admin
22 December 2023
The recent trend of re-releasing old toy lines has been a mixed bag overall, with a few bright spots such as Tron, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Masters of the Universe toys. Now, Playmates has resurrected their most famous (and infamous) toy line: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
If you were a kid in the late 1980s, chances are you had a few of these laying around the house. The first few waves were truly awesome. Sure, they were based on the sweetened TV show instead of the hard-edged comic, but they were still pretty damn cool. After years of awful variations, this line was killed in the mid-1990s. Did we really need a Yankee doodle Raphael, or a Lifeguard Leonardo? A few other attempts to spark the line later, including a horrific live-action show with a turtle sister named Venus, were unsuccessful. So when I heard another new line was coming based on a new show, I was overwhelmed with trepidation.
But, let me say, goddamn these are some fine, shiny pieces of plastic! Each of the four new Turtles are completely redesigned, but still adhere to the basic principles of the old figures. All of the Turtles have a better sculpt, more posable joints, and nicer paint jobs. At the same time, though, each one has the same basic color scheme, facial expressions, and simple white eyes as their original 1987 counterparts. This attention to detail should please old fans, and grab the attentions of new ones.
The accessories have also been updated. The biggest improvement, hands-down, has to be the fact that every weapon now finally has a paint job! No more wimpy orange kitana swords to battle the evil Foot Clan. Too bad it only took 15 years to happen! Beside their signature weapons, each turtle gets some nifty throwing stars and a special weapon. My favorite has to be Raphael’s high-wire and riding pulley. Maybe it is a little too \"Batman\" or \"James Bond\", but I still really dig it.
Yes, as unbelievable as this sounds, the Ninja Turtles are back and better than ever. If the rest of the line is handled with as much care as this first line, this could be just the beginning of a long, fruitful toy line. Great news for all the Turtle fans of the world, and bad news for my dwindling shelf space.
If you were a kid in the late 1980s, chances are you had a few of these laying around the house. The first few waves were truly awesome. Sure, they were based on the sweetened TV show instead of the hard-edged comic, but they were still pretty damn cool. After years of awful variations, this line was killed in the mid-1990s. Did we really need a Yankee doodle Raphael, or a Lifeguard Leonardo? A few other attempts to spark the line later, including a horrific live-action show with a turtle sister named Venus, were unsuccessful. So when I heard another new line was coming based on a new show, I was overwhelmed with trepidation.
But, let me say, goddamn these are some fine, shiny pieces of plastic! Each of the four new Turtles are completely redesigned, but still adhere to the basic principles of the old figures. All of the Turtles have a better sculpt, more posable joints, and nicer paint jobs. At the same time, though, each one has the same basic color scheme, facial expressions, and simple white eyes as their original 1987 counterparts. This attention to detail should please old fans, and grab the attentions of new ones.
The accessories have also been updated. The biggest improvement, hands-down, has to be the fact that every weapon now finally has a paint job! No more wimpy orange kitana swords to battle the evil Foot Clan. Too bad it only took 15 years to happen! Beside their signature weapons, each turtle gets some nifty throwing stars and a special weapon. My favorite has to be Raphael’s high-wire and riding pulley. Maybe it is a little too \"Batman\" or \"James Bond\", but I still really dig it.
Yes, as unbelievable as this sounds, the Ninja Turtles are back and better than ever. If the rest of the line is handled with as much care as this first line, this could be just the beginning of a long, fruitful toy line. Great news for all the Turtle fans of the world, and bad news for my dwindling shelf space.
artid
1210
Old Image
5_7_toys.jpg
issue
vol 5 - issue 07 (mar 2003)
section
entertainmental