Auto Attack TMNT are out

[Revan]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

Nooo! You must resist! Purchasing these things only encourages them to make more crap!

Ha. I just see and I must have. It's a sickness really. At the very least, I'm supporting my beloved tmnt

[Mutated Leo]

Originally Posted by Drtooth

You do realise if it wasn't for playmates TMNT would be an obscure B&W comic book that no one would remember.

I think that, other than the rediculous varients and pointless crap like that, they usually did do a good job. I think the Movie figures could have been better sculpted/painted. but all and all, better than some of Mattel's recent stuff. Not even talking about the lead paint issue.

It would have happened no matter what...

Hit Cartoons = Tie in products

Simple equation really. It could have been Hasbro or even Fisher price. The comic was not as obscure as you might think.

[tmntobsessions]

Originally Posted by Putrescent

I used to be just like you now you're buying figures off me on ebay
thanks btw.

lol no problem ...i guess we all have our run through on our collections...
i'm going to keep collecting until i have two of every fig ever made including the japanese releases and other countries as well....i guess i have it pretty bad lol...

[VaughnMichael]

Originally Posted by tmntobsessions

lol no problem ...i guess we all have our run through on our collections...
i'm going to keep collecting until i have two of every fig ever made including the japanese releases and other countries as well....i guess i have it pretty bad lol...

well you won't be collecting much until you get your credit card problems worked out..

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by Putrescent

well you won't be collecting much until you get your credit card problems worked out..

Ooh.. burned.

But seriously dude, a massive collection is not worth maxed out credit cards. There will still be toys on eBay when you get them paid off.

[VaughnMichael]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

Ooh.. burned.

But seriously dude, a massive collection is not worth maxed out credit cards. There will still be toys on eBay when you get them paid off.

sorry but when people bid on things and don't pay for them it really ticks me off...he told me some one stole his card reguardless he shouldnt have bid on peoples items if he knew had issue with his bank about such matters.
Ebays not cheap...if I don't get rid of some of my stuff soon I'm gonna have to start taking it to fleamarkets.

[BigApple3AM]

Originally Posted by Mutated Leo

It would have happened no matter what...

Hit Cartoons = Tie in products

Simple equation really. It could have been Hasbro or even Fisher price. The comic was not as obscure as you might think.

It's not that simple. I agree the TMNT comic wasn't that obscure relatively speaking. To anyone outside of comics it would have been, but not to the comics industry. It did that whole black and white boom. Still the only reason they got a cartoon was because of the toy deal. In fact it was playmates who said we'll make the toys, but you have to get us a cartoon deal. Then it was easy to get a cartoon deal when they know there are other companies involved with merch like toys to support it. End result is the biggest hit property of the late 80's.

But yeah without that toy deal they would probably have just kept making the comics. Who knows what would have happened, the only reason they might have gotten recognized by Playmates was because they never had a boys toy line before. Hasbro, Kenner, Mattel, and the other toy companies of the time might have deemed it too wacky and TMNT would have just continued as a comic until Eastman and Laird ran out of steam. Maybe they would have found success with it somewhere else, but I doubt it would have been as huge as it was, and there probably wouldn't have been many video games or any movies at all.

[Slash]

What year were the metal RPG TMNT pieces made?

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by Slash

What year were the metal RPG TMNT pieces made?

I think as early as 85. They were the first licensed TMNT product.

[Slash]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

I think as early as 85. They were the first licensed TMNT product.

I wonder why people took a risk on those prior to TMNT really being within a year old.

[Mutated Leo]

Originally Posted by Ectocooler

It's not that simple. I agree the TMNT comic wasn't that obscure relatively speaking. To anyone outside of comics it would have been, but not to the comics industry. It did that whole black and white boom. Still the only reason they got a cartoon was because of the toy deal. In fact it was playmates who said we'll make the toys, but you have to get us a cartoon deal. Then it was easy to get a cartoon deal when they know there are other companies involved with merch like toys to support it. End result is the biggest hit property of the late 80's.

But yeah without that toy deal they would probably have just kept making the comics. Who knows what would have happened, the only reason they might have gotten recognized by Playmates was because they never had a boys toy line before. Hasbro, Kenner, Mattel, and the other toy companies of the time might have deemed it too wacky and TMNT would have just continued as a comic until Eastman and Laird ran out of steam. Maybe they would have found success with it somewhere else, but I doubt it would have been as huge as it was, and there probably wouldn't have been many video games or any movies at all.

Good point! I do think without playmates it would have been better, much better... JMHO.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by Slash

I wonder why people took a risk on those prior to TMNT really being within a year old.

I think it probably gets overlooked because of how HUGE the boom was when TMNT hit TV and toyshelves, but the reason that stuff happened in the first place is because the TMNT comic became a HUGE phenomenon with just the first issue. A smaller scale of huge, yes, but absolutely HUGE considering its small, independent, B&W status.

And Kevin and Peter did a lot of smart things in those early years and fell into contact with a lot of the right people.

There's a fantastic article in the December 1992 issue of Smithsonian that chronicles the TMNT's evolution from B&W comic book to action figures and cartoons and movies, etc. It's honestly one of the best TMNT articles I've ever seen in print. Highly recommended. Your local library should be able to get you access to it with either old physical archives or electronic archives.