Retro or Remake: Which Mouser is Better

You may have noticed a startling similarity between many of the toys that Playmates is creating for young fans today and the toys that they originally created back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The reason for this is simple: Nostalgia sells. Playmates is well aware that their fans are familiar with a certain type of action figure, and they’re going to do everything in their power to give people what they want by recreating previous successful lines.

That being said, there are times when it’s not so clear which version of the toy is actually superior. With that in mind, I decided to start a series of articles talking about some of the positives and negatives of each figure. Perhaps by weighing the pros and cons, we can come to some kind of conclusion about which figures are better. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at some TMNT toys!

Mouser vs. Mouser

Retro Mouser Pros:

• Motorized Wind-up Feature
• Fairly Accurate Design

Retro Mouser Cons:

• As big as other figures
• Only one per package
• Not much articulation

Remake Mouser Pros:

• 7 Mousers in each package
• Accurate dimensions
• Decent articulation

Remake Mouser Cons:

• No Motorized feature
• Small, easy to lose

Conclusion

Although the wind-up action feature of the original Mouser is pretty cool and has the potential to be a lot of fun, its dimensions are completely inaccurate to what we saw in either the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series or the comic books. This mouser is simply too big, and it isn’t quite as articulate or menacing as the enemy it is portraying.

In comparison, Playmates latest offering of Mousers is much more accurate in scope and size than its retro counterpart. While it’s true that these toys don’t offer any wind-up action features, it’s also true that you can get more than one per package. In fact, the new Mousers come seven to a pack, and they all feature some pretty nice articulation. The freedom of movement offered with these action figures more than makes up for the lack of actual action features.

Remake Wins!

The remake is simply better in this case. It’s not so much better that the original isn’t even worth having, but if your intent is actually to play with your toys or even recreate a battle scene on your shelf, this newest iteration of the Mouser is going to give you the most bang for your buck. It would have been cool to see some action features, but the important thing to take away from this is that kids today are getting a more accurate representation of what they see in the show than we did back in the 80’s.

Will this be the case for every single remake on the market? We’ll keep the discussion going in our next Retro or Remake article, but until then, feel free to share your thoughts with us. Did we get this one right, or are we way off base? Are there any TMNT toys from the 80’s that you like better than the modern remakes? Let us know in the comments below!