Was in Wally Mart yesterday and saw a slew of Mini Mutants in the clearance aisle. Discontinued already? Seems like they just shipped. They had quite a few TMNT movie figures and vehicles in the clearance aisle too.
Dollar General had a bunch of Fast Forward figures at $5 each and TMNT vehicles and motorcycles too. Box sets were $15.
For fun and practice, I inked over a copy of an old pin-up by Kevin for this post's artwork.
18 comments:
*dies from insanely awesome Mike art*
Ahem. Yeah, all the Playmates product is pretty much killing itself. But luckily next year's Music Turtles are destined to save the entire franchise.
Rose is dead-on, as usual.
I mean, face it, how many frickin' motorcycle iterations does the vehicle line need?
I have an amusing Playmates story which I'll try to post today or tomorrow...
Please do Murph!
Thanks Rose. I inked it for fun on my lunch hour.
WOW!!!
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!
Is this a set? i.e. Don,(from a previous post), and Mikey?
Do you have Leo and Raph around there?
I would totally pay for a set of those pics!!!!!
Awesome job!
That should tell you something :).
Music Turtle Power to the recue!
Personally, I Think they should have gone with Hasselhoff Don. He's got a German hat on his head, a guitar in one hand, and bending over to try and eat a hamburger off the floor in the other. :). Along with Vanilla Ice Raph. Those would be more likely to save the product playmates is putting out :).
Oh, and the Mikey art is awesome. Why are you not penciling Volume 4? Even every other issue? :)
Yeah instead of celebrating the Anniversary of the turtles we'll be morning their death once again as it seems Mirage is dragging it's feet, the companies that work with them don't give a crap, and 4kids doesn't seem to know what to do with the series.
So yeah you think it's bad that you saw them on clearance, how about we only have 1 or 2 Wal-Marts our of maybe 8 that sell tmnt figures in their stores now.
I'm not even making this up, there is absolutely no presence of the series in these stores at all.
One that does sell them still just got in the new Mini-Mutants series with mini Baxter Stockman and 4 Arm Shredder Clone I posted some pics and a review in my blog, you guys should go check it out.
http://vaughnmichael.blogspot.com/
Btw yeah the art is awesome as always! keep up the great work! :)
Thanks dinoff. Yeah, I have a Kevin Leo and Raph somewhere.
You're too kind neil v. My penciling abilities are subpar and would especially be so on an entire book.
Bravo! I most assuredly would add your Hasselhoff Don and Vanilla Ice Raph to my collection of TMNT's!
Yes, vaughn I saw no TMNT toys except for the ones in the clearance aisle. I remember some alien hunter turtles too, or whatever they're called.
It's all very discouraging.
Heh, if I had any kind of skill in producing customes, I'd make one for ya. Maybe a sculpy if I ever get around to starting my first one :)..
Although, there's no stopping you from posting a drawing of the two. Should be good for a laugh or three :)....
Maybe a TurtleVan Style KITT behind Hasselhoff Don :).
Nice job inking that, Ryan. It looks amazing! I wish we were seeing more of your work in the current line of Mirage comics!
-->> .. the Playmates distribution and product sold is not consistent.
What one finds in a certain area , set of stores/chains , isles ..shall not, cannot, is not.. nor can it ever reflect ONE SINGLE VIEW .. :: " O Turtles are Doomed. " ..
While i agree with the sentiments here .. there is inconsistancy, strong and overwhelming pessimism, and confusion in the arguments presented.
**
Killer inks b t w.
>v<
Ryan said: My penciling abilities are subpar and would especially be so on an entire book.
Hey now! As a proud owner of some original Brown artwork, I'd beg to differ. You don't give yourself enough credit! I think you're a talented artist in all areas, from pencils to inks (as your Mikey pic shows).
RE: Playmates
I haven't been to the local Wal-Mart in the past couple of months, but I have been to two different Targets. The TMNT are occupying the same shelf space as Power Rangers and the WWE wrestlers. Sadly, they've got a small section to themselves, and most of the toys being sold were mini-mutants and the play weapons. Although, I think I did see some Alien Hunters and a few of the monsters from the original movie line. I'm not saying that the turtles are doomed since there may be other factors involved (as tokka pointed out). Still, I'm getting a little nervous with how Playmates is going to handle the next few waves (starting with the updated COOTS figures).
Who's your favorite turtle to draw, Ryan?
Get going on those customs neil v! They would look great on my shelf!!
Thanks daniel ! Inking the turtles is always a lot of fun.
Thanks dark turtle, but remember, I only inked the above drawing... the pencils are by Kevin. I love Target, they are way better than walmart but they are always sold out of the new legends figures. I love Annihilus and bought all those figures just to build him. I want the new Fin Fang Foom figure but Hasbro legends figures suck and are way over priced. Typical for them. I sure miss Toy Biz. They were the best.
I love the DC Universe Demon
Raphael, adam. Raphael!
Although my favorite turtle is Donatello. Go figure.
Funny, Raphael is my favorite, but I think Mikey offers the most interesting possibilities for drawing, what with those whirling nunchucks and all!
Though Raphael does have that edgy quality to him, which I'm sure could create some appealing artistic opportunities.
Ok, here's my story from shopping today.
I was in Walmart and had just found the Mike and Don Mini-Mutants playsets (finally). A kid, maybe 3 years old, and his dad come into the aisle and are looking at the TMNT toys. The little kid is very enthusiastic and just adorably cute.
His dad is looking through the pegs and is kinda mumbling to himself about how they don't have something. Curious, I ask him what he's looking for. He points to the Mini-Mutants on the pegs and says he'd like a four-pack with just the Turtles, but instead you have to buy these." (he then points to the Mini-Mutants vehicles that come with one Turtle figure and has a slightly disgusted look on his face)
I agree with him ("That would be smart, wouldn't it?") and show him the playsets I'm buying for just two figures. We then exchange "Good luck" before moving on our way.
And still no sign of the extreme sports Mini-Mutants in this area.
Oh, here's a follow-up story...
Just a little while later I was in TRU and found a Galactic Heroes playset that had been purchased, tampered with, and returned. The Dewback had been replaced with a generic dinosaur toy, three of the five figures had been replaced with figures from the wrong Star Wars movie, and Chewbacca had been robbed of his bowcaster.
Luckily I'm an honest person, because it's so tempting to do that with these Playmates sets.
-->> ..bastards.
Rosemary , the old bait and switch .. the ybut the toys swap it out for the figure they want and yeh, they bring it in. The poor unsuspecting clerk doesn't know any better. So the thief shows the receipt, gets his money back and yes he's a f7cking thief !!
Seen it all the time liek you just stated. Like last year Hasbro had some funky TARGET exclusive A - wing or something with an exclusive fig to the set. As usual, some unimaginative putz bought cuz he wanted the figure, but not the ship. Took it back sans figure, and the ship was intact but the package was back on the shelf with not Pilot figure.
Least the bonehead you saw witness too at least put some figures back n the package.
Either way .. this is an ever growing problem and it steals not just from the store and Toy company.. but also eventually reflects on the customers who ultimately have to pay for this type of bullsh7t.
Semantics aside.. next time, if you could ..report what happened to the store manager !!
.. i'm sorry for all the problems people have been having with TMNT distribution.
;/
(( .. and yes we are all lucky you are f7cking honest !! Your a rare bird, and that's very important and you should be given a badge !! !! ))
>v<
just thought of a baaaad joke.
You know what Playmates 25th anniversary plan is? I just found out...
To Re-Release Farmer Don as a Giant 12" Figure!
With Playmates new slogan :
You'll buy anything.... or
We just don't give a flyin' flip..
;o)..
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