heroes in a half shell

I picked up these duders at my local Target. Never did own the original versions of Raph or Don (or Mike for that matter) so I assume Playmates Toys and Target were happy to sell me these rereleases for $9 a whack. And I remember when Target dedicated half the toy aisle to the TMNT, and they sold them for less than $4. Of course, that was the early 90s.



Apparently, this is the lineup- the four TMNT, Splinter, Casey Jones, April, Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, Foot Soldier, and Slash. Good choices, though Slash is a little strange. I do remember an interview with Kevin Eastman, where he stated his favorite action figure was Slash, and Slash is one of the most popular characters on the secondary market these days, so I think it made sense for Playmates to release him with this series. It stands to reason that these could be the only toys they rerelease like this (well, the Party Wagon/Turtle Van is up for preorder at BBTS for $33, so there might be some type of future for this line after all). I guess the inclusion of Slash and no Baxter Stockman makes me expect another series.

I might add that the secondaries and villains must be in a different assortment, since all I saw at my local Target was two each of the Turtles.

As for the toys, they're exactly like you may or may not remember (if you never had Ninja Turtle toys, you just weren't a kid then. Everybody had them). They move like toys did in the 80s and early 90s, which is to say, not much. Don and Raph's weapons are attached to that same tree the originals were, and when you get them all clipped off, it doubles as a rack. The plastic used for the weapons is of a little higher quality than the old days, which is great. The plastic used in the figure isn't nearly as glossy as Playmates used back in the day, also a good thing. It makes the figures look a little better, plus it might help differentiate them from a vintage sample. The copyright stamp on the shell is also updated to 2008, so there's another way to tell.

Playmates has also packed these with one of five DVDs of the first five episodes of the old TMNT cartoon, which if I didn't already have on DVD would be pretty cool. The most disappointing thing about these besides the $9 price tag is the generic cardbacks and lack of filecards. They might be a little strange to read today, because we're all twenty years older and likely forgot all the things the cards made reference to, but it would have been nice anyway.

Between my brothers and I, we had well more than a hundred TMNT action figures, plus several of the vehicles and playsets (Technodrome, anyone?). Hell, it's all still at our folk's house, waiting for me to store it properly since they're still in playable condition. So I guess it was only natural that I'd get a set of these when I found them. I don't think Playmates needs to have several series of these; I think the ten they have planned plus the Party Wagon is plenty. It's always nice to see a little slice of your childhood out there on store shelves again.