NECA‘s been gearing up for the return of Tim Burton‘s Beetlejuice in a big way, rereleasing older figures of the homophonic title character Betelgeuse, revealing a massive diorama at Comic-Con (along with an action figure of a kid in an animated Beetlejuice costume), and announcing they have the toy rights to the upcoming sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Now we have some idea what those rights might entail, as the first figures out the gate are for their Toony Terrors line.
Juice-y and Bellucci
In addition to existing for fans who like more stylized, cartoonish figures, the Toony Terrors line serves a couple of other purposes. With fewer parts and less articulation, the figures are quicker and cheaper to make; they also allow for enough stylization that if the actor does not permit likeness usage, the character can still be created without photo-realism. In the case of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice two-pack of Betelgeuse and Delores, however, they look enough like Michael Keaton and Monica Bellucci that it’s safe to assume likeness rights are in-hand.
Delores, for those who don’t analyze the new trailers in microscopic detail, is Betelgeuse’s ex-love, played by director Tim Burton’s real-life love Bellucci. She’s also the latest example of Burton’s fetish for stitches on women, as seen with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Both figures sport five points of articulation, and most Toony terrors figures feature a cut-out backdrop on the back of the card. these figures are expected to have window-box packaging rather than blister cards, so we’ll see.
They’re due in January, which seems like quite the wait considering the movie’s out this month. Maybe they’ll be timed just right for the Blu-ray release.
Take a look at some of NECA’s official product images below:
