2003 Playmates Reissues

[The-Shredder]

On September 12, 2023 at the Toy Insider's Holiday of Play event, Playmates Toys displayed their assortment of TMNT figures, including upcoming reissues of the 2003 series figures, specifically Donatello and Leonardo. We don't have a release date yet, but based on the event it seems like we can expect them around later this year. This was already discussed in the "New reissue figures found" thread, but I felt that these deserve their own.

A few differences from the originals that I can see are that the packaging for the individual Turtles doesn't have their own individual head above the bubble (the packaging with all four heads are for the rest of the characters), but maybe that's not final. Also, the ninja stars are missing the yin and yang symbol stickers. If you remember the History of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Featuring Leonardo set, the weapons were unpainted, so hopefully we get painted weapons in the final release like we see here.

Source: https://www.hidefninja.com/2023/09/1...showcase-2023/

[BlueKatana]

Excellent choice for a reissue! The turtles are “standard” looking enough for the casual parent or kid, while they are good for those of us who didn’t really get much of this line during its original era.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

I'm definitely buying these!

[Tuxedo Moroboshi]

It's hard to tell if the logo is obscuring it, but I'm kinda hoping Donatello still comes with two bo staffs like he did in the original release. But I can already see the buzzsaw shuriken don't have the Yin and Yang symbol on them anymore, which is disappointing.

[TMNachoT]

While I have most of the 2K3 figures in my collection, or at least, the ones I want to have, as a fan of this show, I´ll keep an eye on those reissues.

[Donnie]

Donatello will be mine! Great reissue.

[TMNTFanatic4Life]

I still of all of mine on card, including Quarry

[The Turtle Terminator]

Very much looking forward to a new Donatello- broke the arm of mine about 5 years ago and I’m too apprehensive to buy a used copy to replace it

[DonnieLaForge]

When playmates does the box sets with the outer artwork they use cards that aren't unique per figure, versus when they do actual case assortment releases now the card art closely matches the originals and is unique per character.

So maybe this is a clue that these are first destined to release in a box set made up to look like a 2k3 battle shell.

[Zulithe]

not sure how deep i'll go with this if they do a lot of them, but assuming they do more than just the four turtles I'd probably buy Splinter, Casey, April, Shredder, Leatherhead... ya know, the essentials

[Walkabout]

I have a modest 2K3 collection, "the essentials" that Zulithe referred to.
I'm down with these if they get the Turtle's skin colours right!

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by Walkabout

I have a modest 2K3 collection, "the essentials" that Zulithe referred to.
I'm down with these if they get the Turtle's skin colours right!

The turtles will be interesting even if Raphael has a light lime skin color. I think these will look exactly like the originals from 20 years ago.

[TMNachoT]

Originally Posted by mikey0

The turtles will be interesting even if Raphael has a light lime skin color. I think these will look exactly like the originals from 20 years ago.

They probably will If those new toys toys are based on the Playmates toys but I hope they're cartoon accurate

[Autbot_Benz]

These are shown at toyfair and will be reissued in the classic collection



https://twitter.com/preterniadotcom/...206073/photo/1

[RaphaelinSTL]

Dang, I may have to pick some of those up!

[The-Shredder]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

These are shown at toyfair and will be reissued in the classic collection

https://twitter.com/preterniadotcom/...206073/photo/1

Nice! Thanks for the update! And it looks like the ninja stars will have the stickers after all.

[TMNTFanatic4Life]

Those are cool but I still have the original releases carded so I’ll pass on these.

[BlueKatana]

Found a lone 2k3 Ralph at Target tonight for $11.99.

[Tuxedo Moroboshi]

I know it's probably stupid for me to be bummed out about this, but I'm a little sad that Donatello appears to only come with one bo. The original release had 2 staffs, as seen here:



And I know Donatello, in all forms of media, only ever uses one staff. I realize that. But I just liked how his action figures always used to come with two staffs. From 1988 all the way into 2003 and so forth. I'm not sure exactly when Playmates started only giving Donnie figures just one staff, but the 2003 era definitely still kept that old tradition alive.

[Drose18]

Good point. I'd even say this particular bo staff, while simple, is one of the best we've gotten from a playmates figure.

11.99 price point is solid