NECA

NECA

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) is an entertainment and media company that manufactures a variety of collectibles, including toys, action figures, apparel, and more since its inception in 1996. NECA’s business model includes obtaining licensing rights to manufacture toys and action figures based on popular films, television, video games, music and sports personalities, and anywhere else where there is consumer demand. NECA launched its REEL toys division that exclusively deals with the production of detailed action figure toys that are targeted toward teen and adult collectors and enthusiasts.

NECA has been licensed to manufacture and sell toys and action figures for around 140 different releases throughout multiple mediums and genres. What follows is a partial list of some of NECA’s more known action figures.

• Horror action figures: Different versions of Jason from Friday the 13th; Predator, Dutch, and Linn from The Predator; Pinhead from Hellraiser; Hadley, Ripley, and the Alien from Aliens; different versions of Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street; the doll from Chucky; T-800 and T-1000 from Terminator; Ash and Ed Deadite from Evil Dead 2; and Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
• Comic book action figures: Superman, Deadpool, Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, Jessie Custer and Cassidy from Preacher, KA, Hit-Gir, and MF’ER from Kick-Ass, and Dr. Strange.
• Video game action figures: Crash Bandicoot; Kratos from God of War; engineer and spy characters from Team Fortress 2; Chell and sentry turret from Portal 2; Thrall, Stitches, Sylvanas, and Raynor from WarCraft: Heroes of the Storm; Happy Sackboy, Quizzical Sackboy, and Nathan Drake-inspired Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet; Gordon Freeman from Half Life 2; and Nathan Drake from Uncharted 4.
• Cartoon action figures: White Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh!; characters from The Simpsons; and Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Fantasy/sci-fi action figures: Characters from Blade Runner 2049; the alien from E.T.; Godzilla; Gizmo and an assortment of Gremlins from Gremlins; Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth; characters from the original Planet of the Apes; an assortment of characters from Star Trek; and Dr. Herbert West from the Re-Animator.

NECA uses a very deliberate construction and production process for each of its action figure toys. This includes:

• Sketching stage: This stage is where an artist will draw the character in various poses to see where the NECA figure will look most natural. This starts as line drawings with more detail added as the whole picture starts to come together.
• Prototype stage: The next stage is the building of the NECA figure prototype using clay with aluminum wire as a frame. The clay is sculpted and ultimately painted to fit the concept design.
• Master mold stage: Once the NECA figure is approved, a master mold is made from which mass production of the line can commence.

Once the NECA figures are in the production line, they are made using a hardened plastic in most instances, though other materials can be employed for limited runs.