In celebration of Terminator Day (August 29th) today, we’re bringing you a special update on the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate action figures by NECA. Randy Falk, director of product development at NECA, gave us an exclusive interview on these well-sculpted and heavily armed action figures. We first saw a couple of these prototype action figures (the T-800 and Sarah Connor) at San Diego Comic Con but according to Randy Falk, we’re getting “at least three" other Dark Fate figures and we will also get more from T2!
TheArnoldFans: It looks like series 1 of Terminator: Dark Fate figures will be the Arnold T-800 and Sara Connor. How early on did your team begin the sculpting of these initial figures and what studio materials were available to your team to help get their perfect likeness?
Randy Falk: "We started work on these as early as we could—right at the end of 2018, as soon as we had reference available to us. At that point, we began working with the 3D scans and hi-res turn-arounds of the actors provided by the studio."
TheArnoldFans: Which figures are planned for series 2 and would the Rev-9 be a two pack (Endoskeleton PLUS Gabriel Luna) or might you only stick to the Rev-9 endoskeleton itself?
Falk: "It’s too early to say, really. We do have at least three more figures (from Terminator: Dark Fate) in various stages of development, and depending on approvals and reference availability, that will dictate what happens next."
TheArnoldFans: We’ve seen from the online featurette that the Arnold T-800 will get a lot of damage with a good amount of endoskeleton reveled. Is a “final battle” Arnold with endoskeleton parts in the works for a future series?
Falk: "Not yet. All of that damage is CG done in post production, and we don’t have reference or assets for the specific damage. We know there will be damage and certain areas of the current assets are marked off in green for the digital effects to be added later.”
TheArnoldFans: At what point do you need to finalize packaging art and when can we expect series one Dark Fate figures to hit the toys shelves?
Falk: "We plan to finalize packaging in the coming weeks. Our estimated on-shelf date is late October."
TheArnoldFans: Do you have any plans to continue with other Terminator figures or products from the earlier films? Like more ‘90s Kenner inspired figures or other?
Falk: "There’s definitely more to come! This is one of our favorite licenses and while we can’t say anything specific, we will continue working to surprise fans."
TheArnoldFans: How much of a Terminator fan are you personally and what did you think of some of the early Dark Fate scenes and artwork the studio shared exclusively with the NECA team?
Falk: "I am a HUGE fan of the original two films and the vision of James Cameron. After seeing the advance assets, I was very optimistic about what they were doing with the new film and Cameron’s involvement, plus it’s great to see Linda back alongside Arnold. I personally will be in the theater the second it opens!”
