NECA Toony Terrors

## NES Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger

What started as an online passion project based on horror movies was turned into a toyline that’s been running since 2018. Though for every figure they’ve released so far, there were two that have been shelved off indefinitely.

## **Summary:**

As early as 2014, illustrator Travis Falligant has been working on a series known as “Lost Mysteries”: a parody of *Scooby-Doo* and horror films which portray the Scooby Gang coming across classic horror film characters (mainly slasher killers) while emulating the classic *Where Are You?* art style. Other pieces are a riff on *The New Scooby-Doo Movies* title screens with guests star appearances from horror personalities as well as exploitation films.  On February 18th 2019, NECA announced a new toyline as part of their horror collectibles named Toony Terrors which were vinyl figures of classic horror movie characters (Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Pennywise) with theater marquee blister packaging and a cutout backdrop related to the character on the backside.  The line was controversial at first as it looked highly similar to Travis Falligant’s “Lost Mysteries” series and some accused NECA of ripping it off, though Toony Terrors continues to grow to this day and has incorporated characters like *Nosferatu, The Nun*,  and Victor Crowley from *Hatchet.*  It even paved the way for NECA to do cartoon figures based on not just their pre-existing licenses, but of the animated shows those licenses had back in the 1990’s. They include *Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures,*  *Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,*  and *Back to the Future*.

On September 13th 2019, NECA announced they would be doing two variants of their Toon Freddy and Toon Jason figures as they appeared in their infamous Nintendo Entertainment System video games by LJN in 1989. They’ve been doing these types of figures since San Diego Comic Con where the NES Jason action figure was originally intended as a 2013 exclusive. After it proved to be popular among collectors, NECA decided to sell it at mass retail along with an NES Freddy and several other characters from their licenses that received 80’s/90’s video games.  However, the Toony Terrors versions of these Nintendo killers never came out since NECA’s *Friday the 13th* line was caught in the crossfire between director Sean Cunningham and writer Victor Miller’s lawsuit over the rights to the franchise; also affected was NECA’s *Nightmare on Elm Street* license, despite both figures being approved way back in 2018.  Customers that pre-ordered both NES Jason and Freddy were given emails regarding their cancellation. Given that these figures are relatively recent, the prototypes are likely still within NECA’s studios and on March 18th 2021, NECA unveiled their first *Friday the 13th* figure in a while; being an “Ultimate” version of Jason as he appeared in *The New Blood* (was first made for the Cult Classics line). Even though it was delayed to July, its proof that NECA still pertains the *Friday the 13th* license (along with *NOES* to an extent) and as long as the Toony Terrors line still continues, NES Jason and Freddy may come of “toy limbo” someday.

## **References:**

1. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/images/3531979/artist-travis-falligant-continues-lost-mysteries-art-series-scooby-doo-x-horror-mashups/
2. ↑ https://brokehorrorfan.com/post/182897323108/neca-revealed-a-new-toy-line-called-toony-terrors
3. ↑ https://www.silversnail.com/products/toony-terrors-series-3
4. ↑ https://necaonline.com/2020/02/toony-terrors-6-scale-action-figure-series-4-assortment/
5. ↑ https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/118177
6. ↑ https://toywiz.com/neca-ace-ventura-pet-detective-the-animated-series-toony-classics-ace-ventura-action-figure/
7. ↑ https://www.ebgames.ca/Toys-Collectibles/Games/875645
8. ↑ https://drunkwooky.com/2019/09/13/neca-announce-nes-game-style-freddy-krueger-and-jason-voorhees-toony-terrors/
9. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3584117/due-licensing-issues-neca-cancelled-toony-terrors-nes-jason-voorhees-freddy-krueger-figures/