Playmates Classic Original Sketch Turtles

Playmates is such a wacky company.  They really seem averse to making some new evergreen classic turtles, which they could release numerous times over the years, and instead make some super niche sketch turtles.  Which admittedly look neat.  But some classic (ie updated original toy version ala Master of the Universe Origins) turtles would certainly get more mileage and sell better.

@ashtalon Spot on. I don't get it at all. I don't like to advocate for anyone to lose their job -- at least when they're under a certain wealth threshold. But whoever is making decisions and stuff for Playmates really should be fired. Straight up.
They can look out the window and see a half-dozen toylines sustaining themselves very heavily on '80s and '90s nostalgia. Even Star Wars arguably gets a lot of traction from fans that were collecting in the late '80s and early-to-mid '90s, even if the films are older than that. Joe Classified hit its stride when Hasbro course-corrected and realized that the fandom will follow ARAH designs. Marvel Legends has very intentionally been knocking on the '90s door for the last couple of years. Origins exists and makes my point for me. LC Power Rangers was definitely more popular when they were hitting on the early '90s OG team - to the point where they went back to that well a few times both in terms of heroes and villains. Small companies like Nacelle and that dude that does 'don't say the real name or I'll get in trouble' figures, and Premium MegaDNA are also all hard at work on the '90s nostalgia properties.

It takes zero effort by anyone who likes toys to see where the market is right now and Playmates seems categorically opposed to engaging with what fans actually want. They have access to one of THE '90s properties and they're just burying their heads in bad ideas. It's beyond my ability to comprehend beyond just calling it outright stupidity and just flat out being terrible at one's job.

Never thought anyone would do THOSE turtles, but I actually want these!

I feel like they should all be red though if we're talking accuracy. Those would be an insta-buy!

I actually really like how those look.  I just hope they do a red bandana version for all four of them.  I'd prefer that to the individual colors.

I like the idea and have been hoping for NECA to do it themselves, actually.  I'm sure theirs would look better.

These are so goofy looking; there’s no way I’m skipping them.

The sculpts and proportions are weird on the Playmates ones compared to the sketches they're based on, but something more like these vinyl figures is what I've been wanting from NECA:

@cmoney they're based on different things. I think most fans do think of the above Eastman and Laird one-off turtle as the "original sketch," but Playmates is basing their figures off of a later sketch of all four:

While I agree with KD that an Origins-style vintage line should be Playmates' #1 priority I gotta say that I'm really excited about these.  They're something different and they should be on the cheaper side.  I'm tired of boutique toys: tired of their price tags, tired of feeling like I need to keep the bulky packaging, tired of the handle-with-care toys.  I love being able to buy a handful of figures without wallet guilt and then throw them in a box after a few days when I'm done playing with them.  That was one of Origins' biggest draws and I'd love to see that in TMNT, too.

If these are like $30 apiece my enthusiasm will take a big hit though.  Playmates seems to be testing the waters lately with more "collectible" pricing and the product doesn't really warrant the price tag.  I really love my Last Ronin figure but he's probably not worth $30.  The SDCC Mutant Mayhem figures certainly weren't worth the higher price either.

Posted by: @mikeysee

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If these are like $30 apiece my enthusiasm will take a big hit though.  

Good news, they’re gonna be $12 a piece.

and for that price, these are pretty cute! That’s like Pop! pricing and that’s sort of what these are, just cheap little guys meant to invoke the feel of something.

would I want NECA to do a $30+ collectors version of the same concept? Yes, absolutely, but these fill such a different niche there’s room for both.

as far as TMNT origins goes, since Playmates main focus is on the Mutant Mayhem figures I hope they continue to do homages to classic figures, the costume four pack is an absolute delight and I could gladly keep scooping up $40 sets of the Mutant Mayhem brothers in vintage costumes

Posted by: @ashtalon

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Playmates is such a wacky company.  They really seem averse to making some new evergreen classic turtles, which they could release numerous times over the years, and instead make some super niche sketch turtles.  Which admittedly look neat.  But some classic (ie updated original toy version ala Master of the Universe Origins) turtles would certainly get more mileage and sell better.

Those would cost way too much unless all they did were the 4 turtles, which I wouldn't be opposed to. 

Posted by: @misfit

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@cmoney they're based on different things. I think most fans do think of the above Eastman and Laird one-off turtle as the "original sketch," but Playmates is basing their figures off of a later sketch of all four:

Dammit!  I'd thought that might be the case from the wording in the ad copy, but I went searching around and didn't find this.  Guess I was googling the wrong terms.  Thanks for putting it here.

So the classic sketch Turtles are Target exclusive, and these new "Origins but done wrong" Turtles are Walmart exclusive. Fun.

Colour me impressed, Playmates has finally done it. The little playset scene is cool, and they look like they'll display nicely. But the question is how good will the articulation be on these? Hopefully they've figured things out, or they're at least normally articulated, because they look pretty fun to have on the desk to pose around.

But a Walmart exclusive? Cool, they'll be a nightmare to find.