I feel like they've done a good job on the Pizza Club Turtles and getting them out there this time. Hell, I'd say almost everything from this Haulathon has gotten several restocks around here. I've seen the single packed Turtles many, many times now...and in large numbers. They still end up selling out or at least selling through till there's only a couple left though.
Turtles are just popular. I wouldn't be surprised if NECA has made significantly more Leonardos, Donatellos, Michelangelos, and Raphaels over these past 5 years or so than any other action figure they produce. There were refreshes of the original two-packs, two production runs on the Turtles in Disguise set (including an open preorder), and not these individual releases. And during that time, they did have to share some molds with the video game line and the style guide interpretations and we'll see what they do with this current set. Will anyone be surprised if after Haulathon comes and goes that NECA does a preorder for these Pizza Club figures? I wouldn't count on it as a sure thing, but it definitely wouldn't shock me.
TMNT, and the actual turtles in particular, are NECA's golden goose right now and I think they're trying to manage the demand. They don't want the turtles to join the ranks of Gizmo, Predator, and the less popular figures form this very line in sitting on shelves for months. They make a lot and they sell a lot and I'm sure from their point-of-view things are going pretty well in that respect. They probably also view other iterations of the turtles as something that can over-saturate the market so, whether it makes sense or not, the Mirage four-pack of last year and even the Archie set coming this year might give them some pause about when to go back to the turtle well after this release window. Plus, we have the Mikey and Donatello variants and you know there's likeley a Raph and Leo two-pack coming soon as well. As a collector, I would personally just like to know if these Pizza Club turtles are basically the "new" turtles and all future sets are going to try to match them for color and such.
Exactly. Again, this goes back to 'what is evergreen?' And despite protests of 'that's not what I'm saying' - it seems like a lot of what some people are saying is 'it should basically always be on shelves.' And again, that's not realistic, not is it even really a good thing. That this or that two-pack is easily available for over a year probably means it did not sell to NECA's expectations. So when it sells out, good luck ever seeing it again.
Versus something that sells out very quickly, thereby exceeding NECA's sales expectations (or maybe just meeting them) and being almost guaranteed to come out again.
As I pointed out with the likes of Darth Vader and Wolverine. They don't produce one figure of those characters over and over again forever and just make sure it's permanently on shelves. That would be insanity. But they're evergreen because Hasbro keeps making more of them. Just as NECA keeps making the Turtles again and again. In several different ongoing, concurrent lines (something people like to ignore).
To your other point; I REALLY hope all future Turtles are this color and paint finish. I got rid of my old Turtles and never had the original swappable ones. So the PC ones are my first foray into swappable expressions and I'd like more options. In fact, I think that's the only real failing of the PC ones is that they really don't make best use of that feature except for -maybe- Mikey.
Also, I butchered my regular Raph head to make a Samurai Leo and so now I only have 'pizza mess' head for Raph. I do not regret my decision, but I will take more Raphs. I wish the Punk Turtles' hair pieces plugged into the bandana hole and were otherwise just 'resting' on the head, because I would have bought that set just for all the extra expressions.
Now that I've got the PC Turtles, would definitely love to see an accessory pack that offers more expressions in their same paint colors, and whatever other fun stuff they can come up with.
Yes! A head pack would be just what the doctor ordered for this line. DC Direct can do it for Batman, then NECA can do it for TMNT. You really only need like...the happy/angry sets of eyes for each turtle, then a whole bunch of lower faces for the different expressions. Hell I'd really like more gesturing hands, too.
I hate myself for this but yeah... I would buy that. Ideally, I'd like whatever is necessary to fill out each PC Turtle with angry, surprised/scared, serious/normal, and happy eyes as well as corresponding mouths for gritted teeth, yelling, laughing, whatever else. And then yes, absolutely, some more hand options. Maybe another set of the ones we have, but also ninja-pose hands, fists, and whatever else. A hand with an integrated 'throwing star' effect could be really fun.
Also also, they could throw in Mikey's spinning nunchuck effect that they left out this time. And maybe some newly sculpted swords for Leo that actually look how Leo's swords looked in a lot of the promotional stuff and even some of the episodes (slightly more katana/saber and slightly less falchion/machete).
And I'm sure they could come up with other random episode things to throw into the box and charge over 100 bucks for it or whatever.
I gave my Leo Samurai Mikey's katanas, and they look GREAT with him. I definitely did not like the machetes lol.
I mean, I think what I've gathered from various collecting/TMNT communities is less about having the turtles on the shelf every time you go to Target than having the purchase window for them be longer and easier, with adequate supply to meet demand. I'd agree, even though I don't have a dog in the fight. Although I'd also say that it wouldn't harm the line to have the boys on the shelf for longer, too, because you can entice new customers into the line that otherwise wouldn't pull over their cart for Bugman. I don't see why being able to buy the product you want to buy without making several trips to Targets or getting up at 6am to outfight bots--which is not doable for many--is taboo.
Comparing to MLs and BS sort of falls apart, too. Aside from the rare exceptions, a lot of those figures are easy to get for a long period of time, especially Wolverine and Vader. Right now if I google "Black Series Vader" - I get plenty of options at or under retail. He'll hit online retailers and hang out there for several months if not a year. You can get him with cheap or free shipping in many cases. Preorders are by and large easy. There might be a few dry spells, but they only last a short period of time, not years (TiD to Pizza Club was 3 years, if you wanted neutral figures of the brothers as they appeared in the cartoon). Same with Wolverine. If I want the new Astonishing Wolvie I can preorder now. Easy. Up for months. Wolverine is a bit hard to compare because he has so many costumes, some are more popular than others, and you have instances like with X-Men '97 where timing and the changeable appetites of the zeitgeist can lead to scarcity. But had Hasbro anticipated the show being the hit, I'm sure they'd have made more, and even before the craze you could get him on Prime for free shipping for months. You didn't have to hunt stores, you didn't have to get up at 6am, you could just buy Wolverine. For months.
While NECA sometimes puts their figures up for sale on their site, they also do charge a sizable amount for shipping - if these individual turtles go up in a staggered way, you're looking at $50 plus tax per Turtle. They also are very sly about confirming who will go up later, which I imagine is intentional. This is also by and large an issue with just neutral, cartoon accurate versions of the 4-bros. Almost everything else is made with adequate supply.
I love NECAs work and I'm not mad at them or anything but I also sympathize with others in the community who find this marketing choice frustrating and off putting.
I too would love to see an accessory pack for the pizza club turtles. Throw in the spinning nunchuck effect, turtlecoms, grappling hooks, different hands, expressions and bandanas/eyes.
Also hoping to see an Ultimate Shredder too.
These Pizza Club turtles seem to be a bit too dark green for my tastes. Hopefully they are just their own separate thing and any future releases correlate more with the earlier lighter dark green turtles that have been released.
That being said, hopefully there aren't too many more releases of this same turtle buck with the asymmetric shell that we have to keep buying multiple times over if we want all of the accessories in the line.
@hopethisworks Lots to unpack here and so gonna preface this with my now standard "I just like talking about this and if I disagree, I do so respectfully and without malice or intent to insult anyone except Brian Flynn."
I mean, I think what I've gathered from various collecting/TMNT communities is less about having the turtles on the shelf every time you go to Target than having the purchase window for them be longer and easier, with adequate supply to meet demand.
Unless I'm mistaken, part of this earlier conversation was quite literally me responding to your own statement of "why not make more and keep them readily available?" Obviously we can argue about the specific wording here, but it -seems- very plain to me. 'Keep them readily available' and 'make the availability window a little longer,' are way different statements. In fact, they're diametrically opposed to each other. You either have a long availability window that -ends-, or you have something that is -kept available-.
Now, maybe that's not what you meant. That's fine, of course. If you just meant 'longer availability windows' then I'm not sure that is a debatable point because it's not really relevant? By that I mean whether the figures are 'evergreen' by the definition toy companies would use isn't necessarily dependent on how long each release is available for or whether it exactly meets demand. 'Evergreen' doesn't mean 'everyone gets one.' It means 'semi-regularly made available for purchase.'
Although I'd also say that it wouldn't harm the line to have the boys on the shelf for longer, too, because you can entice new customers into the line that otherwise wouldn't pull over their cart for Bugman. I don't see why being able to buy the product you want to buy without making several trips to Targets or getting up at 6am to outfight bots--which is not doable for many--is taboo.
It isn't?
I think, maybe unintentionally, there's a little bit of goal-post moving that's happened during the Great Forum Blackout Of 2024. Quickly skimming my previous posts, I don't think I ever said anything, nor did anyone else, to suggest there's anything undesirable about having the Turtles be available in greater supply.
The entire conversation centered around whether the Turtles ARE 'evergreen,' in relation to people saying they -want- them to be.
Like, if it were up to ME a regular version of the Turtles, April, and Shredder (at least) would be on the shelves to purchase every single day right up until a better version is made. But not only is it not up to me, I also recognize that's wildly unrealistic. Either way, you can see there that I'm not opposed to having the figures be easier to get. At all. I'm only discussing the realities of releasing toys and how those release patterns are viewed by the companies making them.
Comparing to MLs and BS sort of falls apart, too. Aside from the rare exceptions, a lot of those figures are easy to get for a long period of time, especially Wolverine and Vader. Right now if I google "Black Series Vader" - I get plenty of options at or under retail. He'll hit online retailers and hang out there for several months if not a year.
But how long did it take to get there? How many TIMES did they release Vader? I was there Gandalf, I was there 10,000 years ago when Darth Vader was going for a mint on eBay. Vader is re-made and/or re-released over and over again as part of a huge toyline that's available in virtually every place that sells toys. He is the very definition of 'evergreen,' and yet, it has taken multiple releases over many YEARS for him to actually be as easy to acquire as some people want the NECA Turtles to be. And, I'll remind you, these specific Turtles are exclusive to a single store.
So the comparison is important, and apt. Hasbro never produced enough Vaders for every single to collector to buy him and then just stopped. Or just kept telling the factory to 'turn the Vader machine on' so they could re-supply stores. Rather, over the course of years, they consistently re-made or re-issued Vader. That's what NECA is doing with the Turtles. Obviously on a much smaller scale because, again, smaller company, smaller property (at the moment) and this specific line is only being sold by one retailer.
Again, it's not about whether every single person got the figures they wanted. It's about the definition of 'evergreen' and if the Turtles are, in fact, that. I argue that they are. That's it. I'm not making judgement calls about whether NECA is doing a good job at it, mediocre job, bad job, etc.
Same with Wolverine. If I want the new Astonishing Wolvie I can preorder now. Easy. Up for months. Wolverine is a bit hard to compare because he has so many costumes, some are more popular than others, and you have instances like with X-Men '97 where timing and the changeable appetites of the zeitgeist can lead to scarcity. But had Hasbro anticipated the show being the hit, I'm sure they'd have made more, and even before the craze you could get him on Prime for free shipping for months. You didn't have to hunt stores, you didn't have to get up at 6am, you could just buy Wolverine. For months.
Yeah, but you just glossed over how certain versions of the character can sell out before everyone gets one. And they're only able to be satisfied later because this line is available literally everywhere and is produced in WAY more numbers. But the whole point is that no individual Wolverine figure is available to anyone that wants one FOREVER. Unless it sells badly, it's available for pre-order (obviously very different situation than what goes on with Target exclusive stuff from NECA) and then it hits stores. And if you miss him, you have to wait for the next release. Which may be a different costume. Or it may be the same costume released in a different way, etc etc. That is what it means for a character/figure to be 'evergreen.' That was this entire discussion - rebutting the argument that characters aren't 'evergreen' if they're not ALWAYS on the shelf and easy to get.
but I also sympathize with others in the community who find this marketing choice frustrating and off putting.
Yeah, me too. I'm one of them.
Again, somehow this got twisted into me defending NECA's choices (I'm not) or arguing that more availability is bad or not necessary (I'm not saying that either).
I only ever said that, in my view, NECA views the Turtles as 'evergreen' items and that 'evergreen' does not mean 'always available.' I supported that with examples of all kinds of other evergreen toys that people can and have missed out on at various points in their collecting. That's it. No motive here to make it seem like anyone is a villain for wanting the figures to be easier to get. I just think it's important that words mean things and people don't twist those meanings just to make a point. And also because if you mis-use these terms when making your public complaints, you may find yourself getting dismissed by the people you're complaining to for talking out your ass.
I.E. If you Tweet at NECA and complain that the Turtles 'should be evergreen' - they're likely to just think 'they are, you dummy' and ignore you. And so you will have gained nothing.
(The royal 'you.')
To echo the sentiments of a few others, I like the Pizza Club figures but would like some more experessions/heads/hands/accessories. So I'd appreciate if Neca made an appropriate accessory pack for these.
What was the hardest item to find in your experience this haulathon? The only thing I was looking for was the space Donnie figure and that's the only set I never saw. Saw everything else at least once at two different local stores. Mildly annoying but I just spent that toy money on other cool toys instead.
I wasn't checking stores all that often since I was able to get everything I wanted in the online drops, but I never did see two of the PC Mike or the regular Bebop/Rocksteady pack whenever I'd casually check the physical store.
I missed most things once they went online, but eventually found them in store. I haven't seen everything they made available this time around, not in person. The stuff I was able to order online, I wound up finding in store days later, and couldn't cancel my online orders. I skipped the pizza club figures as they are redundant for me. Only toon figures I got were Casey and the sliced Foot (which was the draw for me, not Casey), and a Samurai Usagi I haven't opened yet. The rest I got were Mirage figures - Baxter, Foot Enforcer, and a Foot Soldier.
@vicious7171 Pizza Club. Even after finally finding & buying them, I've only seen a couple of the Turtles (not all 4) at one other store, and they disappeared soon after, and haven't been restocked (but everything else was).
The store I get my prescriptions sent to currently still has two Punk sets as of this morning, and I hope they stick around, as I've since talked myself into getting them, but will need some time to save up lol.
Latest Post: ROM Our newest member: Perobeagob Recent Posts Unread Posts
