Points of Articulation

Shocka

This PoA started out as a "Soon Forget" entry on the blog, but there's enough background required that it was decided to move it over here.

The infamous N2 Toys began life in 1999, when former Kenner designer Ron Hayes decided he wanted to go solo. Well, "solo" with some of his coworkers, but you get our meaning. It's like how Boss Fight Studio was made up of artists who used to work at Hasbro until one of the rounds of needlessly indulgent layoffs forced them all to come up with a new plan, or how Mezco is "Aztech Toys minus Art Asylum."

We've previously said that the company was originally going to be called "WB Toys," but that's wrong: WB Toys was an in-house department at Warner Bros. (as the name may have implied), and the fledgling N2 Toys merely partnered with them to create their first product, the mildly-well-received Matrix line. If you go back and look at the packaging for that line, WB Toy's logo is printed on the card, while N2 Toys' logo is simply a sticker applied to the blister, suggesting it was a later addition.

To extrapolate from available evidence, we'd guess that Ron was freelancing for WB with some old friends and they decided to incorporate while there, leading to the confusion about both the company name and the timeline.

(N2 is alleged to have been created on November 1, 2000, but the Matrix toys came out in 1999, so that can't be accurate. If, however, they formed as an unofficial group first and only became an actual legal entity later, that would explain it. Consider how the Four Horsemen worked at McFarlane Toys for years before becoming Four Horsemen Studios.)

The same "about" section that gave the 2000 start date also had this to say about the company:

N2 Toys specializes in some of the best, most realistic sculpting in the industry - with praise from licensors who actively seek placement in N2's talented studio and product line-up. N2 represents licenses from major film studios and television programs, as well as titles from best selling video games. N2 strives for breaking the mold - offering some of the hottest action figures and collectibles around.

Well, that certainly reads like it was written by Ron himself, doesn't it? Even at the time N2 was not known for the "best, most realistic sculpting in the industry," and does anyone anywhere really believe studios were trying very hard to get N2 to make their properties? We here at OAFE call ourselves "your #1 source for toy reviews," and even we find that paragraph overly hyperbolic.

N2 Toys lasted until 2002, when (it's rumored) the Tick TV show line was so bad they were forced to change their name to Mirage Toys to escape the shame.

However, at Toy Fair 2001, they were still going strong. There was the usual assortment of licensed properties (Matrix, Mad Max... Son of the Beach...), but also a few original properties, with N2 trying to make toys that they'd own all of instead of having to pay licensing fees.

One of those was a line called Space Cadets, what Ron Hayes called "bald women with big guns." So a sci-fi theme with partially mechanical women as the headliners. Yeah, we can definitely see why that could have been popular. However, look at this prototype they had on display:

I realize a photo from two dozen years ago isn't going to be the highest quality, but does anything about that figure seem wrong to you? Anything that looks out of place?

How about if we zoom in, and put it next to a different photo:

That is 100% just the giant gun from Avengers: United They Stand Ultron with a different barrel! N2 Toys didn't design that, Art Asylum did; they were showing it around at conventions as early as 1999!

How did N2 expect to get away with stealing another company's work? I know sometimes prototypes are kitbashed from existing sources, but those get substantially changed in the process; this a piece wholesale lifted from a mass market toy that had come out two years before. Presumbaly if stores had wanted to carry the line this character's gun would have received a new sculpt... but if N2 were going to make her a new one, why were they still showing the original Ultron cannon a year later at Toy Fair 2002?

N2 Toys is not a respected name in this hobby - The Tick saw to that - but sheesh, trying to entice buyers by passing off a ToyBiz figure as your own work? That's extra low.