To say that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) has had a great resurgence over the last couple of years is a bit of an understatement. The four brothers in Green have had a smash hit movie, a new retro-style video game that was a hit, a collection of their old video games, and an over-price collab with Street Fighter 6. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are everywhere right now.
Even the toys have made a return with great new offerings for younger fans, and retro style collections for the older fans. Thanks to the Retrocast collections, we have seen the return of the 1988 toys, 2012 toys, 1991 movie toys, and many other sets that have ended up being great for collectors and adult children who want to create a collection of their childhood toys.
Today we get a chance to review the 2003 series (or TMNT 2003) of toys thanks to Playmates and HeadStart International.
Name: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 2003 Retro Collection
Release Date: Out Now
Product Maker: Playmate Toys
Price: AUD$24.99 Per Figure
Figures in Set: 4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 2003 Style for 2024 Collectors
The TMNT 2003 TV series was all the rage at the time, with amazing storytelling, great character development, and a darker tone that reflected the original Mirage comic books by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. This series wasn’t on my list of toys I wanted at the time (Read more about those here), as I was still obsessed with my childhood that had the 1988 through 1996 collection involved… And I was still heartbroken over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Next Mutation, a horrible live-action TV show that, while being a shit show, still deserves the Retrocast treatment.
Now that I’ve been given a second chance to collect all the series that I missed out on collecting previously, getting the TMNT 2003 retro collection in my hands shows me that I wasn’t missing out on anything more than the new look on an old design.
I think this comes from getting my hands on the excellent Mutant Mayhem toys when the movie came out, a movie toy collection that reignited my TMNT obsession after decades of not collecting TMNT toys. By comparison, the TMNT 2003 retro series shows how things have, and kept, evolving since the release of the 1988 original series.
The toys have the same basic structure, as it was the style at the time. Each figure has:
- 360 head rotation
- Bandana molded to the left or right
- Rubber belts in different styles
- Ratchet shoulder joints for up and down movement combined with 360 rotation
- 360 rotation at the elbow and hands
- 360 rotation and ratchet joints in the legs
If there was anything about the molds in general that I would complain about is that the legs are a single sculpted piece, meaning that there is no real posing ability from the hips down, this makes it hard to do anything more than make the figures stand in the one style at all times. While this gives all four figures a stable base, it just looks odd when you are wanting to do more action-style poses.
Leonardo
Starting the individual figures off is Leonardo, the leader of the group. Leonardo is sporting his trademark blue bandana and swinging a set of Katana swords, this diehard “Star Trek” (or at least a knockoff version as seen in the 2012 series) fan is ready to jump into action and lead the group into battle against Shredder and the Foot Clan.
Leonardo comes with his two signature Katana swords, both of which are made out of either soft plastic or soft rubber, either way, it becomes one of the Leonardo figure’s biggest issues in that the blades on the swords tend to warp as soon as you get the figure out of the package. This has been a long-standing issue with the swords in most of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figure lines dating back to the 1988 line, and won’t be fixed till more modern lines like the 6″ Classic Collection & Mutant Mayhem.
To give people a bit more play time with Leonardo he is given some Suction Cup Grips to use. These grips work extremely well… On glass… using these grips on anything else will result in the figure not sticking to the surface at all. Even making sure the surface is as clean as possible does not help. But if you want something to stick on your car window, then Leonardo can do just that. (The sticking time was around 4 hours)
Donatello
Donatello has always been a weird toy for me. Since he is known as the “machines guy”, Donatello rarely gets given any technology with his figures, and that doesn’t change with this version. The Donatello figure itself is well built, with the trademark purple bandana and left-hand smirk (something that carried over from the 1988 version), giving an aura of a warrior ready for battle to back up his brothers.
Unlike most of the other Turtles, Donatello gets given a pair of extra weapons with his figure, an axe, and a sword. In context, I can understand adding the sword to his bow staff, giving the look of a Chinese long-spear, and adding some more bite to an otherwise very blunt weapon, but the axe doesn’t work for me… Though the overall look when it’s all put together is very cool.
I do like this figure, much like all the others, but I just wish that Donatello got something like a TurtleCom, laptop, or something technology-based to suit his personality. All his brothers got some technology accessory with them, so why did Donatello miss out?
Raphael
For formerly “rude and crude” dude, because we can’t say that anymore, Raphael still comes off as the coolest and most hot-headed of the crew. Much like his brothers, Raphael has his trademark red bandana (The only one to keep the red bandana, which was originally done for all four Turtles), alongside one of the weirdest placements for weapon holders out of all the figures.
Raphael has his twin Sais, made from the same soft rubber/plastic that all the weapons are made from, which means that the blades have the ability to bend and wrap when placed into the holders around Raphael’s waist, which are located directly under his armpits. Even putting Raphael Sais in on an angle won’t stop this issue.
The accessory that Raphael gets is a Pulley Line, a device that would allow him to glide along a string or thin rope from one location to another… If it contained a string or thin rope. A few cents worth of string or rope combined with some suction cup placers would have done a lot to make this gimmick worth using, but having to find all this extra stuff yourself takes away from wanting to use this gimmick.
Michelangelo
Mr Party Guy, Michelangelo would rather be eating pizza than fighting. The most relaxed brother has the trademark Orange bandana, his weapon of choice: The Nunchaku (No “Ninja Rope” like was forced into the show due to UK censorship), and a “Climbing Box”… It’s no Marshmellow with Jelly Beans Pizza, but Michelangelo is still a great figure.
As mentioned, Michelangelo has his Nunchaku weapons, which have been slightly improved from the 1988 version, going from a horrible thin plastic that was brittle and prone to breakage to a more flexible soft rubber/plastic that, while molded, gives a much better look than previous versions of the weapon has had… Though a far throw from the 6” Classic Collection version of Michelangelo where they used a plastic “chain” with the weapon, making the best version overall.
Then we have the “Climbing Box”, which is more of a “Falling Box”. While the idea is really good, the design of the accessory doesn’t work too well. Attaching the rope (which is included here) to a small hook will require you to install (At your own expense) an anchor point to your roof. The other issue is the weight of Michelangelo, which causes the box to free fall as soon as you attach Michelangelo to the accessory, completely removing the “climbing” part of the accessory.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003: The Best of the Old School?
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 retro collection might be one of the smallest ones, with the 1988, 1991 Movie, and 2012 series getting a 6-figure set compared to the basic 4-figure set that this series has is a bit disappointing given that this is one of the most highly regarded and respected series in the history of the franchise.
There are a lot of great figures in this set, with very few gimmicks used in the series, that deserve to be released. Adding Shredder and Splinter to the lineup would put this set on par with the previous ones, giving us a good look at how the figures evolved through look and design over the years leading up to the newest set on the market: Mutant Mayhem.
The TMNT 2003 set is a good one to add to the collection and looks good on the shelf with all the other wonderful collections Playmates has been able to release over the past few years. It’s so good that people are already sweeping these off the shelves on mass and wanting more figures to be reproduced and released. I for one am one of those who wants to see more from these retro collections in general.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 Retro collection is a great set for Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, paying homage to the TMNT 2003 TV series in a style that reminds you instantly of the show.
Now let’s see how brave Playmates is and if they complete the saga with a Next Mutation set…
Review Disclosure Statement: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 Retro Collection was provided to us by HeadStart International on behalf of Playmates for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
