May 18, 2009
The Turtle that howls at the moon.

So here’s that horror-themed figure review I mentioned way back in March — Leo as the Wolfman from the old Playmates TMNT line! Like I say in the article, he’s pretty much everything you’d expect from a Turtles toy circa 1993, but he’s a freaking Ninja Turtle werewolf. That’s just awesome. By the way, I didn’t draw that Leo image for the review — I’ve had that on hand since 2004, when I drew disembodied and heavily stylized heads of the Monster Turtles for no apparent reason. Check ’em out:

Pizza OR YOUR CHILDREN!!!

Oh, and for newcomers (or longtime readers who want to revisit a classic Foodstuffs entry), the Turtle Troll image linked in the article came from our old Turtle Spew piece. I really should do another food article sometime, eh? Those were always fun. 🙂 And speaking of updates, note the additions to the blog comments — you can now reply directly to other commenters and receive e-mail notifications (if you so choose, that is) when people respond to what you’ve written. Woo.

Finally, I’d like to call your attention to a new addition to the links block: Articulated Discussion! Whenever I get a button for it, the awesome haven of bootleg toys known as The Undiscovered Playthings should be getting a link as well. And while we’re mentioning new sites (or at least sites that are more/less new to us), we should take a moment to remember the sites that are leaving or have already left us. Warehouse 8, which was a really cool UK-based gaming site, appears to have fallen off the face of the Internet, and our pal SAG of superarticulated.com has decided to seek gold and adventure in the world beyond that of toys and figure reviews. We wish him — and the webmasters of Warehouse 8, wherever they may be — the very best!

And yes, we are aware that the Pop Arena link is also dead — I fully expect it to return just as suddenly as it vanished. We miss you, Pop Arena!

I believe the next article will include more monsters, so do join us for that. Until then… 😈

-posted by Wes | 5:17 pm | Comments (9)
9 Comments »
  • Newt says:

    Even as a kid I was a bit of douchebag and I pretty much never bought wacky TMNT versions of guys. Sure, I bought a Caveman Leo, because that sculpt was cool as all hell.

    And I bought wrestler Mike which brought me years of joy, but I tended to lean more towards the versions of figures that I could use in a plot. Like, a turtle with clothes on isn’t bad, but a werewolf turtle? No sir, not me!

    Now I greatly regret it. Well sorta… I’m still not sure I need a turtle dressed like Poncho Villa.

    Great review though man. Really made me want this toy. Vintage TMNTs were so much fun. In fact, was there a more fun toyline out in the 80’s? MOTU had cool gimmicks and stuff, but you never got Birthday Party He-Man (At least not til 200X!) and as crazy as GI Joe got they never got wacky TMNT crazy.

    It’s a bummer so many TMNT fans freak out when the new turtle figures tried to get zany. I remember when they announced those music turtles and everyone was up in arms because Donatello was dressed like a DJ. Heaven forbid!

    Anyway, great review man. They made a second series of these figures too as I recall.

    • Wes says:

      I didn’t have too many of the really wacky versions either — when it came to extra Turtles, I tended to go for the ones with some kind of action feature — but now I kinda regret it too. I think with the Monster Turtles, though, the problem was more that I wasn’t really into any of the monsters they depicted. Yeah, we all knew about Dracula and Frankenstein and generic mummies and werewolves, but we were more interested in watching Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhies tear up the screen (the television screen, that is, since we couldn’t see R movies in theaters). If Playmates had put out figures based on the movie monsters of the day, I would probably have been a lot more interested.

      But yeah, the vintage TMNT line was great fun — probably the most fun toyline ever in my opinion. I’m not sure the fans are freaking out about any similar attempts in the new line, though. I’m not that into the music-themed Turtles, but it has more to do with the obvious sculpt reuse and the overall lackluster appearance of the toys. I mean, compare them to the similar Turtles from the vintage line — that muted stuff on the upcoming figures has nothing on crazy purple jackets and zebra-striped pants. Maybe we live in more boring times, but it doesn’t seem like Playmates is willing to get half as zany as it used to back in the day.

      And yes, Playmates did make a second series of Monster Turtles. Those tend to be a bit pricier than the first series and are based on somewhat less iconic characters. I do really want the Bride of Frankenstein April, but the others (with the possible exception of Creature from the Black Lagoon Leo) don’t do a whole lot for me.

      Anyway, thanks for commenting, Newt! Remind me to plug your features at some point. 🙂

  • Albert says:

    It’s pretty early for Halloween, ain’t it? 😛 On second thought, it’s never too early. I think the Turtlenators would be quite a sight. For some reason, I want to play a game that mixes Turtles in Time with the Alien VS Predator arcade game. Because I’m a weirdo, and want to see Aliens VS Turtles.

    • Wes says:

      Have you seen this place? SC is perpetually in Halloween mode. :mrgreen:

      I’m a little surprised nobody’s made a game involving TMNT and Aliens, actually — with all of the sprite packs out there, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to pull off with something like Mugen or the Beats of Rage engine. Those Pizza Monsters in the games are kinda like the aliens, though!

  • I kinda wish I was a little more adventurous with my TMNT collecting in their heyday. Those monster figures are kinda neat.

    I do have Rapper-Mike and Surfer-Mike, though. I always loved Surfer-Mike, especially.

    Anyway, speaking of toy Ninjas, did you write an E-mail and forget to send it again? I haven’t heard from you on those for awhile.

    And speaking of turtles…
    http://forums.tezukainenglish......4425#14425

    Also, I kinda want to tell you about this online animated series I’ve been planning for some time now. Let me know if you want to hear about it.

    BTW thanks for linking to that bootleg toys site. I forgot about it for awhile, and I find it really interesting.

    Also, you might want to pick different colors for “previewed comments”. White on yellow is kinda hard on the eyes.

    • Wes says:

      You mean the surfer Mike with all of the sharks hanging off of him and the crab that pegged into his foot? I loved that figure! He was my default Mike for the longest time… I’d even include the shark and crab in the Turtles’ adventures. 🙂

      Anyway, you’re getting really good with the CGI, aren’t you? Those turtles look adorable! And yeah, I did completely forget to respond. I’ll get back to you regarding those ninjas! Feel free t shoot me an e-mail regarding that online animated series, too.

      Apparently I forgot to switch off the yellow preview here — that’s fixed, as well. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

      • Surfer-Mike was my default Mike for awhile, too.

        But, what I really always wished they’d make is an Archie-style Dark-Suit Rafael. I always loved that era of the Archie TMNT comics.

  • the Jax says:

    I thought Playmates did do some Trek Turtles back in the day…and Don was a Vulcan?? Let’s google it:
    http://www.amazon.com/Teenage-.....B000VAUFWM

  • Monte says:

    Just read the review of Wolfman Leo. It’s refreshing to find a toy site that isn’t just pushing the same empty hype that every other site is pushing. It’s discouraging how rare it is that a website boasts a distinct personality. Keep it up!

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