“By the power of cowabunga, dude!”
Arguably the hottest toy line of the ’80s will mesh with its ’90s counterpart in Turtles of Grayskull, the sort of mutation mash-up the latter line became known for. A few decades back, such a partnership might have seemed unlikely. After all, both Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the flagship brands of their respective competing toy companies — Mattel and Playmates.
Since Nickelodeon bought the rights to the Turtles, however, they’ve been willing to license them to every toy company, everywhere, all at once. And fans keep buying.
Heroes With a Half-Sword?
Technically, both properties are almost the same age. Masters of the Universe just celebrated its 40th anniversary as a toy line last year, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will celebrate its 40th as a comics creation next year. As cartoons and toys, however, they never really competed head to head.
Now, per the press release from Mattel, “The partnership between Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles allows fans to create new storytelling moments with the Turtles of Grayskull line which outfits characters including Leonardo and Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo with Eternian-style battle gear, and He-Man from Masters of the Universe will battle his Mutagen Mutation while Skeletor will don Turtle-inspired Armor. Merging these worlds, which are both narratively jam-packed with creative possibility, unlocks even more storytelling opportunities for fans across both brands.”
Initial images show the first six figures: a mutated He-Man, Man-at-Arms, Krang, Leonardo, Donatello, and the hybrid villain Mouse-Jaw. The master artwork for the line suggests that we’ll also see versions of Shredder, Splinter, Teela, Hordak, Skeletor, Beast Man, Ram Man, Casey Jones, Mikey, and Raph, All figures will use the Masters of the Universe Origins base body, with mix-and-match parts.
Expect Turtles of Grayskull to hit stores in January of 2024.
