Turtle variants in Nick line (How and will they do them?)
 

So as we know, Playmates is well known for making many, MANY variants of the four turtles. The original toyline being a major example of that.

I'm curious though. It's obvious (or at least looks that way) with the new Nick TMNT toys that they spent the majority of the budget on the turtles themselves.

If they do variants like the old toylines (sports TMNT, dino TMNT, etc, etc) will they have the same amounts of articulation as the regular ones, and for that matter, will they still try to make them different in build (Don being tallest, Mike the shortest)?

Don't the talking Turtles count as the first variants? Sure they're not, "themed" but they're the same thing.

I think its inevitable we'll get a sports-themed series of Turtles, just like the OT and 4kids series had.

Since they're a different scale, I'd say no.

I wouldn't count the talking Turtles as variants of the main line, but rather as a mini-line of itself.

I really really hope we get tons of new characters before they start killing the line with the non-stop absurdity of variants.

I like the original turtles the best, without any extra gear or non-show-accurate costumes. Although, I would buy turtle variants for the Nick turtles. I probably wouldn't buy that many though. If I worked at the toy company here are the variants I would make:

*Sewer Spitting Turtles (an update of the turtles in swimming pool and beach clothes, just like the original Sewer Spitting Turtles from the 1990s.)

*Sports Turtles (each turtle is themed differently, baseball, football, basketball, hockey.)

*Toon Turtles (the action figures will look more cartoon-accurate to the Nick series, only this time there won't be any action features like the 1990s Toon Turtles).

I think I would agree with Prefight Doughnuts. If you include the talking turtles, then the 11" turtles TRU exclusives would have to be included as well. My own personal thought to this is that variants would be limited to the scale/line in which they are being released and not on the more broader scale of the manufacturer.

As far as what variants they might make, I think it's too early to tell. I can see them maybe making the sports turtles again. Which has always seemed random to me. And some of the variants from the original line were just plain stupid- in both concept and design LOL. I like the variants based off of scenarios from the show such as the disguises. Obviously the best example I can think of would be the OT Undercover Turtles. But it would be cool if we got something fresh for the new series using that idea. I just don't think there is enough material yet.

As a kid in the 80s/90s I never bought the variants. I had the original 4 and since I bought them to play with and not collect, I would rather a different figure all together as opposed to the same character with a theme to it. In fact, after a couple of years when my original ones started to look banged up, I actually bought a re-release of the original design in a 4 pack to replace them, even though there were many variants available at the time.

That's a variant I would love to have if done right. Playmates did a great job with the Turtles figures, but you can tell they're pretty different to the Turtles on the show (the rubber look, the squared shapes, their feet, their eyes...). Now, toon accurate doesn't mean kiddie, wich is what I'm affraid would happen if this line ever comes to life.

I hope they skip the shell-astic Turtles idea this time around.

http://www.tmnttoys.com/06figures/shellastics/8002.jpg

wtf....

stretchable arms is the stupidest idea for a tmnt... like seriously... so lazy. it makes no sense within the context of the show.

i want to see more versions of the turtles but they can't be pointless gimmicks like that.

Wow, I didn't know they made stretchy turtles out of the 2k3 series... Huh.

I never knew they made those stretch TMNT. LOL:D

I think a new wave of mutatin Turtles is probably the best bet, given they rehashed those in the 4kids line too.

Mutatin Splinter can be rehashed too now since he's Yoshi again.

I'd kill for mutating Dogpound and Fishface. :D

Yeah, if the paintjob can mutate from crap to decent.

Hahahah from what i have seen, looks like they went half arse on the paint. Classic Playmates.

Kinda surprised Nick is letting that kind of sloppiness slide, really. I mean, this is a BIG company when compared to Mirage. They have to have some pull.

This made me LOL

I think the difference is that Mirage was small enough to actually care about the quality of the product representing their property. Nick is too big to be bothered with things like paint jobs. All they care is that there is a profit coming out of the license. I'm not bashing Nick, it's just a reality of big business. They'll start caring once the money stops coming in at which point the decision will be whether to pull the line or not.

Well, there is a selected commitee within Nick that mainly deals with just the Turtles stuff. Think of the political structure; where Viacom is sort of the country and Nick is the state/province; the TMNT stuff is simply just a small region on Nick's map. Sure, that region has good leaders such as Ciero Nielli and is backed by Nick's programming division, but even during the Fred Wolf era it wasn't much different. Playmates still needed approval from Mirage to release their figures, and likely targets the portion of Nick that works with the Turtles first. The Nick show has to pass the same barriers as the old shows did with CBS, FoxBox, and CW 4kids. It's just a different organizational structure than before.

Now for the "Specialty lines" as I call them (not variants as those are based off of errors and production changes), I would like a mix of old favorites (We already having talkin' Turtles, though in a larger scale) such as 13" figures, minature figures, Storage Shell, Mutations, and some new lines such as High School Turtles (if the show does use a high school), Detective Turtles, and Oriental Turtles (with each Turtle based off of a different Asian country).