Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures - 2003-present

2003-present

On February 8, 2003, Fox revived the TMNT franchise with a brand new cartoon series. With it inevitably came a series of action figures. These figures showed reminiscence of those released in 1988 yet with the refreshed design of the new, bold look of the cartoon series. Unlike the previous figures, most of the figures released in this collection actually appeared in the 2003 series. This collection successfully continued into 2006 with new character designs and even an occasional revisiting of past concepts like 1993's Cave-Turtles. In 2006, by request of Playmates, the cartoon series took a new lighter direction which brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward, a futuristic take on the heroic mutants. Playmates thought of this change as a means of selling more new Turtles action figures.

March 2007 introduced fans to a new CGI feature film entitled simply TMNT. This introduced the Ninja Turtles on-screen to a new generation and corresponded with an extensive action figure line. New figures based on the film continued to be produced into the following year.

In September 2007, it was announced that the collectible figure company NECA had acquired the license to produce Ninja Turtle figures based on their character likenesses from the original Mirage comic books. The first wave of figures consisted of the four Turtles and was released in comic and specialty stores in early 2008. The New York Comic Con also boasted an exclusive figure four-pack, and that same year, NECA released black & white versions of the Turtles just as they appeared in the pages of the comics.

In January 2009, to commemorate the Turtles' 25th anniversary, Playmates re-released the first series of figures c. 1988, plus Slash and the Party Wagon. Each figure comes packaged with vintage card art and a DVD containing one episode of the 1987 cartoon series. A separate series of totally new designs was also planned but not released by Playmates. These figures are based on early Mirage comics and include Splinter, Shredder, and a Foot Soldier among the four Turtles in red apparel. These turtles were first unveiled in the Nintendo Power magazine.