Teenagers and the 1987 series: a rant

 Teenagers are such a weird thing. Especially in cartoons. In some cases Teens look like adults (similar to LIVE action TV) in some cases they look like teens (ie the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon... Super7 hurry up with my Hank and Sheila) then we have:

Zach and Caitlin are supposed to be 14. Buffy Shellhammer is supposed to be 15. All these three teens look under 10. Vernon's nephew looks 8 but he's supposedly Junior high age (12-15) 

Meanwhile, the Neutrinos look more Teen-like than the previous Earth Teens. 

What am I getting at with this? Well, I've been scouring the TMNT 1987 continuity for potential figures.  It's kinda hard to make 8 year old looking 14-15 year Olds enticing as figures.

Sure you can sell action figures of kids (ie Thunderkittens, Copper Kidd, Bobby the Barbarian) but those are clearly kids being kids... not kiddified teens. 

The character size inconsistencies in the the old toon male gauging an accurate size for the characters a pain. Toon scaled Burne seems like a shorter guy, but NECA made him a midget. Meanwhile Playmates has him normal human sized... this will make sense soon.

Red Sky Era Turtles are roughly 19-20... which theoretically could make these kid-looking teens look older as Carter was around 19-20 in the Red Sky seasons. So, for a theoretical Super7 set of TMNT Ultimates!: non-Carter Human Teens Edition...

I'm going to try to make 2 Versions:

One will be More faithful to the toon while keeping a Toyline look.

The other will be a more "Mature" Red Sky inspired idea while keeping a Vintage Toy look.

Zach V1:

Close in Size to S7 Zak the Neutrino. Slightly smaller head than the Neutrino and a bit slimmer. His outfit would be similar to the toon version, but his sweater would have corduroy texture with a V emblazoned on it.

His cargo pants in Varner fashion would have a stained pocket where a messy Snack got smashed. Could be a candy bar or a PB&J sandwich. At the bottom of his left shoe there would be a wad of gum.

The Shirt would be light olive green with the V being Yellow. (Subtle color nod to the turtles.)

Pants would be a handy khaki with green grass stains on the knees. Shoes would be blue because Playmates doesn't care about toon accuracy and I'm pretending to be them for the design

Accessories:

 heads: his hair should be dirty blond

-masked

-maskless

-wearing a VirtualBoy-esque VR glasses that connect to his palm top computer. (Palmtop Nod to John Connor)

Hands:

C-grips

Fists

Dramatic

Using palmtop

Accessories:

-palm top inspired by T2's John Connor

- Brown backpack with school materials poking out of pockets and has a kick me sign stuck to it.

-soft goods belt that can wrap around backpack to hold his trashcan lid shell/shield

-trashcan lid shell/shield

-Smaller Hockey stick

Zach V2: The College bound Red Sky version;

Here we're gonna do some Changes to Zach. New outfit and physique. He'd be roughly Casey sized as he's 18-19. He'd be wearing an Eastlaird High Shirt in blue with Zach and the number 5 in green and red. He'd be sporting an olive green Cargo pants with Black and red Sneakers. A soft goods yellow sweater to tie around his waist completes the look.

Heads: Zach now sports slightly longer hair

Normal with removable glasses.

With non removable sports glasses

Hands:

C-grips, Fists, dramatic, pointing, victory sign, brass Knuckles.

Accessories:

-Hockeypads in Turtle colors

-Casey Hockey stick

-Turtle Comm (open and closed)

-aluminum bat

-soft goods sweater 

Basically, Zach grew up, got into his studies and Hockey, which got him a college scholarship. Missing the old days as "the 5th Turtle" he decided to have one last adventure before going to college.

Caitlin V1:

She should be a bit shorter than Zak the Neutrino, but taller than Disney's Alice. 

Her outfit will not only be different to the toon, but so will the colors:

She'd wear a long sleeve lavender turtleneck with rolled sleeves and a faded lilac dress with pastel yellow accents. Light blue jeans and white sneakers. 

Heads: her hair should be strawberry blonde

Neutral

Laughing wearing the modified "Virtualboy" headset as Zach that connects to her laptop.

Hands:

C-grips, Fists, dramatic, pointing.

Accessories:

1980s Laptop, Taser gun, April styled Turtle comm (open and closed) smoke grenades, backpack.

Caitlin V2: College bound Red Sky Version:

She should be around April's height, slightly more shapely body as she's 18-19.  She has a Longer ponytail and wears glasses. (Longer hair hides the glasses legs to keep then on her head.)

For her outfit a faded purple short sleeved Gymnastics leotard, light blue jeans with white gymnastics shoes. She gets 2 soft goods items:

A lavender sweater that can be worn or tied at her waist. Eastlaird High PE shirt turned into a crop top. 

Heads: 

Neutral head

Smug head

Excited head

Hands:

Fists, C-grips, dramatic, smug glasses adjusting hand. Pointing, taser gauntlet hands

Accessories:

-Glasses

-90s Laptop

-Taser gauntlets (slip on forearms)

-Slip on cyber shoes (taser and shock absorbing elements)

-soft goods sweater 

-soft goods croptop

-smoke grenades

-stun rod

Basically, Caitlin grew up and focused on science, focused on mechanical engineering. Her efforts earned her the Shellhammer scholarship and an internship at the newly founded Shellhammer Industries.

Buffy Shellhammer v1:

First we change her hair bow to red

Her shirt should be orange with her vest in purple with faded navy blue pants and white shoes.

Heads:

Smug

Angry 

Sad

Hands:

C-grips, Fists, dramatic

Accessories:

Shrunken Buffy 

Buffy Shellhammer v2: Red Sky CEO Prodigy:

First big change will be the outfit. She'd be wearing a blue pantsuit and blazer (soft goods blazer) and beige shirt. She would have an athletic, yet more adult looking body as she's 19-20. Her hairstyle on the default head would be her hair tied up on a loose bun.

Alt. Heads:

Loose hair

Wearing the Shellhammer prototype helmet.

Hands:

C-grips, Fists, slap, dramatic. 

Gauntlet:

C-grips, Fists

Accessories:

-soft goods blazer

-soft goods vest

-slip on Shellhammer prototype torso armor

-slip on Shellhammer prototype gauntlets

-snap on Shellhammer prototype boots

-Shellhammer shell shield that plugs to back or to gauntlets

-Shell Hammer

Basically, Buffy applied herself in science after her encounter with the Turtles and expanded Shellhammer Chemicals into other scientific fields. With help of a few interns and Donatello, Buffy constructed the prototype for the Shellhammer Armor. 

There you have it. The three teens turned into hypothetical action figures. Both in a Toon inspired "Playmatesized" and a more "serious Red Sky inspired" look that gives an option to have a "classic toon inspired look" on the "adult versions".  

The idea is to have these 3 and Carter to become a small hero group just like the Punk Frogs and the Mutanimals. 

Carter would be the "Leonardo" of the group

Buffy the "Raphael"

Caitlin the "Donatello" 

and Zach the "Michelangelo"

What about Walt? Fuck Walt...