Toy Fair 2026 ran February 14-17 at the Javits Center in New York. The 120th edition of the show. And while there were plenty of announcements across the floor, two reveals cut straight to the heart of what this industry has become: a nostalgia delivery system for adults with disposable income.
Playmates dropped a full TMNT x G.I. Joe crossover line. NECA revealed DuckTales Ultimate figures. Both announcements are aimed squarely at people who were 8 years old in 1988. That's not an accident. That's the business model.
TMNT x G.I. Joe: The Ultimate 80s Kid Crossover
Playmates revealed ten mashup figures that combine characters from both franchises. Leonardo x Snake Eyes. Raphael x Roadblock. Shredder x Cobra Commander. Krang x Destro. April x Scarlett. Each figure runs 4.5 to 5.25 inches, fully articulated, with accessories pulled from both universes.
The vehicles are where it gets fun. A Turtle-Fly copter with spinning katana helicopter blades and firing missiles. An AWE Shell-Striker with missile launchers and room for a full squad. The Shell-Striker comes with an exclusive April/Scarlett figure. Amazon gets an exclusive Turtle-Fly with Raph as Wild Bill. There's even an SDCC exclusive Snake Eyes/Leo with Timber/Rahzar.
The retro-themed packaging pays tribute to both classic toy lines. If you were the kid who had the Technodrome AND the USS Flagg, this is engineered for you.
These things have never crossed over in toy form before. IDW published both franchises but never did this specific pairing. The closest we got was fan art and wishful thinking. Now it's real, arriving Summer 2026.
The Playmates Problem
Here's the thing no one at Toy Fair said out loud: this is Playmates' farewell tour.
In December 2025, Paramount notified Playmates that it would not renew their TMNT licensing agreement. After 37 years. The license moves to Mattel on January 1, 2027. Playmates had held the Turtles since 1988, when the original toy line turned a black-and-white indie comic into a global phenomenon.
The financial hit is brutal. TMNT products represented 77% of Playmates' revenue in 2023. That dropped to 47% in 2024 and 36% in the first half of 2025 as the company diversified. But losing the property that built your company is still losing the property that built your company.
And here's the uncomfortable truth: Playmates lost the license in part because adult collectors outgrew them. NECA's cartoon TMNT figures are better sculpted, better articulated, better painted. Super7's Ultimates line offers premium accessories and display-grade quality. Playmates kept making toys priced for kids while the actual buying audience shifted to 35-year-olds willing to pay $35-55 for a single figure.
The TMNT x G.I. Joe line is a clever play. It's creative, it's fan-service heavy, and the mashup concept gives Playmates something NECA and Super7 can't offer. But it's also a swan song. Enjoy it. This is the last time Playmates puts a Turtle on a card.
NECA's DuckTales Line: Premium Nostalgia Done Right
While Playmates was running its last lap, NECA was doing what NECA does best. Taking beloved properties and giving them the figure treatment adult collectors actually want.
NECA debuted their DuckTales Ultimates Series 1 at the show. Three two-packs launching before the end of 2026: Scrooge McDuck with Dewey, Gizmoduck with Huey, and Launchpad McQuack with Louie. Each figure features detailed sculpting, dynamic articulation, and property-accurate accessories. Scrooge's top hat. Gizmoduck's armor. Launchpad's flight jacket.
NECA acquired the DuckTales license in 2025, and the prototypes at Toy Fair looked sharp. The line's potential is massive. Villains like Ma Beagle and Steelbeak. Deep cuts like Fenton Crackshell without the suit. And everyone's already asking about a Darkwing Duck crossover.
This is the NECA playbook. Take something people loved as kids. Make it at a quality level that didn't exist when they were kids. Charge $30-45 for it. Watch adults throw money at it. They did it with Gargoyles, they did it with the Muppets and Sesame Street (also revealed at Toy Fair), and now they're doing it with Duckburg.
The Numbers Behind the Nostalgia
This isn't vibes. It's economics.
The toy collectibles market was valued at $19.2 billion in 2024, projected to hit $45.2 billion by 2032. Adults now account for roughly 25% of all U.S. toy sales. Millennials make up 42% of "kidult" spending. And 30% of collectors cite nostalgia as their primary motivation for buying.
Toy Fair 2026 was a showcase for that reality. Hasbro announced a Harry Potter licensing deal with Warner Bros. starting 2027. A Street Fighter movie tie-in with Legendary Entertainment. A live-action Voltron movie line with Amazon MGM. Every single one of those is an IP that first hooked people decades ago.
The question collectors should be asking: is this sustainable? Or does the nostalgia well eventually run dry?
The Sustainability Question
The 80s and 90s produced an insane density of toyetic properties. TMNT. G.I. Joe. Transformers. He-Man. DuckTales. Thundercats. Ghostbusters. Every one of them has been revived, re-released, or reimagined for adult collectors in the last five years.
At some point, you run out of properties to bring back. The kids who grew up on 2000s cartoons don't have the same relationship with physical toys. The nostalgia pipeline has a shelf life.
But that shelf life isn't up yet. Not even close. When Playmates can mash up Turtles and Joes and the internet loses its mind, when NECA can announce DuckTales figures and collectors start planning display cases, the demand is still very real.
The companies that understand this. NECA, Super7, Hasbro's Pulse line. They'll keep winning. The ones who treat adults like an afterthought will keep losing licenses.
Just ask Playmates.