Happy Easter, buzz buzz….

Wishing all our readers a Happy Easter and Spring Break. Ave a good un’.

Side Note: The figures of Baxter Fly and Karai Serpent are now surfacing in stores across the UK.

Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; “MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY” (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]

–>> Today, we get a quick glimpse at some weird but cool kit-bashes and repaints, 1st of their kind in this line. Look closely at the interesting variations and mixed use of body parts on the Turtle toys themselves on the images provided. All this courtesy of our confidant, Hero in England.

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“Even though figures of Bebop and Rocksteady are yet to have a UK release, repaints of these two have already been found in ASDA – with touched-up Turtles as sparring partners. These each retail for £14:99

Rocksteady VS Michelangelo, Raphael VS V2 Shredder (w/purple trousers sans cape), and Leonardo VS Bebop are among the line-up. For some reason, there appears to be no Donatello VS set. .. .. ” — Hero

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Create your own battle with the Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack. Train your Turtles to fight their way against the evil Shredder and his new vengeful henchman.

Will the fearless leader Leonardo defeat the brute Bebop?

Will Michelangelo’s mastery of Ninjutsu defeat the mutated rhino Rocksteady?

Or will Raphael, the muscle of the team be able to take on the criminal Shredder?

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Related notes ::

..well semi-related ; UNJUST PLUSH !!

These plush animals have battle scars, band aids, & neck braces. A creative new way to get people talking about animal injustice!

..5 days to go, join these cute little, KICKSTARTER STAFF PICK fuzzy fighters !!

Diamond Select Toys Product Walkthrough at Toy Fair 2015 with Pixel Dan

TMNTMASTER ::

Have you voted today? Help #TMNT win a #KCA for Favorite Cartoon – http://at.nick.com/1Dk4k00

~ t

LEE’S TOY REVIEW #xx :: pg.x TOY FAIR ’98 – PLAYMATES’S ‘ZORRO’ & NT: THE NEXT MUTATION. Turtleflage & SHADOW NINJAS (( xx 1998 ))

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–>> .. included on this random page are Varner Studio’s ZORRO and NEXT MUTATION offerings for 1998.

I don’t believe this proposed second ZORRO wave was ever produced. The infamous wave that included fan-fave LADY RAWHIDE.

You may or may not recall : The NEXT MUTATION “Turtleflage” assortment would make to retail for the most part. The basic Turtleflage teens made it to store pegs, tho i never saw the basic CAMO TMNTs myself locally. However, 3 of the four main villains from that wave ( Simon Bonesteel, the Eastman designed Silver the Gorilla, and Vam Mi ) were readily available with the Wave 1 assortment at a local Walmart, i snagged them quickly and the three are now the hi-lights of my collection of figures and dust. Infamously, Dr.Quease – Dragon Lord’s mad scientist, the fourth villain in the wave would not see release.

All this was happening as the Next Mutation’s first and only season was going into hiatus. The remaining months leading to K•B closing out the line of toys seemingly exclusively with the Deluxe TURTLEFLAGE Dragon Lord and Teens, the basic Next Mutation figs, and the popular classic TMNT reissues showing up in the big grated discount bins in front of K•B’s old mall stores.

Important note on this page:: You get a fleeting shot of Dr.Quease here with the basic Camo Teens and bad guys with a faint peek as to what his weapon would have looked like. We also have painted prototypes on the display stands that the young lady is holding at the Playmates booth, the SHADOW NINJAS!! These most impressive figures would into hiding, never to be released. They were due possibly upon the arrival of a hypothetical second season of NEXT MUTATION. That was not meant to be so Varner’s incredible, heavily martial arts themed Teens went back to California and into the Varner vaults seemingly forever. With the exception of Raph, we are given a blurry view of Venus and the rest of the team. I recall publication of more images of the Shadow Ninjas elsewhere ( maybe an older Playmates Catalog ) but that may be just wishful thinking in this ol’ Snapper’s untrustworthy brain. This page was, for me – the only verification that these toys existed. 16 years later at SDCC 2014, at the VARNER STUDIOS booth – the unpainted prototypes from Steve and his team themselves had put the Shadow Ninjas out on display for the public to see in time for the Teens 30th birthday.

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A pretty good shot and rare image of the unproduced – painted “SHADOW NINJA” Raphael proto.

** Varner Studios inc. **

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I brought these images up to hi-rez best i could, but it didn’t do much good. Well a little bit. Whatever- you get a better grasp at the color scheme of the Teens in their awesome SHADOW NINJA martial arts gear. Varner Studios can make ANY Turtle look really cool.

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Again i attempted to enlarge a portion of the photos in the article. Dr.Quease looks like he may be holding some kind of pincher-like projectile launcher or something. His scalpel-like arm weapon appears to have been a clip-on as it appears on the opposite arm of the prototype pictured from the back of the TURTLEFLAGE packages. The blood-splatter design on his jacket appears a little different than on the package image as well. But it is hard to tell as the article image is a bit blurry even when enlarged.

Still you get some good ideas as what could have been if he was released to retail.

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Finally in the breakdown of the page, here’s a small shot of the cool TURTLEFLAGE LEO and his CAMO BLITZ CYCLE, a really neat bike. I beleive that toy is actually rather sought after nowadays along with the DLX Donatello vehicle from the same series. A good shot of the creepy-cool basic TURTLEFLAGE DON appears too – the article mentions his camo mask lookin’ like it’s from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS .. EEEEEeessh !!

Well just call me Clarice O’Neil .. :{

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RELATED NOTES ::

Colorado Turtle COMIC – EXPERT Rich files his report from AMAZING ARIZONA COMIC-CON
Here’s Rich’s IDW schedule going on into the start o’ the 2nd quarter of the year…

February, 2015
02 – TMNT Annual 2012 Deluxe Limited Edition HC
25 – TMNT New Animated Adventures #20; TMNT: Mutanimals #1; TMNT #43

March, 2015
04 – TMNT New Animated Adventures #21; TMNT: The IDW Collection, Vol. 1 HC
11 – TMNT Color Classics, Vol. 3 #3
18 – TMNT: Mutanimals #2
25 – TMNT #44

April, 2015
08 – TMNT New Animated Adventures #22
15 – TMNT #45; TMNT Color Classics, Vol. 3 #4; TMNT Classics, Vol. 10 TPB
22 – TMNT: Mutanimals #3; TMNT/Ghostbusters TPB

May, 2015
02 – FCBD 2015 – TMNT Prelude to Vengeance – FCBD 2015

06 – TMNT Color Classics, Vol. 3 #5; TMNT New Animated Adventures, Vol. 5 TPB
13 – TMNT New Animated Adventures #23
20 – TMNT #46; TMNT/Ghostbusters Director’s Cut
27 – TMNT: Mutanimals #4

TBD
?? – Secret History of the Foot Clan, Deluxe Workprint Edition HC

WCSH6 in PORTLAND :: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Steve Lavigne
ERNIE REYES Jr. RETURNS to NCIS: Los Angeles, MONDAY !!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2luUrtwOyo4&sns]

~ t

Tomart’s Action Figure Digest #xx :: pgs.26, 27 TOY FAIR ’97, PLAYMATES “NINJA TURTLES: THE NEXT MUTATION” (( April 1997 ))

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–>> Here’s some more Ghosts come to haunt the sewers from Toy Fair’s past !!

This artwork and early N.M. logo was being used by Mirage and Saban early on in the development of the live-action show. I recall seeing it multiple times on the official TMNT website.

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This has been rescanned at a higher rez, and broken down to hi-light a better look at the prototypes and such presented within’ the magazine spread.

There’s a bit going on here including early prototypes of Venus and Dragon Lord, logos, and a very “DARTH VADER” – like, early Shredder prototype that’s quite pointy.

Pink-bandanas on Venus and a really cool paint job on DRAGON SKULL a.k.a The Dragon Lord.

The very comic-book, “DOONEY STYLED” Elite Guard in this line was the first “Shredder Elite Ninja” ever to be sculpted into a toy.

The Elite Guards don’t look like this in the show at all as they do on the fig.

It’s not mentioned much, but the story was supposed to go in that after Venus defeated Shredder and the N.Y. Foot Clan was disbanded, the Shredder’s Elite were to join Dragon Lord’s “THE RANK” army in lieu of the absence of the FOOT. Hopefully when Oroku Saki was to return, they would have rejoined him once again betraying their new Dragon master.

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Connotations between “SHREDDER” and “Darth Vader” drove me nuts growing up – i heard it many times. But it’s pretty hard not to think of the Dark Lord with this early proto and SHARP version of Saki. The final figure looks immensely cool, one of my all time favourites.

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Venus’s proto included pupils and a pink coloured banadana and wrappings.

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One of my favourites from the Teens’ Rouges Gallery. One has to presume that the Dragon Lord’s final facial look was not ready by the time he went to sculpt. The masked version would be the only version EVER to be manufactured and the same sculpt is used on his TURTLEFLAGE deluxe figure. He never wore the mask in the show, as you may recall. A “sculpted dragon-head” was promised for a future figure, maybe it was even sculpted at one point. But who knows. Again, the line went away after the second wave.

The cool paint wash on this highlights the sculpt a bit better on the prototype than on the manufactured figure. You can even see the upper “GREEN” portion of his face just a bit peaking above the face mask. The final figure just makes it look like he’s wearing a full, white head mask.

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The Biker , MEGA MOTORIN’ “Elite Guard” looks suspiciously like he’s wearing similar looking garb to the Rank Warriors. And none of the villains on the show ACTUALLY get a souped up ride like the cool red n’ purple, stealthy lookin’ speedster. Raph’s bike looks kinda similar to how it looks in the live show.

The big fat Mutant Marauder would be rereleased in the TMNT 2003 line tho’ it was redecorated a bit and didn’t feature in the animated show.

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Early “T. Thrashers” protos include a pink-bandana Venus again, and she is wearing a top which actually looks cool on her.

For whatever reason, her final DLX Thrasher toy removed the top ( *GASP* ) and e’rythang just all umm — hangs OUT free-flowin’ in the breeze at the skate park.

Tomart's Action Figure Digest #xx :: pgs.26, 27 TOY FAIR '97, PLAYMATES "NINJA TURTLES: THE NEXT MUTATION / ..early 'THUNDER THRASHERS' "pink bandana & tank top" 'BLACKTOP BOARDIN' VENUS" Venus (( April 1997 ))

..and there’s your buddy wandering his way thru’ the Toy Fair’s very own sewer system.

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N.Y. Toy Fair ’15 has wound down, but the hunt is just beginning for the collectors, kids, moms n’ dads EVERYWHERE !! ::

With Baxter-Fly, Turflytle, and Karai Serpent slithering onto Ebay; as per the pattern every quarter new toys invade stores – and as ol’ Tokkie always warns:: .. stay calm and bide your time as you hunt the pegs at your favourite brick & mortar store or online retailer. Avoid ebay at first if at all possible to maximize your spending power. The prices for figs at first on ebay are absolutely insane ..and are only for the most desperate.
Toy Ark :: ..on the higher end of the hunt – –
PRIME 1’s Donatello Statue

Back at Wonder Festival 2015, Prime 1 Studio showcased all four of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Statues. Now we get a close up look at the Donatello Statue. **Prime 1 Studio has posted some official photos and some info for the upcoming release…-

Check out the full gallery on **TOY ARK and click ***Prime 1 Studio here for release info.

FLICKERING MYTH:: While we’re on topic with the movies .. UK Home Media release of the TMNT film brings an ..

Interview – William Fichtner talks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not playing Shredder and returning for the sequel
We have one more “GHOST” from Mutations & Toy Fair’s distant history set to publish for this time ’round. I’ll try to get to that in 24 or so. Plus i’ll try to squeeze in Rich’s Comic news. Stay Mean, Lean – and Turnip Green, my young friends !!

~ t

LEE’S TOY REVIEW #xx, pg. 36 / “TOY FAIR 2004” , ‘TMNT – 2k3 Peek’ (( March 2004 ))

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–>> A handful of unproduced prototypes, or at least drastically altered figures to the extent of their final manufactured form appear on this spread. A rare look at a few of them.

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–>> The paint on Quarry’s prototype is pretty cool, this is similar to an effect of what was finally produced OVER a year later than when it was originally to be released. I recall a “spitting” action feature announced for this toy. That was not realized on the final figure. I’m not sure if i recall an actual prototype showing that feature. This photo doesn’t seem to show it at all. The proto’s visual is much better ascetically than the final figure.

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Obviously the same sculpt, only the FOOT FIRE MYSTIC was made for whatever reason.

The more ambitious customizer could hypothetically obtain 3 more Fire Mystic toys and repaint them accordingly. These guys eventually would “manifest” in the MIRAGE comic books.

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This EARLY prototype of the ‘Space Hoppin’ Raph’ toy is a more accurate to what appeared in the TMNT 2k3 T.V. show than what was actually manufactured and put into stores. These were the Teens’ stolen TRICERATON space suits in the show, you can see the suit’s “tail” in the back of the toy. The actual manufactured Space Hoppers

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No single carded 6-pack of April’s little robot “friends” was produced for this line. However multiple Mousers would come packed in one of the S.W.A.T. multi-figure/vehicle packs in the mid-aughts.

The Nick TMNT line does have a Multi-pack of Mousers.

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NY TOYFAIR ’15 COVERAGE continues, oi !! ::

COWABUNGA CORNER :: COLORFORMS RETURN WITH TMNT ,interview !!