NECA may be done with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the close of 2026, but the company is at least making an effort to close out a few things on the way out. Tempestra, the last member of the group of villains featured in the episode “Night of the Rogues,” will finish off the cartoon collection and should be arriving in stores sometime in October, or shortly thereafter. For the Archie subline, the Mighty Mutanimals has been the primary focus since the line got off the ground. It started with Slash, who while not a founding member, did eventually join up with the Mutanimals. Man Ray followed and was soon joined by Jagwar and Dreadmon and along things went for years slowly, but surely until only one founding member was missing: Leatherhead. Leatherhead had already received four different figures from NECA based on his appearances across the franchise including one already from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. That particular one was the wrestling Leatherhead from the Stump Wrestling era which is pretty different from his original appearance and later appearances with the Mutanimals. His Mutanimals era is very similar to his depiction in the cartoon so I was curious how eager NECA was to get to this version of Leatherhead. Then when they did Mondo Gecko, who is very similar to his toon version, I figured it was something that would happen for sure and now it has. Our last figures from NECA based on TMNT Adventures is the Mutanimals version of Leatherhead.
Now, before anyone chimes in with a comment about Ninjara, yes, I know she exists andsome think of her as a member of the Mighty Mutanimals. She’s not a founding member though and I can understand why NECA would be focused on just the original squad which is captured on the box art for Leatherhead. NECA probably knew this was the end for awhile so they brought back Ken Mitchroney to not only create some Leatherhead art, but to create a full squad image that mimics a comic book cover to go on the front. Leatherhead’s box is the same shape as the past releases, but it has that fifth panel on the front which is what allowed for the ability to include such a picture. And it looks great and there’s a headshot of each member on one side of the box and a solo Leatherhead on the other. The inside of the flap is a full squad photo on a beach (too soon) of all of NECA’s figures and they do look pretty great together.
Leatherhead is a mostly all new sculpt by Tomasz Rozejowski with a credit also attributed to Kushwara Studios. Paint was handled by Mike Puzzo and Geoff Trapp and the box photography was taken by Matt Kloberdanz. Leatherhead may be the second Archie Leatherhead from NECA, but his design necessitated a lot of new tooling. For one, the torso of Mutanimals Leatherhead looks like that of the cartoon version and basically all versions with the scaling. The wrestling design emulated the heroic wrestlers of the era so that Leatherhead gets some nice, well-defined musculature which wouldn’t really work with traditional alligator anatomy. Still, it’s not all brand new as this figure was able to reuse the arms and tail from that release as well as any hands they share and the crotch piece. The abdomen also looks to be the same underneath the overlay. The head, torso overlay, and legs are all new this time around though it maintains the same proportions as the wrestling version. If not for the different chest, they would look just like the same character in a different outfit. And in an interesting choice, NECA made sure that the heads could be shared between these two. The hat is a removable piece that slots onto the little spikes on Leatherhead’s brow so it fits on the wrestling version as well. The only reason to swap them is that the wrestling head has an articulated jaw while the new one has a permanent grin. When I got that wrestling Leatherhead, I thought NECA messed up by not sculpting the mask he wears in the comics over his eyes, but it’s possible the choice was a deliberate one for this release. Instead, he just has a heavy black outline around his eyes that is a mediocre mask, but subtle enough eyeliner for use here. The only other difference is that the wrestling version has white eyes with black pupils while this new one has yellow eyes with black. That’s a detail that may bother some, but I am personally not bothered by it. The only failing with this approach is the red hat left behind some paint rub on the new Leatherhead so I am not eager to use that one on the wrestling body. I probably wouldn’t have anyway though. The green is ever so slightly more blue on the wrestling figure, but not enough to look out of place to my eye.
As a figure, Leatherhead stands at about 6.25″ to the tips of the ridges on his head. He’s clad in his furry, brown, vest and torn purple pants. The animated version went with all blue for his pants and boots and it’s a look I’ve never liked. I’ve heard the pants described as hip waders which may be true, but I think the cartoon was just being cheap and looking for an excuse to keep the whole leg one color. Here he has brown boots which makes for a more attractive presentation. The colors are nice and saturated and there’s a ton of black linework throughout the body and clothes. Another difference he shares with the prior Leatherhead is that the claws are painted white and outlined in black on every hand, including the fists. The paint throughout the teeth is really neat and tidy and there are no obvious blemishes on my figure. He is a bit squat looking which is in contrast to the Mitchroney art on the box showing a slimmer, taller Leatherhead. Several artists worked on the Archie books and there are some who depicted him like this so I don’t think that’s a failing, but a conscious choice. His earliest appearances when he was an adversary seem to reflect these proportions more than some of the later ones. He should be a striking piece for the shelf and pops as well as the other Archie figures. This style really became my favorite as the lines from NECA went on and it’s a shame this is the last one.
As a last hurrah, Leatherhead comes with a lot of stuff. He has a pretty typical assortment of hands to choose from: fists, open, gripping, a trigger finger right hand and a a loose gripping left hand. That loose gripping hand seems to be here exclusively for the Turnstone, which is just a white sphere. This is the mystical object that turned Jess Harley into Leatherhead in the Archie books. As an accessory, it is literally a white sphere so not the most exciting thing, but it does suit the character to have it included. He also has his pole knife which is a pole with Leatherhead’s knife strapped to the end. It is all white with just a little black linework on the rope and the blade itself. Leatherhead also has two firearms: the Ftoom Rifle and the Thoom Blaster. I don’t know which is which, but they’re both big. The big white one looks more like a rifle to me, but only because it has a scope. There’s some light blue shading in places and some black circuitry sculpted onto the sides. The blaster is a yellow and white design and a little bit smaller, but still a comically large gun for Leatherhead to wield. Both fit well enough into the trigger hand while they can also be finagled into the wide grip by hooking the trigger guard onto the finger. Both may be large, but they’re extremely light and the same is true of the pole knife. It feels like ABS so they’re also very rigid. You do not want these to tumble off your shelf because they will be susceptible to both breaking and paint scratching. That’s also why I’d be careful with the tight gripping hands as you don’t want green paint rubbing off on any of these lightly colored weapons.
The constant shortcoming of NECA’s Archie line of TMNT has been the articulation and Leatherhead is no exception. He’s pretty basic and similar to the wrestling one, only now he has an overlay on the torso which prevents any diaphragm articulation from being usable. He has: head, shoulder, elbow, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. The elbows and knees are single-hinged and they won’t hit a 90 degree bend at either spot. They do swivel and there is a built-in thigh swivel as well. The figure does have those bicep “sleeves” that swivel which makes the elbow swivel more visually appealing. The head doesn’t have much range and the waist is mostly there to rotate as the range on the ball joint doesn’t provide for much else. The tail is plugged into the rear of the figure with a peg and hinge so it can rotate on the peg and hinge up and down. There’s a heavy gauge wire inside it as well that allows for some posing. It’s probably best to bend it into whatever shape you want and then plug the tail into the figure to avoid putting stress on the actual peg because it is a thick, plastic, tail. Leatherhead can basically pose just enough to wield his included weapons. He can do a walking stance as well, but this isn’t a figure you buy for its posing. By the standards of the day, it’s mediocre. By the standards of the line, it’s fairly average.
If you have been collecting this line then you likely know what to expect of Leatherhead from NECA. It looks great, it really captures the spirit of the character, and if you keep things in-box you’ll be really happy with the presentation here. The figure has a slight uptick in price at $38 if you buy it from Target. He may be more money from other retailers. I don’t believe he has shown up elsewhere yet, but I would expect it to unless other retailers are no longer interested in the line. Since it has indeed been confirmed that NECA is losing the license at the end of the year, it’s possible the figure could hit clearance in the future if you’re not crazy about the price tag. It’s also possible that speculators may start snatching a lot of these late releases by NECA up in hope that it will appreciate in value enough to warrant sitting on them for however long that takes. As a send-off for the line, I think it’s fine. The packaging does help to make Leatherhead feel a little special and for those who always wanted a collection of The Mighty Mutanimals it’s nice to finally have them all in plastic. It is a shame that this means we won’t be getting that standard April NECA teased over a year ago by showing off the artwork Chris Allan had done for the packaging. And it’s really a shame we never got standard, Archie, turtles. I figured they were just holding those back for an eventual four-pack, but maybe the last few four-packs did not do well and retailers soured on them. They already had the tools for much of it between the wrestling turtles and the April as the fifth turtle release. The wrestling turtles have in recent months shown up at Ross stores in single packs for the low price of $15 so customizers do have access to cheap fodder provided they have a Ross nearby (I don’t). Those never to happen turtles were the thing I wanted most from NECA going back years now so it’s a real bummer we’re not getting it. I’m basically content with the movie and toon stuff, but not getting those Archie turtles is the one thing that will haunt me when I think about “What might have been.”
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