NECA Universal Monsters x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[TCRI]

Originally Posted by mikey see

is FOMO really the reason we should be collecting? I certainly fall victim to it more than I'd like but I've been trying to actively fight it for the past 6 months or so and it has felt good.

Saying 'no' is my newfound therapy... and I kind of mean it.

I said 'no' to the ultimate Casey Jones, and ever since then (whenever it was), everything has been such an easy pass. Even SOTO turtles, despite it being my favourite film as a kid.

I might still pick up a couple of toys each year, but I just don't want a house full of turtles. I've had enough!

[Otter]

Maybe some of us need to spend a little more time hustling, and a little less time whinging if rising prices have us down.

Or reprioritising.

Or being okay with letting stuff go.

[TCRI]

Or just not buying lol.

I see more people backing off from this hobby (or just NECA in general). I'm sure there are people who see this as MORE reason to buy - maybe they're thinking NECA's later, less popular TMNT releases will be worth more

I was into buying physical video games a few years ago. When when FOMO kicked in, I kept buying and in the end had a load of games unopened, never played. I realised it stopped being fun...

For me, the same is happening with TMNT toys now. NECA mostly. I'm not having any fun. I'll still keep an eye out for announcements, but the urge to buy everything has gone. Good riddance.

I don't consider myself a big collector at all. But I've spent more on TMNT toys than I did on my first car!

[mikey0]

April as The Bride of Frankenstein is up for pre-order at BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ...=Pterniadotcom

[D Piddy 1982]

Interesting conversation here. I'm in a place where I'm finding I'm not enjoying collecting like I did 5 or 10 years ago. Combination of rising costs, number of releases per month or quarter, number of toy companies dipping into the market. Multiple franchises.

I would say pre 2010 there were little to no adult themed toys and collectables in the way that we have them today. Or at least I didn’t notice them or were aware of them. It was only really the NECA Mirage Turtles and I was kinda like (stupidly) “oh they’re cool” and just browsed them on the shelf – but didn’t buy any. Fortunately a good friend went on a trip to America around 2009 and brought me back Mikey as a gift. That figure is still one of my most prized possessions. Of course I cracked him open as soon as I got him, no keep it mint in box!

Anyway, we started to see a few cool additions to TMNT lines – Playmates Classics Collections (which seemed good at the time – nothing to compare to), Revoltech TMNT and the one that was a game changer – the NECA SDCC Toon set (8 figures) and the NECA Movie Turtles 4 piece set. Both limited edition, both gave me severe FOMO – rightly as I couldn’t get hold of them. I was worried that would be the only chance to get those figures and was quite upset, frustrated and angry at one point at not being able to get something I’d always dreamed of.

On top of the TMNT other franchise were started to come at me hard – Transformers, Star Wars, Ghosbusters, GI Joe, Jurassic Park. Same thing, picking up a few early releases thinking this is cool as hell.

I would say early 2020 I was still in a good toy collecting place. A scattering of figures from mixed franchises, all looking toon accurate and great. But each franchise and line got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Skip to 2022 and my “office” is stacked high with toys. A quarter of them haven’t even been opened. Some of them I look back on and think “I didn’t need that, I only bought it because of FOMO”. And because I have so many, it’s very hard to enjoy each individual figure in the way I used to be able to.

Turtles alone I have – NECA Toon, NECA Movie, Super7 Ultimates, Super7 Reaction, TMNTxPR, Playmates Rise, Mega Bloks, plus picking up the odd Vintage Playmates.

But just recently I also thought “no”. No to SOTO set (I was heavily tempted but no), no to the 1990 accessory set. No to lots of Toon twin packs. No to April and Casey Farm set and no to Ultimate Casey. (I will admit to getting the NECA Turtle Van, but I feel that even if I have a change of heart I’m certain I can get my money back on that one).

I still have way too much to be able to enjoy it, but I feel better having turned my back to stuff I might have bought “just because” a few years ago.

Just to keep this on thread, I have zero interest in this Monster Mash Up April. Zero.

[jestergoblin]

I'm in a similar space - the whole Universal Monsters X TMNT line looks AMAZING and really makes me wish NECA would do their own TMNT line that wasn't based on anything specific.

But it is crazy to think how much the TMNT collecting world has shifted since the Viacom buyout. Pre-2009, there wasn't much out there that wasn't tied to the cartoon. Now, we're drowning in new stuff and it's crazy to feel like I have a choice in what I do and don't want.

[Dask]

LOL, I bought the Bride of Frankenstein from NECA and there's no option to cancel it only to have it sold by BBTS without the exorbitant $15 shipping a week later. FAIL.

[DonnieLaForge]

Yep, I was SORT OF wrong about Bride not being available anywhere else. However one can deduce from the fact that she is $5 more than the others on BBTS that what really happened here is they bought some quantity themselves at "MSRP" (or close to it) and are reselling. So, I still think that is actually further confirmation that this is a one and done thing -- and I expect there's a set quantity on the BBTS pre-order amount. Lucky for me I hadn't ordered yet, so I'll go with BBTS because I can cancel if I want and it comes in cheaper after the shipping.

--------------------------

A question for any Super7 collectors (I'm not one)...would you be saying "nope" if they did a Bride April that was an ultimate rendition of the original mashup? Or any of the turtles? Or would you be frothing at the mouth? I doubt Super7 will get to those sorts of figures, if they even could if they wanted to what with licensing.

I'm still sort of on the fence -- you could say that I've got both feet on the side of "buy" after having bought Raph (with the receipt still handy, lol) but I haven't quite leapt off yet. Thank goodness BBTS has offered me an opportunity to stay up there for now without having to jump off into non-cancelable NECA pre-order territory.

[Y2Josh]

Originally Posted by D Piddy 1982

Interesting conversation here. I'm in a place where I'm finding I'm not enjoying collecting like I did 5 or 10 years ago. Combination of rising costs, number of releases per month or quarter, number of toy companies dipping into the market. Multiple franchises.

I would say pre 2010 there were little to no adult themed toys and collectables in the way that we have them today. Or at least I didn’t notice them or were aware of them. It was only really the NECA Mirage Turtles and I was kinda like (stupidly) “oh they’re cool” and just browsed them on the shelf – but didn’t buy any. Fortunately a good friend went on a trip to America around 2009 and brought me back Mikey as a gift. That figure is still one of my most prized possessions. Of course I cracked him open as soon as I got him, no keep it mint in box!

Anyway, we started to see a few cool additions to TMNT lines – Playmates Classics Collections (which seemed good at the time – nothing to compare to), Revoltech TMNT and the one that was a game changer – the NECA SDCC Toon set (8 figures) and the NECA Movie Turtles 4 piece set. Both limited edition, both gave me severe FOMO – rightly as I couldn’t get hold of them. I was worried that would be the only chance to get those figures and was quite upset, frustrated and angry at one point at not being able to get something I’d always dreamed of.

On top of the TMNT other franchise were started to come at me hard – Transformers, Star Wars, Ghosbusters, GI Joe, Jurassic Park. Same thing, picking up a few early releases thinking this is cool as hell.

I would say early 2020 I was still in a good toy collecting place. A scattering of figures from mixed franchises, all looking toon accurate and great. But each franchise and line got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Skip to 2022 and my “office” is stacked high with toys. A quarter of them haven’t even been opened. Some of them I look back on and think “I didn’t need that, I only bought it because of FOMO”. And because I have so many, it’s very hard to enjoy each individual figure in the way I used to be able to.

Turtles alone I have – NECA Toon, NECA Movie, Super7 Ultimates, Super7 Reaction, TMNTxPR, Playmates Rise, Mega Bloks, plus picking up the odd Vintage Playmates.

But just recently I also thought “no”. No to SOTO set (I was heavily tempted but no), no to the 1990 accessory set. No to lots of Toon twin packs. No to April and Casey Farm set and no to Ultimate Casey. (I will admit to getting the NECA Turtle Van, but I feel that even if I have a change of heart I’m certain I can get my money back on that one).

I still have way too much to be able to enjoy it, but I feel better having turned my back to stuff I might have bought “just because” a few years ago.

Just to keep this on thread, I have zero interest in this Monster Mash Up April. Zero.

I agree with most of what you've said here, but for me, there's one more layer to it - which is that I "aged out" of TMNT well before it died off the first time, so there's only so much product that I have a personal attachment to. I know I'm very critical of Super7, but realistically, that line has the most steam left for me, as NECA's covered most of the cartoon characters I'm interested in and the movie line, barring Tatsu, is complete, as far as I'd be concerned.

On topic, and in spite of saying that, I'd probably have been all-in on this line if they hadn't chosen such a poor "monster" for Leo. As it stands, with Leo off the table for me, the whole line is an easy pass, even though I really dig Mikey.

[Y2Josh]

Originally Posted by DonnieLaForge

A question for any Super7 collectors (I'm not one)...would you be saying "nope" if they did a Bride April that was an ultimate rendition of the original mashup? Or any of the turtles? Or would you be frothing at the mouth? I doubt Super7 will get to those sorts of figures, if they even could if they wanted to what with licensing.

Sort of in line with what I'd said above, I probably would buy the original four Universal Monsters Turtles if Super7 did them, but by the time the second series came out, I'd already left Turtles behind me (temporarily, of course).

[mikey see]

If they had released these in late September/early October I'd have absolutely jumped in and bought all four, even April. But coming out piecemeal throughout the year makes it way easier to look at them objectively and decide I can safely skip them.

And to answer the question about Super7, I would be pretty tempted if they did the turtles but would still skip April. And even the turtles themselves would be a tough sell as I'm increasingly losing faith in Super7 to deliver a product that justifies the premium price tag. They'd also need to reveal four of them at once which I really don't think they'd do. I'm no longer convinced the line is going to survive long enough for them to finish out some of the sub-lines if they only release one figure every few waves.

[TCRI]

Originally Posted by D Piddy 1982

Interesting conversation here. I'm in a place where I'm finding I'm not enjoying collecting like I did 5 or 10 years ago. Combination of rising costs, number of releases per month or quarter, number of toy companies dipping into the market. Multiple franchises.

I would say pre 2010 there were little to no adult themed toys and collectables in the way that we have them today. Or at least I didn’t notice them or were aware of them. It was only really the NECA Mirage Turtles and I was kinda like (stupidly) “oh they’re cool” and just browsed them on the shelf – but didn’t buy any. Fortunately a good friend went on a trip to America around 2009 and brought me back Mikey as a gift. That figure is still one of my most prized possessions. Of course I cracked him open as soon as I got him, no keep it mint in box!

Anyway, we started to see a few cool additions to TMNT lines – Playmates Classics Collections (which seemed good at the time – nothing to compare to), Revoltech TMNT and the one that was a game changer – the NECA SDCC Toon set (8 figures) and the NECA Movie Turtles 4 piece set. Both limited edition, both gave me severe FOMO – rightly as I couldn’t get hold of them. I was worried that would be the only chance to get those figures and was quite upset, frustrated and angry at one point at not being able to get something I’d always dreamed of.

On top of the TMNT other franchise were started to come at me hard – Transformers, Star Wars, Ghosbusters, GI Joe, Jurassic Park. Same thing, picking up a few early releases thinking this is cool as hell.

I would say early 2020 I was still in a good toy collecting place. A scattering of figures from mixed franchises, all looking toon accurate and great. But each franchise and line got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Skip to 2022 and my “office” is stacked high with toys. A quarter of them haven’t even been opened. Some of them I look back on and think “I didn’t need that, I only bought it because of FOMO”. And because I have so many, it’s very hard to enjoy each individual figure in the way I used to be able to.

Turtles alone I have – NECA Toon, NECA Movie, Super7 Ultimates, Super7 Reaction, TMNTxPR, Playmates Rise, Mega Bloks, plus picking up the odd Vintage Playmates.

But just recently I also thought “no”. No to SOTO set (I was heavily tempted but no), no to the 1990 accessory set. No to lots of Toon twin packs. No to April and Casey Farm set and no to Ultimate Casey. (I will admit to getting the NECA Turtle Van, but I feel that even if I have a change of heart I’m certain I can get my money back on that one).

I still have way too much to be able to enjoy it, but I feel better having turned my back to stuff I might have bought “just because” a few years ago.

Just to keep this on thread, I have zero interest in this Monster Mash Up April. Zero.

Well put. Pretty much my feelings towards things at the moment too.

I'm getting SOTO Shredder, but that's it I think for me. There's no other TMNT toys I want from anyone, certainly no statues or other merch. I've stopped following NECA on social. They've bled me dry. I don't even know who most of these secondary TMNT characters are!!

Sometimes my mentality was "preorder or buy it now because in a few months or years you'll pay much more on eBay". Which isn't often true. And if I'm being honest, I'd rather overpay on eBay for the one toy I really want but missed out on, rather than spend HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS on a pile of toys accumulated for FOMO.

I probably would have got into this universal line a year ago... Glad I got out when I did!

[D Piddy 1982]

Originally Posted by Y2Josh

I agree with most of what you've said here, but for me, there's one more layer to it - which is that I "aged out" of TMNT well before it died off the first time, so there's only so much product that I have a personal attachment to. I know I'm very critical of Super7, but realistically, that line has the most steam left for me, as NECA's covered most of the cartoon characters I'm interested in and the movie line, barring Tatsu, is complete, as far as I'd be concerned.

On topic, and in spite of saying that, I'd probably have been all-in on this line if they hadn't chosen such a poor "monster" for Leo. As it stands, with Leo off the table for me, the whole line is an easy pass, even though I really dig Mikey.

Oh for sure, after the peak of the Fred Wolf Turtles I turned into a teenager and lost all interest. My interest peaked again at the release of 2003 but only so far as to get the 4 Turtle figures plus sniffing around for old Mirage comics. There wasnt really much else about.

Again interest waned. 2007 film I showed little interest. NECA Mirage TMNT "oh they're cool".

Wasn't until the whirlwind that is Michael Bay stepped into the fold that I came back again and have remained with the TMNT full time ever since. Maybe the constant toy releases have something to do with that!

Super7 really hit the nostalgia spot. I still think there's a gaping hole for someone to redo the Turtles at the original 87 scale - both what Super7 have done at 6" scale and the NECA stuff - but all at whatever scale the orginal line was (4.5"?). If someone did that, and did it well, I may well consider selling all my current NECA and Super7 stuff.

[mikey0]

Leo as The Hunchback is in Hong Kong: https://mobile.twitter.com/preternia...Cy6bS7ga4qAAAA

[donatello_tmnt]

Donnie is the Invisible Man
https://twitter.com/preterniadotcom/...YsqshN1h56LjLQ

[mikey0]

Box art for Michelangelo as The Mummy: https://mobile.twitter.com/NinjaTurt...CwnfK3168qAAAA

[DonnieLaForge]

Originally Posted by donatello_tmnt

Donnie is the Invisible Man
https://twitter.com/preterniadotcom/...YsqshN1h56LjLQ

Now this actually makes more sense than Mike from the vintage lineup.

And now that Donnie is announced my excitement level has bumped up a bit.

[Tossled]

Does this mean Shredder will most likely be Dracula?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Tossled

Does this mean Shredder will most likely be Dracula?

I am hoping we get a Count Drac Splinter, haha!

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by Tossled

Does this mean Shredder will most likely be Dracula?

Hopefully, Shredder as Van Helsing.