Toys / Comics to Toys

Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles - Back to the Roots

By Randy Herkowitz
April 21, 2008 - 10:00

What comic book geek could have ever imagined that Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Mirage Studio’s comic book about four teenaged turtles would have ever become household names?  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or TMNT for short, have easily become one of history's most admired pop culture properties.  TMNT best known for the hundreds of action figures produced by Playmates Toys and the fun loving animated series in the late 1980’s had more merchandising then could ever be imagined.  From a small comic book series that started as an oversized magazine style comic book printed on cheap news print paper in 1984 they have come a long way.



At the height of the Turtles success, there were lunchboxes, book bags, notebooks, toothbrushes, clothing, and food novelties using the likenesses of these four turtles. Oh, and don’t forget the three live action films.  I haven’t seen any of them in years but I remember enjoying the first one.  However, the second one featured the then popular Vanilla Ice and that in itself makes it loose all credibility.  

The turtle’s success slowed down and the original series of toys, cartoons and merchandising slowly disappeared from store shelves in the mid to late 1990’s but not for long.  Playmates Toys never gave up on their cash cow property and revamped the turtles in 2003 with great success.  Animated studio, 4kids Entertainment produced a slightly more “grown up” animated show and of course Playmates Toys followed suit with a line of popular toys and action figures for a new generation.



In 2007, Imagi Animation Studios brought to the big screen a full length CGI film, simply titled “TMNT”.  It was a good effort but lacked a true emotional connection with audiences.  It still was considered a minor success.

What is my point with all this information that many of you lived through?  Well, out of all the great merchandising and especially the vast amount of action figures, Playmates Toys never produced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they first appeared in the original comic book.  This is when they all wore red masks and featured a more violent tone.  Apparently, they had no intention because Neca Entertainment was able to bring the consumer who may have thought they have seen all the turtle merchandise they would ever need, a set of the four turtles as they originally appeared back in 1984!



Neca Entertainment is known in the toy industry as a risk taking company producing many horror and cult character action figures.  They are also known to follow suit of McFarlane Toys style of making static action figures more focused on sculpting over articulation.  However, for this excellent looking line of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Neca Entertainment has seemed to find a common ground with both excellent sculpting and increased articulation.  

Neca Entertainment has just released each figure with their signature weapons and other accessories including a base of a street scene that connect together with the other turtle action figures bases.  Each figure is packed individually and there is also a box set of all four turtles available. If that was not enough, Neca Entertainment is also making a limited print run of black and white versions of the figures as they would have looked inside the pages of the original comic book.

It’s interesting how it took over twenty years to get back to the beginning of this merchandising machine.  However, I think it may have been worth the wait.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12