Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had very few things on my mind. LEGO®, Batman, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not much has changed… except maybe the Ninja Turtles. I have not followed the franchise since the original TV series. But I LOVED that show. However, LEGO® did not have Ninja Turtles sets back then… in fact, they didn’t have licensed sets at all. But if they had, I would have been all over that. Eventually, LEGO® did release a TMNT theme. It ran from 2012 through 2014. Unfortunately, that was in my dark age and I missed out. I see the sets and minifigs occasionally on the secondary markets and feel a twinge of nostalgia. I kind of wish I had not missed out on the theme. Which is why today’s announcement has me a little interested. The LEGO® Ninja Turtles are back… at least digitally.
These are screenshots of each of the characters taken from the TMNT Fortnite trailer release by Epic Games.
I recently chatted a bit about LEGO® Fortnite in an article. As it turns out, one of the early downloadable skin packs is none other than the Ninja Turtles. You can play as them in the regular game as well as in the LEGO® version. I was quite excited about this for a brief moment… I plan to try the game, and have even gone so far as to download it already. However, I saw the price for these skins and changed my mind. I’ve never played Fortnite before, so I was a little shocked. There are four Turtle skins plus one for April O’Neil. In order to get them, you have to first buy V-Bucks. 1000 V-Bucks costs $11.99 CAD. But, the more you spend, the better value you can get on that virtual game currency.
I was shocked at how much you have to pay for a virtual character skin in a game…
In order to get all the skins at the best price, you have to buy the Ninja Turtle bundle with all four turtles, plus an individual April skin. That costs 5100 V-Bucks. Of course, you can’t just buy 5100 V-Bucks. You have to buy pre-determined amounts… in this case 6000 V-Bucks, which sets you back about $60 CAD in the real world. If you want just the Ninja Turtles, the bundle costs 3400 V-Bucks. You can swing that by buying 5000 V-Bucks for $47.99 CAD. Incidentally, those are current sale prices for the Ninja Turtles skins. They are normally more expensive… a lot more. All that for something you will never physically hold… unlike ordering Ninja Turtles minifigs off Bricklink… Needless to say, when I play Fortnite, it will not involve Ninja Turtle skins.
With that said, I can still appreciate these Ninja Turtle designs. I wish these were real Minifigures. I’m hungering for a LEGO® TMNT revival now. I’d totally buy those sets. However, last I heard, Mega Construx held the license for TMNT construction toys. Which is part of the reason I was intrigued by these virtual Turtles. I’m curious how LEGO® branding can be associated with the franchise… unless Mega no longer has it. I couldn’t find anything definitive, but unsubstantiated reports online seem to suggest they don’t. Would you buy LEGO® Ninja Turtles sets if the theme came back? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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4 responses to “LEGO® Ninja Turtles are back… sorta.”
That sucks that they are priced so high, but considering the amount of time you may encounter with these skins maybe $1 per hour and if you go higher the less expensive. The other thing I want to add is that there is a game mode called “Save the world” it is the original build of the game where it was a “zombie wave survivor,” for lack of a better term. In that game mode you have the opportunity to earn V-bucks depending on the challenge you can earn 50-150 V-bucks. I was able to purchase this game mode years ago as a founder and was able to rack up upwards 40,000 V-bucks not just through daily challenges but simply logging in. This is no longer the case because everyone now has access to the game and can complete daily challenges for free V-bucks. The downside is that it is daily so if on average you get 300v-bucks per day it would still take you roughly a little less than 20 days to attain 5000. It’s all about time essentially, do you have the time to go through challenges that may not be that thrilling or pick up an extra shift or extra review.
Thanks for the info! I have yet to play and had no idea you could earn v-bucks in game as well. I doubt I’ll play so much that I earn 300 a day though. My gaming happens in short bursts when I have time to squeeze it in…
Oh, i so want them back in lego form. I heard the same as you and checked MEGA’s website and couldnt find anything about TMNT. It used to be there. Also the fact that their sets were at Dollarama in the past few years makes me think they dont have the licence anymore… we will see.
I’ve often thought about ordering some of the old minifigs… Now I’m ever so slightly hopeful for new ones. Still won’t hold my breath though