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Playmates killed 5 of their own toy lines to feed the turtles — here's the "Black Hole Effect"
Everyone knows TMNT was the biggest toy line of the 90s. But what's less talked about is what it cost — not just for other companies, but for Playmates themselves.
Playmates had Darkwing Duck, Earthworm Jim, Toxic Crusaders, Skeleton Warriors, and TaleSpin all under the same roof. All five got exactly ONE wave before being cancelled. Not because the toys were bad or kids didn't want them — but because every dollar, shelf slot, and factory line was being poured into turtle variants.
Retailers had a simple choice: order the new Darkwing Duck figures, or order the fifth Leo variant they knew would sell out in a week. They picked the turtles every time.
The wildest part? Two of these were Disney shows (Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin). The biggest animation brand on the planet couldn't protect its own properties from turtle mania.
And right now Playmates is fighting to keep the TMNT license — which makes this history even more relevant. They've already sacrificed everything else for the turtles once.
I did a deep dive into each of these 5 cancelled lines — the figures that were made, the prototypes that never got produced, and why each one deserved more than one wave. :
Which of these 5 Playmates lines do you think could have survived if they'd actually gotten support?
#toys
Everyone knows TMNT was the biggest toy line of the 90s. But what's less talked about is what it cost — not just for other companies, but for Playmates themselves.
Playmates had Darkwing Duck, Earthworm Jim, Toxic Crusaders, Skeleton Warriors, and TaleSpin all under the same roof. All five got exactly ONE wave before being cancelled. Not because the toys were bad or kids didn't want them — but because every dollar, shelf slot, and factory line was being poured into turtle variants.
Retailers had a simple choice: order the new Darkwing Duck figures, or order the fifth Leo variant they knew would sell out in a week. They picked the turtles every time.
The wildest part? Two of these were Disney shows (Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin). The biggest animation brand on the planet couldn't protect its own properties from turtle mania.
And right now Playmates is fighting to keep the TMNT license — which makes this history even more relevant. They've already sacrificed everything else for the turtles once.
I did a deep dive into each of these 5 cancelled lines — the figures that were made, the prototypes that never got produced, and why each one deserved more than one wave. :
Which of these 5 Playmates lines do you think could have survived if they'd actually gotten support?
#toys
| 5,000 mlx | |
| 5 | |
| 1 |