OK, this is…interesting. It looks like Playmates will be releasing a set of well-articulated Ninja Turtles figures based on their Mirage appearances.

First off, are those new sculpts or just repainted versions of the TMNT movie toys with new heads?

I don’t know for sure what effect, if any, this has had on NECA’s TMNT line. But to my knowledge, NECA hasn’t solicited the NECA April, Shredder,and Foot ninjas we’ve seen prototypes for in Previews or anywhere else. Given NECA’s generally speedy progress on such things, it’s quite possible Playmates’ moving in on the Mirage-era TMNT turf has affected NECA’s plans.

Treat this with a huge grain of salt, but this thread over at the Technodrome forums claims NECA has cut off all communication with Mirage, and there’s a strong implication that the other NECA figures have been cancelled.

All this is just speculation and rumor-mongering, however. If any insiders out there want to pass along a little truth, I’d be happy to post it here.