TMNT Loot Crate 2 – Turtles in Time “Shell Shock”

The Covid-19 pandemic that has gripped the entire globe in 2020 has really thrown a wrench into release dates and windows. Virtually everything has been impacted that requires global transportation with certain items becoming hard to get, or even impossible. As a result, it’s no surprise that the 2020 releases for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed Loot Crates has been pushed back repeatedly. The first of three crates was originally scheduled to arrive in June, but slipped to August. The second crate was originally supposed to release in September, but Loot Crate pushed it back to October. Then November. And here we are in December, the month most consumers finally received their second crate. I’m pretty understanding when it comes to delays, but it was hard not to get annoyed as Loot Crate kept moving the release window, only to move it again. Just say it’s coming in the fourth quarter! How hard is that?

Making things worse is that I was definitely looking past this crate. From day one, my eyes have been on the third crate which will ship with not one, but two NECA action figures. And those figures look to be exceptional. This crate was announced as being an arcade themed crate with an image of the original arcade game used to promote it. That ended up being a red herring of sorts as the crate is actually themed around the second arcade game, Turtles in Time, and features a figure from NECA based on that game. And that figure? An electrified, “shell shock,” turtle, which while certainly unique, is not exactly something anyone was asking for. NECA’s approach to these crates, and NECA owns Loot Crate, is to pack-in a figure that is not essential for TMNT collectors, but is fun or offbeat. The first crate contained a repaint of the previously released Mirage Shredder, which was probably more “essential” to collectors than this figure as that Shredder had only been made available once before in a convention exclusive box set. This one is definitely more of the offbeat variety and definitely feels like a middle release as it’s not as desirable as a new take on the Mirage Shredder, nor is it as fun and goofy as the Easter Bunny Bebop and Rocksteady coming with crate 3.

Before we dig into that action figure, lets talk about the other stuff first that comes in the crate. The crate arrives in a black box with a sticker on it which announces the theme of the set. It seems like a bad way to distribute these as there is no additional mailer box so if you’re not home this thing just sits by your door announcing its contents to anyone who happens to take a look. And considering this arrived during peak porch-robber season, it strikes me as a dumb way of doing things. I didn’t want to interrupt the Christmas stuff on this blog for a post about a Loot Crate release, but this one took about a week to get to me after shipping and I’ve had it since early December.

The contents of this crate is a lot like that of the first crate. Turtles in Time is the prevailing theme of everything and it’s a better theme than a made-up TCRI company picnic as this crate doesn’t overuse the same logo on everything like the previous one. Like the first crate, you get: a figure, a t-shirt, a keychain, and a pin. In the case of this crate, you get two pins! One features Krang on his little pedestal thing from when his body is blown up in the game. The other is a slice of pizza and both are heavily pixelated to mimic the look of the game. There’s also a sheet of puffy stickers each containing a buzzword associated with the game: Cowabunga, Shell Shock, and Attack! The keychain is a metal, spinner, design featuring the silhouette of a pizza sewer monster. One side is the monster jumping to the right, and the other is the inverse only he’s also swiping his claw. The metal is heavy and the pins are metal with enamel and look pretty sharp. I’m not a pin guy though, so I don’t know what to do with them. The keychain is nice, and probably more durable than the one in the Mirage crate, but I don’t want it to get messed up in my pocket so I’m hesitant to actually use it.

The new stuff this time around sort of follows the same pattern as the other stuff. It’s kind of neat, but functionally useless. First up is a gold coin. It’s about the size of a silver dollar and pretty heavy and comes in a little Ziplock styled pouch. One side features a turtle head like the turtle icon next to the health bar and it says “Cowabunga Dudes” across the top and bottom as well as “In Pizza We Trust” along the side and 1up below the turtle face. The reverse features the same pizza slice the pin appears to be based on and says “Pizza Power” across the top and “Radical” across the bottom. The same “In Pizza We Trust” is on it as well plus the legal stuff. It looks fine, but again, what do you do with such a thing? Stash it in a drawer, I guess, and hope it’s worth something in a decade or so.

The included t-shirt is a bit different this time around as well. The previous one was a white t-shirt with the TCRI stuff on the front in black font. This time around we actually get a long sleeve t-shirt in a pretty loud shade of blue. I love blue, so this isn’t a negative for me, but some might wish for something a bit more understated, I guess. The image is the same turtle face from the coin, only now all four are present and it says “Turtle Power” in a yellow, pixel, font. It’s cute and something I’ll wear so that’s cool.

The last unique item other than the figure is kind of like an accessory for the figure. It’s a little, plastic, television set with a lenticular image on the screen from the game’s intro. It switches from April O’Neil with the Statue of Liberty in the background and an image of Shredder from the TV set the turtles actually watch in the game. It’s sharp, and if you’re a NECA collector it should be familiar as this has been released a few times already and is actually a part of an upcoming accessory set based on the first movie. It has an 80s look to it with a bunch of dials and it’s real boxy. The dials do not function on it so don’t try and crank them. The Shredder image is definitely the more dominant of the two, which is fine as I would have been happy if it was just this image of Shredder. Oddly, this item is not listed on the index card that comes with the set which details the contents so I’m curious if it was a late addition. Maybe someone felt this crate needed a little something extra, maybe the costs came in lower than expected, it could be this was thought of as an accessory for the figure that didn’t fit in the box, or it could just be a simple oversight when it comes to the index card. Whatever the reason, I actually like this and I hope NECA comes through with a sewer lair in the future because I will definitely put this in there if it doesn’t come with one. Maybe I can even add a mini, to scale, Super Nintendo as well!

That’s everything in the crate with the exception of the thing you’re probably most curious about: the action figure. The Shell Shock Turtle comes in the same Turtles in Time box as the other releases in this line. The back of which features some product shots of Shredder blasting the turtle as well as a green foot soldier (unreleased, as far as I know) shooting him. The figure itself is the same turtle body that’s been released several times now in the cartoon and arcade line, only the belt has been removed and its cast in glow-in-the-dark, semi-transparent, plastic. Where the belt used to plug in on the front and back has been filled and it kind of stands out when in-hand, but not really when placed on a shelf. The various pads are painted black and there’s a black, skeletal, deco applied as well. The only new sculpting is the head, which is in an almost horrifying looking shape. The mouth is open nearly 180 degrees with a tongue protruding from it that can rotate. The eyes are big, black, spheres and the knot in the mask is black as well. There’s even some sculpted teeth in the mouth that may not show in pictures since it’s black on black. This is also the same head-shape the turtles make in the game when shouting “My toe! My toe,” so maybe a painted variant will arrive one day. Probably as another Loot Crate.

Since this figure is the same as the other turtles, it’s articulated in the same way. The head can still look up and down and rotate, just not as much given the irregular shape. The shoulders can rotate and the arms can come out to the side, not quite 90 degrees though. The left shoulder on mine doesn’t want to budge at the hinge, but I don’t really intend on posing this one differently than how he was posed in the box. As such, I haven’t spent much time applying heat to it, but what little time I did spend at the faucet didn’t help much. There’s a bicep swivel and single joint at the elbow while the hands rotate and feature a hinge in the middle. There’s a joint in the diaphragm that’s now more visible given the lack of a belt, but the shell still prevents it from having really any functional application. The legs can go out, forward, and back with the rear of the shell hindering them some there. The knees are double-jointed and the feet are on ball-pegs. It’s a sculpt that could really use a refresh as the lack of double-joints at the elbows hurt it and the feet need some more love. For this figure though, it’s not really an issue as it’s designed to basically display in one pose.

As far as accessories go, there’s little to speak of. The figure comes with open hands and there’s also a set of gripping hands if you want to give this thing a weapon. It’s better than nothing, but I’m honestly never going to use those gripping hands. It’s a Loot Crate toss-in, so I wasn’t expecting much, but I was really hoping for a stand of some kind. This guy is designed to be displayed as he comes in the box, which is impossible without some kind of a stand. If you were hoping to utilize a Roadkill Rodney, think again, as that figure is far too light to prop this one up. NECA does sell stylized stands and it would have been nice if they tossed one in. I’d trade pretty much anything in this crate, except the TV, for one. Since they didn’t include one, I grabbed one when I was last at Target and while it’s not really designed to support a turtle, it seems to be working well enough.

Obviously, the main feature of this guy is the glow-in-the-dark aspect of it. And, yeah, it works. When I first saw images of this thing I was curious if it would come with some kind of lighting device like the Spirit of Splinter crate, but no such thing was included. It has me wondering if glow-in-the-dark was the best way to capture the look this figure is going for. It was certainly the easiest way, and probably the most cost-effective as well, it’s just limited. It leaves me feeling like this figure is just missing something. I kind of wish they had used a different packaging that instead was louder and displayed the figure akin to how it is on the product shots. Then I would have just left it in-box and been content. As is, I feel like it needs a proper backdrop like a diorama. Something lit with the big, yellow, electric, spark behind it. I’m left feeling the figure was a better idea than it is an actual action figure.

The Turtles in Time Shell Shock crate from Loot Crate arrives largely as expected. Most of the contents of the crate are done well, it’s just also a bunch of knick-knack styled items that serve no purpose beyond merely existing. Some people love that stuff, and some don’t. I’m kind of in the middle in that I like little, useless, things as long as they display well. I haven’t found a way to display much of the stuff from the first crate and I suspect the same will be true here, but if you’re concerned about quality know that at least that seems to be present. The t-shirt is something I will wear and I do like how it came out and the TV is cool and I’ll find some way to incorporate that into my TMNT display. The figure is the real selling point for these crates though, and if you only had interest in the figure then you might feel a little let down since these crates retail for twice what a figure would. It is what it is. NECA didn’t want to include must-haves in these things, and they certainly pulled that off here. This figure is the kind of figure that would normally be a GameStop exclusive or something that eventually winds up on the clearance rack. It’s not for everyone. If you have a vibrant arcade TMNT display then you’ll probably enjoy this one more than most. If you’re like me and have only a couple figures from that line and only subscribed to this Loot Crate bundle for the bunny boys then you’ll probably just put this thing somewhere and start looking forward to that third crate.