I did the best I could to stretch this
out into four separate reviews, but despite the fact that each Turtle
is his own mold I just couldn’t manage it. They’re too similar
for me to crank out four different ways of saying essentially the
same things. I got to the “Sculpt” portion on the second one –
Michelangelo – and realized it wasn’t going to happen. There are
only so many ways to say “great hand wrappings!” no matter how
different they look.
So today I’m going to review all four
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a group – Leonardo, Michelangelo,
Donatello, and Raphael. They’re what sell the franchise and the
quality of their individual figures is certainly going to make or
break any new toy line.
With each new iteration of TMNT toys
I’ve bought at least the four Turtles (except for the NECA line –
still looking for those at a reasonable price).
And that was my intention when I first
saw the endcap full of brand-new TMNT product at Toys R Us a couple
of weeks ago. I was going to buy the four turtles – as I have for
each iteration of the toys – and stop there, at least until I knew
more about the forthcoming cartoon. But they were only $8.99 each –
a frigging bargain for action figures nowadays – and you never know
which character is short-packed or is going to end up being popular
and hard to find.
Judging from the numbers there I was looking at a
couple of fresh cases. There were only two Aprils. Girl figures are
sometimes peg warmers and sometimes very hard to find. This
version of April looked pretty cool and had a bunch of weapons. I
decided I should probably go ahead and grab one. I mean, she is a
redhead, after all.
Then I looked at Shredder and Shredder
looked pretty awesome. And you need a bad guy, right?
But then there
was the Foot Soldier. He looked cool too and sometimes the army
builder guy ends up being tough to find. Then there was Kraang (I
didn’t know at the time it was “a Kraang” and not “the
Kraang”) that was in an awesome-looking Terminator-like robot body
like he should be. I couldn’t pass that up.
The one I could pass up was Splinter. I
don’t like how he looks at all. He’s too tall and his face looks
like a badger, not a rat. It bothered me enough to pass on him that
first time and again the other day. I showed him to the family and
both my wife and son agreed that he just doesn’t look right. I get
trying to add a little more character, but that paint job just
doesn’t look good.
So I took my eight figure stack up to
the register and checked out, remembering at the last minute I had a
merchandise voucher of indeterminate value in my wallet. It turned
out to be ten bucks, so that probably makes up for the Toys R Us
overcharge – that place is more expensive than pretty much
everybody else now, sometimes by up to 33% more. Of course, I have
yet to see the Turtles anywhere else, so just this couple of weeks
longer that I’ve owned them makes up for the buck or so more apiece
I would have potentially paid.
First Glance: It’s
always exciting to have a whole new batch of toys from a whole new
line sitting in front of you. These Turtles looks so very good, and I
didn’t even realize until I got home that each Turtle is a unique
sculpt. I’m struck by how different each of these new Turtles
looks. I know that all four have always had their own sculpts for the
most part, but in this day and age I find myself expecting shared
parts. Mattel and even Hasbro have made it standard practice. Pretty
amazing considering the line’s price point and the fact that these
are essentially 6” scale figures.
Sculpt: Each Turtle has
ball joints at the head, shoulders, and hips. The elbows are single
pivot joints, the wrists swivel, and the knees pivot with a swivel at
the top. All of this articulation is tight and functional. Just the
idea of stuck joints on any line not made by Mattel seems kind of
absurd.
The brothers are made from a few
different kinds of plastic. The head and most of the body isn’t
soft, but it isn’t rigid, either. It has a good feel for this type
of character. The front of the shell is a softer, rubbery plastic and
the back is more firm.
The belts are rubber and each Turtle’s
is unique. Don has his single across-the-shoulder strap with a loop
connecting it. Raph and Mikey have loops for their respective weapons
in the back. Leo has his double across-the-shoulder straps.
The actual sculpt is probably the most
faithful that any of the mainstream toy lines have been to the Mirage
comics. They each have a somewhat narrow neck, thighs, and forearms
with thick hands and feet and a bulbous head. It’s a great look and
their skin is detailed with muscles and veins. The kneepads are done
in such a way that they conceal the points of articulation. It would
be easy to miss the fact that these guys even are articulated at the
knees and elbows. I really like the wrappings on the hands and feet.
They add a lot of depth to what is already a cool design.
Speaking of feet, these Turtles have three toes on the front of their feet. The old ones had two in the front and a sort of weird thumb/heel thing.
Each turtle sports a different skin
texture, as well as different shells. The front and the back sport
varying degrees of damage – scratches and gouges and such. All of
this adds so much to each Turtle having their own personality. Raph
in particular stands out, as his skin appears to be very scarred and
his shell is the most worked-over.
The faces are a good representation of
each Turtle’s character. Leo looks determined and somber, Don has a
bit of a thoughtful look, Raph looks like he’s headed into battle,
and Mikey looks like a goofball.
Each Turtle is a slightly different
size, which I believe is a first. Leo is average, Mikey is the
shortest – he is described as the runt in his bio, Don is tall and
seems lankier, and Raph seems bulkier.
This is going to seem like a small
thing to some of you, but Playmates has managed to nail the Turtles’
masks this time. The hanging ends in the back are just the right
length and each of the guys’ is different without being ridiculous
– no sticking straight out to the side or anything.
The balance of these figures is pretty
amazing. The thickness of the lower legs means you can get some
pretty good kicks and stuff out of them.
Design: No pupils! I
will always prefer my Turtles without pupils and irises. Now, they
have them in the new cartoon, but I can kind of understand the need
for that when you have four different characters that need to emote
and express things. But the figures don’t have them and I’m happy
about that.
All four Turtles are a different shade
of green. I’m no interior designer so I can’t speak to which
shade is appropriate for whom, but they all look good. There are no
washes or anything, but the colors of the shell parts, the pads, and
the wrappings make the figure look great. I also appreciate that the
pads are not coordinated to the masks. Granted, that hasn’t been
the style in a long time, but I’m glad it still isn’t.
It’s kind of funny that there are no
washes on these guys, but the variation of colors and textures makes
it look like there are. They have a very gritty feel.
The paint apps are all very clean.
There’s no bleeding or color where it shouldn’t be. The only real
issue is that the hand wrappings aren’t painted all the way around,
but that really isn’t a big deal. I think most people won’t even
notice.
Accessories: This
is where the execution of the original figures returns in a big way.
Not only does each Turtle come with his signature weapons, also
included are a bunch of extras still attached to the (mold). The
accessories are all made of a sturdy, rigid plastic.
I wish that the separate, signature
weapons of each Turtle had paint apps. I’m glad that Leo and Raph’s
bladed weapons are at least silver, but they do seem lacking being
their solid colors.
Leo comes with two separate katana and
a scabbard. His extras are a longer sword, two throwing stars, three throwing knives, and what sort of looks like a giant metal tooth or something.
The katana look cool and have a
different shape to them than any past blades Leonardo has had. I
almost feel like they’re too short, but if they were any longer his
scabbard would either be unwieldy or they’d stick out of the end.
Mikey has two nunchaku and attached to
the mold area bladed stick on a chain (sorry - I haven't looked at AD&D: Oriental Adventures in over twenty years), and four throwing stars of two different varieties.
I’m a little disappointed by the
nunchaku. Each one is a solid piece and the chains are not really
designed to bend – when you fold them for storage in Mikey’s belt
they turn that stressed plastic white that we as toy collectors all
fear. This is a rare instance where I wish an accessory was made of a
softer plastic.
Raph is equipped with his traditional
two sais, as well astwo throwing stars, two sai with a guard on one side, and two vicious-looking hook things.
The sais look great aside from the lack
of detail. They are slim and loom much more menacing than any
previous versions. I particularly like the alternates with the single
guard. I cannot imagine Raph will be disemboweling Foot Soldiers with those hook things on Nickelodeon anytime soon.
Don ‘s separate weapon is his bo
staff. Attached to the mold piece are a naginata, two bladed discs, and a three-piece nunchaku that almost certainly had a different name.
Like Leo’s katana, Donatello’s bo
seems short. Unlike Leo’s katana, it could probably have been
longer. And I have to say – I’m disappointed that Don didn’t
come with some kind of gadgetry. A few little devices in a silver
mold would have been great.
You can twist the extra weapons out of
the molds just like you could the original figures’, but I
recommend you use an X-Acto knife like I did. You don’t want those
little, whitish nubs making your accessories look all ugly. But
please – if you’re a child have an adult do the cutting. If
you’re an idiot, have a competent person do it. I don’t need my
blog post resulting in missing or damaged appendages. Or unsightly
blood stains on the carpet.
Once out of the molds the extra weapons
all look very cool. Each Turtle has unique stars and knives and
whatnot, as opposed to all four sharing the same style of throwing
stars. I thought this was a nice touch.
Packaging: The Turtles
come in some fairly unique, die-cut blister cards. The shape and
design of the card is eye-catching and the blister has some nice
sculpting and textures. Each character has a bio on the back with a
cartoon-style illustration.
Overall: These are very
satisfying figures, well worth the money.
They have a nice bulk, good
textures, and tons of personality.
These can be posed in more ways
than any previous Turtles figures (except maybe the NECA ones – I’m
not sure) and maintain a unique new style.
I give the whole bunch a
4
out of 5
I get why the weapons aren’t painted,
but it does bug me. Still, this set is a more than worthy entry into
the ever-growing line of TMNT toys.
I’ve only seen them at Toys R Us and Target so
far, but if you really have to have them BigBadToyStore has the
entire line in stock for elevated prices. I recommend you just wait,
though. I think these are going to be popular and plentiful. I hope
so, anyway.
Also, if you’re curious about a kid’s
point of view, Lil’ Troublemaker can’t get enough of these. Every
time he’s hanging out downstairs he wants to play with them. He
doesn’t even ask about my Batman figures anymore.
I have a ton more pictures over on my Photobucket page.
-Phantom
These are good toys, and actually now that you have these first, the Neca ones might not seem as ground breaking.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Neca, did you get that email I sent you a couple of weeks ago?
I don't believe so. I wonder if it got spammed. If you like, try resending to phantomtroublemaker@gmail.com. And I still want the NECA ones just to have 'em. It's funny - I had given the last ones that came out - the movie ones, maybe? - to my son and pulled them out for Monday's post. I can't believe how inferior they seem now. I thought they were so great at the time.
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