According to
IGN,
Todd McFarlane told them this past weekend during the
New York Comic Con that he plans on bringing back his classic movie and monster action figure lines known as
Movie Maniacs and
Clive Barker's Tortured Souls, with an emphasis on direct to consumer sales. Something we have seen more and more companies do in recent years as retail shelf space for action figures gets smaller and smaller.
There is no denying that
McFarlane was one of the original pioneers of the
"Adult Action Figure Collector" market here in the United States when he started his company
McFalrane Toys back in the 90's, making figures for adults as opposed for kids. In recent years however
McFarlane has in large part moved away from that demographic, concentrating more on big license name brands in order to gain a larger presence on the shelves of big box retailers such as
Target and
Walmart. Licenses such as
Halo, NBA, MLB and
Rick & Morty, even creating a new line of building block toys in order to try and compete with the likes of
LEGO. During that same time, other companies such as
NECA and
Mezco have worked hard to fill that void left open by
McFarlane, creating figures based on horror icons such as
Jason, Freddy and
Chucky, as well as
Aliens and
Predator. In fact I think many would argue that
NECA not only filled that void but surpassed
McFarlane by providing consumers with action figures that not only featured highly detailed sculpts and paints, but also had decent articulation. Something most
McFarlane figures sorely lack even to this day, and something Todd himself has been very reluctant to incorporate into his products.
So the question that is begged to be asked, do we really need Movie Maniacs anymore? Can McFarlane really make a comeback in niche market that he once helped create, or have his competitors far surpassed him to the point of no return? See images for some of McFarlane's older
Movie Maniac figures below and let us know what you think in the comments section.