Blast from the Past #326: Found sketchbook Part 2

Continuing with the drawings from the sketchbook I found recently..
I'm not sure exactly why I drew this "Savanti Romero Bull-Dog Guard" thing (seemingly a literal combination of bull and dog) -- it was never used in any of the comics MIrage published which featured Savanti Romero, and Playmates didn't do a Savanti Romero figure in the toy line back when this drawing was done… so maybe it was just a fun thing. But it seems too specific to be just a random drawing. Oh well -- that's memory for ya!



These "other storm drain/sewer mutants" are another mystery -- they don't REALLY seem to fit in with the somewhat goofy nature of most of the Playmates TMNT toys of that era, but I also can't recall having plans to use these ideas in any of the comics. I have to say that I do like the "telekinetic baby alligators", though.

This is kind of a curious one. As some of you may know, I was never that crazy about the initialed belt buckles that Playmates gave the Turtles in the original toy line. It always seemed superfluous to me. So why did I do this drawing of a Mirage comic book-style Leonardo with an "L" on his belt buckles, and then sketch in another version with his entire name written on his belt? I have no idea.

This is, I believe, a slight variation on a design that Kevin and I came up with for an alternate costume for Leonardo, with a little armor somewhat inspired by samurai gear. Not totally sure why I drew it in this sketchbook.

This is another oddity. The pose of this lightly-sketched Leonardo figure makes me think Kevin must have drawn it. But why was he drawing in my sketchbook? Again, no idea. I suppose it's possible that in this drawing I was trying to ape Kevin's style, but it really looks more to me like he drew it.

These doodles were clearly done with Playmates in mind. The "rising sun" bandanna was something Kevin and I had come up with as part of a possible alternative costume for Donatello. It's interesting to note the other ideas for elbow pads. And I like the "bamboo frame" idea -- this would have been used as a look for the sprue, or "tree", that would come with a Turtle figure and hold weapons that you would have to twist or cut off to use. I don't think that idea ever made it into the toy line, but I could be wrong.

Another page obviously devoted to musings about ideas for Playmates' TMNT toy line -- this time trying to come up with concepts for mutated bad guys, apparently intended to be henchmen (or would that be henchmutants?) of the Shredder. I think the crab with the pop-up machine guns would have been cool.

Here's another one of my ideas for Turtle sewer playsets -- I don't think this ever made it into the toy line back in the old days, but I think Playmates DID do something sort of like this in the 2K3 toy line. -- PL

Blast from the Past #325: Found sketchbook Part 1

In my continuing, somewhat slightly-faster-than-glacially-paced efforts to go through my STUFF and sort it into piles of things to keep, things to give away, and things to throw in the trash, I still occasionally come across some stuff I'd forgotten… such as this sketchbook, with things drawn in it probably from the mid-to-late 1980's. There are some concepts that I clearly sketched for Playmates Toys, with the hopes that they might find their way into the TMNT toy line. There are I think twenty-four pages in all, and I'll post them in three "Blast from the Past" installments, in the order in which they appeared in the sketchbook.

First up are these somewhat goofy concepts for Shredder vehicles.

Next is this basic pencil sketch of Donatello -- I have no specific idea WHY I drew this.

After that come these two wacky ideas -- wheeled vehicles for the Shredder and the Turtles, and some brief notes on  other ideas for the line. (I like the "Penthouse of Doom" name.)

Then, some ideas for the Turtles' "Secret Hideout" playset, including some disguise concepts for the Turtles themselves.

Next is this concept for a space suit for the Turtles. I think I have drawn several variations on this theme over the years.

Then we have the Shredder's jet-powered "Death Kite" (like that name too!).

And last in this group is an idea for a "Flying Foot Assault Car", as well as some variations on a Foot logo graphic. -- PL

Blast from the Past #315: Toy ideas from sketchbook

This is another page from the aforementioned sketchbook, and on close examination I find several things of interest. Basically, these are doodles and notes for toy ideas we would have sent to Playmates in a more coherent form.



Of particular interest is the list of "Themes for TMNT's in 1989", about halfway down the page. Readers of this blog may recall the much-derided (unfairly, in my humble opinion) "Music Turtles" from a year or two ago. Well, look here -- we were thinking about music Turtles twenty-one years ago!

Of course, that COULD just mean it's a bad idea which doesn't want to go away, but I suppose we'll never know… unless Viacom busts out a whole bunch of musician Turtles in their new toy line!

Another thing of interest to me is that although this is a page from my sketchbook, apparently Kevin Eastman added some input to it. The handle of the Turtle "Fist Launcher" appears to have been drawn by Kevin, and that dark shading inside the muzzle seems to me to be one of his trademark drawing moves.

Also, I think he may have written in one or more of the "Themes" -- at the very least, the letter forms in the word "Diver" are very KBE, especially the inclusion of a lowercase "i". -- PL

Blast from the Past #313: Rough sketches for "Sewer Scraper" vehicle idea

From the same sketchbook...

Readers of this blog may remember my post back on December 17, 2008 (actually a repost of one of the original "Blast from the Past" posts I put up on the planetracers.com site before i migrated them over here) of a drawing for the "Sewer Scraper", a proposed Foot Clan vehicle which looked much like an enlarged version of the business end of a medieval flail-type mace.

This piece shows the rough pencil sketching I did for that concept. -- PL

Blast from the Past #312: sketch for toy figure "Mercenary Mouse"

Again, from that same sketchbook -- this is yet another one of the drawings I did and sent off to Karl Aaronian at Playmates back when they were casting around for ideas for ways to expand the TMNT toy line in the 1980's and early 1990's.



I'm not sure why I combined the concepts of "mercenary" and "mouse" -- I suspect it probably had something to do with the alliteration. In any event, no "Mercenary Mouse" figure was ever made. I don't think the world is poorer for it. -- PL

Blast from the Past #309: Frog characters for Playmates

I found this page with these two sketches in that same sketchbook from whence came "Blast from the Past" numbers 305, 306 and 307. It's not dated, but it's probably from the late 1980's.



Neither of these characters ever made it to the toy line, as far as I recall. -- PL

Blast from the Past #289: "Shredator" vehicle concept

I don't think this ever made it into production as a toy, but it could have been a fun vehicle for old Shredhead. -- PL

Fugitoid, still on the run...

I've been having more fun taking photos of the vacuum-metalized Fugitoid figure in different locations. Yesterday, while bicycling with Rick and Rob, I stopped along the way, at a spot on the banks of the Connecticut River, to take this photo...



And today, I thought it would be fun to pose the 'Toid next to my favorite local roadside waterfall. Unfortunately, my shiny little friend slipped out of my grasp as I was positioning him on a mossy rock, and fell.

In falling, his left arm popped out of its socket (this has happened a couple of times before, and I have Super Glued it back in), and he fell into the rushing water in two pieces. I managed to grab his body before it was swept down the stream, but his arm vanished under the water. I was starting to freak out as I imagined the arm getting lost somewhere downstream.



Fortunately, the arm got trapped under a tiny waterfall, and -- because it's so shiny -- I was able to see it and retrieve it without too much trouble. Except for soaking my sleeve and watch, that is. -- PL

All things come to he who waits (maybe)... [updated with feet 04-03-09]

Gary surprised me today with this prototype for a possible...

...wait for it...

... VACUUM-METALIZED FUGITOID!



Actually, it wasn't a TOTAL surprise, as we have been working with Playmates on the possibility of doing this for a special promotion -- yet to be worked out -- and I had seen some photos of it a few days earlier. But I wasn't expecting to see it "in the flesh" today... and it's about ten times cooler than seeing it in photos.



IF this gets made and offered for sale, it will be non-articulated. That's a little bit disappointing, but I'm so happy with the way this thing looks that I don't care. He's so... so... so SHINY! You can even see me reflected in his head as I take the photo.



And here's a photo illustrating a nice detail -- the bottom of the Fugitoid's feet! They even got that right. Cool!



I have to thank our friends at Playmates for going this far with this project. If you are familiar with the Fugitoid figure that came out a few years ago as part of the 2K3 TMNT toy line, you'll notice that this figure is based on that one... but with some newly sculpted subtle details that, to my eye, make a big difference. -- PL

Blast from the Past #70 repost: Design for "Wacky Ooze Buggy" toy

This is a neat design that Jim Lawson drew in 1994 for consideration as a TMNT vehicle for the original toy line. It never got made, but I think it would have a had a lot of "play value" -- especially if there had been something designed in so that you could make the vehicle spray ooze as you pushed it along. Or maybe not -- that probably wouldn't have gone over well with parents. -- PL

Blast from the Past #54 repost: "Space Leonardo" pencils

I can't remember exactly why I drew these two view of Leonardo in a space suit.



It might have been as a possible toy design for Playmates, or as a sketch study for the cover I did for one of the Palladium Books TMNT role-playing games which showed all four Turtles in space. Whatever the reason, I kinda like it! -- PL

Blast from the Past #115: Crab mechanic mutant

This is another drawing I did back in the early days of working with Playmates to come up with ideas for characters to extend the TMNT toy line. It wasn't completely fleshed out, but the idea was that this would be a mutant crab with a "mechanic" theme -- one of his large claws would be replaced with a mechanical one, and he would have tool belts and such. This idea was never used. -- PL