2k12 Playmates Turtles
 

I recently saw this article on Toy box: http://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/20...ninja.html?m=1

Did anyone here like this ode to the original Playmates line? Aside from the happy meal looking toys and unreleased figures—were there some things Playmates did better with this line than the ‘88 and ‘03 toy lines? Do you feel that it is too soon for this thread to be up?

Beyond the 4 turtles this line wasnt great either. There are clear cost cutting signs all over the place...


Missed paint apps, crappy single color weapons,etc, all typical playmates stuff that hits the 12$ price mark. The longer the line ran the worse they got-removing articulation (looking at metalhead), etc.


Its playmates that continues to not even look into the IPs they are dealing with...they just dont care. They are running an 80s game in the wrong years.


They are clearly just running a failing business at this point, and have completely lost touch with their customers.

All good points.

I liked the packaging for the Tales of the TMNT “Samurai” and “Monsters + Mutants” sub-waves, but that was it.

I remember back in '12 or '13 many of us (myself included) made many a post here regarding how the Nicktoons line, which was initially so cool, diminished very quickly into bad rotocast toys that resembled the kind of solid plastic crap you'd get out of a 25 cent machine that dropped those little plastic bubbles with other crap toys in them.

I've got quite a few of the early Nicktoons line, moc but I dropped the whole line completely a couple of seasons in before they first refreshed the cardbacks.

Should Wyrm have been made for this line?

Between the constant variant releases we got instead of different characters I don't care for the line. Honestly I'm ashamed I own most of the line too I hated the fact we got stupid variants of the turtles when characters like Pigeon Pete, the Kraang suit, Biotroid, Kraang Prime, Savant Romero, Creep, and the Mutants 3 pack, but we get Spittin, Ooze chucking, and stupid gimmick figures

Then the whole blocking other companies from making stuff adult collectors wanted I despised them

The 2k12 toy line was much worst when it came to turtle variants than all of the Batsuits made for the Kenner BTAS line in the 90s.

Yup.
I'd say the best piece we got from that line was the Mouser Multipack - the were so well done that those particular figs can span several TMNT toy series and be correct. Also, the little kid Turtles were alright.

It's crazy because I love that line of figures, but hate them terribly. I think it's because the show turned out so good that I have some affection for it.

The first Nickelodeon Turtles show and toy line appeared to be a nice throwback for people who grew up with the first two movies (2k12 Foot Soldier), original MWS show (Napoleon Bonafrog), Mirage comic books, action figures (Mutagen Man), and even the 2k3 Fox Box series (toddler turtles). In other words, perfect for XYers and Yers who are now parents.

I collected quite a bit of the 2012 series toys. I really liked the play sets. Even though they didn't sell very well. The pizza pop up play set was my favorite.

The way I see it. It's a kids toy line and the main thing was to keep the price point affordable which Playmates were very good at doing for the better or worse. I felt like they could have upgraded some of the figures as comic con exclusive like they did with the Usagi figure but not in stupid limited numbers.

There were a lot of turtle variants that I liked such as the LARP turtles, and monster turtles. The figures suffered scaling problems that has been existing since the 2003 line. A lot of the figures had good sculpt that can really shine with a decent paint job.

There were certainly characterse that I want to see made but didn't. I understand the turtle variants and I don't think them as taking up a spot that could have been for a new character. Instead I think they could have included more new characters in the assortment mixing some turtle variants.

Also loved the mirage turtles that were mixed in the 2012 line up.

I've got to say that at least the turtle variants were born of use on the show (or maybe the other way around), but either way running gags like "Mikey Turflytle" were a great way to do the variants.

I remember we talked about that here for a while. This line just begged for Build-A-Figures. I think it could have really blown up had they take it even a degree or two more seriously.

But then after a while, every single release was a rotocast toy. It was incredibly disappointing, especially given how good the animated content the line was born from was.

I agree the themed turtle variants of the basic assortments like ‘Mikey Turflytle’ were great alongside the villains of that basic assortment like Baxter Stockman. Unfortunately, like many on here are saying, so many of the toys like Baxter Stockman resembled modern fast food toys.

It is quite sad that there were Mutations Mix and Match figures, but not any Build-A-Figures for the basic assortments. Some of the Mutations Mix and Match figures (like Metalhead) were even better than the actual basic assortment figures. Still, the best toy line for TMNT toy fans will always be the original from 1988. Playmates seems to have difficulty changing with the times. Adult collectors are buying their children any Hasbro Marvel Legends figures they see that they want in this day and age. At the same time, you would never know that by looking at the top selling Christmas toys of the past 10 years. Action figure companies are not fairing well in this time like they did towards the very end of the last century.

The truth is, kids don’t play with action figures like we did. If you’re in the toy game today, DETAILED products is not an option, it’s a requirement. The 2012 turtles were already 3D models. Playmates blew it. They refuse to change their standards, and its painful.
@Mikey0, tell them they suck.

Cool article, thanks for sharing.

This guy, or rather the local version, is why I could never find that darn Monster Hunter Leo. The one and only figure I wanted that I never located. (And though I'd still like to have it, hell no I'm not paying those eBay prices.)

You’re very welcome.

I’ve never seen Monster Hunter Leo in any store in 2017. The latter action figures in any toy line are usually the hardest to find because children generally lose interest after 2 to 3 years of collecting.

The Monsters+Mutants sub-wave would have been better with the unreleased Savanti Romero figure. I guess Playmates expected the children of the 2010s to somehow find a 2005 Paleo Patrol Savanti Romero and substitute it for the one that should have been in an earlier basic wave or the Monsters+Mutants sub-wave.

You should look through 2k12 TMNT lots on eBay every and now and then for a loose Monster Hunter Leo. I imagine it should not be incredibly hard to find a loose MH Leo at a decent price.

I don’t work for Playmates. I only look at what’s on the market.

Okay, but you seem to think they're great. They brought TMNT to market, and had a great designer(s) in their day, but at this point, it's legacy goods, and a roadblock for the quality goods that should be easier to access. It's their license that is gumming up the works, all so that they can turn out a sub standard product.

The first wave from the original toy line and everything that went with it (toy store dividers, Collector’s Case, VHS store adverts) was great along with some of the items of the original line released from 1989 to 1992, but that’s it. The original toy line changed everything for action figure fans of all ages. It’s not everyday you see a boys toy line that spoofs the ones that came before it like you did with the 1988 TMNT line. It was brilliant in it’s heyday (late 80s and early 90s).

I agree wholeheartedly.

Did anyone dislike the newly updated cardbacks from 2015? Were the original 2012 cards best for this toy line?

That's the point. Time for them to walk away.

Did anyone think the throwback cards with the purple bricks and opening with the classic costumed versions of the 2k12 Bebop and Rocksteady was a nice touch for the “Tales of the TMNT” ‘Wanted Bebop and Rocksteady’ sub-wave?

This guy gets it....

Then they are even failing at that....


Show me detailed images of anything made by playmates that is even remotely screen accurate. The answer is you cant, because they arent. (teeth included)


Now compare the recent releases from Revoltech to the screen, or NECA 90 movie, or hell anything else, and tell me again what is Playmates aiming for?

Loved Wave 1 and some of the villains and supporting charters in the later waves. And the Battle Shells. They cheaped out on paint apps beyond what was reasonable for a low-price kids line IMO, but the line had some highlights. Even though the line isn't that far gone, I do have some nostalgia already for some of the earlier figures from 2k12. Glad I own them.

But moving forward, unless Playmates wants to get into the adult collector market I will be sticking to SHF, NECA, Revoltech, Super 7 and other adult-focused product.

I will pick up an occasional figure here or there from Playmates when it's warranted (particularly supporting characters we don't have figures of yet, or select figures from new lines from future shows/movies if they do it well) -- but 2k12 was the last line of theirs that I bought most of, and that won't be happening again without SIGNIFICANT changes on their part.

Playmates tries to play it from both sides. When the figures don't meet our standards they like to play up how the figures are for kids... but then they release convention-exclusive product that clearly indicates otherwise -- that they want the attention of adult collectors. They need to make up their minds what they are aiming for. It's not impossible to appeal to both, they just don't put in the effort.

I was pleased with what they were doing with the Classics line. The turtles themselves were flawed but a nice effort. Bebop and Rocksteady though were AWESOME and showed so much potential for what they were capable of. But then they just gave up. They could have given us 2k12 turtles in that same style, or more characters from the 88 show or 90 movie. We have other companies like NECA having nice success with turtles. If Playmates had played their cards right, we wouldn't need NECA to fill in the gaps. But, I'm happy that they stepped up.

Well said.

Except fore the Neca mirage turtles i dident collect turtles since the 90 with the old line.so i must admit that i did collect most of the 2k12 line.i was mad on playmate making it imposseble fore Neca to make turtles figures but i did like the show and did crave some figures and caved In.

The first 4 turtles alonge with the mousers and posseble sdcc usagi and classic b&r.are the best figures playmate has ever made.

With the 2k12 line playmate coued easy made collector figures of the basic line all they did have to do was to make them like the 2012 giveaway turtles and they woued have a collector line and i think most adult collectors woued buy them.the box was simple but look Very cool and woued fit a collector line.it coued have workd on all figures with just making diffrent sticker with the names.and the figure they woued to give us the same joints AS the turtles and better paint apps and posseble a stand that night Leo did come with.

The classic line was **** except fore b&r.they was not classic AS stated but did look cool.Playmate coued make good collector figures they did it with the giveaway turtles and sdcc usagi but they never did bother to make a full line fore retail.

At the end playmate did blow it and are now finally getting wath they deserve with losing the deathgrip on the turtles.and the turtles finally can shake off the only fore children stamp and we have now gotten fine adult line from mirage,87 toon,90 movie from Neca.retro classic from super 7.2k12 from relvotech tho i wish the joint In the arms etc was smaller and did not show AS well.and finally the first idw turtles from dc collect.i think the future is bright In the years to come.
but again playmate are trying ther best to ruining that and are trying TO do like they did to Neca In 09 with the **** relase of the comic and 88 turtles collector pack.again it show how bad playmate is.instead of trying to make better figures they focues on trying to hold on the deathgrip and make the same old ****** figures.
At the end of 2012 line i did decide that i only do collect the first series from playmate since i got a lot of the old figures and ended going deep with the 2012 line but now with the super7 line i am thinking of selling off all my playmate figures and playsets and replace them with the super 7 figures to show that i dont like how they run ther buissness.time will tell.