Playmates Concept Art 1988!

[oldmanwinters]

This ebay seller has some incredible pieces of TMNT history:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/thecafewha/m...1&_ipg=&_from=

They've also sold a number of great pieces already which you can see by searching their "completed listings."

They've got very early toy concept art for vehicles, weapons, playsets, and characters like Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, Fugitoid, Ace Duck, the Punk Frogs, unused character concepts, Baxter Stockman, and Casey Jones (with even a red ink comment for the art to "go back to comic" on Casey; which was good advice). There's even Pizza Face... originally known as "Pizza the Hut!"

I saw a few already got posted in another thread, but I figured this find at least deserved its own corner of the internet.

Most all pieces seem to have been drawn and retained by an artist named Errol McCarthy, who must have had quite the resume. The ebay seller describes him as such:

[These pieces come] from the personal portfolio of Errol McCarthy. Errol is now best known as the most prolific Masters of the Universe artist of all time. His artwork is featured on more licensed products than any other artist. He created much of the vintage cardback artwork that we all know and love. For 30 years, his name remained unknown to all He-Man fans around the world. In addition to working on Masters of The Universe, Errol did concept and packaging artwork for many toy lines including TMNT, Big Jim, Toy Story, and Hotwheels.

There are over 300 individual pieces being offered from his TMNT portfolio. This artwork was done by Errol as a freelance artist who was a long-time friend of Mark Taylor who was then an executive at Playmates. Errol designed many of the character's toy designs that became part of the TMNT brand including Bebop, Rocksteady, Tom Sawyer, Krang, Baxter, the Technodrome, and the TMNT Blimp.

Since last night, I've burned a few hours saving all the posted photos to my hard drive for record keeping. I'll post a few selections here!

Krang in his Bubble Walker


Ace Duck



Leatherhead, aka "Sewer Gator"



Genghis & the Punk Frogs



Pizza Face, aka "Pizza the Hut"


Casey Jones looked like a cross between a character from Goonies and one of those monsters from the Kenner Real Ghostbusters toy line!


"Go back to comic," indeed! I wonder if that was a personal note from Eastman and/or Laird?

[oldmanwinters]

Turtles Headquarters/Sewer Playset Concept:




Storage Shell Weapons!


Many of the vehicle/weapon stations seem to have been originally viewed as being a Turtle specific accessory:
Leonardo's Plunger Gun


Michelangelo's Pizza Shooter


Donatello's Toxic Catapult



Head Retractable Turtles


The Battering Ram Fist from "Return of the Shredder." I wonder whether this could have actually worked as a toy. Kinda strange!
Many of the vehicle/weapon stations seem to have been originally viewed as being a Turtle specific accessory:
Leo's Plunger Gun

[Ninjinister]

Escar Joe is such an awesome concept!

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Escar Joe is such an awesome concept!

Sounds tasty!

[Metalhead 2.0]

Aww, man... you took the wind right out my sails. My next post was going to be all the early versions of the familiar characters; Genghis, Ace, Casey, etc

You found my Errol McCarthy goldmine!

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Metalhead 2.0

Aww, man... you took the wind right out my sails. My next post was going to be all the early versions of the familiar characters; Genghis, Ace, Casey, etc

You found my Errol McCarthy goldmine!

"Goldmine" is right! Did you those asking prices for a single piece of art?

I expect the seller probably accepted a much lower best offer on most of them though.

I actually saved all the individual images and the web pages into a zip file. I think I'll put it up here for limited time download for folks to save it for posterity!
Nab 'em!

[OrokuYoshiFilms]

...oh my stars and garters..........that playset. So good I wish I had never seen it.

[Metalhead 2.0]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

"Goldmine" is right! Did you those asking prices for a single piece of art?

I expect the seller probably accepted a much lower best offer on most of them though.

I actually saved all the individual images and the web pages into a zip file. I think I'll put it up here for limited time download for folks to save it for posterity!
Nab 'em!

No doubt, apparently he thinks he's got Eastman's original turtle with those prices.

I've been nabbing the images and stashing them in my photobucket. I kinda question their authenticity since I've never heard Lavigne or Laird talk about him, their "perfect timing" showing up on eBay after all these years, and the lack of info about Errol on the web, but... I don't know.

It's still glad I'm not the only one snatching them up. Damn his watermark. Once it's on the web it's free reign.

[darthwahl56]

It makes sense why the new Pizza Face from the Nick show looks like Pizza the hut from Spaceballs because originally he was named exactly that in the original toyline.

[Candy Kappa]

These are really rad.

[ToSte]

Heh "nunchucko or whatever this is"
Whats with the giant grandpa Moses face in the sewer?

[VaughnMichael]

WOW!!!
So now we know who did much of the card art and designs for the old toy line, besides Laird, Dooney, & Brown.
This is so awesome!
They'd do so well to make this all into a large book, so many people would buy a book full of original TMNT designs.

Originally Posted by ToSte

Heh "nunchucko or whatever this is"
Whats with the giant grandpa Moses face in the sewer?

It's very He-Man.

[Darthchubby]

These were fun to look at. The TMNT toy line was so cool and unique with its character/vehicle designs. I would love to have a book with images of all the products that were released.

[Tubuloso 1984]

I always wondered what Casey's face looked like under the mask. Now I know. Lol

[DarkFell]

First version of Leatherhead reminds me of Dingodile from the Crash Bandicoot games (minus the blue pants), and his pipe gun reminds me of Dingodile's Flamethrower.
I'm glad that they stuck to a hockey mask for Casey Jones and he didn't say "HEY YOU GUYS!" though I am partial to his football with the fuse in it and the helmet with the hole in it. Tee hee.
The sewer playset design looks bad@$$ - I wish they would have kept it that way because the Odin face hardcore rocks.
Seeing the storage shell Turtles w/ the exposed ribcage and bones would have been interesting indeed.
The Punk Frogs look great and Donnie's Toxic Catapult is a great illustration.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by VaughnMichael

WOW!!!
So now we know who did much of the card art and designs for the old toy line, besides Laird, Dooney, & Brown.
This is so awesome!
They'd do so well to make this all into a large book, so many people would buy a book full of original TMNT designs.

It's very He-Man.

Woah, so the actual artist/artists of the original Playmates box art has been a complete mystery all this time? What a crime!

Originally Posted by DarkFell

First version of Leatherhead reminds me of Dingodile from the Crash Bandicoot games (minus the blue pants), and his pipe gun reminds me of Dingodile's Flamethrower.
I'm glad that they stuck to a hockey mask for Casey Jones and he didn't say "HEY YOU GUYS!" though I am partial to his football with the fuse in it and the helmet with the hole in it. Tee hee.
The sewer playset design looks bad@$$ - I wish they would have kept it that way because the Odin face hardcore rocks.
Seeing the storage shell Turtles w/ the exposed ribcage and bones would have been interesting indeed.
The Punk Frogs look great and Donnie's Toxic Catapult is a great illustration.

Here's the Real Ghostbuster toy that reminds me of the Casey design:
Tombstone:
http://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-H.../dp/B001F1YLO4

I agree the skeleton detailing inside the Storage Shell Turtles was a nice touch. It might have been a bit too creepy a detail to include in the actual toy though. Or... more likely, it just wasn't cost effective to sculpt something that wouldn't be visible in the packaging bubble.

[T-U-R-T-L-E POWA!]

Originally Posted by OrokuYoshiFilms

...oh my stars and garters..........that playset. So good I wish I had never seen it.

It was so funny I forgot to laugh! Also this art was shown in the Turtle Power documentary as well. I'm almost positive it was. I have it and this looks really familiar and I'm thinking that is where I seen it at.

[eastlos217]

are these authentic?? these are very interesting...

[Redrumh2o]

I believe they are copies of the original artwork.......please correct me if I am wrong

[snake]

Those are so cool!