Turtles in Time

As a child of the 80's and 90's, I have always been a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. And while I love nearly every incarnation (except maybe The Next Mutation), the original 1987 cartoon series will always be my favorite and have a special place in my heart.

My childhood,basically.

I started re-watching it lately and I must say that it holds up far better than a lot of it's contemporaries (looking at you, Thundercats). It was a great show with just the right balance of action, humor and nonsense.

Of course the show was only part of the phenomenon that was the Ninja Turtles craze.  Playmates Toys would produce a huge and varied line of toys for the franchise, fully cementing the turtle's legacy like so many of it's early 80's predecessors like Transformers and He-Man.

Um, can I have my allowance early?  Please!?

These figures were well made and had a ton of variety and I spent entirely too much time as a child playing with them.

It's now almost thirty years later, I'm an adult, and TV executives have once again rebooted a franchise from my youth.  But for once, they gave the project to people that actually care about it.  This is Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Seems Legit

The new show is also great.  If you grew up watching the original, you really should be watching this one.  I know some were turned off by the CG art style, but if you concentrate on the characters and the stories, you'll probably accept the new style pretty quickly.  This show is very true to the spirit of the original show, and really nails each character's personalities and quirks.

And, like before, Playmates Toys is making a new line for this show and I gotta say, they're fantastic.  As much as I will always love the original figures, the quality level of these new ones is tremendous.  Not all the figures boast a lot of articulation, but the turtles themselves are full of really good poseability. 

Just. Awesome.

As good as these new figures are, I can now do something my younger self could never do: make them better!  My goal is to fuse the styles of the 1987 series and the new series; new figures with a retro feel.  As a finish each custom I will be posting them with a little write-up and work-in-progress pictures.  These projects are a real labor of love for me and I appreciate you for sharing in them with me.

Stay tuned!