Things change with time, and the same could easily be said of popular culture. As a franchise goes on over the course of decades, you’ll eventually see it rebooted, redesigned, and rebranded time and time again. One franchise in particular that has had more than it’s fair share of new life through reboots and rebranding is the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, who are seeing a line wide reboot this year as Nickelodeon prepares to launch a brand new animated series! With the new show, ‘Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ coming, the team at Playmates has to be at the top of their game with a new toyline! If the quality of their showings from New York Toy Fair 2018 are any inclination as to the quality of the upcoming show, longtime Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans are going to be in for a treat!
For starters, we’ve got a basic figure assortment that features that four turtles, plus all new figures of April O’Neil, Master Splinter, basic Ninjas that look like a new version of the Foot Soldiers dubbed ‘Origami Ninjas’, and the series new big villain… a pig mutant named Meat Sweats! Yes. That’s a real thing, and we are pretty excited about it! 
Aside from the main basic figure line, there will also be ‘Deluxe’ figures available, as well as ‘Giant Sized’ figures! The big thing to note about the ‘Deluxe’ figures is that they’re designed with a flip-action feature, so their legs are permanently half crouched so they’re able to perform and land these flips! The ‘Giant Sized’ figures are all pretty comparable to the standard sized basic figures, just much larger!
What kind of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline would this be without some sweet vehicles? Playmates has two vehicle types coming our way with the Turtle Tank and Shellhogs! Gone is the classic Turtle Van and in it’s place is the Turtle Tank! The Turtle Tank essentially looks like a big hefty garbage truck with a shell on it’s back! The shell rises up to really open the vehicle up a bit and give your figures some room! The Shellhogs are new motorcycles that will be available in color schemes for each turtle character! Shellhogs come with attachments for weapons, as well as an attachment that allows them to link up to each other so you can create a real caravan of Turtle Power! The Shellhog link-ups also allow the motorcycles to attach to the Turtle Tank to make a massive attack vehicle!
The piece de resistance is the utterly massive new Turtle Lair! The new Turtle Lair will stand approximately 43″ tall (nearly four feet!) and features a street level top side along with several lower levels that include an arcade, a gym, and so much more! The real icing on this cake is that it features a sewer manhole (or turtle hole in this case) that opens up, and while it doesn’t do much on it’s own, it’s soon going to be the coolest feature yet! Later in the year Playmates is planning to release a second larger playset like this, and they will be able to be stacked on top of each other to create a massive playset that is nearly seven feet tall! They’ll also be able to connect horizontally for those who are a bit more height challenged (like, for example, the children this line is actually designed for) to be able to use both of them together.
In addition to all of these wonderful new action figures, vehicles and playsets, Playmates will also be releasing a few role-play sets that each include a mask, throwing stars, and the corresponding characters signature weapon!
What do you think of the new ‘Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ toyline from Playmates? How about some of those new character designs? Who do you hope to see next? We’re hoping to see a new take on Casey Jones or The Shredder sooner or later! Let us know in the comments section below! Stay tuned to ScienceFiction.com for all of the latest updates on Playmates and ‘Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’!
