Downfall of the original Playmates toy line (80s and 90s kids)

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

It helped that He-Man faded leaving a vacuum that Transformers never fully filled. Koosh balls came out the same year I was born? I remember those and could never figure out what the purpose of those things were.

If it hit any earlier I don't know if I would be as in to it my whole life as I am. I got out of Power Rangers and Pokemon, but never TMNT. I liked TMNT since before my earliest memory.

Masters of the Universe was never a top selling toy like Optimus Prime was in 1984 or Donatello in 1990. I still think Masters of the Universe was the second best action figure line (next to G.I. Joe ARAH) of the 1980s nonetheless. Mattel basically took every page out of Kenner’s Star Wars book in making the MOTU line, but Kenner still did it better with Star Wars.

Koosh Balls were new to toy shelves everywhere in 1987. Koosh balls were great to play catch with and rub against your arm. No one in my family owned one, but Koosh balls always seemed to be in the register aisles of Toys R Us in the 90s. Girls loved Koosh balls in the late 80s and very early 90s.

The Bandai Power Rangers and Hasbro Pokémon stuff was all over the place. TMNT appeared to be the last ever boys toy line in the vein of now classic toy lines like the original Kenner Star Wars and Hasbro G1 Transformers. I would go as far as to say that the first through third basic assortments and some of the fifth wave (1990) TMNT figures are up there with Star Wars, the MEGOs, MOTU, GI Joe (both scales), and Transformers as the greatest action figure lines of the 20th century, bar none.

[mikey0]

Part of me still believes that things took a turn for the worst with the original toy line as soon as it became a 90s toy line. What was a pop-up mutant display? How did Playmates expect children to know what that was? Why didn’t Playmates make different card backs for the figures with pop-up mutant displays? What were Turtles collectors supposed to do to get the get the rest of the pop-up mutant displays? How come there wasn’t a mail-in offer to get the whole set of pop-up mutant displays? Why did the pop-up mutant display figures see such a limited release? They were gone before August of 1990, IIRC. Why would Playmates tie the MWS cartoon universe to the toy line universe? Most importantly, how would MOC collectors explain this set to their families?

The Giant Turtles were acceptable somewhat, but it’s hard to forgive Playmates for the pop-up mutant displays. Pop-up mutant displays were a good idea, but it was poorly handled by Playmates.

[mikey0]

Did anyone else get the impression that the original TMNT line could have been a one wave action figure line?

It seems like most people only know the original Playmates toy line for the first wave. I think that is why Super7 and Turtles fans alike were a little surprised to see Baxter Stockman in the first TMNT Ultimate figure wave.

[mikey0]

The blogger Comic Gamer Assemble listed the 1991 Hasbro The Space Adventures of Bucky ‘O Hare toy line above the 1988 original TMNT toy line as one of his 10 favorite action figure lines: https://comicgamersassemble.com/2014...-infinity-2-0/

The Hasbro Bucky ‘O Hare stuff was released a little too late to grab the older TMNT consumer crowd, but again I must ask this question. Did anyone on here like the TMNT inspired toy lines over the 1988 TMNT toy line?

[mikey0]

Would anyone have liked the original Playmates line better if the figures were 4 inches?

[mikey0]

Did the original toy line get better when the toys were gross (1989 - 1994) or before [1988]?

[TommyT]

Originally Posted by mikey0

Would anyone have liked the original Playmates line better if the figures were 4 inches?

Originally Posted by mikey0

Did the original toy line get better when the toys were gross (1989 - 1994) or before [1988]?

Market research? I mean, even I'm not quite this transparent.

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by TommyT

Market research? I mean, even I'm not quite this transparent.

I was trying to bump this thread. The ‘88 Playmates Toys Turtles were the third best-selling action figures of all time behind the original 1977 Kenner Star Wars and 1982 Hasbro G.I. Joe A Real American Hero toy lines.

[Discogod]

Originally Posted by mikey0

I was trying to bump this thread. The ‘88 Playmates Toys Turtles were the third best-selling action figures of all time behind the original 1977 Kenner Star Wars and 1982 Hasbro G.I. Joe A Real American Hero toy lines.

I keep reading stuff like this from you without any sources or evidence to back it up.

I know you like to spend your time constantly sucking Playmates' dick, but you need to back your claims up with proof.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by mikey0

I was trying to bump this thread. The ‘88 Playmates Toys Turtles were the third best-selling action figures of all time behind the original 1977 Kenner Star Wars and 1982 Hasbro G.I. Joe A Real American Hero toy lines.

I would have never have guessed. Top ten sure, but third? Kenner's Star Wars line I would have guessed was #1, but do you have a link to confirm that TMNT's line is third best selling overall? I would have thought Barbie would have been above TMNT in sales figures?

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by Discogod

I keep reading stuff like this from you without any sources or evidence to back it up.

I know you like to spend your time constantly sucking Playmates' dick, but you need to back your claims up with proof.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I would have never have guessed. Top ten sure, but third? Kenner's Star Wars line I would have guessed was #1, but do you have a link to confirm that TMNT's line is third best selling overall? I would have thought Barbie would have been above TMNT in sales figures?

“3. During the first four years of Turtlemania, beginning in 1988, some $1.1 billion worth of toys were sold. The Turtles are the third bestselling toy property of all time, behind only “G.I. Joe” and “Star Wars.””

- New York Post (https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost....a-turtles/amp/)

[mikey0]

I’ve came to the conclusion that the first wave of the original Playmates toy line was the greatest out of them all because those action figures were MOTU toy spoofs. Leonardo was literally the most turtle like action figure in all of existence to that point [and maybe afterwards] that had a removable belt that reminded older toy collectors of the harness that He-Man wore. The first wave Leo greatly resembles the poster I saw of Kermit dressed as He-Man a long time ago. Shredder had brows and eyes similar to what all toy buyers were seeing from 1978 to that point. Foot Soldier had the funniest pose out of all of them (mocking pretty much every MOTU mold). It was very ape like. Bebop was the first 5 inch punk looking character on shelves. That was captivating at the time when actual punk rock fans were everywhere. The B.A. Baracus figures from the Galoob A-Team toy line came in different scales. One was nearly 4 inches and the next was 6 inches. The punkiest looking Mr. T figure was 12 inches though.

Many children and teens in the early 90s thought the Turtles was their MOTU toy line and we didn’t need a Mattel He-Man line like the one that was in stores from 1989 to 1992, but the ‘88 TMNT toy line wasn’t a carbon copy of the MOTU stuff from years before. The humor and colors are what made the original toy line stand out from all of the rest of the boys toy lines before it.

The first wave might have been disappointing to teens and adults that enjoyed the comics and children, teens, and adults that watched the cartoon, but the first ever wave from the original Playmates toy line was one of the last good boys toy lines to come out of the Reagan 80s [and the Kenner Starting Lineup toy line was never as successful as TMNT].

Releasing Genghis Frog in the same wave as Baxter and Triceraton with Fugitoid in the 5th wave was clever, but I feel like what came out from 1989 to 1997 never measured up with the ‘88 releases. Most people only know the original Playmates toy line for the first and best wave. Nonetheless, this toy line fell at different times for collectors of all ages. A lot of us on here could say the 1991 Sewer Sports All Stars sub-wave is where Playmates went wrong with the toy line, but hardcore Shellheads might argue that the Turtle variants got even sillier from 1992 to 1997. It’s really hard to generalize with this toy line.

The original Playmates toy line ultimately suffers from being a boys toy line based off of a popular comic book from the mid 80s. The ‘88 toy line never knew what it wanted to be. There were Mirage Comics and other miscellaneous comic book company characters mixed in with FW cartoon characters in it from 1988 to 1991, then cartoon and Archie comics characters with some late Mirage Comics characters sprinkled in there from 1991 to 1995. Past that point there were re-releases and variant sub-waves. None of 4 (Star Wars, MOTU, G1 Transformers, and GI Joe ARAH) ended the way fans wanted them to, but they all had send offs that made sense at the time. The Dino and Stretch figures, from my opinion, did not have a place in the original 1988 line at all.

The original Playmates toy line could be classified as a boys toy line that was great at first, but went far off into the deep end.

[miru]

Originally Posted by mikey0

Thank you for sharing that interesting fact with me.


I’m sorry to say this, but the basic assortments to the original Playmates toyline were disjointed from the very first wave of figures. The 1988 Foot Soldier action figure was one of the very first cartoony looking action figures to come out of the ‘80s, if I’m not mistaken. The statue-like appearance of the 1988 Foot Soldier separates it from the other figures, also. I always thought characters like Genghis Frog and Ace Duck in the second wave were horrible additions to the line, but no one then (myself included) knew what to expect from the original Playmates toyline when it was in its’ infant years. The third and last wave of 1989 was much more of an improvement over second set of figures.

Here’s how I see it, really:

1988 - 1989: Good action figure line (not the best, but not bad)
1990 - mid ‘91: The original toyline is still somewhat in the safe zone.
Late ‘91 - mid ‘97: The first Playmates line takes the plunge completely by catering to children exclusively.

I wonder where the 2003, 2007, 2012, and post-2012 lines would fall into with this? 2003 tried to be more mature but maybe went a little too far by not allowing Classic mutants a chance and having too many boring humans, but added better articulation in some cases. The aesthetics were also less detailed though, but more modern and sleek than before. The 2012 line tried to bring back this gritty detail, however.

But I agree, the only later figures that interest me are characters who actually are from the show/media like Irma and Mona Lisa. Even 1992 at least had Scaletail, but it also had some pretty lame picks as well. 1991 was much the same to a lesser extent, where the weaker characters were merely okay and there were a lot more strong characters included. It might also be because Mirage artists were less involved with the development of the later figures like Halfcourt, which relied more on outside designers, which resulted in a cleaner, kiddified look. Even earlier weak toys had more detail than a lot of the 1992-1993 character.