For
the past few months, whenever I’ve been hitting the fan sites, reading all the
LEGO news, there’s something specific that I’ve been looking for. Oh, I happily devour whatever information
about forthcoming products and new themes is available. But I’m always on the lookout for information
about WHEN we’re getting the next wave of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sets, and
WHAT new minifigures will be available.
I
finally found the answers to those questions, and they are NEVER and NONE.
Just
a couple of days before the New York Toy Fair, a press release was issued announcing
that LEGO is retiring the TMNT line, and that Nickelodeon has granted the TMNT
license to Mega-Bloks.
Say
it with me now: “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”
So,
today I’m going to mourn the loss of all of the TMNT minifigs that I was really
hoping to acquire over what I assumed would be several more years of the
theme.
I Really Don’t Care About These, But… The Classic
Animated Villains
Item
#14 on my list of #13, are the classic 80s’ series villains that haven’t yet
been produced. Rocksteady, Bebop, and
the ‘Human Fly’ version of Baxter Stockman.
It
seems like it’s akin to blasphemy to admit this, but: I’m not a huge fan of the original animated
series. Having been reading the original
comics for a couple of years before the cartoon even existed, my fandom was
anchored in those not-exactly-kid-friendly violent black and white pages. The colored masks, the belt buckles with
their initials on them, the pizza obsession, the accents for Mike and Raph, and
the goofy-assed villains that they kept fighting but never fully defeated… just
not my cup of tea.
That
having been said, I recognize that there’s a desire for LEGO minifigs of Shredder
and Krang’s trio of henchmen, and I certainly wouldn’t mind them existing. Just as long as some of the figures that I
want get to exist as well.
Honorable Mention (or #13): The Crossover Characters
There
were more than a few intercompany team-ups and crossover stories in the comic
run. Cerebus the Aardvark. Flaming Carrot and the Mysterymen. The Savage Dragon. More recently, Ghostbusters and the
X-Files. (I’ve also been told that the
short lived live action TMNT series crossed over with the Mighty Morphing Power
Rangers. Although I try to ignore that
piece of information.)
All
of the abovementioned characters would provoke a licensing nightmare to include
in the TMNT minifig collection, but I do see one crossover character being an
exception.
Stan
Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo (a serious rabbit samurai in a ‘funny-animal’ version of
feudal Japan). He appeared in TMNT
comics. (And they in his.) But he also appeared in the original cartoon
series. And he was represented in the
original TMNT action figure line. So
Usagi Yojimbo is the most official of the unofficial TMNT characters, and I’d
suspect that the licensing rights wouldn’t be all that hard to obtain for a
minifig.
#12: The
Missing Counterpart Turtles
The
‘T-Rawket Sky Strike’ set includes Don in pilot gear (purple bomber jacket, and
goggles over his mask) and Mike in an orange jumpsuit-lookin’ thing with what
appears to be parachute pull-cords. ‘The
Turtle Sub Undersea Chase’, on the other hand, gives us Don and Leo in diving
gear, complete with breathing masks. ‘The
Mutation Chamber’ set sees Raph in body armor and with some kind of air-filter
mask.
Now
that’s all fine and dandy, but what if you want to take Leo and Raph up in the
T-Rawket? Or have Raph and Mike go
diving out of the sub? Or have Leo, Don,
and Mike wade into battle all armored up?
I
really wanted to complete some of
those outfit sets.
#11: The
Superheroes
There
were legitimate superheroes and villains in the TMNT comic universe. The main three I remember are the mysterious
Nobody, the powerhouse superheroine Radical, and the monstrous villain Complete
Carnage.
They
all seem like they’d be interesting characters to insert into the Nickelodeon
series, and from there, into corresponding LEGO sets.
#10: The Time
Travelers
Time
travel is another component of the classic TMNT comics. There are even a group of individuals known
as Time Lords. (Masters of time and
space, these TMNT Time Lords are NOT to be confused the Doctor Who’s Time Lords
of Gallifrey.)
The
three main characters here are Lord Simultaneous, his impulsive apprentice
Renet, and his former apprentice (who betrayed and attempted to erase
Simultaneous) Savanti Romero.
I
really, really want a Renet
minifigure, mainly because I put a version of her together for a MOC last
BrickCon, and it really made me want a better version of her. And where goes Renet, you also need
Simultaneous and Romero for adventure and LEGO storybuilding.
#9: Trenchcoat
& Fedora Turtles
The
classic TMNT-in-disguise outfit was always a trenchcoat and fedora. Oh, how I want a set of Turtles with fedoras
that fit those modified heads of theirs.
Along with the trenchcoats -- either cape-like cloth ones, molded
plastic ones, or simply printed designs on the legs and torsos.
#8: Fugitoid /
Professor Honeycutt
The
Fugitoid is the oldest part of TMNT canon, predating the turtles
themselves. The first collaborative
effort between TMNT co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Fugitoid has an
incredibly clichéd origin – The mind of alien Professor Honeycutt gets
accidentally transplanted into his worker android SAL, and before it can switch
back, the Professor’s body dies. When
the military bursts in on the scene, all they see is the robot that ‘obviously’
murdered the professor. Declared a
Fugitoid (from FUGITive andrOID), he escapes and has a series of
adventures.
Then,
once TMNT are beamed into deep space by the Utroms, they encounter one another
and the Fugitoid becomes a TMNT ally.
He’s
a goofy-lookin’ robot that I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for, and I want a
minifigure of him.
#7: Metalhead
The
second robot on this list, Metalhead is the Teenage (?) Robot Ninja
Turtle. In his original incarnation, he
was the creation of Krang, fought against the turtles, and was defeated and
later reprogrammed by Don as an ally.
His current version in the new Nickelodeon cartoon was created by Don
outright. (And is so freakin’ adorable
it kills me.) If he existed in
minifigure form, he’s be a robotic version of the standard TMNT minifig with a
squared-off head and short legs. ADORABLE!
#6: Shadow
Turtles
Our
first glimpse of TMNT minifigs was the New York Comicon Exclusive “Dark
Leonardo”. Only 300 of these were made,
and – as you’d expect – I don’t have one.
($300 – $500 online.) Black turtle
with blue mask, and grey gearbelts. Like
you’d appear if you were a ninja turtle hiding in the shadows.
Not
only do I want this ‘Shadow Leonardo’, but I also want Shadow Don, Shadow Mike,
and Shadow Raph. Maybe even a Shadow
Splinter. Given that the team is a group
of ninjas for whom live-in-the-shadows and strike-from-the-dark are givens, so
are a full set of (affordable) shadow turtles (and rat).
#5: Tur-FLY-tle
(Buzz, buzz!)
The
absolute best part of the new TMNT cartoon are the rare appearances of
Tur-FLY-tle. When the other three
decided to use Mikey as bait for a giant mutant bat creature, they had no idea
what they were letting loose on the world.
Equipped with a homemade fly costume, he flits around in the air
(typically attached to a line from Raph’s glider), and punctuates every
sentence (sometimes sentence fragments) with his catchphrase “Buzz, buzz!” One-shot dump-on-Mikey joke turned actual
alter-ego. We’re now definitely into the
list of unmade figures that make me die a little inside. (Sigh.
I miss you, conceptual Tur-FLY-tle minifigure. Buzz, buzz!)
#4: Spike &
Slash
You
know Leonardo and Donatello and Michelangelo and Raphael, but do you recall,
the least famous TMNT of all? Yes, Virginia,
there IS a fifth turtle. (Also a sixth,
but we’re not discussing her here. Or
anywhere, if we can help it.)
Depending
on which version of TMNT you’re reading/watching, Slash is either a laboratory
experiment, or a member of an alien Turtle species, or… I don’t know, “other”,
I guess. In any case, he’s a big beefy
powerhouse with a weird affinity for palm trees.
In
the most recent iteration of the animated TMNT, Raphael had a pet non-TMN
turtle named Spike. Eventually, Spike
got into the mutagen, and morphed into a oversized Turtle with claws who
renamed himself Slash. (Slash knew
ninjitsu from years of watching Raph practice.
And due to hearing a lifetime of rants and vents about Raph’s brothers,
Slash had a real hatred for Leo, Don, and Mike.)
I
was so looking forward to the day when LEGO would deliver unto us a set that
included both the pre-mutated Spike (pet-sized turtle) and a BigFig version of
Slash. Alas, that day will never come
now…
#3: The Triceretons
Early
on in the original TMNT comics, we were introduced to two non-humanoid alien
races. The Utroms (which inspired Krang,
and later morphed into the current series’ Kraang race), and the
Triceratons. Fortunately, LEGO gave us
some of the brain-like Kraang (both in and out of their robotic suits). The Triceretons weren’t quite so lucky.
Big
anthropomorphic triceratops people. What
more could you ask for?
#2: Casey Jones
Pretty
much universally accepted as the ONE figure we should have gotten already but
haven’t is hockey-mask-wearing, sports-equipment-wielding,
vigilante-movie-inspired turtle ally Casey Jones. Reversible head (one side bare faced, the
other with the infamous Casey Jones hockey mask), and maybe two hairpieces (one
‘civilian’, one with the straps that holds the mask in place). Golf club bag backpack, hockey stick,
baseball bat, and so on.
Behind
the TMNT, Splinter, and April, Casey holds the position as the seventh number
of Team Turtle. (Second position in the
popular duo of Raph and Casey.)
The
one question we’re all asking when looking at our TMNT minifig collections is,
“Where the #@*& is Casey Jones?!”
#1: Maskless
Turtles
Even
more Metalhead and Tur-FLY-tle (buzz, buzz!), even more than the Triceretons or
Casey Jones, however, what I really want are the TMNT without their trademark
masks.
The
turtles aren’t always wearing their masks.
(They aren’t even always wearing their gearbelts – are totally naked
Turtles too much to ask for?) I want
casual, sitting around the lair first thing in the morning TMNT minifigs. Figs that I can pretend are other mutant
turtles. Figs I can buy as army
builders, and build MOCs that tell the story of TMNT’s descendents. Beautiful bare-headed mutant turtles that
don’t hide (a small fraction of) their faces behind color-coded cloth strip
masks.
The Final Comment
Where,
oh where are genius computer modeling skills and affordable 3D printers when I
need them?
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