Possibility of "palette swap" in original Playmates line?

[Jester]

*image credit tOkKa's flikr.

If this is a thread, fill free to delete, merge, or otherwise consolidate them, but this is awesome, and goes to show the colors of the Turtles and their masks were very fluid and weren't nailed down even when promotional items were printed. I wonder how all those "Their colors are fitting for their personalities" threads would change with this revelation.

[FlogginMcMurryZombiePizza]

I like red-eyed Bebop lol

It's hard 'cus I'm looking at the Turtle with the 'chucks and I still see Don lol
Mikey looks too confident with the staff.
I cant' separate the colors.

[Jester]

I know...even though the weapons are correct, I still say to myself, "Nope...those names are under the wrong Turtle..."

[MST3KFan]

I don't think I could see Mikey as the one in purple let alone Donnie in orange. Orange just seems to work for Mikey and match his personality more, while purple just works better on Donnie.

Of course, if they were introduced to us all as kids in the reversed colors we'd never think anything of it.

[Candy Kappa]

I suppose this shows that Playmates didn't really concern themselves with the turtles colors to match their personality.

It is interesting that not only mask color but also skin color was reversed, and Leo might have had a ball joint arm during production planning.

[Cobrakahn]

The Bebop looks amazing. I am glad they finally got to his pink and blue glasses with the Wacky Action.

[Plasticplayhouse]

very interesting find. i like the differences...but i still would never want to see an orange don and purple mike. i like the shredder though.

[Discogod]

The turtles themselves look different - look at the plastron, it seems a little wider & rounder than the final figures.

And to be ultra-pedantic, it should be "palette", not "pallet"....

[The Fifth Turtle]

Can any of the figures create the pose that Leo is doing? Was there a change in articulation as well?

[tmnt transformer]

Does anyone notice that bebop is holding the triceriton gun?

[pingclang]

This just comes to show how the brain works. My mind refused to accept this image, lol.

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

I'd bet money that someone at Playmates lost his/her job when they were assigned to create this ad and couldn't even match the figures with the right weapons. I honestly don't think that the skin colors/mask colors was "fluid" this late in the game. I'm guessing it was one of the FIRST things they nailed down as they began trying to create the TMNT brand.

[Discogod]

Originally Posted by ***The One True Shredder***

I'd bet money that someone at Playmates lost his/her job when they were assigned to create this ad and couldn't even match the figures with the right weapons. I honestly don't think that the skin colors/mask colors was "fluid" this late in the game. I'm guessing it was one of the FIRST things they nailed down as they began trying to create the TMNT brand.

Nah, look at the figures - Mike & Don have the correct heads and weapons, but wrong skin & bandana colours.

I seem to remember reading an interview with someone involved with the OT (could even have been Kevin or Peter) that mentioned that other than Raph being red, the colours weren't nailed down until fairly late in the process.

[blindturtle02]

Bebop with a gun? They should have gone with that! I never liked the turtleshell drill when I was a kid. And pretty cool concerning Don and Mikey's colors considering a few voice actors could have been switched around as well according to the s5 DVD extras. It's freaking me out! haha

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

The Triceraton gun actually makes more sense, as that's what he actually uses in the cartoon.

[blindturtle02]

Originally Posted by ***The One True Shredder***

The Triceraton gun actually makes more sense, as that's what he actually uses in the cartoon.

Yeah exactly. It always felt like Bebop was some deranged dentist carrying that drill around rather than his laser. Maybe he had secret hopes of pursuing a college education and becoming a dentist. Or maybe I'm grasping at straws here haha.

[Jester]

Yeah, I've always felt Trag's weapons would go well with Bebop and Rocksteady as well, only later in the series. The Tricerarton gun is sooo close to the one he uses in Enter The Shredder it's not even funny. Wonder why they swapped that?

Originally Posted by Discogod

And to be ultra-pedantic, it should be "palette", not "pallet"....

Fixed. At first I thought it might be a case of American/British spelling, but nope. Pallet, as I spelled it, is temporary bed or what they load cargo on.

[TurtleManiac]

What in the world, where did that picture come from? The 4 turtles look weird the legs look taller than the actual vintage figures and the bodies look slightly different and the head sculpts kinda look like knockoffs especially on the 2 with the swapped colors. Are these knockoffs or customs or prototypes? Shredder must also have a ball-jointed left arm because the actual figure can't pose like that. That Shredder is the same one used in the back of the 10-back card, I always kinda liked the pinkish cape as an alternative to the actual dark purple cape. Is there more images like this with the other 4 figures? I wonder if that huge Rocksteady prototype has a full color picture somewhere.

[Jester]

tOkKa's flicker has a group of promotional shots of the figures. This was just the closest image...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[TurtleManiac]

Interesting find, the Rocksteady in that 2nd link looks a bit different than the actual one, mainly the teeth and horns look much larger and the helmet looks like it might be removable. His facial expression just looks crazier than the actual one released.