It seems like in 2017, everybody who’s anybody is doing cinematic property-based figures. The big dogs are in regular attendance, since likenesses and licensing can be a rich man’s game. But there was a time last decade when a relatively small company had their hands on some of the most significant pop culture brands of the last 30 years.
Back in 2000, a Kenner designer named Ron Hayes decided to strike out on his own, after working on dozens of Kenner’s (and then Hasbro’s) lines throughout the ’90s. His new brand, N2 Toys, started off 1999 with from 6-inch action figures an obscure action movie called The Matrix …
Not surprisingly, this line was a massive hit and put N2 Toys on the map in a big way from 2000 on. In rapid succession, they added some massive properties to their lineup, and a 12-inch clothed line to compliment their 6-inch offerings. In a time where McFarlane toys and their Movie Maniacs line were dominating the industry, it was truly impressive to see such a new company take such a huge chunk out of a machine as imposing as Todd McFarlane’s. In 2000, in addition to their expanded Matrix lines, N2 added The Road Warrior to their ranks.
From there, things got pretty wild. John Rambo got his first new figure since the Coleco days, joined by the likes of Steven Seagal and Steve McQueen. Steve Irwin’s The Crocodile Hunter had a fun and sometimes unintentionally funny subline. 2000AD and Heavy Metal had sublines, and a personal regret of my own, Big Trouble in Little China had an excellent line that I inexplicably slept on.
There were even figures from Shi, The Tick TV show, Frank Frazetta’s art, and bobble-head-like sub-outs that feel like the precursors to things like Funko’s Pop! line. There were plans to bring the Gyrocopter and Max’s Interceptor vehicles to the 6-inch line, and seriously, where do you go from there?
Sadly, since some of you have never seen or heard of this company, you know where they went: under. There were cancellations starting in 2002, and slowly things deteriorated until there was not much left to be found. In those early toy internet days, sometimes it just happened with a whimper. The Mad Max fans were definitely outraged (and so was I), but otherwise, N2 Toys ceased to exist for most collectors.
In retrospect, since that’s what we’re doing here, it’s nice to see that as a whole, we’ve “recouped” a lot of what made these various lines so awesome at the time. We’ve obviously come a long way in terms of sculpts and likenesses, far outpacing the still charming but mostly toyetic look of these figures. NECA has rode to the rescue for a lot of these properties, and even McFarlane grabbed the Matrix reins and rode that one until there wasn’t much left. I honestly don’t know much in terms of details when it comes to the why’s and how’s of N2 Toy’s demise, but I summarize it was likely a case of too much too fast, and even for a company as promising as this one, enough of that will put anybody out of commission.
But even with the efforts of guys like NECA, it’s still a crying shame that Mad Max hasn’t ever made his way back to toy shelves. And who knows how deep some of the other lines would have got? Were Dirty Harry and Die Hard figures really as just-around-the-corner as they seemed? It’s a moot point today, of course, but N2 Toys still makes for a fascinating company to look back on. For a company with such massive promise, and for as explosive a presence as they had, to disappear so abruptly and be largely forgotten within 15 years … it’s a bit of a spectacle.
But that doesn’t change my distinct lack of a 1:12 Interceptor. And I’m still pissed I didn’t pick up a Jack Burton when I had the chance.
*Pictures came from many sources, but credit must go specifically to archived Raving Toy Maniac Toy Fair photos.
