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TMNT Toys Through Time

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Walt

I recently discovered a new version of the Halftone app, Halftone2, which basically combines the original Halftone app with a frames app I had been using.

Rather than show off the various turtles in a bunch of individual photos, I had some fun messing around with the new app, with the results you see below.

The three different sets of turtles:

tmntfigures-all

And then the individual turtles:

tmntfigures-leonardo

tmntfigures-donatello

tmntfigures-raphael

tmntfigures-michelangelo

And then all the figures together by turtle:

tmntfigures-all-byturtle

Now, if only I had recognized the value in the figures a few years ago based on the original Mirage comics designs, I’d be alllll set!

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Looking forward to more new TMNT toys soon!

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Walt

In the packaging for the TMNT Classic Collection figures, Playmates included a mini catalogue of sorts, showing some of the existing and New (“coming soon,” I take it?) figures. Several stood out to me, outside of stuff I’ve covered previously in this blog based on the card backs of figures I’ve already seen:

upcomingtmnt-leatherheadandmousers

I saw Leatherhead at a Walmart a week or two ago, BUT the packaging was mangled, and the blister pack was actually TAPED to the card with clear packing tape. Granted, the figure itself was there, but if I’m gonna pay full price, I darn well wanna open the thing MYSELF! (Plus, I like having the cards–especially for the “profile” bit!.)

I don’t recall if there was ever a Mousers pack in the 2003 line, but I absolutely LOVE the idea of being able to get a couple packs and have a little mini-army of the things!

upcomingtmnt-battleshellturtles

While I’ve refused to partake in purchasing any of the ‘variants’ so far for the turtles themselves, I do fondly recall the “Storage Shell” TMNT figures from the original line (especially much preferring the sculpts and coloring!) so just for “old time’s sake” I could see “shelling out” for a Battle Shell Leo or Raph.

upcomingtmnt-ninjasintraining-leo-donnie

…and I QUITE enjoyed the “baby TMNT” 4-pack with the 2003 line…I assume these will be the counterparts to those, but split into two 2-packs instead of all 4 crammed together into one pack. I’ll probably get these if I see ’em.

upcomingtmnt-ninjasintraining-raphmikey

I’d sorta prefer a Leonardo/Raphael pairing and a Donatello/Michelangelo pairing. But since I’ll want all 4 whatever the case, and likely wait until I can buy BOTH 2-packs at once, it’ll be a sorta moot point in the end.

I really don’t care for any of the vehicles except the Shellraiser, which I have seen ALL OVER THE PLACE price-wise; it’s varied from about $22 to $35 offhand, and as I remember the original “Party Wagon” being about $20 and the 2003 Van being $20, I don’t much like the idea of paying the higher-$20s, though I’ll probably settle for the $23-24 range. It’s honestly the only vehicle that really “makes sense” to me or has any interest for me at all.

I also continue to have no intention of tracking down any of the random mutants; I’ve seen Snakeweed several times and have left it on the pegs…and have no interest in the one spider or cockroach.

Ultimately, I’m just thrilled to see the potential variety finally getting there…though I just hope I can actually FIND these, rather than pegs choked with endless “pegwarmer” variants of the turtles themselves!

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TMNT Classic Collection [Toy Review]

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Walt

The other day after work, I decided–on a whim–to stop by a Toys R Us to see if they, by some chance, had the new Leatherhead TMNT figure. While they did NOT…what they DID have surprised the heck outta me.

A new “Classic Collection” line of TMNT figures I’d not heard/known ANYthing about coming out!

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-all

Of course, I had to buy Leonardo…my “classic” favorite turtle…and typically, if I ever give in and buy “variants” of a turtle, I go with Leonardo.

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-leo

…But then, since these ARE re-issues of the original figures…and I can’t FIND my original figures…yet had my 2003 Turtles and 2012 Turtles here in my room…I splurged and bought the other three:

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-don

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-raph

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-mikey

The card back is identical on all the figures, with a mostly classic look…except for the Classic Collection blurb, a contemporary “About the Turtles,” the nickelodeon logo, and a lack of clip ‘n collect “profile card.”

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-back

The front of the card looks like what I remember from the original figures:

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-front_top

And the “origin” of the turtles also looks like what I remember from the originals.

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-origin

As said, this About the Turtles is new/contemporary:

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-info

I may yet opt to snag Splinter and Shredder for the heckuvit–to have all 3 versions of them as well. But for now I just wanted the four turtles themselves.

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-figures

I did NOT see the “Party Wagon,” though if I do, I fully intend to buy it (provided it’s–IDEALLY–NOT a $39.99+ item! I would expect $25-$30ish!).

tmntfiguresclassiccollection-card-vehicles

All in all, I’m mostly satisfied with the figures themselves. The belts are significantly looser than I remember, which is a big drawback–Raphael in particular is ready to lose HIS just standing around!

I do like that the weapons all come on the original “sprues” or whatever–the flimsy brown plastic–you have to bend/twist/break the pieces apart yourself! But this keeps with the classic-ness of the figures.

I also QUITE like that the packaging does NOT include ANY annoying twist-ties and such…the figures and weapons simply popped RIGHT out (with some applied pushing/pulling/folding the plastic inside-out).

$12.99 is a bit steep for these–they’re slightly smaller/lower “quality” than either the 2003 or 2012 line (the current 2012 line being about $9/ea). BUT for being classic, and NOT carried in Walmart or Target or such that I have seen, the extra $4 is still worth it on the whole over paying higher premiums for original or 2010 25th-anniversary editions of the turtles themselves on the card.

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’80s TMNT toys: Sword Slicin’ Leonardo [card]

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Walt

About a week ago, I came across a couple of old “cards” from my old TMNT toys from the late-1980s. These were from the “Wacky Action” turtles–motorized action figures that…well, gave them action. Nothing fancy, but quite a time capsule, and a reminder of how sorely disappointing most contemporary toy lines and card designs are to me.

Well, this card’s a bit worse for wear compared to the Mouser one I posted the other day.

While the mouser was fairly cool as a unique figure (despite being horribly out of scale) this is “just” another Leonardo variant. And from what I recall of the figure itself, unlike the Mouser’s walking action, this figure’s arm simply spun, giving the “slicing” action.

wacky_action_leo_front

Though the front’s pretty torn up, the back’s just fine:

wacky_action_leo_back

I can appreciate the alliteration of the accessories–Menacing Mace, Wacky Whip, Silly Sword–even if they seem ridiculous for this character–what possible reason would the character have for using any of these? All the more as rigid items…I guess that leaves plenty to the imagination, though.

wacky_action_leo_blueprint

Again, I appreciate the alliteration on the Portrait card, even if the phrasing all seems awkward and pointless. (Sorta gets me thinking and wondering about the GI Joe profiles on those toys back in the day).

wacky_action_leo_portrait

Unlike the mouser, here we seem to have the FULL lineup of Wacky Action Turtles–with Leo, Shredder, and Splinter added to the mix. The figures are all terribly familiar, so I’m pretty sure that between what I had and what a friend had, we probably had the full subseries.

wacky_action_leo_wacky_action_all

And there’s Napoleon Bonafrog. I think of the figures shown here, the only ones I never had were Wingnut & Screwloose, Genghis Frog and Usagi Yojimbo. I’d love to be able to re-acquire or simply acquire the Mutanimals characters (Mondo Gecko, Wingnut & Screwloose, Leatherhead, Ray Fillet (Man Ray) and whatever others there were (I don’t think there were ever figures for all the Mutanimals).

wacky_action_leo_good_guys

I don’t think I ever had Scumbug, General Traag (my friend had him, I believe), Leatherhead, or Rat King. I do have the Rat King from the 2003 line, though. It’s interesting to look at this version of Krang–I believe this was before the oversized Android Body was released, and I believe a later series shrunk the Krang-in-Android-Body to a standard size single-piece figure.

wacky_action_leo_bad_guys

…and of course, the legalese. Looks like this one may’ve been from 1990, possibly meaning the mouser was a LATE 1989. I never knew anything about Panda Khan, but seeing the separate copyright notice (Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo I’m familiar with) led me to a quick search online; looks like a first issue of Panda Khan is available from the original creators here.

wacky_action_leo_legalese

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’80s TMNT toys: Wacky Walkin’ Mouser [card]

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Walt

About a week ago, I came across a couple of old “cards” from my old TMNT toys from the late-1980s. These were from the “Wacky Action” turtles–motorized action figures that…well, gave them action. Nothing fancy, but quite a time capsule, and a reminder of how sorely disappointing most contemporary toy lines and card designs are to me.

First off…what I consider to be a decent-condition card front, given the toy’s long-since been opened, the blister pack or whatever-it’s-called taken apart. The card is larger than the “regular” figures were–about an inch taller and an inch and a half wider, I’d say.

mouser_front

The back is where I find many contemporary lines (specifically Marvel’s) and what I can think of on Star Wars) seriously lack: it’s essentially a full-color catalogue of the entire line. I count 21 unique figures shown here…and you have a mix of “good guys” and “bad guys” instead of just endless variants, or only seeing 2-3 other figures that exist.

mouser_back

The “blueprint” seems like a bit of filler, but it’s also directions to working the “wacky action” of the figure.

mouser_blueprint

The “Portrait” was a fun feature I recall on most (if not all) of the ’80s/’90s TMNT toys…and I remember indeed “clipping and collecting” these until I took ’em to school with me and they got lost. After that I vaguely recall just hanging onto the full cards (which would seem to account for this one at least).

mouser_portrait

From what I can tell, these were the “first wave” of Wacky Action turtles, as we’re missing Leo, Shredder, and Splinter from below:

mouser_wacky_action_all

While I never appreciated the range of now-memorable characters (especially ones I believe came from the Archie comics), it was still quite an incentive to see all the figures available to try to collect. I don’t believe I ever acquired Genghis Frog, I did have the later-released Napoleon Bonafrog. I honestly don’t recall if I ever actually had this version of Usagi–but I at least remember seeing the figure a few times…and got the one from the 2003 toy line.

mouser_good_guys

While I really don’t (except in a bit of nostalgic reflection) care for Bebop and Rocksteady, it’s still also cool to see a range of villains for the line–beyond the RIDICULOUS-looking and atrociously-posed Shredder. Shame, though, that Baxter Stockman was relegated to being best known as a fly, as opposed to the creepy scientist of the comics.

mouser_bad_guys

And spotlighting the other segments of the back of the card, here’s the legalese of the card, including the “Pizza Points.” I don’t recall if there was ever anything to redeem these for–but hey, anything to add ‘value’ for us kids cutting up the card, right?

mouser_legalese

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TMNT Action Figures 2012: Out of Their Shells

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Walt

…and here are the TMNT 2012 figures, out of their packaging!

Raphael, April O’Neil, Donatello, Michelangelo, Splinter, and Leonardo:

photo(TMNTAprilSplinter)

Shredder with Foot Soldiers:

photo(ShredderAndFootNinjas)

TMNT vs. Shredder and the Foot:

photo(TMNTvsFoot)

The Kraang:

photo(Kraang)

And just cuz I could, 2003 TMNT side-by-side with 2012 TMNT:

2003and2012TMNT

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