive to specialty retailers); and the third including Ash, Kane, and Big Chap (exclusive to Wal-Mart). We also finally got a release date for NECA’s original creation, the Alpha Predator, who is celebrating their 100th Predator figure release, and Ultimate upgrades of some of the Lost Tribe Predators.

Some other new figures were total surprises. NECA landed Back To The Future just in time for its 35th anniversary, and will release several 7″ action figures of Marty McFly, as well as a line of stylized figures based on the BTTF animated series. We’ll also see 8″ retro style figures from Jaws, including Brody, Quint, and the Shark, and the release of the long-awaited Gremlins 2: The New Batch lineup which includes Greta.

The biggest left-field surprise, though, had to be the Defenders of the Earth, a line of 7″ action figures based on the obscure 80s animated show, in turn based on King Features super heroes such as Flash Gordon and The Phantom. These figures looked awesome, and served as the perfect way NECA could reuse some of the fantastic tooling they dedicated to 2019’s DC vs. Dark Horse convention exclusive action figures.

Rounding out NECA’s remarkable display were new horror reveals, including both Toony Terrors such as Regan from The Exorcist and Beetlejuice, and 8″ retro figures like Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis from Halloween, Nada from They Live, and Ghostface from Scream.

NECA has never underwhelmed me with their Toy Fair displays, but 2020 was particularly great. It’s like every new product they had on display pulled me deeper and deeper into their web of nostalgia, coolness, and general genre nerd-dom. I’ll admit, the amount of Wal-Mart exclusives on deck is troubling, considering that awful retailers terrible track record in terms of distribution and flagrant disregard for good customer service. But considering the caliber of exclusives NECA is offering this year, I guess it will be worth the pain it takes to get ahold of those figures.

Check out photos from NECA’s showcase at Toy Fair, right here.