25th Anniversary TMNT Leonardo Unboxing

Posted 11 years ago by Toys

I don’t really know why I took a picture of the 25th Anniversary Leonardo next to my
Obama action figure, but thats not important. The important thing is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turn 25 this year, and we all need to spend lots of money on them so they will hang still be around for a few more years. It would be pretty cool to be “writing” about the 50th Anniversary of the TMNT in 2034 on my new iBrain chip, or watching new TMNT movies in glorious HD Holovision.

Anyway, what better way to celebrate the toys of your past then duplicating them exactly and charging $8.99 for them? If I had kids, I’d be living vicariously through them and forcing them to play with these instead of Pokemon or Big 10 or whatever it is that kids play with these days.

So anyway, I bought a Leonardo, took it home, and got out 80s Michelangelo in the box to compare. The boxes are pretty similar, except with the new ones they didn’t want to print cards specific to the figures, so they just made one generic card. This means the back does not have an ID card for the character, which was always my favorite part of the packaging. Another thing its missing is Pizza Points. NO PIZZA POINTS? WTF?

I guess one reason why the new figures cost $8.99 is because they include a DVD with one episode of the original cartoon series. For me, this will make a nice decoration on my cork board, because it is pretty sweet looking. I already have some TMNT DVDs, and I’ll be honest, they’re not the most “rewatchable” cartoons from my youth.

It was a trip ripping apart the packaging and then trying to detach all the weapons. I didn’t remember it being so hard to get all the weapons to come off, so maybe plastic has come a long way in 20 years, or they’re just afraid of the under 3 crowd getting their hands on the tiny throwing stars. I always wondered what the other generic weapons were supposed to be. I always thought one was a pizza cutter, which although unlikely, would be very practical.

I found an old Leonardo to compare side by side, and they’re pretty much exactly the same, minus the copyright date on their butts. At first I told myself it was cool they were identicla, but then I realized that I just paid $8.99 for something I already had. Oh well, I do it all for you people. More pics below.

Do you plan on picking up any of the anniversary figures? What about the Party Wagon?
  • Daniel85

    I had no idea these existed until I saw that familiar colour scheme of the cardback in Target a while back. I just about flipped my lid. I got Don of course (my favourite Turtle), and Laura picked up an April. If only they’d released Usagi Yojimbo!!!

  • I wish I could get away with playing with the figurines without looking creepy.

  • I was sorely disappointed to see that they went with generic packaging for these. But then, I wouldn’t expect more from Playmates these days. I also found the weapons harder to remove than I remember them being as a kid. But one thing I never realized as a kid was that the thing the weapons are attached to is a weapons rack. Guess you learn something new every 20 years.

  • jetjoe

    do you know of all the stores that carry them?

  • Thanks for a comparison! I wish they did these with Transformers G1, too.

  • I picked up a Donatello early last year at Toys R Us for $11.99. And my wife got me the Party Wagon this past Christmas. I recently did a review of it on my blog, you should check it out and let me know what you think.

    • That’s awesome Jason! I wish I would have picked up the van. I have an old one, but it doesn’t have many of it’s accessories (or a door). Plus, the box would be cool to display.