NECA is a company best known for highly detailed action figures based on popular and cult movies, but the subset of franchises that does the absolute best for them are the iconic action sci-fi classics of the ’80s: Aliens, Predator, Terminator, and Robocop. Predator is their biggest license in terms of units sold, with Aliens at #2 and Terminator at #3. Somewhere below that is Robocop, and there’s a fairly basic reason for that: Robocop really doesn’t change his look at all, save for some slight color variance.

So, for example, there are around 40 different NECA Terminator figures, which includes notable supporting characters like Kyle Reese and the T-1000, but does not include anything from Terminator 3 or Terminator Salvation, as those are generally not as popular with buyers (it does include a couple for Genisys, but they were made before anyone knew what the movie would be like). For Robocop, there are 12, usually featuring different accessory gimmicks like a jetpack or a pop-out holster. There’s even a glow-in-the-dark one. But still, there’s just not a whole lot of variety you can do with the guy–in-canon, anyway. By design, he never changes his clothes.

But thanks to Dark Horse Comics, he did very notably change parts one time.

In 1992’s Robocop vs. Terminator comic miniseries by Frank Miller and Walter Simonson, Robocop turns out to have been the source of all Terminator technology. Eluding destruction in his present day, Robocop buries his consciousness inside Skynet and then, after Judgment Day, uses the machine factories to rebuild himself with Terminator parts. And then, once he understands that he can do that once, he makes an army of Robo-Terminators. NECA has now made figures of both versions: Future Robocop and Endocop. They both use the same base body, with different paint jobs and add-ons–it’s basically a Robocop body with Terminator arms and neck pinions.

The packaging is so nice I was almost sorry to open it. It’s covered in Simonson art and metallic deco and opens up with a velcro fastener. The insert behind the figure is the comic page of Future-Robo, having come back to the present, destroying the original Skynet satellite and thereby erasing himself from the timeline.

NECA’s marketing these as part of their “Ultimates” line, which usually includes definitive versions of a given character with customizable parts and extra weapons. That’s not the case here; it looks like they were just a little more expensive to make than a basic figure, and thus the deluxe packaging makes them feel more worth it.

Future Robocop comes loaded with a bunch of missiles on his back. They don’t pivot forward Rio Blast style, because they didn’t in the comic, though the machine gun on his shoulder does. You will want to pose him leaning forward, as they give him some back-heaviness.

Endocop is the same basic figure, minus missiles, with a new head. So why buy him? Here’s why: the Terminator Dog!

In any other figure line, this would be a barely poseable accessory. But this figure could come single carded and still be worth it. He has insane amounts of articulation, and may even have more I haven’t discovered, with ball shoulders and ankles, three hinge joints in each leg, three ball joints in the torso, pistons on the haunches, double-ball-jointed neck, and opening mouth.

He’s a very good boy. Except that he’s evil. Unlike the Robos, this canine is a killer.

In the comic’s best gag, the Terminator dog goes back in time as a last-ditch Hail Mary by Skynet…only to go too far and get squashed by a tyrannosaurus.

So in fact, the Endocop is really the bonus figure. Most of the budget clearly went into the dog. But a dog alone is a tougher sell without the familiar character attached–though it’s costly and hard to find now, the Predator hound from NECA’s Predator line was one of their worst-selling figures of that line at the time. If they had it to do over, I suspect they’d find a way to get it in a two-pack with a more familiar Predator.

Articulation on the “Robo-nator” body is about what it looks like, minus a waist twist (if it has one, mine are too tight to move). Robocop’s mid-torso joint is restricted quite a bit by the missile backpack, but his head pops on and off with ease. I’m afraid to try that on Endocop, but you can probably switch heads if you really want to.

For fans of both properties, these are both nifty and semi-canonical.

Endocop with dog hit stores just after Christmas; Future Robocop should be joining him any day now. You shouldn’t have to pay much more than $25 for either one.

Will you be picking up these crazy cross-pollinations? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter to talk toys.

Images: Luke Y. Thompson

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