After the second 2003 wave, we're supposed to see a vintage inspired wave. My question is where do we go from here?
Aside Ultimates, having an E-tailer exclusive Deluxe series (meaning figures available ONLY on Super7's website, Amazon, Entertainment Earth, and BigBadToyStore) to avoid Playmates getting flustered by "retail competition".
For example:
Turtles:
They'd be in Playmates colors with brown pads , bandoliers, and wristbands but with Mirage red bandanas. Using the heads from first release Turtles you can have vintagized 2003 or homage to Ninja action Turtles.
Up to 2 new accessories in addition to their standard weapons: no EXTRA heads or hands.
Leonardo:
Slash effects that can fit on other katanas
Donatello:
Twirling Bo staff effect
Raphael:
Thrust effect sai
Michelangelo:
Vintage versions of the ultimates 2003 nunchaku.
I will mention some core characters that could get a refresh:
Splinter:
Using the Flocked Splinter sleeved robe on a vanilla Splinter body (Playmates colors) and for accessory the cartoon cane. The only new piece would be a cartoon inspired head.
Shredder;
Repaint in a Mirage inspired palette.
Foot Soldier:
No repaint
For accessories: 2 Random Foot Soldier or Ninja rack weapons. Maybe an old weapon and a new weapon each wave should have a foot Soldier and with each wave a change in the sculpt is added: for example:
Wave 1: pristine
Wave 2: Battle damaged arm guard
Wave 3: comes with a robot hand and the Toy based endo head
Wave 4 is a rerelease of the bd Foot Soldier with the Alpha-One head.
Rocksteady:
Toon inspired outfit repaint. Skin should match s7 ultimates
New bandolier with knife sheath.
Bebop:
Toon inspired head and outfit repaint with new Toon inspired glasses. Skin should match S7 ultimates.
Casey Jones:
"Original" Repaint:
Bone white mask
Light blue gray crop top
Dark blue grey sweatpants and black sneakers with white accents
Accessories:
Golf bag
Single bat
New sledge hammer
Rasputin the Mad frog:
Genghis body with tongue head and brown eyes.
Repainted Genghis body:
Same skintone:
Silver necklace
Silver watch
Fuchsia anklet
Purple and magenta pants
Orange shirt with purple, Fuchsia and Magenta accents
New pieces:
Archery hand and bow.
Reuse Karai arrow.
April:
She needs more than an overhaul. But since it's supposed to be a fix for April v1, doing it through here is a reasonable idea.
Using a new Torso and crotch inspired by the First Appearance look from Mirage, a new removable belt and new lower legs, we can make a Toon inspired April that has pre-made parts for a Mirage April (combining Ninja April upper arms with April 1.0 lower arms, we create the Mirage long sleeved look. New lower legs would seal the deal. A New head with a better cartoon likeness, the skin tone of April 1.0 AND compatibility with the Older April 1.0 heads and we're done here.
Microphone and Camera would be her accessories. Reuse Ninja April Camera and mic.
Triceraton:
A repaint of the Triceraton inspired by the Shogun Triceraton. With wristblade and blaster as accessories.
New Variants:
This could be a way to release B-Ball Turtles to match Slam Dunkin' Don. Or Undercover Turtles to Match Raphael... but I wanna go Homebrew... Let's see what I can cook with:
Vigilante Turtles:
Leonardo:
Leo head
Sewer Samurai Torso and legs. The gold is now blue grey and the blue parts are now navy blue. The thigh armor is now navy blue as well as the shinguards. Vanilla Leonardo arms.
Accessories:
Soft goods blue grey Trenchcoat
2× NEW tonfa about the size of his swords
The idea is to have Leonardo act as a modern day samurai. The reason for the Tonfa is that he's going for non lethal weapons.
Donatello:
Don Head
Slam Dunk Don Torso, Punker Don legs and feet.
Dark purple shirt, grey pants, Black Boots
Wanderer Leo Arms
Accessories
Bo staff
UC Raph soft goods grey Trenchcoat.
Raphael:
Raph head
Slam Dunk Don Torso (Blue shir red pants)t
Rapping Mike Legs and feet (red pants black knee pads, white sneakers)
Accessories:
2× Casey Bat
Basically Raph cosplaying as Casey.
Michelangelo:
Rapping Mike hat head (orange hat), Legs, and Feet Orange sneakers)
Slam Dunkin Don torso
Wanderer Leo Forearms and elbow pads. Rapping Mike hands with Silver bling.
Accessories:
1× Nunchuck
Essentially Michelangelo cosplaying as a Videogame Beat-em' up character (inspired by Double Dragon) with a hint of fighting game (KoF).
Other characters, like Shredder Elite could be made out of Foot Soldier with a new head and Halberd.
Personally, I might have a controversial take now... using the Deluxe to release supporting characters that don't necessarily NEED Ultimates amount of pieces:
For example:
Tiffani
Tang Shen
Oroku Nagi
Claw Shredder Clone
Mirage styled Fugitoid.
Hell, even Burne, Vernon and Irma could be made as Deluxe figures.
But then here's the kicker: Super7 could release a huge accessory packs to plus up these figures.
Say: we get Deluxe Vernon, Burne, Irma, and Tiffani. Then Super7 releases a $65 "upgrade pack" with extra hands, heads, and accessories to turn Delixe into Ultimate.
The Turtles could get such pack, so on and so forth.
Then again, there is also similar characters... kinda like what I did with Rasputin. For example: Super7 makes an Ultimates Traag, but they engineered alternate shoulders and neck piece to make Granitor when tooling Traag's molds. This would be made for the Deluxe Release of Granitor. This would require Super7 to plan ahead. Based on the voices of fired employees due to Tariff-man, planning ahead may not be a strong suit there.
Simpler solution: repaints and army builders should be the recipients of Deluxe treatment.
Unrelated, but give us an Ultimates Pizzaface.
