Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were two of the biggest names in toys in the early 1990s, and some newly unearthed concept art has revealed the designs of some wild crossover toys that sadly never saw production. For franchises so long-running and prolific in pop culture, there are bound to be loads of planned but cancelled “what if projects.” The opportunity to see what might have been, however, is rarer.

Much of Star Wars’ early success was tied to its early toys from Kenner Products. The first film’s rich, unique world of aliens and starships lent itself naturally to merchandising, and Star Wars toys quickly became some of the hottest items on the market. While TMNT never reached the same height of popularity as Star Wars, it developed a high level of success in its own right by the early ‘90s, expanding from comic books into movies, cartoons, toys, and more.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Newly revealed concept art has shown a pitched line of Star Wars and TMNT crossover toys that never ended up being made. Shared to Twitter by Warner Bros. Games’ Alan Johnson, the concept images show some crazy fusions of the two universes, including A Luke Skywalker/Leonardo figure with a lightsaber katana, a Michelangelo/Chewbacca hybrid with a bowcaster made of nunchaku, and cyborg Shredder/Darth Vader. According to Johnson, the designs were pitched in 1991 after the Kenner/Hasbro Star Wars license lapsed. Check out the toys below:

High profile crossovers are nothing new in the toy world, but it’s still exciting to see some of the ones that never quite materialized. The fusion of characters is particularly bizarre, and the results are both baffling and oddly compelling. Shredder as a Sith Lord is perhaps the most natural combination of the bunch, given that Darth Vader’s suit was largely based on Japanese samurai armor, and that both characters are already cybernetic.

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Since the early ‘90s, the brand power disparity between Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has grown considerably. While TMNT has never again hit the same peak in popularity as it had during that era, Star Wars has grown to become even larger through the prequel trilogy, Expanded Universe, and modern Disney era of film, shows, comics and more. TMNT still undoubtedly has a dedicated following of longtime fans, and the modern Nickelodeon series have introduced the turtles to new generations, but it’s far from the pop culture titan that Star Wars is.

Source: Alan Johnson

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Rick Stevenson
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Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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