Lets Talk LAIKA

“I look at the world and I notice it’s turning,

While my guitar gently weeps"

NECA Launching LAIKA Line at Comic-Con

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) has signed on to produce a multi-category lineup of merchandise with award-winning animation studio LAIKA. To kick off the partnership, NECA will arrive in San Diego this week with a Comic-Con exclusive “Coraline in a Deluxe Display Box” figure, and will be promoting its high-end replicas of hero puppets from LAIKA’s four Oscar-nominated features: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings.

“We are thrilled to have kicked off our new licensing program with this deal,” says Brad Wald, LAIKA’s CFO and SVP of Business Operations. “There’s a history in working together with NECA on top-selling Coraline replicas (one is back by popular demand and available exclusively at the pop-up store at The LAIKA Experience). NECA is a leader in the industry in providing quality fan-based products and we’re excited to offer a wide portfolio to consumers that reflects LAIKA’s dynamic characters and unique aesthetic. We’re particularly excited by the bespoke puppet reproductions, which answer an ardent fan request that dates back to our first film.”

The limited edition (3,000 pieces) Coraline in a Deluxe Display Box exclusive action figure will be available at the NECA booth (#3145) at San Diego Comic-Con and at The LAIKA Experience pop-up shop. Bespoke reproduction hero puppets (Coraline, Norman, Eggs and Kubo) will be available for consumer orders by end of 2017 — more characters will follow.

Future products will include: Traditional articulated and/or non-articulated figures and/or dolls, sold with or without scenes/backdrops; resin statues; plush figures; bobble heads; stylized vinyl toys; large-scale foam figures; prop replicas; and board games.

LAIKA Years + OSCARS Beats

Okay, since this year’s OSCARS is now officially rigged. But I’m really sad that my faved movie studio has been beaten up by Disney animation to make them lose. So, I decided to make a edit on this sadden post.

For the reasons why LAIKA has been beaten up and losing to Disney in OSCARS, are Coraline has been first lost and beaten up by the Pixar movie, “Up” in 2009, ParaNorman has been second lost and beaten up by the another Pixar movie, “Brave” in 2012, The Boxtrolls has been third lost and beaten up by the Walt Disney Animation Studios movie, “Big Hero 6″ in 2014 (yeah, I loved that Disney movie, just kidding), and finally, Kubo and the Two Strings (my faved movie of all time) has been officially fourth lost and beaten up by the another Walt Disney Animation Studios movie, “Zootopia” in 2016.

During the month of August 2016, Universal Studios Hollywood hosted a Laika exhibit wherein characters, sets and props from all four of Laika’s movies to date were displayed. My husband and I had activated our passes on the LAST day of the exhibit. Little did we know, we had to make reservations to attend! It took some convincing, but the staff let us into this AWESOME display!

The first room was, of course, Coraline. This area featured real animation puppets, that I believe had been used on screen; and a massive Pink Palace Apartments display. (please excuse the phone quality photos)

Next was Paranorman! The displays beyond Coraline used display maquettes as opposed to actual animation puppets. However, the quality was still screen worthy. All of the props and sets still breathtakingly detailed.

The victorian-inspired details of The Boxtrolls displays were gorgeous, even in all their lopsided quirkiness.

Before diving into the Kubo displays, we took a moment to appreciate exactly HOW much work is put into these films. This is just a TINY fraction, of how many face plates these characters use. Can you count all of these?

And lastly, the fantastic Kubo displays.

This room (pictured below) was massive. It stretched back so deep, and every tiny item was crafted with full real-life detail.

The leaf boat was HUGE. It towered above the display walls (and they weren’t short).

But what was the real monster here? The skeleton! There was a little scale replica of him. (I swear… 1/100 scale? lol!)

But no… They had a full sized replica. I don’t feel the photos really bring it across, but he was HUGE. The last photo was taken underneath him, with my arms fully stretched upward over my head, holding the phone for the photo.

This event was so quietly advertised - and not simple to get into either! I feel it was a shame it was so temporary, and I wish so many more people had access to see these amazing puppets and sets. I truly treasured this experience, and look forward to what Laika has in store for the future.

Went to the Power House Museum last week and saw these bad boys at the Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital exhibition.