Unboxed: NECA Back to the Future Animated Series

If you aren’t aware by now, Back to the Future is one of my favorite franchises.  I still wear a calculator watch and owning a Delorean is still on my bucket list.

The animated series picks up where the movie trilogy left off with Doc Brown on his Hill Valley farm with wife Clara and sons Jules and Verne.  Although the usual movie characters made occasional appearances, the show focused primarily on the Brown family.  The show ran for 2 seasons on CBS on Saturday mornings from 1991-92 before the reruns reappeared in the FoxBox in the early 2000s.

Trivia note: It was the first production of Universal Cartoon Studios.

NECA knew how popular the franchise was and worked some of their usual magic to acquire the license for not only the movie related stuff but the animated series as well.  When they made all of their Back to the Future reveals at Toy Fair, I was most excited for the Ultimate movie versions but was pleasantly surprised they decided to give us some animated series offerings as well.  I also feel it was smart thinking to follow the Toony Terrors model keeping them simple and affordable.  At $12.99 each, it makes the decision much easier for someone who is on the fence. (more…)

Unboxed: NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze Super Shredder

I remember my second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie experience better than the first one.  Although I managed to see both in theaters, the second one was a complete surprise as I was told we were “too busy with soccer games”.  My father, who was not a fan of sitting through kids movies in theaters, must have had an extra warm heart that weekend.  I remember after my soccer game asking if we could see it expecting him to say no.  I was shocked when he was like “let me talk to your mother”.  After a brief chat on the walk to the car it was decided, we were going to the movies.  We then stopped by the house to change and check the paper on when the next showings were.  As I mentioned, my dad wasn’t big on taking us to the actual movies so the fact that he took me to this one gives it an extra special place in my heart.

I knew they would try to go bigger with new characters and expand on the previous movie but was not expecting Super Shredder.  Although it wasn’t the climactic ending I was expecting it was still cool to see what would happen if Shredder juiced up on mutagen.  NECA did a great job with this one bringing Super Shredder from the big screen to action figure.  Although he is considered a Walmart exclusive, NECA did have a limited amount up on their site as well.  If you missed out on those it looks like you are at the mercy of Walmart.  I can’t express enough how grateful I am to the gang at NECA for listening to the fans and finding creative ways to help get these figures into more collectors’ hands instead of the scalpers.  There are many issues with distribution and licensing that not everyone understands so the hard work to find ways around them is definitely appreciated. (more…)

Unboxed: NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Slash& Leatherhead

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon in the 80s was what got me into the turtles so the toon line by NECA is one of my favorites. The only problem is they are everyone else’s favorites too, making them hard to come by at retail.  With a little patience I do eventually find them. It might be months after all the cool kids get theirs, but I eventually get them without having to feed the scalpers. After not having much luck finding NECA’s Toon Casey Jones and Foot Soldier my expectations weren’t high on my ability to find Slash and Leatherhead either. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I snagged the last one at my main Target the other day so quick after release. (more…)