NECA’s Randy Falk talks Aliens and Predator at NYCC! #DFATNYCC

The last time I had the opportunity to talk with NECA‘s Randy Falk was at Toy Fair 2014, you can read that interview here. This year at NYCC I was more than happy that the company had a presence at the show, along with having the one exclusive I’ve been dying to get my hands on, the Ahab Predator. This figure is based on a new Predator from Dark Horse‘s Fire and Stone event, and was actually a SDCC exclusive.

Randy took the time to show me the latest action figures from my favorite NECA series. Including Aliens, Predators, Planet of the Apes, 8-Bit Video Game Figures, and the latest from the company, Robocop vs Terminator. For this segment I will share with you what he and I talked about regarding two of my favorite lines, Aliens and Predators. I have been collecting and thoroughly enjoying these two lines for a while now and I think they are only getting better. But where are my Kenner throwback Alien figures?!

Trust me when I say that I was VERY interested in finding out more about what we have in store from these lines over the next 6 months! On display, they showed off this November’s Aliens Series 3; which consists of the figures previewed at Toy Fair. As predicted, there was a diorama set up with the highly anticipated Alien Queen and let me tell you that baby is HUGE and NASTY! I can’t wait to compare it to the older versions of the classic monster. Aliens series 4 was on display in the large format showing off both Ripleys from Alien, along with Dallas. The likeness to the actors is so uncanny, which says something about NECA and their awesome ability to deliver such high quality figures at their amazing price point.

I asked Randy if we were going to see other characters from the movie, or perhaps different version of the current ones they were already tackling. His answer made a lot of sense, and as usual it has a lot to do with the tooling of the figures. It comes down to the demand for Ripley or Dallas in their boring ship clothes, which isn’t very big. But to put them into cool looking spacesuits which they wear during their trek on LV-426, or when Ripley battles the alien at the end of the movie, is the best representation of the characters. One of the other issues that Randy explained to me is that they don’t have the rights to the likenesses of most of the other characters, hence why Kane is depicted with a facehugger and not a John Hurt head sculpt. I was kind of disappointed at the fact that we most likely won’t be getting an Ash figure.

BUT that Dallas figure is Tom Skerritt dead on! I am really excited for series 4 and beyond, especially to finally get a Ripley figure (or a few). Not to mention getting a Jonsey the cat! But you may ask, where are the Xenomorphs?! There hasn’t been a lot of non-human characters lately, and Randy said that would continue into series 4, BUT he assured me that this is an ALIENS line so the company will be heading back into Xenomorph territory soon enough. Series 3 will have the dog alien from Alien 3, and series 4 will most likely have one from Aliens. Around that time (early 2015) we will also be seeing the Aliens version of Ripley along with the Power-Loader, which was present at Toy Fair but not NYCC. I can’t wait to pit Ripley against the Queen!

Moving onto Predator Series 12 which will be hitting stores soon, along with the deluxe Bad Blood figure. The following set, Series 13, will be a return to the Kenner throwback series as three more Predators from toys of yesteryear will find their way back to my toy shelf. This includes one of my favorite ones of all time, the Cracked Tusk Predator! If any of you remember that original two-pack that had an Alien and a Predator squaring off, then you will be pleased when you see the update. NECA will be making the green version of this figure, and when I asked Randy about the possibility of a new two-pack, he assured me that it is on the table.

Finally ,we got a look at the updated Blade Fighter vehicle, which Randy told me has been redesigned since we last saw it at Toy Fair. We all know that the Viper Predator was removed from the set and will now be a part of series 12. This left some wiggle room to add more features to the Blade Fighter that would make it a full-fledged “fun” toy to not only display but to play with as well! Look for that in November, I know I will be! When I asked Randy about the possibilities of doing more Aliens and Predators based on the comics, he told me it’s in the works. Just the mere fact that we already have the Ahab Predator from the new Fire and Stone series gives me a lot of hope of what is just over the horizon. I can’t wait! Randy also mentioned that we will be finally getting figures based on Aliens vs Predator, something they haven’t tackled since before the inception of the line.