NECA ... What happened?

[RaphRage]

So the first series of NECA's Mirage Turtle figures came out.

They were epic. Sold well. All the releases were great. Carded, Black n White, Box Set, Bubble Case

And there was supposed to be a bad ass series 2 w/ I believe Shredder, Foot, Elite Foot, April and maybe a few others.

But what happened, why didn't they release? I wanted that Shredder so bad.

[Shogun26]

So the first series of NECA's Mirage Turtle figures came out.

They were epic. Sold well. All the releases were great. Carded, Black n White, Box Set, Bubble Case

And there was supposed to be a bad ass series 2 w/ I believe Shredder, Foot, Elite Foot, April and maybe a few others.

But what happened, why didn't they release? I wanted that Shredder so bad.

I'm pretty sure there is a thread about it. Check out the search feature. :D

[CyberCubed]

They are bastards, that is what.

[dkram230]

My assumption was the sale from Mirage to Viacom happened! The licensing agreement with NECA was with Mirage and for whatever reason Viacom no longer wanted to pursue it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don’t' think there was really much TMNT merchandise released at all in the years following the 2009 sale up until the IDW comic a year ago. The Playmates 25th anniversary TMNT was kind of Mirage's last hurrah!

[drewizzle88]

NECA is famous for this type of thing, glad we got the figures we got although I wish we had gotten many more.

[Candy Kappa]

this have been discusses through Mordor and back to the Shire many many times.

all and all Playmates was jealous and NECA is terrible with releases

[weizie]

Now im pretty sure I remember the situation being that NECA couldn't get them into toys r us, because of playmates having a contract that they are the only ninja turtle action figures allowed in toys r us. Because of this they did not sell well enough. So neca canned the second wave. And this huge demand for them is rather new over the past year.

Similar thing happened with ghostbusters. They did one awesome wave, and canceled the line (they couldn't secure the rights to bill murry's likeness, so instead of doing 3 of the 4 busters they just dropped the whole line).

[Candy Kappa]

sure Playmates made things a little sour with the whole no NECA TMNT in general toy stores.

But all in all, it fell squarely on NECA's shoulders and the as it is often usual, they blew it. They released April as a tester for wave 2, the comic April, not the yellow suit that nostalgics would buy much faster then blue suit. And they didn't use the Foot Ninja, that would most likely be the more successful water tester for a second wave of figures.

[GameMachineJames]

Nobody? Man...

What happened to NECA? They released 4 Raphaels. Terrible decision making...

[Dedboy]

A friend and I actually spoke to NECA at Toy Fair in 2011. They basically said that they only had the toy rights for a few years and couldn't get the second wave into production before the toy rights changed hands. My friend had the green & yellow April wave on order with NECA, as they were set to actually release them, but that's the time when the toy license changed hands and they cancelled all the orders for that wave several months later. The guys at NECA were still really hoping there would be a way to get more of their Turtles figures produced and released and even commented that it would be great to partner w/Nickelodeon to get them released, but I doubt that will happen...but we can still dream!!! :]

[Yep It's A Trap]

I haven't given up all hope. Remember what happened with the Gremlins first wave way back when? They released a handful of figs for the series one, and then lost the license or something and then never released anymore. Then comes 2011 at Toy Fair where we finally see a new line of figures even better than the first series.

[Discogod]

I haven't given up all hope. Remember what happened with the Gremlins first wave way back when? They released a handful of figs for the series one, and then lost the license or something and then never released anymore. Then comes 2011 at Toy Fair where we finally see a new line of figures even better than the first series.

Then I'm afraid you're living in fantasy world. The NECA line is deader than a very dead thing that's been left out in the sun for rather a long time.

[pannoni1]

It was just poor marketing, and that only the diehards really were aware of this line given that they weren't sold in mainstream stores. The $70 Pre-order price for April was a red flag. The real kicker though was when NECA decided to release the B&W variants in time for Turtles Forever which were poor sellers. This forced NECA to go into hiding with most TMNT products, until cancelling it in 2010 during the "Dark Period Lite" between Turtles Forever and the IDW launch, as there was initially a backlash again Nickelodeon purchasing the Turtles at the time and there were no new projects planned right after Turtles Forever. Here's more information about this line for those who missed it. The stretch from page 83 to 89 is especially agonizing.
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=21740&page=92

Good call Cybercubed on the "Is the Toyline dead?" post on page 83.

[Candy Kappa]

What happened to NECA? They released 4 Raphaels. Terrible decision making...

haven't heard that one before:trolleye:

[FoxZerro]

Nobody? Man...

What happened to NECA? They released 4 Raphaels. Terrible decision making...

This makes me sad because when I bought my Raphael carded back when they first came out it was Donatello in the box.

[Oculus Orbus]

Man, any time this subject comes out it breaks my heart. Best toys ever.

[poprob]

Yeah, I'm disappointed that the second wave didn't ever make it out. The pictures of the figures intended for that line looked fantastic.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

what actually happened:

playmates filed a lawsuit against NECA, telling them to stop making the tmnt figures, so the license was taking off NECA

[Master Splinter]

Nobody? Man...

What happened to NECA? They released 4 Raphaels. Terrible decision making...
:D


I almost spit my drink out. Good stuff.

-ms

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

here is a quick question;

if neca were still making the tmnt figures now, would the series one figures be a lot cheaper, or about the same?

[TonySiegel]

still can't get ahold of these figures for a reasonable price...

i guess the boots will be the reasonable alternative...

:tsad:

[tmntman]

what actually happened:

playmates filed a lawsuit against NECA, telling them to stop making the tmnt figures, so the license was taking off NECA

Do you have any proof of this? I know there were arguements over selling the figures at Toys R Us. But I don't think there was ever a lawsuit nor did it require NECA to stop making TMNT figures.

[slashpieturtlemix]

Quite curious myself on this lawsuit. If it did happen, what are the demands of it?