Last week we had ourselves a look at Dirtbag from JoyToy’s line of 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. As most probably expected, we’re back this week with a look at his buddy Groundchuck, the mutant bull that could have very easily been named Bull’s Eye, but maybe Playmates felt that was too on the nose. Groundchuck debuted alongside Dirtbag in the vintage toy line back in the early 90s, but wasn’t originally conceived as an affiliated mutant. Dirtbag was going to be a foil for Splinter while Groundchuck was just your standard TMNT enemy. The cartoon made them a pair and it feels like that’s how they’re remembered now. Both also showed up in the video Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III for the Nintendo Entertainment System as boss characters of their own stage and as a proper duo in the more recent Shredder’s Revenge.
Groundchuck is another stout release from JoyToy standing at approximately 5″ to the top of his head and slightly taller to the highest point of his horns. The only characters in the line who can claim to be taller are Rahzar and Krang while his pal Dirtbag is more full of figure. Groundchuck, being a bull, is appropriately beefy with a barrel chest and meaty biceps and thighs. Like Dirtbag, he’s basically a recreation of the Playmates look which was also featured in the cartoon. He’s colored bright red and I’ve always loved the juxtaposition it creates with the tattered blue shirt and the cybernetic parts featured on his person. A portion of his head appears to be mechanical, including his right eye, as well as the entirety of his right leg and a chunk of his left thigh. The cattle motif is seen in the horned skull belt buckle and a similar one featured on his right pauldron while the bull’s eye appears over his right eye, upon his chest, and as a knee pad on his left leg (plus a brand on his left bicep).
Like Dirtbag, there’s a paint wash applied to the fur which imparts a grimy feeling to the character. A lot of the add-ons like the belts and pauldrons have a distressed element to them via the sculpt and their own respective paint effects. I like the gold bits reflected in the many bull’s eye pieces as well as the more ornate left shoulder pauldron. The painted elements are done very clean including the face where his eyes and nose loop really pop. The only element about the presentation I’m left a little underwhelmed by are those cybernetic parts, namely the right leg. For those, JoyToy went with a pale gray plastic with a black wash over them. There are some bolts sculpted into places and those are hit with a metallic silver. I wish the entirety of the leg was done in that color with those bolts and the anklet done in a gun metal. I think the figure stands out on a shelf as-is, but would really demand attention with a shinier approach to the metal. Even so, Groundchuck has always been one of my favorite designs from the vintage toy line and JoyToy did the design justice here by basically not changing a thing and just upping the sculpt and paint.
We talked about Dirtbag as being especially plentiful when it came to accessories, but Groundchuck may have him beat. The beast comes with four sets of hands: fists, gripping, trigger, and open. He has the same white marble chunk of a base and a City Sewer stand as Dirtbag. From there, we get a whole bunch of weapons and other assorted goodies. In the area of odd, there’s a crushed, red, can. I assume this is a Red Bull pun? It otherwise isn’t of great note, but if you want him to join the likes of Slash, Tokka, and Rahzar in a food-centric display it works. It’s probably the accessory of least interest, but not without purpose. On his belt is also a grenade which is easy to overlook. It’s green and gray and it will happily remain on the belt if you wish, or Groundchuck can hold it. For more ambiance, I suppose, there’s also a loop of rope with a gold grappling hook on the end. It’s molded plastic so it doesn’t do anything, but Groundchuck has a hook on the left side of his belt it can dangle from, just set it when you’re done posing him or else it will drive you nuts with how often it falls off.
Those are the basic items added in by JoyToy while most of the rest are reserved for fire power! Groundchuck comes with a reimagined version of his cattle prod gun the old Playmates toy came with. It’s colored in earthy tones of steel and brown with the twisting prod extending from the end. I’ve seen some shots of the figure with the prod removed leaving behind something that resembles a small bazooka or something, but it doesn’t seem to want to pop out of mine. Groundchuck also has his cross bow from the old figure and this time around it mounts onto a gun that resembles an assault rifle. The rifle works with or without the crossbow affixed to the top, but why not utilize it for double the firepower? Hailing from the cartoon is Groundchuck’s stylish pistol with bull horns at the end of the muzzle. It looks like it should be thought of as a taser rather than an actual pistol, but it’s good to see a nod to the cartoon version of the character. And if you know him primarily from the NES video game, Groundchuck also has a big hunk of pipe which his character wields as a weapon in that game. There’s a C-hook on the back of his belt that seems to be made for this item as well, though the fit is pretty loose. It will stay in place if left alone, but might fall out if you pick the figure up. There’s also what appears to be a matador’s cape or flag. It’s on a gold post and the flag itself is red, naturally. Mine has some black gunk on it that I’ll have to try and wash off. There’s a little hook by the C-hook on his back that the post of the flag can snap into. It’s not the most secure thing, but works to a point.
Those are just the weapons, but to really make Groundchuck feel special JoyToy threw in a bunch of effect parts. It’s a bit of a surprise as we don’t have many, if any, effect parts included with the other figures and here’s Groundchuck with four of them. They’re all pretty interchangeable, but as best I can tell the gold, lightning, effect is intended for the bull horn taser. The color is a little dingy, I can’t tell if that’s on purpose or not, but it looks okay. Acrylic might have been better though. For the rifle, a simple red blast effect is included that clips into the front. There’s also a second one with a multi-part effect at the base implying muzzle flash that looks a little better, in my opinion. It’s possible that’s the one intended for the assault rifle, and the more simple one is intended for the opening on the heel of his cybernetic foot. I assume that’s intended to be a rocket propulsion system and either effect can slot into it. We also get a small missile effect with a long plume of smoke extended out the back. It’s a mix of red and gray and I think this is intended for his horn. Yes, the cybernetic horn contains missiles. I think this is from the video games, but to take advantage of that there’s an optional right horn that has the tip bent back to reveal a hole for the missile to fly from. You just pop off the standard horn and replace it with this one. As is the case with all of these weapons, the missile can go with any weapon so if you want Groundchuck to blast missiles from his rifle and lightning from his horn – go for it. It’s your figure to do as you please.
Articulation for Groundchuck is standard for the line and very much the same as Dirtbag. You get head, jaw, shoulder, elbow, wrist, diaphragm, waist, hip, thigh, knee, and ankle articulation. There’s not a ton of room for the jaw to open, but it works to add a little personality. The elbows are single hinges and will swivel as well as bend close to 90 degrees. The wrists use a double ball peg setup like Dirtbag’s, and while the optional hands can be a bitch to get on, they’ll go. Range at the hips remains mediocre and forcing the figure into something close to a split will cause the abdomen to pop off the ball joint there. The double-jointed knees are pretty much only good for a 90 degree bend and do get gappy at the bottom of the joint. For the feet, JoyToy cheated a bit with the hooves and basically added a heel to the sculpt of the right foot which makes the figure easy to stand. The hoof for the left leg is also generously sized even without a heel. He also has a tail which has a swivel joint. I think I see a hinge in there too, but it’s pretty limited as the tail goes through the soft plastic loincloth.
Groundchuck is going to move about as well as Dirtbag, Bebop, and Rocksteady. He does have a lot of stuff added to his sculpt that can get in the way as everything is an overlay including the shirt. All of it is removable if you find it too obstructive. It would require some effort to get all of it off and would likely require the removal of the arms. I like all of it so I won’t be trying to do that. The appeal of Groundchuck for me has always been the colors and the design where he’s just fully kitted-out with equipment. I think he was envisioned as something of a merc for hire, a marksman, or bounty hunter type and the look certainly fits that characterization. It’s that over-the-top look to the character that gets me and characters like Groundchuck are the first that come to mind for me when I reflect back on what Playmates did back in the 80s and 90s.
If that’s not an obvious endorsement for what JoyToy has done then let me say it in plainer terms: Groundchuck is the best release so far in this line. He’s honestly fantastic. The look, the stuff, he’s just perfectly realized for this line. There’s a nice balance of that realism JoyToy aims for with some of its sculpts as well as the toony origins of the character. There are a few shortcomings here and there and I wish the metallic parts were all shiny and chromed out, but I’m also just really happy with this one. Admittedly, I’ve always been a fan of this character so your mileage may vary, but if you’re collecting this JoyToy line and were considering passing on Groundchuck I would strongly advise you reconsider. I got my figure, as well as Rahzar and Dirtbag, from LT Cave. The price and shipping was all very reasonable and I paid around $40 for each figure. Obviously, the situation seems to always be evolving when it comes to tariffs and imports so I don’t know how things are going to be when this goes live, but I do vouch for that e-tailer. There are others that will ship to the US as well so you do have options if you’re based in North America and want to collect this line. It’s definitely in contention for best line of 2025.
In case you’ve been sleeping on one of 2025’s best toy lines, here’s some reviews to get you caught up:
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