PLAYMATES Mutant Mayhem/Tales of the TMNT/etc.

It's very telling that, no matter where I look, the biggest concern people have about this is 'what about NECA?' Straight up.. nobody cares that Playmates is losing the license on behalf of PLAYMATES. And that tells you that Playmates losing this license is the thing that should happen, regardless of how it shakes out for NECA (a company that is definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel for most of its TMNT lines -anyway- at this point).
 
That is true. I'm not sure what else, other than a few stragglers that NECA could do. They hit all the big ones I've wanted to see, save regular Archie bros and Leatherhead, and some Last Ronin leftovers. Mirage has been pretty well covered. Not sure what else I would want from that, but I will take what we can get. And of course, the 1987 holdup like Tempestra, Mer-Dude, Ray Fillet, and Red Sky stuff.

2012 still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Just getting started.
 
If NECA’s line ended in 2026 it certainly wouldn’t be some great tragedy, it would just be like any other long-running line coming to an end. There’s always more to do or refinements that could be made, but ultimately it’s a very substantial collection even if it stopped today.

I’m definitely not surprised at the lack of remorse for Playmates. They stopped making TMNT toys for us a long time ago. It’s just more of a shock than anything because them having the license is just how it’s always been. It will be a similar situation to Disney recasting The Simpsons.
 
While I do feel Playmates losing the license probably should happen and may be best for us as fans and collectors, boy does it feel weird to think of them not having the rights to do TMNT. Almost my entire life that's been the case, and I like that still to this day that Playmates are able to re-release figures, vehicles, and playsets from the vintage line that I love so much.

But that being said, I have the vintage collection, and damn near everything Playmates has let out of TMNT. And now all these other companies make all this beautiful, fun, TMNT merch. So, perhaps the time has come for some hopefully fun and exciting change. But man, i will always love what Playmates has done over the years with TMNT.
 
I think it's important to remain realistic; this could be -worse- for collectors (and/or kids) than Playmates has been. There's no way to know. My only argument is that Playmates deserves to lose the license because they have handled it with exceptional stupidity and possibly the worst case of not understanding the modern market of any active toy company. Forget collectors; Playmates doesn't even make particularly fun lines for KIDS to play with. They've failed at every aspect of presenting TMNT toys to the public. I've said it before and I genuinely mean this; everyone in charge of TMNT toys at Playmates should not only be deeply embarrassed by their output for the last decade, but none of them should work in toys ever again. It's pathetic.

That still leaves the door open for someone else to come along and do it just as bad or worse. But even if that happens, I won't lament for Playmates because they deserved this.

As for NECA; I can totally understand how people that are big NECA fans (i.e. not me) would be upset because as long as NECA can make TMNT, there's the chance of getting the deepest deep cuts possible, desired upgrades to older figures, etc etc. But as has been said, NECA's primary TMNT lines are basically complete at this point and most of what NECA even COULD do with them is just remake older figures. Which is probably why the output from them seems so pitiful compared to previous years. What they were able to accomplish, particularly with the cartoon and movie lines, is incredible. But like.. what else is there to do, really, that has even enough appeal to go to tooling phase?
I was front of the line to say I would have killed for a King Lionheart done in the 'as if he'd been in the cartoon' style. But it was probably never going to happen no matter how long they played in that sandbox so....

The movie line has basically been done for like two years? Whenever Tatsu came out.

And, I'mma make some people mad here, the 2012 line does not have legs. Sorry, guys. Not only did they start stupid with how big the Turtles are, essentially relegating (like fucking Playmates did) a bunch of characters to being WAY underscaled or impossible to make at all, but that's just not a beloved version of the Turtles. It just isn't.
Neither is 2003, which doesn't exactly look to be moving the needle in major ways over at S7.

That all is to say; even without the license being lost to Playmates and an almost certain shift in licensing arrangements; most extant TMNT lines were dead in the water anyway.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
That is true. I'm not sure what else, other than a few stragglers that NECA could do. They hit all the big ones I've wanted to see, save regular Archie bros and Leatherhead, and some Last Ronin leftovers. Mirage has been pretty well covered. Not sure what else I would want from that, but I will take what we can get. And of course, the 1987 holdup like Tempestra, Mer-Dude, Ray Fillet, and Red Sky stuff.

2012 still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Just getting started.
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I wouldn’t mind them inheriting the 2003 TMNT toys from Super7 since they could probably go much deeper than Super7 would ever deign to. But so far, they’ve been a little gun shy in terms of acquiring that particular version of the TMNT for several years. The excuse used to be “Well 2003 is too recent and we wan to focus on iterations from the TMNT brand that resonated with us from the 80’s-90’s. If super7 loses the license and Neca is still not willing to cover 2k3 then I’m going to revolt


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Damien said:
And, I'mma make some people mad here, the 2012 line does not have legs. Sorry, guys. Not only did they start stupid with how big the Turtles are, essentially relegating (like fucking Playmates did) a bunch of characters to being WAY underscaled or impossible to make at all, but that's just not a beloved version of the Turtles. It just isn't.
Neither is 2003, which doesn't exactly look to be moving the needle in major ways over at S7.
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I was with ya until this.

For many people in the 20s, this is *THEIR* TMNT. It was also a resurgence for Playmates at the time. It broke many sales records. It blew up back then, so there is definite an audience there.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

London Expo: Nickelodeon Touts $475 Million in Retail Sales for Relaunched ‘Turtles’ Franchise

At a brand licensing show, executives laud the global first-year retail sales for the reinvigorated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the continued strength of SpongeBob SquarePants.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
RicksNerdLife said:
For many people in the 20s, this is *THEIR* TMNT.
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The problem is that modern toy collecting is -DOMINATED- by people in their mid-30s+. People in their 20s (as a demographic, not NO ONE) aren't collecting action figures. If TMNT weren't already a legacy brand, no one would even be seriously discussing a nostalgia-bait toyline from a 2012 cartoon. Like, my daughter is not deeply nostalgic for some Doc McStuffins toys (you don't have kids, so you may not know that Doc was -wildly- popular from like 2013-2015).

So unless you can get all the 20-year-olds that came up on 2012 Turtles to also become toy collectors, you're still relying very heavily on the 35-45-year-olds to buy these because that is the 'toy nostalgia' generation. And, my feeling only, they're not gonna show up. Not after the major characters are done.



RicksNerdLife said:
It was also a resurgence for Playmates at the time. It broke many sales records. It blew up back then, so there is definite an audience there.
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I'm sure we all wish this kind of stuff mattered, because I've got a bunch of pet projects I'd like to see done. But the reality is that 'huge audience' doesn't translate to 'sells toys.' That's why basically every toyline designed to capitalize on current trends with kids are languishing on shelves and quietly being cancelled one after another. That's why some of the biggest video games of my entire adult life can't maintain active toy lines. It's why Teen Titans Go! couldn't maintain a toyline despite being a HUGE success as a cartoon and getting like.. two feature films or something?

I'm not here to make anyone sad. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time trying to convince people their favorite TMNT variation can't sell toys. Maybe it will. I just don't think it's going to happen even if given a fair chance, and I'm not sure that NECA came out of the gate giving it that fair chance, and I'm not sure this licensing deal is going to help. Time will tell.
 
I recently sold my Mirage stuff minus Splinter (he's so cute) in the hopes of 2012 and the Sakai lineup. I hope the Sakai stuff makes it unscathed.
 
At least, but per NECA the Stan Sakai stuff is relatively imminent. It was supposed to be out in Q4. I would guess it’s on a boat. That’s from Trevor at NECA who is more plugged in on the design and production end as opposed to marketing, so it could sit in a warehouse when it gets here for awhile depending on how they want to sell it, but they’re in no danger of getting cancelled.
 
altcunningham said:
Yeah, we have a calendar year still?
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Just because PLAYMATES is losing the license at the end of 2026, it doesn't mean EVERYONE is.

We don't know when any of these other agreements run out, but as they come up, we're sure to find out HOW this whole situation is going to shake out.
 
My understanding is that it would be fairly typical for licenses depending on master licenses to be tied to the master license; either by stipulating in the contract that if the master license changes hands, any licenses flowing from it are voided, OR by refusing to extend any license beyond the lifespan of the master license.

Not saying that's true in this specific case. We'll have to wait and see. But it's certainly possible all the licenses as we know them will end before 2027.
 
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