NECA '87 Toon TMNT

RicksNerdLife said:
Well, this is the most definitive thing we've heard regarding the future of the license with NECA.

Around the 17:00 minute mark.

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This interview seems like nothing is changing.

Also, I wonder if in the other interview with the “accidental” reveal of Tempestra was planned.

I did watch her episode with my daughter recently. I hope she comes with the arcade cabinet.


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I would assume that no matter what happens the directive for the designers would be "business as usual" for now which is why I have zero takeaways from the license talk for now. I think it's all legitimately up in the air and I also think NECA wants it to continue so we'll see what happens.
 
I don’t know, it just kinda sounds like Gargoyles all over again.

Maybe I’m just not willing to trust again after waiting a year for Macbeth to go up for preorder (they told Veebs they were working on them right now you guys!) only to find out via random live streams with Blake ToyCollectr and the prototype painter the line was dead…

Like look, I get it, you’re trying to sell your existing product still and saying “the last figures we make are going to be variants of Tokka, Rahzar, Slash, and the Turts” is a buzz kill. It’s hard to sell teen Casey if you know for a fact April isn’t coming, Slash is probably a lot less appealing knowing the 2012 Mutanimals aren’t coming with him. Got keep the hope alive, say Coldstone is still coming to move Vows Two Packs say Metaluna Krang is coming to move Dracula Shredders say Movie B&R are coming to move some “Ultimate” Movie Turts… the grind continues even with no meat left in the machine.

“Plans for years and years” is not the same answer as “we have the license for another X amount of years”

And if I’m comparing it Gargoyles, accepting it was over made me appreciate what I have more. If tomorrow they finally did release Coldstone, Macbeth, the line continued for a hundred more figures I’d snap them all up instantly, but if tomorrow the line was still dead I’m very happy I got the whole clan…. I’m just gonna start moving into that phase with Ninja Turtles. Don’t focus on the fact we never got Ninjara or the three “movie concept” figures or the Kitchen and Giant Krang and instead focus on how we have pretty much every major character and unlike in the 80’s they’re actually on model with no open sores and bug filled gashes… that’s pretty great.
 
Misfit said:
I would assume that no matter what happens the directive for the designers would be "business as usual" for now which is why I have zero takeaways from the license talk for now. I think it's all legitimately up in the air and I also think NECA wants it to continue so we'll see what happens.
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Additionally.... there is ZERO chance a company comes out and says 'we're losing the license soon, so this is the last stuff we're going to make.' It annihilates interest and tanks the market for the product. They say it when they -have- to (like McFarlane - because it's public information) and not a second before they have no choice.
Also notice how nothing he said could be construed as a lie. 'We have lots to make still' and kind of wishy-washy comments like that. All of what he said can be true even if they were losing the license in a month, let alone a year.

I was typing when Mint was posting so.. also what Mint said.
 
Damien said:
They say it when they -have- to (like McFarlane - because it's public information) and not a second before they have no choice.
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Todd’s a great example for this, because as the news broke Mattel held the entire DC license he said “well not so fast, we’re still working things out, see if there’s a place for me!” it’s pretty clear now there isn’t but the way he talks I’m sure someone thinks there’s still a chance so it’s okay to get any Multiverse released in 2026 because the team could be completed in 2027!
 
Mint In Boks said:
Todd’s a great example for this, because as the news broke Mattel held the entire DC license he said “well not so fast, we’re still working things out, see if there’s a place for me!” it’s pretty clear now there isn’t but the way he talks I’m sure someone thinks there’s still a chance so it’s okay to get any Multiverse released in 2026 because the team could be completed in 2027!
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Oh absolutely. I'd forgotten he basically said 'it's not over yet!' when it was absolutely, definitely over. And, to be honest, I'm wondering if Todd didn't know the Mattel-DC reveal was happening yet and got caught off guard. But still, he's literally never going to formally acknowledge that he won't be making DC product anymore. If he does that, he might as well just release this year's product directly to a discount store.

I think with NECA (and Super7) it might be more worthwhile to read between the lines than to just ask them direct questions you know they're unlikely to answer honestly. NECA was just at TF - what did they show? What did they announce? How did they respond to questions about product. We got a lot of 'we could make so many more things.' Great. Where are they?
What I got was 'TMNT movie line is over,' 'TMNTxUniversal Monsters is over,' 'one cartoon figure, and two more cartoon items we didn't even feel confident showing off because maybe we can't get them out in time,' and 'no plans for anything we wouldn't be able to actually release this year.' That doesn't tell me that they have loads of confidence that this is a sandbox they're going to be playing in a year from now.

I'm not shitting on NECA -at all-. This is how they have to play the game or resign themselves to just not selling any TMNT merch this year either. But I think you'd have to be kidding yourself to think all signs aren't pointing to NECA (and Super7) being done with TMNT after this year.
 
I don't think Gargoyles is a great comparison, but I get where you're coming from. We've all likely been down this road before, but with a license changing hands it is a different situation since we're not talking about a failing product line. The telltale signs are mostly the same though which usually correlates with how much new product is being shown. In the case of TMNT, it's still quite a bit. When they start showing us only things we've seen before then we'll know things aren't looking great. Trevor's willingness to speak on some of the things that aren't coming due to cost (big boy Krang, movie B&R, etc) could even be interpreted as a positive since he seems to think none of those are a reflection on the health of the line.
 
Misfit said:
Trevor's willingness to speak on some of the things that aren't coming due to cost (big boy Krang, movie B&R, etc) could even be interpreted as a positive since he seems to think none of those are a reflection on the health of the line.
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I did not get the impression movie B&R was a cost thing. His exact words were that the movie line is 'winding down.' That definitely seems to imply diminishing returns on product and it not being worth the resources. Which is the opposite of a healthy line. The Universal stuff is what he said was coming back really expensive - which is still a bizarre thing to complain about. Like.. how are those that much more expensive than anything else NECA does (at the factory level). Seems to imply, again, that the interest doesn't -justify- the cost. Which is a bad thing.

And reading between the lines - big Krang and the kitchen and things like that seem like the kind of item that takes too long to develop and produce and it has a lot more to do with not wanting to be stuck holding that bag when they lose the license and aren't allowed to sell product anymore. As I said above, and I could definitely be wrong, it feels a lot like decisions are being made to focus on what they're pretty sure will sell, AND that they can reasonably anticipate being able to plow through to retail shelves before the end of the year.
 
Damien said:
I did not get the impression movie B&R was a cost thing.
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I think, based on nothing but vibes, NECA might have not understood what their license actually allowed since that movie Jumpsuit April has been stuck in development Hell for years even though Hoag seemed to be on board and the box art was finished, it could have slipped it out with Garbageman Eastman, the BD Leo and Shrdder/Dirt Bike Casey sets, or the “Ultimate” trading card Turts… I know they said they were working on retooling the Alien jumpsuit to be a little more flattering but it doesn’t take three years to make a lady in a sexy jumpsuit (unless you’re the Four Horsemen and you’re trying to rush this particular pre-order out)

I’m wondering if B&R were a pitch to Paramount “let us do movie ‘concept’ figures!” before having the idea killed for good.
 
Mint In Boks said:
I think, based on nothing but vibes, NECA might have not understood what their license actually allowed since that movie Jumpsuit April has been stuck in development Hell for years even though Hoag seemed to be on board and the box art was finished, it could have slipped it out with Garbageman Eastman, the BD Leo and Shrdder/Dirt Bike Casey sets, or the “Ultimate” trading card Turts… I know they said they were working on retooling the Alien jumpsuit to be a little more flattering but it doesn’t take three years to make a lady in a sexy jumpsuit (unless you’re the Four Horsemen and you’re trying to rush this particular pre-order out)

I’m wondering if B&R were a pitch to Paramount “let us do movie ‘concept’ figures!” before having the idea killed for good.
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That sounds right to me. And again, him outright saying that the movie line is 'winding down' -screams- "it isn't selling like we want it to anymore." Meaning, they've had diminishing returns with all the releases of the random human characters most people don't actually care about. And if the fans aren't showing up for the actual main characters from the actual films, I'd say the chances are not great for characters re-imagined as if they were in the films, even if I personally think that's a cool as hell idea.

So if the line is already not performing like you want it to, do you really harass the licensor about letting you do this more off-the-wall stuff? What's even the point?

Also, I could have sworn I read somewhere that Hoag was -not- super into the yellow jumpsuit figure and needed to be talked into a bit, and that's why they had to go back and try to redesign a body to be more 'flattering.'

Also also... because you mentioned it: they made Casey with a fucking dirt bike. Goddamn that's dumb.
 
Like I said somewhere else--5 months until SDCC. That'll be the true test. I think our answers are then and there.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
Like I said somewhere else--5 months until SDCC. That'll be the true test. I think our answers are then and there.
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Very likely. I mean, I'm sure a few people will want to kick it down the line to... there's a show in October, right? But I feel like if they're not showing ANY 2027 product at SDCC, then they'll have a hard time convincing all but the most ardent asslickers that it's over. And if they do have 2027 product to show, that'll be a very interesting development.
 
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