In 1984, Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg teamed up to create a film that would become one of the best examples of horror comedy to ever be released. Small monsters terrorising a small American town sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel, but in Gremlins the scares were equalled by a dark streak of humour that captured the imagination of a generation. A sequel followed in 1990 in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Unlike the first film, the second bite of the Gremlin cherry abandoned a straight story in favour of throwing in as much mischievous chaos, parodies and in-jokes into the mix as possible, which included the appearance of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, a Phantom of The Opera skit, bat and spider gremlins and even a would be bride Gremlin in the hormone enhanced Greta. Over two decades on and Gremlins are still as popular as ever. They have featured in TV adverts with telecommunications hotshot Peter Jones, appeared in numerous Greatest lists, and even been revamped in a new short fan-made movie which received praise from Joe Dante. Mix in the continued whispers of a third film being developed, and the appeal of the little green monsters is a long way from fading. So it comes as no surprise that Gremlin replicas are a must have for many film fans, leading to some spending thousands collecting everything from full sized replicas to four inch tall action figures. With so many to choose from though, what are the collectibles that every devotee should own? Here is our rundown of the best money can buy.
13. NECA Action Figures
Gremlin action figures were originally released many years ago, with a number of key Gremlins from the first film featuring in the series. One thing that had been neglected on the action figure front, were the unique and characterised Mogwais of Gremlins 2. In 2012, NECA righted this wrong with two series of 4 inch Mogwai figures that included all four New Batch Mogwais, as well as updated versions of Gizmo. For anyone who ever wanted a Mogwai for their desk at work, these are the prefect addition to any collection. So far in 2013, an additional three Mogwais have been released featuring Stripe, Sad Gizmo and the podgy Mogwai that has been named Haskins from the first movie. While McFarlanes Movie Maniac series brought Gremlins 2s Mohawk out a few years ago, the whole panorama of other possible little green figures never materialised until last year when NECA released a number of Gremlin figures including Daffy, George, Lenny, the Electric Gremlin and the Phantom Gremlin. All coming in around 6 tall, these quite detailed and accurate figures have been part of the massive surge in recent Gremlin action figures, most of which have been premiered at Comic Cons. Rumours of further figures are already circulating, and it is likely that at least one more set of these figures will appear soon.