When Mondo announced its new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, made from soft vinyl, the collection certainly stood out from what other collectible companies are offering up from the franchise. In a market flooded with highly articulated “ultimate”-style figures based on everything from the original comic book to the cult-favorite Coming Out of Their Shells concert tour, Mondo’s bigger, chunkier reimaginings of the original action-figure line were certainly a unique take.
When Mondo sent a prototype of its Michelangelo figure to me for review, though, there was something about the toy that made it a more impactful nostalgia punch than just about anything else on the market–even if I couldn’t put my finger on what it was until I spoke with the creative minds behind Mondo.
The company’s soft vinyl toys are larger than most of the collectible action figures you’ll find on the market, and with the upcoming release of the Ninja Turtles figures, the reason becomes crystal clear.
“You get your nostalgia from the colors and the idea of having a Turtles toy, but there’s a tactile nostalgia,” Mondo Senior Director, Creative and Product Development Hector Arce told GameSpot. “We said when we were kids and you held a turtle toy in your child-size hand, they felt a certain way. Now that we’re grown, our hands are bigger. [These] feel in your hands the way they did when you were a kid.”
Peter Santa-Maria, Mondo Senior Creative Director, added, “Not many people [have gotten to] hold them. When we have them hold them in their hands, they’re saying the same thing, and it’s like this kind of subconscious tactile experience.”
As someone who played with a genuinely silly number of Ninja Turtles as a child, I can confirm that it does replicate that experience wonderfully. Even the articulation is nearly the same, though the wrists are articulated rather than the elbow joints of the original toy line.
San Diego Comic-Con was the first time consumers actually got to see the figures in person, and the end result is certainly a toy that stands out–and a line of collectibles with plenty of room to grow. In addition to the TMNT figures already up for preorder , the prototype for Baxter Stockman was on display at Funko’s Comic-Con booth and looked positively gigantic with the massive fly wings attached.
As for why Mondo decided to go in a completely different direction than most of the toy industry–larger and more stylized figures with less articulation, as opposed to the nearly identical recreations of TMNT toys, cartoons, and movies we’ve loved in the past–the reason was simple.
“In a sea of amazing turtle collectibles out there, [we] had to do something different–carve a different space,” Arce said. “And I think these are doing that exact thing.”
And it’s not stopping with Ninja Turtles figures. Already, Mondo has soft vinyl toys for franchises like Halloween, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Stranger Things, and even an assortment of Godzilla and King Kong figures. And for those who long for the figures with more articulation, those are available for certain properties, as well. Those include Masters of the Universe, Batman: The Animated Series, and even X-Men: The Animated Series.
Ultimately, much like its limited-edition posters and vinyl records, Mondo is just looking for a way to put its signature stamp on everything it releases.
“There’s millions of amazing great collectibles out there,” Santa-Maria explained. “We’re just trying to find that white noise. We’re trying to imbue whatever we get the rights to work on with a little bit of our own creativity. What can we do to make this still feel familiar, but push it to something that feels fresh at the same time?”
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