“It's The Age Of...GARGOYLES!”
With NECA's recent announcement that they will be taking on a 6-inch scale toyline (8 inch standing) of Disney's Gargoyles franchise toy line, not only are we over the moon, we figured we would weigh in our "top Gargoyles characters we hope to see in the line."
As is pretty typical for SpeekyGeeky, we tend to have a lot of favorites when it comes to the properties we are passionate about, and Gargoyles very much fits that bill, so we'll call this part one and anticipate a handful more options to come. Heck, we may even have to do specific lists just to focus on particular factions (top human, top mutates, top characters from specific clans, top characters from the comic series) with so many great characters from this series and its mythos, we have our work pretty cut out for us.
What do you think about our options below? Agree? Disagree? We're excited to hear who would make YOUR top picks as well, so make sure to let us know in the comments below.
PS: If you hurry Goliath is Up for pre-order now at Bigbadtoystore, TheNECAStore, and EntertainmentEarth.
The figure stands 8 inches tall. Comes with a jalapeno, two face sculpts, a book, and interchangeable hands.
The expected release is around July 2021.
Join us now, for Part 1 of SpeekyGeeky's "Top NECA Gargoyles Figures We Want ASAP":
1. BROOKLYN (From Episode "Future tense")
Be warned, 25 year old Spoilers ahead: To dig into this choice, we have to jump 40 years into the Gargoyle's possible future where their primary villain David Xanatos has taken advantage of Goliath's majorly extended stone sleep slumber. In Goliath's absence, the surviving members of his Wyvern Clan have had to go all "days of future past" dark in order to survive Xanatos's army.
Buuuut, turns out this story arc is just chock-full of twists, turns, and curveballs because Xanatos wasn't Xanatos at all, but rather an AI reconstruction of him, with of all people, LEXINGTON pulling the strings Wizard of Oz style. Turns out with Goliath gone, Lexington went all Pinky and the Brain evil and developed a long game scheme to conquer the world. Just as we wrap our brains around this jaw-dropping revelation, however, another layer peels, letting us know one of the children of Oberon and fate guardian of Xanatos, Puck was actually behind this deception and potentially behind this whole topsy-turvy reality. Whaaaattt?
So, what does this have to do with Brooklyn? he had always been an incredible and essential character to the series, but this storyline, in particular, really let Brooklyn shine by seeing how he rose to the occasion of leader when the chips were down. It was a role that was largely different than his character representation in the series proper, but a fitting and satisfying one to see come to fruition.
We obviously would like a classic Brooklyn as well, and assume this figure is coming sooner than later, but to not also have a "Future Tense" version of him as well, would feel like a void in that so much of the Gargoyles story revolves around century-old history, past, and future, and to not have a version of him to evolve into, would seem like we are missing a crucial part of who he is...regardless of if this future reality was even real, to begin with.
2. DAVID XANATOS (In Steel Clan Exo-Suit)
12/13/21 UPDATE: Revealed to likely be coming via NECA's official twitter.
As the billionaire head of Xanatos Enterprises and full-fledged member of the Illuminati, the tools and influence at David Xanatos's disposal are vast, and not someone you would want to make an enemy of, as the Wyvern clan quickly discovered firsthand. Xanatos originally positioned himself to be a friend of the Wyvern clan, and it was Zanatos who actually woke them from their stone slumber. But it soon became clear that Xanatos was using them, ingratiating them in order to obtain their genetics so that he could build his own army designed after them. Xanatos eventually did create his own clan made of steel and robotics, with placed himself as their leader.
Though Xanatos's Steel Clan were eventually defeated by Goliath and his brethren, Xanatos's Steel clan posed a significant threat, and Xanatos remained a thorn in the Gargoyles side even while confined from prison. In an ideal figure, this would be a two-pack with a suit and tie David Xanatos packaged with his Steel Clan Exo-suit as a separate and fully poseable figure, as both representations are fairly pivotal to the series.
3. ELISA MAZA (From Episode "The Mirror")
No human character is more directly tied to clan Wyvern than Detective Elisa Maza. Elisa was to the Gargoyles what April was to the Turtles. A reliable and capable ally, entrusted to both keep them safe from the outside world and run defense for them when they were left vulnerable. Elisa was a welcome breath of fresh air into a cartoon world way too packed full of "damsel in distress" type archetypes. Yes, while it's true she was presented in the series as a love interest to Goliath, their relationship seemed to follow a less traditional for the time road that was founded more on mutual respect, admiration, and friendship than solely on vapid physical attraction, and that is an important distinction, as it felt real and deep.
Detective Maza was one of the first to help break away from that toxic model and easily stood on her own two feet just as any of her claw-footed rough and tumble friends, acting as a proper inspiration for impressionable young minds watching at home. Elisa is another one of those characters where her human form is essential to the series, but this short lived Gargoyle form from the episode "The Mirror" in which Gargoyle and human roles are reversed, is just such a freaking cool opportunity to allow Detective Maza to fight wing to leathery wing beside her adopted Gargoyle family on our shelves that we are very hopeful to see this version of her as well.
4. THAILOG
*UPDATE: REVEALED AT SDCC 2021 TO BE COMING
Aside from the fact that essentially the same buck as Goliath could be used for this figure because Thailog is a clone of Goliath, Thailog also happens to be a pretty essential character to have in the toy line anyways. Thailog was created by Dr. Anton Sevarius at the behest of David Xanatos, and was able to come into creation as a direct result of the fight that transpired between Goliath and the Steel Clan. From that encounter, Xanatos acquired Goliath's DNA and through an accelerated maturation process, Thailog came fully cooked as the perfect foil to Goliath.
A funhouse mirror version of the leader of clan Wyvern that entertains the question what Goliath might have been like had he been raised by someone as deranged, lacking moral acumen, and as self-serving as Xanatos. Thailog is to Goliath as Moriarty is to Sherlock, two sides of the same unique coin. As such a quintessential antagonist, Thailog seems a natural to make his way into the NECA line. As we said, Thailog could largely just be a repaint so from a price-saving measure alone he makes solid sense. But here's another fun fact, you can't have Goliath spelled backward without finding yourself also with Thailog (...if you switch the "TH" that is).
5. LEXINGTON (From Episode "Future Tense")
Yet another pick from the "Future Tense" episode, and yet another option we feel we need to qualify with "but we obviously also want the traditional appearance as well". Ok, so in his own right, Lexington is a super fun character. He is essentially the Michaelangelo of Clan Wyvern infused with the tech know-how of Donatello.
Lexington was always the spirited and easy-going member of the group, so it was especially mind-blowing to see him go full-on arch-villain in the "Future Tense" representation, as well as incredibly fun to see him cast in this menacing and capable new light. Also, just look at the freaking cool new outfit he is sporting that just screams a newfound comfortability with migrating to the dark side, a comfortability that should have sent alarm bells blaring in Goliath's ears imagined reality or not.
6. DEMONA
*UPDATE: FULLY REVEALED AT SDCC 2021 TO BE COMING
Thanks to Puck's spell of transformation, Demona has been able to live amongst the human population undetected for thousands of years, and thanks to the Weird Sisters, Demona is also an immortal, hiding and plotting her revenge on humanity for disdain on Gargoyles that led to the slaughter of her original clan, Clan Wyvern.
While Demona was actually part of the same clan as Goliath, after her unintentional involvement in the massacre that clan, she put herself into a self-imposed exile and plotted her revenge on a world she blamed for an atrocity that she also had a hand in. So...whoops.
Demona is a very layered villain in that she cares for her clan, but at the same time she has allied with David Xanatos on her vendetta and the fact that her newly awoken clan won't join her on this vendetta has put them in direct opposition to her goal, and on that front, kin or not, if they get in her way, just as they did thousands of years ago, she has no reservation about taking them down as casualties in her undying quest for revenge.
On the toy front, Demona straddles the roles of both ally and villain and her position as such makes her an essential part of the collection.
7. HUDSON
Let's face it, the Gargoyles wouldn't have that close knit family vibe without the grisled and sage combat wisdom of clan Wyvern's Hudson. As Goliath's longtime mentor, and former leader of the Wyvern clan, Hudson has proven time and time again that he may be old, but he can still scrap with the best of them.
Hudson is another key character from the line that we can't imagine not eventually having in our collection, we assume this one will just be a matter of when, not if we'll see him.
8. TALON (Labyrinth Clan)
From the Mutate Clan, Talon was formerly known as Elisa's brother Derek Masa. As a helicopter pilot for the NYPD, Derek impressed Xanatos with his flying skills, and asked him to work for him at Xanatos Enterprises as the duel role of both pilot and bodyguard. Things became even more interesting for Derek when, as Xanatos's bodyguard, he threw himself in the way of a "tranquilizer dart" meant for Xanatos that turned out to be a mutagenic formula that also created the rest of the Mutate Clan, and thus Talon was born.
Besides being an incredibly awesome-looking character, Talon also has connections to both the Gargoyles, Masa, and Xanatos, and that also makes him the perfect candidate for helping to branch the line out to expanded clans, and really help to world build the franchise. Plus, he's a panther with bat wings in what appears to be a superhero outfit, for us, exposition is always good, but just knowing those three traits right there, that would have been enough to get our vote.
BONUS:
A Stone Sleep Accessory Pack may just be something we added for fun, but sure makes a whole lot of sense when you really stop to think about it. Imagine having Stone sleep statues of the core cast. How cool would that look to have perched Stone-complexion Gargoyles on your display shelf, your desk at work, around your room, just anywhere and everywhere.
In our minds, we see this as being a San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive, but realistically, it could be minimally articulated enough so that collectors can put it in various solid-looking poses, but it would require minimal paint apps and in theory, could just be grey repaints of already created clan Wyvern once they have been created. It's the kind of small but attention to fan-facing desires that has NECA written all over it.
What can we say, Gargoyles was an incredibly underrated series, rich with history that barely had its surface scratched. 25 years later and it's mythos still holds up and remains some of Disney's most intelligent and thought-provoking cartoon series.
Though we didn't intend for this to turn into a push to bring Gargoyles back on the air, we'd be remiss if we didn't state here and now that we are deeply enthused and given renewed hope that overwhelming excitement for NECA's new toy line helps to garner newfound respect and appreciation for the series, which in turn might resonate with the powers that be toward connecting the dots that a new series may also be something that us longtime and diehard fans would remain interested in seeing.