Back in the 80’s and 90’s, there were a lot of great and innovative toys coming to the market, and Playmates always seemed to be leading the pack with crazy new ideas for their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. All of the different toy designs became so interesting that kids were even taking their older toys and modifying them in order to make new creations. Heck, I still remember taking apart my G.I. Joe action figures and putting different limbs on different bodies, creating entirely new characters that weren’t even in the cartoon or the comic books. Perhaps that is why this new line of TMNT action figures looks so amazing to me. After all, they’ve essentially brought my childhood back from the dead.

A few days ago, Playmates revealed on their Facebook page that they were working on a commercial to advertise their latest line of TMNT toys. With special behind the scenes footage and a few pictures offered up to get us excited, it became fairly clear what they were doing here. In this latest “Mutation” line, they have created Ninja Turtles action figures that can be taken apart and mixed together. For instance, you could put Master Splinter’s head on the body of Raphael, or Shredder’s leg on Tiger Claw’s arm.

In much the same way that various characters in Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles find themselves mutating in the ooze, these toys will allow you to mutate your favorite Ninja Turtles characters in any number of different ways. Not only is this brilliant because it will inspire children to use their imaginations and create countless combinations of TMNT characters, but it also requires you to purchase more than one toy in order to make your creations. In other words, it’s not just an awesome toy for kids, it’s also pretty much guaranteed to sell well.

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that Playmates knows exactly what they are doing. As always, they are a shining example of what toy developers should be; not heartless corporations that are only interested in money, but a group of people getting together and making play things that will fuel the creativity and imagination of the children who play with them.

It’s not uncommon for me to feel a certain sense of nostalgia whenever I look at the latest Ninja Turtles toys, but stumbling across this new line was different. My nostalgia wasn’t just for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was for the kind of toys that I grew up with and the way that they sparked my imagination. Seeing the rebirth of Turtle Fever later in my life has been an absolute blast, and knowing that children of an entirely new generation are now experiencing what I had experienced decades ago has given me new found hope for the future.

I’m reminded of a scene from the movie Big, where the character played by Tom Hanks looks at a ridiculous toy and simply says “I don’t get it.” When I saw this new Mutations line from Playmates, my immediate reaction was the exact opposite: I get it. Kids will get it. Kids deserve it. Young shellheads in the making deserve a better kind of toy, and I’m glad that Playmates is making that happen. Alright, so maybe I’m waxing nostalgic a bit too much here, but I really think these new toys are going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see them hitting store shelves in 2015.