Confession time: I haven't watched the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon yet. So while Playmate's ever growing TMNT line is great news for fans of the new show, I'm a little left in the dark as to who most of these characters are. Thankfully, Playmates is also continuing their TMNT Classics line with Bebop & Rocksteady who, by the way, I hear aren't in the new cartoon.

While the designs may be new, some old school TMNT fans may recognize a few familiar faces in the mix like the Rat King in spite of some rather significant changes. Other new additions to the 3.75-inch Turtles line include: Leatherhead, Snakeweed,  an unmasked Shredder, a giant cockroach, and a newt/lizard man I can't ID. Apparently Mousers will appear in the line as well.  

The Turtles themselves will see many different costumed iterations this year, with the first batch (something to do with Ooze) having already appeared at retail earlier this year (or at the end of 2012?). Given that the 4.5-inch selection is primarily (well, presumably) aimed at kids, this sort of a move is to be expected. Since the original line also did it, you might even call it adhering to tradition. Some of the designs even look fun, like Leonardo dressed up as some kind of cop (or village person?) for which we've only so far seen the concept art.

The 4.5-inch line seems to be adding almost as many vehicles and play-sets as it's adding figures. This includes a remote controlled Shellraiser (pictured). The play-sets are also cool, although they're more for collectors' kids than collectors.  

There's also a SD line of Turtles called "Ninjas in Training" as well as some ooze accessories which might act as blind-boxed figures. I'm really curious how those will turn out. There's a surprising amount to be excited about in Playmate's TMNT lines although, personally, I'm still most interested in the Classics line. Bebop and Rocksteady are a great addition, but who will we see next?