@misfit That's my thinking - we're looking at 4 of the same body - likely a one-off release

I would love to see the 2K3 Ultimates figure designs soon though, would be great to know how they're going to turn out. With these Playmates, the Mezcos, the Fury/3rd party figures, there's a ton of stuff coming out right now, but like the Ultimates sculpts and all the Neca stuff we've gotten, I still feel like we're missing TMNT figures that are well articulated and actually fun to get into dynamic poses and just a great 'in hand' feel. The Mezco's look they're the closest to it, but I'd really like a more streamlined, cartoon/comic style body, as opposed to the early Mirage big hands and feet look, and also don't cost $400 USD...

Posted by: @karl_space

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@misfit That's my thinking - we're looking at 4 of the same body - likely a one-off release

Maybe I misread him, but I don't think Misfit is suggesting these are just some one-off thing, but just rather than Playmates has proven time and again that they can't read the room worth a shit and these, even if there are more waves, won't light the world on fire like Origins did.
But given that these are showing up after what appears to be a very successful collaboration with Mattel in the Origins style, and the EXTREME success of Origins, it would be kind of insane to assume Playmates doesn't have more than just the 4 planned out.
The same body thing is a non-issue. Super7's figures all have the same body too. So do NECA 'toon and movie Turtles. The vintage toy Turtles are distinguished by their poses - the bodies are pretty much exactly the same. So remove the pre-posed nature of them and give them articulation and they would naturally be on the same body. That doesn't suggest a lack of commitment on Playmates' part.

That being said, it's always -good- to see any Turtles line that starts out with all four brothers. They look SUPER fun from what little we can really tell, except for the usual Playmatesisms in the articulation, so hopefully it's better than it looks in that regard. Still, I'm willing to say that I'm more excited about this than by almost anything going in the toy world right now.
Too bad Canada will never see them.

Seems possible this Origins style line was in development for awhile. If so, that could explain why Super7's Ultimates line had to stop being direct vintage updates. Wouldn't surprise me if Playmates didn't want the competition and got Nick to restrict Super7's license.

@theknightdamien 

I'm agreeing with Misfit that these will likely exist as novelties for most collectors (with soft plastic and sub-par articulation) and another "playmates just misses the mark" release of figures (similar to all the Classic collection stuff over the years). But I also think these are a novelty release as far as Playmates is concerned as well. Who knows though, maybe they do well enough that they want to go deeper into the other 1988 figures. I'm just seeing one body's worth of tooling, that can be reused four times, which means playmates likely sees this as profitable, while a Shredder tooling they can only use for him may not be so attractive to them. Of course, this is playmates, so they can keep reusing that mold for the next 20 years, so who knows what kind of thinking goes on there.

I'm with you and these are a great little toy pick-me-up right now, and I'll happily pick these up if I can get them via Walmart.com and ship to my parcel forwarder, but I'm not holding my breath that we'll see this move towards an Origins style line. They've just started teasing the new figures for the Mutant Mayhem show or whatever it is, with the parts swapping ability (and supreme lack of articulation..), so I think they'll be focusing on the kids market as they always seem to want to do.

I'm thinking their complaints with Super7 designs came more from the straight-up reissues they've been releasing, as well as the themed versions of the figures for Mutant Mayhem. Now, hopefully I'll be eating crow soon, and we hear about or see see more vintage TMNT being 'remastered', but we'll see..

Posted by: @tenime

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I mean, Ultimates Mon*Star was $85...

but that isn’t hollow and has loads of articulation 

Yeah, I just have little faith in Playmates to get it right. I don’t think they understand what has made Origins successful.

I will save my $85, then! Thanks, guys!

@karl_space  Oh, I got'cha now. Thanks for the clarification. I'd still be surprised if this wasn't, at the very least, Playmates testing the waters to see if they can do what Mattel has done. Especially given that there's already a partnership there in this style. And there's just no way they're not aware of the success of Origins.
I'd say that'll be what clinches it or doesn't. If these are even 'good enough' for most Turtles fans that want a Turtle 'Origins' style line, it could very well take off to the point where Playmates has to keep making more because they'd be insane not to.

Kind of like how the Origins line wasn't really intended to end up with an Eternia Playset, Snake Mountain, Castle Grayskull, and like 80 unique figures or whatever the hell it has. -Usually- if the customers show up for a line, companies will make more even if they didn't plan to. 'Cause like.. money is pretty neat, I guess.

So I'm really hoping Playmates miraculously nails it and people are into it. The potential for shitty availability is already a big concern, of course. And the fact that it's Playmates. But they've GOT to know by now how they are viewed by collectors and they must be trying to figure out some way to turn that around given the success of other lines.

Posted by: @karl_space

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Now this is interesting. But, since it's Playmates, how are they gonna screw up some fundamental detail? Swivel ankles maybe?

Well they mixed up Leo and Don's heads already so...

Anyone here frustrated with Super7 missing on some details hasn't been paying attention to Playmates. They are way worse. Can't even do a straight reissue correctly. I hope these are great, i actually really like the Last Ronin figure they did in this style, but I have very low confidence in Playmates at this point, especially with vintage stuff. 

Veebs monthly interview with Flynn is up. Not a ton of Turtle Talk, but it was confirmed we should be seeing the 2k3 turtles go up sometime this month.

So no more in the style of vintage playmates?

Might be done with the line then.

@catromaji that aspect of the line is still touch and go. The supposed plan going forward is to do a wave of 2k3, then a wave of "vintage inspired" figures, and alternate after that. Of course, if the 2k3 turtles land with a thud then that plan will likely end quickly.

EDIT:  Almost forgot, but Brian did confirm (after saying the figure was ready to go up for preorder years ago) that they cannot make a Usagi Yojimbo figure and it's due to the licensing agreement with NECA. The way he phrased it made it sound like it was Stan Sakai's decision to not do the same with Super7 and not something that was written into the agreement with NECA, though I don't know if Flynn is in any position to know that for sure or not. At any rate, no Super7 Usagi.

It feels like every time Brian does a new interview the news is never really very good and things just get less and less interesting. 

With Haul-A-Thon taking place and the 2k3 Turtles going up this month, now seems like a good time to say:

WHOA! They sure were able to cram a lot of Ninja Turtles into April! April sure does hold a lot of 6 to 7inch Turtley goodness! I can’t believe the Ninja Turtles just keep coming and coming in April! April is just covered in massive loads of Ninja Turtles! 

@detrimental-fig

It feels like Brian is always admonishing us for not pre-ordering stuff and that's why the lines fail, instead of admitting that what they're offering for pre-order may be the problem. But we've beat that dead horse so far into the mud that maybe it goes without saying at this point.

I was looking at my TMNT Ultimates shelves last night, and it was bittersweet realizing that what I have, with the addition of Wingnut, Scumbug, Triceraton, and Rat King will likely be the last of these figures that I get unless they can really veer back into vintage designs, especially for unique characters. I've been down to getting one or two figures per wave, with the last wave (april, leo, Karai, and whoever else) being the first 0 figure wave. If they keep going this direction, I don't see my buying habits changing.

I'll be interested to see the designs for 2K3 stuff. If they're fun and seem like they have good articulation, I'd pick up a Leo at regular price to give them a shot to see if I want to get the others when they hit sale prices. Maybe grab a Shredder, but I don't need anything else from 2K3 as they were pretty boring designs for the most part.