We are rolling right along with more reviews of NECA’s TMNT Adventures line of action figures and we’re also staying within the realm of Stump Wrestling. When the turtles wound up in the intergalactic wrestling federation, they didn’t just encounter aliens, they also encountered an old foe. I don’t know how Leatherhead wound up as a wrestler in space when he debuted in the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures as just another Earth dwelling mutant, and I’m not sure I want to know. It’s more fun to imagine how such a thing happened, though I’m guessing it’s more or less in-line with how the turtles ended up doing the same. Either way, if you ever watched the old cartoon and thought that Leatherhead would make for a good pro wrestler then consider your wish granted.
Leatherhead comes via the new, massive, TMNT drop that NECA unleashed upon Target. I believe it was dubbed the Cowabunga Collection, but think of it as basically another Haulathon type of deal where a lot of stuff was released in a small window of time. Leatherhead was shipped in pretty substantial quantities and may even still be available online when this post goes live. If not, worry not as it’s expected that all of these Archie figures will see release across online retail spots at some point. It just may mean having to wait for a second production run or something. I think the figure has already been spotted at Walmart as well, along with some of the other non-toon releases that hit Target.
Leatherhead is packaged in the standard Archie box with new artwork by comic artist Ken Mitchroney. The sculpt was handled by Tomasz Rozejowski and Kushwara Studios with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. And right off the bat, I am confused. The artwork depicts Leatherhead with a bandana style black mask on. The figure features some black paint around the eyes, but there’s clearly no mask as there’s nothing wrapping around his head. Most of the interior artwork I’ve been able to find from the comics seems to include the mask. I found one cover, issue #13, which takes place a little later, but seems to include Leatherhead in his wrestling attire without a mask. I’m not enough of an expert to know what is correct, but if they’re commissioning artwork that includes a mask then I think the figure should as well. Maybe this is a cost saving measure to make it easier to do a Mutanimals Leatherhead later? Or maybe the factory was supposed to do a mask, either via paint or some sort of overlay, and it got missed? The top of his head is almost squared-off like you could put something there, but I don’t know.
Leatherhead stands at right around 6.25″ to the top of his head. This is a much shorter, squatter, Leatherhead than we’re used to seeing. The toon Leatherhead, by comparison, is around 7″ tall. This guy is really not much taller than the turtles with only a little more girth. Again, I don’t have comics to compare so I’m just going to assume that NECA got it right when it comes to scale for the Archie line. His attire is pretty simple compared with his usual getup. We have just some purple trunks with white stripes and wrestling boots that are in the same style as what we saw with Cryin’ Houn’. The exposed flesh is all textured with lots of little bumps and such and like most Leatherhead figures the tail comes detached in the box.
Paint for Leatherhead is a little less intense than it may be on some other characters, but no less effective. Most of the body is a dark green with a slight blue hue to it. The chest and neck region is painted more of a lime green. There’s lots of black linework on the throat to highlight the scales and additional linework for some of the muscles and random scales here and there. The interior of the mouth is painted really well including black outlines at the base of the teeth. There’s a hit of orange for his big, bushy, eyebrows and the trunks and boots are all painted very cleanly. I basically have to hunt for paint blemishes on this figure and even then the only things I can find are a black line here and there that’s maybe just a bit too thick. It’s really an impressive paint application for a mass-produced figure like this.
And maybe that’s what makes him expensive, because it’s certainly not the plastic. Leatherhead doesn’t come with much in the box, just two extra sets of hands leaving us with fists, gripping, and open. Why does he have gripping hands? I don’t know because it’s certainly not to hold any included items because there are none. He only has the one portrait, which is a bit of a bummer since he seems to have a pretty expressive few panels in the comics. My criticism of this release is basically the same as Cryin’ Houn’ which is to say I think NECA could do better. They already have tooled some wrestling weapons, so why not stick them here? We could always use more chairs. A break-away table would have been pretty rad, even if no such thing took place in the books. Wrestling figures should be fun to design because of all or the shenanigans that can go on in and out of the squared-circle so it’s disappointing to not see NECA take advantage of suck.
Articulation for Leatherhead is not particularly impressive, though it’s not really a strength of the line either. He does have a double-ball peg for the head, but since it sits so low on the chest there’s not a lot he can do with it. He can look side to side okay as well as down. There’s a little range looking up, but the head has a tendency to pop off of the ball peg when doing so. The mouth does open and close which helps to make the figure a bit more expressive. Shoulders are simple ball hinges which rotate fine, but can’t quite raise out to a “T” pose or come all the way down at the sides of the figure. There is a biceps swivel as well as a swivel and single hinge at the elbow. Leatherhead can straighten his arms out there and just about hit a 90 degree bend. Wrists swivel and hinge horizontally.
In the torso, we get a big ball jointed diaphragm. It really doesn’t offer a whole lot. There’s a little tilt there and rotation, but forward and back articulation is so minimal that it’s hardly worth counting. There’s a standard waist twist below that and ball-jointed hips. There’s a little play on the hips as far as a thigh swivel goes, but mostly they kick forward pretty well, back a little, and out to the side. The crotch does feature a “diaper” overlay which will limit the range and keep Leatherhead from hitting a full split, but if you wanted to force the issue you could probably do so. The knees are poor, they’re pegged into the thighs and feature a hinge that maybe bends 45 degrees. The ankle hinges aren’t much better as he can’t go forward and back very far. The ankle rocker is fine. The tail connects via a peg and hinge so it will move up and down and rotate. It also has a heavy gauge wire running through it for a little extra poseability, but it’s a thick tail so don’t expect much.
Leatherhead, by virtue of NECA knocking it out of the park with some of their other figures in the line, comes across a little ho-hum. This is a figure for those who have an attachment to the character from this era or for those who just really want to fill out their wrestling TMNT display. The character design isn’t particularly eye-catching and the subpar articulation and lack of accessories reduces the potential fun factor here. Aside from the mask component, the figure is a nice representation of this version of Leatherhead and it’s not the fault of the figure that the design isn’t more elaborate. I am curious to hear what dedicated TMNT Adventures fans think of this release and how well it represents the source material, particularly when it comes to scale. For me, I waffled on weather or not to get this one ultimately deciding to just because there figures to only be a handful of wrestling characters (Ace Duck is coming in 2025) and I want my wrestling turtles to have some foes. At the MSRP of $37, I definitely wouldn’t blame those who just don’t see enough value in the box to take the plunge on Leatherhead.
We have more from NECA’s line of TMNT Adventures if you’re looking at starting a collection or adding to one:
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