Devil May Cry/NECA

## Dante (Original Version)

### Location

The original prototype was reworked into the one that was shown at NYCC 2014 and eventually got mass produced

## Product Information

### Year(s)

2008

In the late 2000's, NECA planned to do an action figure based on the main protagonist of a long-running series of video games by Capcom. The figure was cancelled due to legal issues and while it would be eventually released seven years later, there are at least a few differnces from the final product.

## **Summary**

*Devil May Cry* is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and are developed/published by Capcom. The first game was released from August to December 2001 for the PlayStation 2 and told the story of a demon hunter named Dante, who lives in the modern day Mallet Island and uses his business to take out any and all demons he comes across. Along the way, he meets a woman named Trish who takes him on a journey to defeat the demon lord Mundus, who is responsible for the deaths of Dante's brother and mother. The story is told primarily through a mixture of cutscenes, which use the game engine and several pre-rendered full motion videos. The game is very loosely based on the Italian poem Divine Comedy by the use of allusions, including the game's protagonist Dante (named after Dante Alighieri) and other characters like Trish (Beatrice Portinari) and Vergil (Virgil). The game was originally conceived by Capcom developers as *Resident Evil 4*. Due to the staff feeling it would not fit the Resident Evil franchise, the project became its own title. Several gameplay elements were also inspired by a bug found in *Onimusha: Warlords*.  Devil May Cry received prominent coverage in the video game media due to the impact it had in the action-adventure genre, its high difficulty, and the high overall scores given to it by professional reviewers. The game has sold more than three million copies, spawned multiple sequels and a prequel, and is considered among the greatest video games of all time.

## **Action Figure**

In 2008, NECA announced that they would be doing an action figure of Dante as part of their Player Select line and a teaser image of the figure's clay sculpt was shown in an issue of *Toyfare* that came out that year. However, Capcom decided to pull the license from under NECA's feet as the toy was subsequentially cancelled. Though the day before New York Comic Con 2014, NECA took to their Twitter account to upload a mysterious post about a cancelled figure from eons ago that people would be seeing again at the convention. Speculation was pretty high to say the least, though when NYCC officially began from October 9th to 12th 2014 and pictures of NECA's booth emerged online, guests could see a prototype of what was the long lost *Devil May Cry* action figure.  The figure was originally promised for release in January 2015, though the earliest review of the product was in April 2015 so there may have been a slight delay.

## **Final Verdict**

The mystery and whereabouts of the original 2008 Dante prototype are a mystery and whether or not it was used for the 2015 "Ultimate" figure is hazy to say the least. The sculpts, on one hand, do look very similar; even the way the cape is staticly fluttered. Though the biggest difference is the leg area as had the Dante figure been released in the late 2000's as originally planned, his legs would've been a static piece like most of the figures in the Player Select line while the final figure features double jointed knees. Though to be fair, some early NECA figures did have that level of articulation and the original Dante prototype had some sort of exposed joints on his upper leg. So there may have been plans to have his legs articulated, though whether or not his legs would've been single or double jointed is a mystery. The original prototype carried one of two pistols just like the final figure, though its uncertain if he would've came with any of the other accessories (flintlock gun, muzzle flashes, sword, alternate hands) the final version had. The figure would've likely also came in clamshell packaging that all the Player Select figures used around the 2000's while the released version was packaged in a window-flap box that all "Ultimate" figues came with since 2015; the one for Dante resembles the cover art of the original *Devil May Cry* video game. Whether or not NECA had plans to do any of the other DMC characters like Vergil or Eva is uncertain and considering all the legal trouble they went through with Capcom to get this thing released, its unlikely we'll ever see more.

Long story short, its safe to say that the original Dante prototype was kept in NECA's studio for several years, was brought back in 2014 when they were allowed to work on it again, and made some slight changes to it; specifically, the legs and giving it a full coat of paint. Therefore, we can consider this figure: **FOUND**.

## **External Links**

* *OAFE*. (2014, September 28). Soon Forget: NECA's unreleased prototypes. Online post.

* Moore, J. (2015, June 10). Toyark Gallery - Devil May Cry Dante by NECA. *Toyark*. Online post.

## **References**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil\_May\_Cry
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil\_May\_Cry
3. ↑ https://www.preternia.com/2014/10/nycc-2014-neca-devil-may-cry-deluxe-dante/
4. ↑ https://www.preternia.com/2015/04/neca-devil-may-cry-dante-review/