-There are plans for additions to their video game line, as NES Godzilla did really well. Randy would "love to do 'em all" from the games (Super Godzilla being brought up earlier by Chris), but movie incarnations take priority, especially after the recent lull.
-Warner Bros. was acting as a licensing agent, which slowed things down considerably when it came to getting Toho approval. But now NECA works directly with Toho, so ideas & concepts can be presented much more quickly. Toho has been very happy with everything NECA has made so far, so revisiting rejected ideas like HB Godzilla, Marvel Godzilla, and particularly Ghost Godzilla are possibilities. They "talk constantly".
-The new relationship being established with Target will be treated similarly to how NECA worked with Toys "R" Us, so collectors have some easy way to access their products.
-NECA checks out what figures that've been done by other companies or featured in other toy lines (Bandai, Figuarts) to get an idea of what to create - and to even get an idea of what things that might not have been touched that could be done. But they also do check on sales for figures. However, if a monster can be easily re-used or re-tooled in some way (atomic blast variants, for example), those end up higher on the priority list, as those allow NECA to keep their prices for figures down.
-Atomic Blast Shin Godzilla has been sitting on the backburner for a year and a half - originally, Shin was Japan-only, but now that NECA works directly with Toho, that's no longer an issue.
-Atomic Shin expected to hit retail late September/early October.
-Poster Godzilla 1954 expected to hit retail "holiday/Christmas".
-Godzilla 1962 expected to hit retail "right at the beginning of the year [2019]".
-Due to the license and previous deal with Bandai with mass market, NECA could only make Godzilla figures, but that is no longer the case.
-They have at least 2 dedicated sculptors working exclusively on Godzilla content.
-For 2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters, they're working on making figures for everything that appears in the movie. As some might remember, originally NECA denied doing figures for the movie, but "the patience has paid off"! They were able to work things out.
-Randy would love to do 24" versions of Godzilla 1954 and even NES Godzilla.
-NECA has an established scale for their figures, which may result in some bigger boxes & higher price points for some monsters.
-They will NOT be reusing their Godzilla 2014 sculpt for Godzilla 2019 - the CG "has evolved", so it will be "100% new tooling, more articulation, better engineering".
-Randy feels they relied "too much" on the 3D file for G2014, but what they're doing with G2019, they'll be handling it differently, which will hopefully result in higher detail (sculptor who worked on G1962 & Shin will also be working on G2019).
-Randy is aware of the demand for Showa figures - they "will definitely do some of that". But they also try to think outside the box, like in other lines how they occasionally do figures from video games, comics, etc., so the Godzilla line will be treated similarly. "I hope we can hit on them all, there are fans for all of them, [even] Godzilla 1998."
-The whole Tamashii and NECA releasing similar figures at the same time is totally coincidental. Even Randy looked pretty bewildered
-As there aren't 3D files for the "classic" Godzilla figures, NECA picks up DVDs and Blu-rays, getting screengrabs, looking at model kits, vinyls, to try and see how they can design their versions.
-Packaging has been using a "style guide" for the last few releases that had been developed by/on behalf of Toho with Bandai, but Randy hopes to make "individualized or personalized looks for each film" for each release. With packaging, they want something "more interesting" than what has been used with past releases. There could also be additional accessories like beam effects.