Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): NECA Toys' Randy Falk 

- by Señor Editor, 13 November 2015

If you're at all interested in pop culture collectibles then you must have heard of NECA (that's National Entertainment Collectibles Association). Over the last few years NECA easily became the best company around when it comes to plastic versions of the biggest icons of cinema, gaming, TV and more. There's practically nobody else out there making stuff of this quality, and at that kind of price. As somebody who's been hooked on NECA ever since I saw a Jason Voorhees on my friend's desk at work, I was real happy to talk with Randy Falk of the New Jersey company's Creative Development. The man who brings classic pop culture to life again, in plastic.

Check it out, as we talk the ins & outs of creating NECA figures, the company's plans for the near future, Iron Maiden and much more.
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TRASH MUTANT: First off, I think to a lot of people your job seems absolutely amazing. It seems like a dream job. How did you get started in the action figure/collectibles industry and how did you end up in product development at NECA?

RANDY FALK: Thanks, yes for me it is a dream job for sure. I have been a lifelong collector and fan of collectible toys. While in college I started my own mail order business selling collectible figures and at that time I was dabbling in some custom figures that I would also sell via ads in toy magazines and at various toy shows in the tri-state area. This was all pre-ebay and pre-internet so it was a lot different back then. Anyway, I kept this business going on the side and started a career teaching. A couple years later I had the opportunity to take a summer job with McFarlane Toys that quickly turned into a full time position and here we are, nearly 16 years later and still going strong in the toy business.

What a lot of people don't seem to realize, is that sometimes (especially with older movies) having the license to make figures from a movie doesn't mean you can make figures based on the actors' likeness. You have to get the rights to use the likeness from the actors themselves. This is something that seems really interesting to me. For example, I've read somewhere that Sigourney Weaver had a very "hands on" role in the approval process for your Ripley figures. How closely do you work with actors to get figures of them produced? Do you have any interesting stories related to that, that you could share with us?
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This is true, especially as it relates to older licenses that did not have any provisions for actor likeness or talent rights because these films were not merchandised like that back then, or the toys back then looked nothing like the actual talent, so it did not matter if they had rights or not. We have worked very hard to acquire likeness rights for talent that the studios did not have rights to use. Thankfully the studios have been very supportive in allowing us to reach out to the actors and actresses directly and negotiating the use of their likeness as it relates to collectibles and action figures.

A few major highlights are of course Arnold as Dutch from Predator and Sigourney Weaver for Ripley from the Alien films. I think it is important to note that the money or additional revenue or royalties earned for this type of agreement is insignificant, it does not amount to a great financial payday especially compared to what the actors can earn for film, commercial and voice work. It really comes down to the actors wanting to be a part of this and our ability to render them accurately and faithfully with a quality item that collectors want and can afford. Our job is to make them feel comfortable that their name or likeness will be treated with the utmost respect and that their inclusion in our lines are an integral part of a larger collection that resonates with fans for 30+ years. These characters and performances are now legendary and we are honored to be trusted with their likeness. When we sit back and look at a shelf that has our versions of Dutch, Ripley, Rambo, Batman, Superman, and others we are beyond proud to have brought all these classic film characters to life in toy form and to give something back or pay tribute to these movies and these characters that meant so much to us growing up.
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Some of the great likenesses in the 7 inch scale: Sigourney Weaver (Aliens), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Commando), Lance Henriksen (Aliens).

Do you guys have something like a "Holy Grail of an actor's likeness rights"? Like, are there figures based on specific actors that you'd really like to make, but for one reason or another it's incredibly hard to do?
 
That list is really pretty small at this point, we get to check off more and more each year. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the what ifs. I mean yes, it would be great to do something with Jack Nicholson, like Shining or Joker, and classic Western Clint Eastwood would be cool too, but there really is not much that I am longing for. Our track record is pretty remarkable and I am just thrilled to have been able to create as many wonderful figures as we have so far.
 
One of the things I really appreciate about NECA is that you guys offer stuff that's really, really high quality and you offer it a really great price. I mean, this may out me as not a very dedicated collector, but I don't ever want to spend, like, half of my monthly income on a figure, no matter how great it is. There are a lot of companies that sell stuff that's waaaay too expensive for your regular Joe, to the point that it's hard to even be interested in them at all. And there's a lot of mass-produced crap from other companies that just looks cheap and tacky, but it often costs more than a NECA figure. How are you able to deliver such great products at such reasonable rates?

Thanks and I am always glad when people notice and appreciate this. It is something we are always mindful of and a major part of our business model. We are able to do this by running a very tight ship here, we don’t have a ton of overhead and brand managers and marketing managers and blah blah blah, I wear many hats and my team collaborates together doing concept, design, sculpting, packaging, all of it.  We are also very mindful of tooling re-use and how we can save or re-use certain tooling to create other characters or other versions of characters that fans will want but always being faithful to the IP and making things that are film or game accurate.

Stephen, shooting the 1/4 scale Arkham Knight Batman.

You’ve been in the industry for a long while now and I think it’s safe to say that the action figure/collectible industry has changed a lot in this time. Obviously things are much different now than they were in, say, the ‘80s or ‘90s due to all kinds of advances. Nowadays it feels like things can’t get much better, as far as sculpting, articulation etc. are concerned (especially seeing some of the products you make). How do you see the industry evolving from here? As an insider, do you notice any new trends, things that weren’t there just a year or two ago?
 
I think the high end market has certainly grown with the emergence of Hot Toys, 3A, Enter Bay and others and it will be interesting to see how long that can sustain.

The 3D scanning and the whole figure of yourself thing is definitely going to grow, those little kiosks in select Targets right now are the first step into that exploding. Who doesn’t want to see themselves as a Jedi or a Colonial Marine or Super-hero – as this becomes more affordable and more accessible it will explode in popularity I think.

Looking at the great detail of your products, one might think that there's all kinds of 3D models involved, scans of the faces and equipment et cetera. I was pretty surprised when I first learned that the sculpting is actually done the old school way - by hand. This really made me appreciate the work you guys put into your stuff. To get this level of detail you can't help but think of the NECA sculptors as extremely talented artists. Can you take us through the process of how a figure is sculpted and developed?
 
Sure, yes we are almost all traditional here, certainly when it comes to humans and organic subject matter. We use digital for things that were created that way like the jaegers in Pacific Rim for example and certain game licenses we start with the digital but we output and go over and refine everything the old fashioned way. Our general process goes something like this…
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We come up with the concept/basic design as to what the figure will be and how it will be articulated. We will then rough out the sculpture in castilene (a very hard wax) then begin cutting it apart for articulation and doing all the fine detail work. At the same time the fabricators work on the accessories and weapons that the figure will come with.  It takes about 5-6 weeks per figure for the initial sculpt or prototype, then you need to allow for licensor approvals, molding and casting and paintmasters. Once it is all approved and we sent to china it s another 4-6 months for tooling and debugging. On average it takes about 9 months from concept to on shelf.

The NECA studio. Click to enlarge & drown in a sea of details!

Halloween was just recently, so obviously horror is fresh in everybody's mind. I know you guys have a great "Jason Lives" figure on the way, and you just released an "Ultimate Leatherface" figure from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie [check the NECA slideshow below for both]. Do you have anything else planned for the horror fans? Anything you can spoil a little or give a hint about?
 
Yes, we always do. We are looking at more Ultimate format treatments for 2016. We are building the retro figural doll format more and expanding on that. We are hoping to get back to Chucky and to explore the TCM sequels next year, too.

I follow you on Twitter, so I know you're a huge Iron Maiden fan. I also know that NECA made quite a few figures of Eddie, the band's classic "mascot". I can't help but suspect you had plenty to do with NECA making the Eddie figures, and that makes your job sound even cooler. What do you consider the greatest perks that come with your job?
 
Definitely, I love Maiden for 30+ years and working with them, meeting the band and helping create figures and masks from the legendary artwork that I used to sit in my bedroom staring at for hours on end while listening to the albums, is truly a blessing. The job in general is a blessing – I am lucky enough to actually love what I do and to help create toys and collectibles that people all over the world get enjoyment and satisfaction from. It is beyond gratifying to know that what we do in this little studio in NJ makes its way all over the world and is enjoyed by so many.

Randy, with just some of the NECA Maiden gear.

​What are your 3 favorite NECA figures of all time and why?
 
This is really tough to narrow down, it’s like Sophie’s Choice or something for me, I can give you 3 highlights though…
Pinhead – the first BIG one for us, really put us on the map and opened a lot of doors for us and showed that we could take over where McFarlane left off and bring it to a whole different level.
Ripley – everyone wanted this forever and it is the centerpiece of our Alien collection, to be entrusted by Sigourney to create this figure and to have it timed for the 35th Anniversary of Alien and now the 30th of Aliens next year makes it even more special.
Keaton Batman – especially getting this out in 7” format last year on the gold Toy Biz style card, so much nostalgia and all around awesomeness for this classic.

​NECA makes things from both classic franchises that the '80s (and older) kids grew up with, as well as stuff from brand new movies (like Pacific Rim, the Lone Ranger, or the Avengers movies). How do you decide on what license the company chooses to work with?
 
Generally I always prefer the classics, ’77-’87 to me are the golden years – the 10 best years for film, music and pop culture in general. I love playing in this timeframe the most but there are always exceptions. You can’t go wrong with the modern DC and Marvel movies and superheroes are evergreen. Pacific Rim really connected with it’s audience and 2+ years later the toys are still selling and doing well, the line has gone deep and working with Guillermo Del Toro was an honor. We are always looking at new IPs and new opportunities  that will connect with our audience and will make for cool toys. 
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Check out this slideshow for promo pics of just a few of the recent, new and upcoming NECA figures.

Last question. It’s been a great year for NECA, and as our readers can tell by the photos, you’ve really been killing it in 2015. New “Terminator” stuff, continuing the highly successful “Aliens” and “Predators” lines, all the awesome horror stuff, “Pacific Rim”… and you’re not finished yet, there’s plenty of good stuff on the way in 2015. That said, can you shine some light on NECA’s plans for next year?
 
I can offer a few teasers and some great announcements we have made recently. We are celebrating Aliens 30th in a big way next year, so watch for a lot of news on that front in the new year. We are doing Bill & Ted as a retro figural 2 pack, we are working on Uncharted 4 for Spring release, we are about to launch a brand new line of figures based on Weird Al and his various parodies from the his vast catalog, and so much more.
 
Thanks a lot for taking the time to chat with us! We’re looking forward to all the good things you have coming up and we wish you guys all the best. Thanks!
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Weird Al action figures! Here's hoping "Fat" gets a figure. Visit the official NECA website to see all of their huge catalogue of figures and collectibles. Plenty of great stuff to get this Christmas season. You'll end up broke! Also make sure to follow NECA on Twitter for all the updates, and like the fanpage.

Tagged: collectibles & merch, TM Interviews.

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