TNI's Guide To Collecting Classic TMNT-1988(Part 2)

Soft-heads

Softheads, soft heads, soft-heads! You here that word floating about with Ninja Turtles like dandelion seeds on a breezy spring day. So what is the deal with soft-heads? When Ninja Turtles were first produced, Playmates toys made the four turtles, Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, the masters- Splinter and Shredder, and Shredder's henchmen- Bebop and Rocksteady, all with vinyl/rubber heads, contrasting their plastic bodies, much like the Master of the Universe, He-Man figures of the early eighties.

I tried contacting the the official Ninja Turtles website , to get the die hard facts on the soft-heads, but my email was sent back as a mailer daeman. However, relying on my memory, I remember reading a blog in the Q.A. portion of the website regarding this issue. The reply from the website elaborated on the fact that soft rubber heads were made by Playmates with the first line figures to keep their spending costs down in case the line flopped. When the line took off, they switched to the more durable plastic heads. Due to its rarity, the soft head Ninja Turtle is worth more than the plastic head turtle. Expect the value to be 10% to 25% more than the plastic head. More plastic heads were produced in the long run, thus making the soft-heads value more significant. When purchasing an original of the any of these figures, it is not an unwise decision to pay a little extra for the soft head. In the long run, these will be the only original Ninja Turtles figures to obtain their value, where as the abundant plastic heads will not be as lucrative.

Out of all the soft heads, which is the hardest to find? Now as I said before, there were eight figures that were made of soft heads from the original line. All four turtles, Splinter, the Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady. In my experience, I found the soft heads to have rarity precedence in this order starting from least rarest to rarest-

8-Rocksteady
7-Splinter
6-Bebop
5-Raphael
4-the Shredder
3-Leonardo
2-Michelangelo
1-Donatello to this day, I have found is the hardest soft-head too find!

Other notes about Softheads/Soft Heads-
The original soft head turtles were packaged with a Turtles Fan Club form.
The original soft head turtles and masters had an almost transparent cheap brown plastic accessories.
Bebop and Rocksteady's accessories followed suit, with a cheaper softer, lighter grey plastic.

April O' Neil

The first April O' Neil's was the "Yellow press/No stripe". This April figure holds a very esteem value. There was not enough of these made, few in circulation. Those who invested in the opportunity when the redheaded reporter hit "the press", made a wise decision. In this 2005 12th Edition Toys & Prices guide by Karen O' Brien, the loose complete version is worth fifty dollars, and mint on card for one hundred dollars. I have good reason to believe that both values have increased over the last year. With the increasing value of Ninja Turtles, and the fact that we rarely see the "stripeless" curved reporter, makes this April, the queen bee of O' Neil value!

Other notes about April-
Her hair went from more brown, than red from the "Yellow press/No stripe" version.
The original packaged accessories followed suit with soft head Bebop and Rocksteady.

Are you bored yet? I hope not! This is not the end! With the success that Ninja Turtles have had there is bound to be more Turtle Power! So much so, that there had to be more figures produced as we enter 1989-
TNI's Guide to Collecting Classic TMNT: 1989(Part 3)