Hm. Interesting.
I had mentioned to Kyle after the whole Rat King fiasco and subsequent news that Playmates was stepping on toes (which is the solid truth, by the way. Playmates threw a fit, Nickelodeon/Viacom acquiesced just to further reiterate how much they suck)...
..that maybe 2003 was an untapped market they should pursue next, and that people really want to see those. At that time, it seemed that that wasn't on the table for S7, also seemed like he hadn't really considered it, but seemed enthused by the possibility since he said those were HIS Turtles growing up.
Wonder if he went to Brian after that and pushed to get it done. That this is happening at all tells me Kyle has his hands all over it based off of that conversation, for sure.
I actually do like the 2003 Turtle designs. They look close enough to the '80s Turtles that I grew up with, but less cartoony and goofy. They don't have huge changes from the '80s designs like the Rise Turtles or the Mutant Mayhem Turtles do. So for at least the four Turtles, I probably would have preferred the 2003 looks over the '80s designs. But I already own the '80s Ultimates figures, so I'm not gonna spend $200-$300 on a separate set of Turtles again.
Unrelated, but did the Fwoosh forums have a huge issue with bots back before they went down? My work computer doesn't save cookies, so I have to log back in each time I visit the forums. And doing multiple CAPTCHAs each time I log in is annoying as hell.
I've always liked most of the non-turtle designs from the 2003 show. And the turtles I don't mind, I just don't love the more heroic proportions they have in that show as it really takes away from the "teenage" part of their name. It was cool seeing the toy colors in animation though along with the white-out eyes. I was excited for that show and I watched maybe the first season as it aired and eventually fell off at some point. I wanted to do a proper rewatch for the show's 20th anniversary this year, but I didn't get past the fourth episode. If Super7 commits to matching the show, I think they could produce a decent looking toyline. If they just take their existing turtle body and put new heads on them though then people will see right through that. And if their QC is shitty and prices keep climbing it will fail, but that's a given.
I would prefer NECA made the 2003 toon turtles, but if S7 is doing all 4 brothers in one wave, I might be interested if they look like the toon and not the toys.
I didn't get the impression they were going to do all of the turtles in the first wave. If someone hasn't listened to it yet and wants to I'd be curious how it was worded. I would be very surprised if they deviated much from what they did with the existing line where they use a turtle to anchor a wave. Especially considering they probably won't have the toy variants to turn to to keep a turtle in each wave after the four are released. Though if the line is around long enough to do variants from the show, they could probably get me with Christmas variants from the Christmas episode (it's crazy to me that we only have one Christmas episode of a TMNT cartoon given all of the shows that have happened).
Man, I'm starting to hate that guy...
He is so completely tone-deaf to the people supposedly paying his salary...
I went from 100% supporter of him to 100% loather [i]really[/i] quickly.
You guys have no idea how excited i am. I think mystic turtles would be a real easy variant for them. I hope we do get toy variants since playmates probably doesnt give a shit about 2k3. Paleo patrol, deep diving, mutant trapper, space hoppin, I loved the line so much as a kid. A 2k3 mouser pack would be really cool and more flexible to use with other lines compared to the vintage ones. The big mouser would be cool too. The real bread and butter for me would be the fast forward dark turtles, I think those would do really well. Mutated Don. Oh my god, can we get toddler turtles??? My mom bought multiple packs and kept them in a drawer for when I'd lose em or they broke apart.
Having just went through 2003 for the first time (immediately after the original series mostly for the first time - it was honestly shocking how little of the series that hit my nostalgia-gland, Batman & X-Men must've really taken me away from my 2nd love), I 1000000000% not only want all the figures I never got from the original 2003 line (I did get a handful when they all first came out, all four Turtles, Splinter, April, Casey, Shredder, some Foot, some Triceratons) but would absolutely welcome modern iterations, but echoing what others have said - I'm super NOT interested in spending Super7's prices on Super7's shoddy & worsening products.
Personally while I'm really excited about getting figures based on the 2003 series, I always had hoped that they would have incorporated characters from the 2003 and 2012 shows into the line instead of dedicated 2003 waves. Franchises like TMNT have so many different incarnations that I feel it'd be best to bring in multiple characters into each wave instead of just sticking with one incarnation. However, at the same time I can see how some fans only want the '87 Turtles or the '03 or 2012 Turtles and etc.
I also hope that Super7 can fix there issues as I've enjoyed many of their figures and look forward to getting more in the future.
Personally while I'm really excited about getting figures based on the 2003 series, I always had hoped that they would have incorporated characters from the 2003 and 2012 shows into the line instead of dedicated 2003 waves.
I completely agree. I'd like to see the unique characters from 2003, 2012, and even Rise and Next Mutation brought into the vintage Playmates inspired style. I was thinking they would be more interspersed as opposed to full waves, however.
I can see how 2003 might be a good way to refresh the standard turtles without reutilizing the current buck. (Not that we necessarily need that) I'm assuming of course, that versions of the head dropping turtles or storage shell turtles would amount to nothing more than new heads and potentially new belts. That being said--and I am probably in the minority on this--But, if they're going outside of the vintage toys for designs, I want the RoseArt turtles.
I think the only 2003 character I know I'd buy is Leatherhead. I never liked Utrom Shredder, or the designs of the Foot, don't care about Hun (I know, blasphemy there), the turtles are fine, and if they hit discount I'd consider it, Splinter would be a maybe buy though as I liked that version too.
I dunno. I still have a bunch of the Playmates 2003 figures, especially the Triceratons. But that version of the TMNT just didn't fully click with me.
Watched the first Super7 video series that Veebs is doing. I’m very happy Brian Flynn is doing these. Transparency is nice.
The more I hear Brian Flynn talk, the more I question how he comes to the conclusions he does. He’s made numerous questionable decisions over recent years. And now the 2003 one is mind boggling.
He’s backlogged 4 waves of turtles outstanding. That have questionable characters. The QC has been rough and instead of taking responsibility, he either ignores it or blames the factories. As though he’s not ultimately responsible for what the factories put out.
Instead of finishing out the vintage line while he could, he made weird characters. Now Playmates allegedly out the stop to vintage, he tried making weird changes like that anime Rat King.
Now he’s going to continue the vintage line but only do one wave per year instead of two, to split his bandwidth with 2003. And of the one vintage wave, he’s only going to include a single vintage character we want in each of those waves. So one vintage character per year going forward which may or may not be as ridiculous as anime Rat King.
And he claims he doesn’t know how the market will react?
He did say something very sane and logical if I heard him correctly. That wave 1 of 2003 will include all 4 turtles. Because anything other than that, would be guaranteed failure of this new line. If he doesn’t do all e turtles in wave 1, the line will fail 100%. If he does do all 4 turtles, then I predict only a 95% chance of the 2003 line failing.
Since Veebs has Brian on there weekly for a while, to resume after Toy Fair, I’d love if he’d be willing to ask questions from the forum. It doesn’t seem like anyone who interviews him asks him any real questions. Like about QC issues. Or around figure choices and designs.
TMNT targets 4 waves a year. We're only looking like 2 this year because of the sheer backlog. They prefer to only get 2-3 waves behind but TMNT is 4 waves pending right now. If they indeed start to get caught up, 4 waves will be solicited next year.
As far as 2003 goes, tempering expectations:
I think they'll reuse the existing limbs and have the cartoon style hourglass torso with new belts and new heads. Although they might also get the "modern portrait" heads from the existing torso.
I think S7 will look to blend 2003 with the line's existing aesthetic much like how Silverhawks design choices are heavily based on Thundercats. In hopes that vintage collectors might still get Hun or April.
I'm curious about three things especially:
1. What will vintage figures look like going forward?
2. What's this new Turtle in a vintage wave?
3. What happened to the crossover Flynn discussed with another S7 licensed property and what property is it? He did say it was something TMNT had never crossed over with.
I could see 2 and 3 being related. My hunch would be a Toxic Avenger Donnie with bo staff mop and, if so, I actually think it could hit the right notes that this line's better figures do. They need gross out/monster figures that don't lean on Playmates.
My sense is that even if we do get Playmates designs going forward, they probably have to "cut" it with other stuff to convince Nickelodeon they aren't just poaching that one part of the franchise.
What they insert will be crucial. I can see a Tournament Fighters redeco of the Triceraton (same design otherwise), Armaggon, Monsterex, Mirage Jackal, and some other stuff playing well with the line's monster aesthetic.
Personally while I'm really excited about getting figures based on the 2003 series, I always had hoped that they would have incorporated characters from the 2003 and 2012 shows into the line instead of dedicated 2003 waves.
I completely agree. I'd like to see the unique characters from 2003, 2012, and even Rise and Next Mutation brought into the vintage Playmates inspired style. I was thinking they would be more interspersed as opposed to full waves, however.
Same. My hope right from the start was that they would bring in characters like Ninjara (TMNTA), Venus & Dragon Lord (TNM), Hun (2003), Tiger Claw (2012), etc in the same way they just did Karai. New character but designed to fit with the current vintage style.
I’m just worried that Super 7’s 2003 line will crash and burn (due to their own pricing, delays, QC issues, and character selection, but also in part due to people waiting for NECA instead) and then NECA don’t touch 2003 as they view it as not popular enough.
Or it is a success for Super 7 (so NECA don’t do 2003 due to their gentlemen’s agreement) but takes years to get through even the most basic characters and the figures just aren’t as good looking/accurate as NECA’s original toon figures. Because I would want full toon accuracy for a full line like this.
I guess what it comes to is I love 2003 and have been waiting for NECA to get there and do a line that maybe isn’t as expansive as their original cartoon line but still goes pretty deep and is really accurate to the show. And Super 7’s line, successful or not, would likely put that at risk and give us a line that will take over 2 years to even get through the 4 turtles (assuming 1 per wave), likely won’t look as toon accurate as NECA would have, and ultimately won’t go as deep but may offer some crazy character choices like no Casey but doing Touch & Go or something like that.
As far as 2003 goes, tempering expectations:
I think they'll reuse the existing limbs and have the cartoon style hourglass torso with new belts and new heads. Although they might also get the "modern portrait" heads from the existing torso.
I think S7 will look to blend 2003 with the line's existing aesthetic much like how Silverhawks design choices are heavily based on Thundercats. In hopes that vintage collectors might still get Hun or April.
Which is absolutely what I wanted from the Ultimates line IF they were taking just the new characters from 2003 (like Hun, Bishop, etc.) and doing them vintage style to fit with the existing line.
It’s absolutely not what I want for a proper 2003 line. That I want to be as accurate as NECA’s original toon and movie figures. And I sadly don’t have faith Super 7 can deliver.
Can’t say 2003 draws me in at all. I’m relatively satisfied with what I’ve gotten from this line so far, and anything else I get going forward will just be a bonus. Sure, there are characters I’d like to see in this line from the vintage (Chrome Dome, Fugitoid, and Wyrm), but I can live without them.
Oh man, I just wanted a Pizzaface figure with the design of the one from the vintage line.
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