Category Archives: toys

April 16, 2024

NECA TMNT Toon Business Suit Casey Jones and Foot Soldier (Split)

By Joe
He’s got a headache and it’s because of the guy to his right.

As this NECA line of action figures based on the 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rolls along, I find my list of wants from it dwindling down to nothing. It’s hit on way more characters than I think anyone could have dreamed of back in 2017 when it seemed like just getting these toys to retail was a pipe dream. And now that it’s so deep into the weeds of obscure characters I find myself drawn to the more offbeat releases from the show. The superhero Bebop and Rocksteady, punk disguise turtles, and now Casey Jones in a business suit. I don’t need it, I didn’t ask for it, but you’re damn right I went out and bought it anyway!

To my surprise, this figure has an all new head sculpt and it’s pretty nice.

Casey Jones only appeared in a handful of episodes of the show even though he’s thought of as a pretty significant character. And he is, just not really in the old toon. One episode he did appear in, “Corporate Raiders from Dimension X,” featured the vigilante going out of his element and undercover to check out a sketchy new office in town. The turtles seem to think only he could sneak in, even though they seem to do just fine with their own disguises. Plus, Casey won’t even take his mask off as part of the disguise. It’s a goofy episode and actually one of the better ones to rewatch if you’re curious since it is so silly. Casey Jones is pretty damn funny in the show, even though the character isn’t trying to be (the show expects you to find it funny), to the point where I wonder why they didn’t use him more?

“Hey intern! Lose the hockey mask or you’re OUT!”

It was a few years ago now that NECA’s first pass at a Casey Jones was released to retail. Bundled with a battle-damaged Foot Soldier, it was a notoriously hard set to find. NECA was still working out distribution for this line and was experimenting with how to ship waves to Target stores and how many. It was a circus, and many collectors went years without being able to add Casey to their collection at a reasonable price. It was finally re-released just last year, and now we get a new version that is both familiar and a little different and, dare I say, superior?

“You want to try saying that to me again, punk?!”

Casey Jones and his robot friend come in the usual window box with generic blurb on the back about the show and a cross-sell. This one is part of the current Haulathon promotion going on at Target which is both in-store and online, but only on Fridays for US residents. Casey Jones is, as far as I can tell, an all-new sculpt. He’s in a suit which includes a gray coat, white undershirt, pink tie, and khakis. He has some brown loafers and his customary hockey mask. The body is more obviously new just by looking at it (always possible things like the hands have been used before), but what was surprising is that so is the head. Casey has a more windblown look to his hair. It has more volume and the mask is a bit more sharply defined. The eyes are smaller, but it’s still painted the same. The paint on the straps going around his head is a little iffy in places, but overall I think this is a much nicer portrait than the first release which, up to now, was a face I never had any complaints about. The joint in the neck is exactly the same as the first release so, yes, the heads can transfer from one figure to the other and it’s very possible a lot of people will do just that.

Oh, she’s feeling this new face.

And that’s because this Casey comes with a second portrait – an unmasked one. Casey never took his mask off in the show, so this portrait is entirely made-up for this figure release. Tomasz Rosejowski is the credited sculptor, though I don’t know if he was working off of someone else’s design, but for now he gets the credit for this unique look at Casey. The head features basically the same hair and a goofy grin. He’s got bandages on his face, some stiches, scars, and it would appear he’s missing some teeth as well. I honestly never spent much brain power trying to conjure up what Casey would look like under the mask, but this certainly seems as good a guess as any. The real question is do people want to actually display Casey without his iconic mask? I don’t know, but if you like the look then it makes it easy to display this figure with that portrait and transfer the new, masked, one to the old figure.

“April! I thought you said I could have the interns!”

In addition to the second portrait, Casey comes with a lot of familiar stuff. For hands, we get a set of fists, open, gripping, and a wide-gripping right hand. He has his golf bag of goodies and the bag actually appears to be a new sculpt as well, which is surprising, but maybe the old one didn’t fit right? For it we get the hockey stick, goalie stick, baseball bat, sledgehammer, and whatever that gray, bat-like, pipe thing is. They’re exactly the same as the first Casey release, which is fine as I assume they didn’t change in the show either. In addition to that, Casey also has a little basket with time cards or something in them. It’s one sculpt, or two sculpts, but the cards are glued in place. He also has what looks like a container of seltzer with a spray top on it. It reminds me of maple syrup dispensers at diners. The wide gripping hand seems to be intended for this particular item though and he can hold it just fine.

My Casey had a minor defect, but it was easily remedied though he’s likely to have that permanent warp to the belt.

Lastly, Casey also comes with another set of arms. These ones are identical to the arms on the figure, but the sleeves are painted white. The jacket is an overlay and removable which clasps in the front so you can pop the arms off along with the jacket and swap to these arms for a no-jacket look. It’s one he does feature in the episode, and it’s a good idea for the figure. I like the look of both too, though I’m leaning more towards the jacket. Also helping that call is that by packaging the figure with the coat on in the box there is some paint rub from it onto the white shirt and pink tie. My figure also had an usual defect in that the shirt overlay wasn’t inserted into the crotch piece all the way. A big hunk was hanging out the back and, at first, I thought it was intentional to show he didn’t have his shirt tucked in and play-up the fact that Casey is a fish out of water in these clothes, but the fact that the sides of the white overlay were splitting had me thinking this was just a screw up. Getting the shirt into the proper alignment wasn’t too hard, I just had to twist the figure at the waist and rock it back and forth until I was able to get it in there. The top of the diaper piece on the back is still a little warped, but it’s not something that’s bothering me.

I understand people not wanting another Foot Soldier, but that’s a damn fine sculpt and paint job.

Bundled with Casey is yet another battle-damaged Foot Soldier. This one reuses the arms and legs of past Foot Soldiers, but has an all new torso and head which has been split in half. It’s probably my favorite of the three battle-damaged Foot Soldiers we’ve received so far and I really like the touch of making its eyes look sad. The sculpt and paint work for the interior circuits and such looks great, and overall the finish on this Foot is more saturated when compared with past editions of the figure. It does not feature the bisected toon shading which is a bit odd, but that’s an element of this line that’s been inconsistent of late. The Foot does come with some optional hand sets: gripping, open, trigger, fists, and it also comes with the handgun we’ve seen what feels like a hundred times. It’s the exact same sculpt and paint app as before, only now instead of the main color being white it’s more like a cream or off-white. It’s a gimmick figure that’s just going to be used in conjunction with other characters to sell the split effect, but it looks nice.

Where will NECA go with its next battle-damaged Foot Soldier? They’ve hit the torso a bunch, so maybe the limbs?

Articulation is pretty standard for the line. With Casey you get a double-ball peg for the neck, hinged pegs for the shoulders, biceps swivel, double-elbows, swivel and hinge at the wrist, ball-peg waist, ball and socket hips, thigh twist, double knees, ankle hinges and rockers. The Foot Soldier is the same as past Foot Soldiers just minus neck articulation. It’s also the same as Casey except the Foot also has a shin swivel and toe hinge. It’s okay articulation, and most of it seems to work fine. Casey’s alternate shoulders are pretty damn tight, but I was able to get them working with force rather than heat. There are no vertical hinges for the gripping or trigger hands which is a bummer. These figures are also limited at the shoulders so getting a figure to really swing a weapon overhand to sell that split Foot is harder than it looks. That’s where the vertical wrist is also missed and that’s something I would really like NECA to fix. It seems only Leonardo, Raphael, and deluxe figures get that feature which makes no sense since it would be the preferred setup for 99% of the figures in this line.

And now, a sequence of pictures showing off this split effect.
“It would seem you are made of inferior components.”

Is this a set that’s worth your 60 dollars? That might be a bit contentious. The selling point is the goofy look for Casey Jones, and if you like that stuff then you can probably talk yourself into this one since the gimmick Foot Soldier is pretty fun. I think a lot of people were hoping for an Ultimate Casey and they may be disappointed about having to pay extra for yet another Foot Soldier. I’m personally indifferent. Maybe NECA has just worn me down with the expense that is being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collector which drops in large quantities every spring now. The fact that we had a bit of a drought when it came to TMNT releases over the past 6 months also likely made me more agreeable to the expense. This is definitely a set no one is likely to feel like they need, but if you do grab it, it’s pretty well done and I don’t think you’ll wind up regretting it.

Like NECA TMNT? There’s plenty more where this came from:

NECA TMNT Toon Punk Disguise Turtles

Another year, another Haulathon. Haulathon, and the very similar Fall Geek Out, have become basically the only instances each year where NECA releases Target exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise as well as non-exclusive merchandise. It’s honestly not a lot of fun as it just creates a frenzy of panic where collectors aren’t sure what…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Cartoon Casey Jones and Slashed Foot Soldier

Something that is likely common to most of humanity is a desire to be successful. We all measure success differently, be it professional, financial, or something else, but we all strive for it. And sometimes success can feel like a burden. Take NECA’s line of action figures based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property.…

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by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT From the Files of Pizza Squad (Deluxe Rex-1)

When you’re doing a syndicated cartoon expected to air basically every day, you need to pull story ideas from anywhere you can. I think that’s why parodies are so popular in the cartoons of the 80s to the point where it didn’t matter if the show was parodying something kids would actually know. Take REX-1,…

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by Joe

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April 11, 2024

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Duffman

By Joe
Duffman! Is here! To liven up this party!

In writing up my review of Bartman from Super7’s line of Ultimates! based on The Simpsons, I got a little hot. That figure had some errors in its presentation that annoyed me, but what annoyed me more was the refusal to just let the figure exist as Bart Simpson and Bartman. It was clearly designed so the body could be reused to do so, but that will never happen because the line has been cancelled. How do I know the body was designed to be a regular Bart eventually? Because the cape was entirely removable. It just slipped over the ball joint for the neck. If they wanted that body to just be Bartman, it would have been embedded in the sculpt. That’s what would have matched the show, and that’s what they did with today’s figure of Duffman.

It’s a muscle dude in a cape wit a belt full of beer – what’s there to be mad about?

Duffman should be a nice cool down review for me because what’s there to get upset about when it comes to Duffman? Aside from him existing all together (and we’ll get to that), this is a goofy character that has reappeared a few times throughout the show’s run. For a franchise that usually just tries to sell to a hardcore fanbase that worships the show’s “Golden Era,” Duffman represents a pretty late addition having first appeared in Season Nine’s “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson.” Most fans of The Simpsons consider the eighth season to be the last of the supposed golden age and I tend to agree. Though it’s worth pointing out that this episode Duffman hails from is technically a production Season Eight episode.

Duffman seems to scale fine, but man, Simpsons head sizes are kind of crazy.

No matter, it’s Duffman, a silly parody of beer mascots from the real world the most obvious being Budman. These sorts of characters don’t really happen too often anymore because they’re kind of scummy. Who likes super heroes more than anyone? Children, and marketing alcohol to children is a shitty thing to do. It’s why we no longer have Budman, Spuds MacKenzie (more on him to follow), and Joe Camel. These are all things that I was exposed to as a kid and I think Budweiser is gross and don’t smoke, so maybe the hysteria over them was all for nothing? Duffman, as a parody of those types of characters, is fairly one note, but not without merit. He shows up with his own soundtrack (“Ohh yeah”) and is fond of thrusting towards things he wants to draw attention to. He’s usually accompanied by a bunch of party women and lots of Duff beer. Someone at Super7 must have felt he was too hilarious not to make a figure out of, or maybe they just liked his threads? It’s also possible one of the prime motivators for doing a Duffman this early in the line was because Playmates never did with their World of Springfield line. That one had to tiptoe around the alcohol associated with the show because they were sold at toy stores and Walmart. Super7 doesn’t have to do that and Disney has been surprisingly okay with alcohol in this line, though I do wonder if some restrictions were put in place.

Duffman may be tall, but Scratchy still has him beat.

Duffman comes in the standard Ultimates! style of packaging. Out of the box, he stands approximately 7.5″ making him among the tallest in the short-lived line. He strikes a more heroic figure than Bartman with broad shoulders, a puffed out chest, and slim waist. Seriously, Hasbro could stand to take some cues from this guy. Like Bartman, he has a nice, matte, finish whether we’re talking the yellow skin, red hat, or blue costume. Every surface has been coated with paint even when the underlying plastic is cast in the same color. This does mean you’ll get some paint flaking at the joints where the paint can’t adhere properly to the harder plastic, but it’s a small price to pay. The cape is done with soft goods and it’s embedded in the torso. This means it isn’t removable, but why would it need to be? The sunglasses are also part of the sculpt, but there are painted eyes behind them. The belt, which is lovingly adorned with cans of Duff beer, appears to clasp in the back, but it may be reenforced with glue which is fine by me. The cans, unfortunately, are not removable.

Duffman is number 1!

Duffman comes with a smattering of accessories. He has a whole bunch of hands, but surprisingly not a lot of pairs. For actual pairs of hands there’s a set of relaxed/narrow gripping hands and a set of style pose hands that I think are supposed to work with an accessory, but don’t. There’s a pointing right hand, a left fist, a right chop, a left “Devil Horns” gesture, and a right, wide, gripping hand. There’s also a “foam” finger hand since Duffman does make appearances at the stadium for the Springfield Isotopes. I believe the style pose hands are supposed to work with the included Duff beer 7-pack accessory, but the fingers won’t fit through the openings. They can grab the rings from the side, so maybe that was the intention? Perhaps with some heat and force the finger could sneak through the slots, but the accessory is fully painted and Duffman’s hands are white. Plus, the wide gripping hand can grab that 7th can just fine. The cans are painted just as well as the ones on his belt, but can’t come out of the rings. Did Disney allow the use of Duff cans so long as they couldn’t be removed from the belt or this ring setup? It would be kind of odd, but maybe they have a line in the sand when it comes to toy beer.

My open mouth head has an awful black mark on the teeth I may try to touch up.
If you’re a big fan of Santa’s Little Helper then Wave Two of Simpsons Ultimates! has probably made you happy.

Duffman also comes with a couple of alternate portraits. His default one is his big smile, the expression he wears more often than not in the show. He also has a yelling head for when he needs to get the party going. The last head is covered with an oversized Duff beer sticker from the episode “Pygmoelian.” It’s a bit of a stupid, gag, head that likely no one will use especially since it was slapped on his face in the episode by a post plastic surgery Moe. The sticker is removable as it just pegs into his mouth, but the expression without it isn’t of much use as a display piece. It’s not an egregious inclusion because what else is truly needed for Duffman? A keg would have been cool, I suppose, or some Duff beer in bottles. His final accessory is Santa’s Little Helper as Suds McDuff. Yes, another parody of a dead beer mascot and our second SLH of the wave. This one is less articulated than the first as he’s in a seated position. The head rotates, but that’s it. The figure is well-painted, but once again, fans may be left wishing it could be converted into a generic version of the family dog and not forced to live as this gimmick version.

The sticker face is an okay gag, but probably not something many are likely to make use of.
The sticker is removable if you want a…sucking face?

Articulation for Duffman is going to be pretty basic and typical of the line: double-ball-peg head, hinged shoulder pegs, single jointed elbows, hinged wrists that swivel, ball-jointed hips, single-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge and rock. What he lacks is torso articulation of any kind that I can tell. If there’s a waist twist here it doesn’t want to go and I don’t want to push it. The cape is also wired and can be posed reasonably well, but everything else is pretty limited. Elbows and knees can’t bend 90 degrees and the ankle hinge is pretty limited. The belt prevents him from kicking forward much and he can’t kick back at all. This is a set it and forget it kind of figure. The joints are also pretty tight, but the hips have some looseness to them. Not enough to make it a problem now, but something to keep an eye on.

At the end of the day, it’s Duffman. He’s fine.

Duffman is an easy figure to review as I could have simply said if you like what you see, then you’ll like this figure. It would have saved me a lot of time too. This figure isn’t going to pose very well, but it’s at least well-executed when it comes to the presentation. I wish the elbows were a little better and that he had a proper waist twist. I think he’s supposed to, but mine is tight or the belt is holding it in place. As for the rest, the accessories are fine. One of the heads is pretty useless and I would trade it for something else, but it’s not a huge problem for me. When it comes to any lingering feelings towards Duffman, it’s just a question of was it too soon for this character? Considering the second wave consisted of a Simpson, an A-list secondary character, a fan-favorite one-off, and Duffman I think it’s fine. Would I have picked him for this wave? No, but I’m not angered by his inclusion. Now, if I had known the line would only last four waves from the start well then, yeah, I’d be pretty irritated, but that’s not Duffman’s fault. I do think it’s bizarre that two waves into the line and no female characters are present, but not egregious. That’s more a critique for wave three. As was the case with Bartman, if you think $55 is a proper price for this figure and you want a Duffman then I say go for it. If you’d rather not spend that much then hold off because this figure has clearance written all over it given he’s not an in-demand character and the line is already cancelled.

We’ve got plenty more reviews of The Simpsons by Super7:

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Bartman

When I concluded my review of wave 1 of The Simpsons Ultimates! from Super7 I was thinking that I’d be back with more reviews later in the year. That was in February of 2023. We are now in April of 2024 and finally wave two has arrived (my original order was place January 5th, 2022).…

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by Joe

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Moe

Our first two looks at the inaugural wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons have been two very episode specific takes. One was Deep Space Homer from the episode of the same name where Homer went to space and the figure presents the character in his space suit. The second figure was Poochie,…

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by Joe

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Deep Space Homer

Slowly but surely I am clearing out all of the action figure preorders I placed in the year 2021. Of the ones that had been remaining, the line I was most looking forward to experiencing was the line of Super7 Ultimates! based on The Simpsons. It was August of 2021 when these suckers went up…

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by Joe

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April 9, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

By Joe
Hail to the King, baby!

Say the name “The King” to a comic book fan and they will immediately know of whom you speak. Jack Kirby is a titan in the world of comics. Creator or co-creator of a great many characters known throughout the world today, it’s hard to imagine what a comic book would look like without his influence. It was probably around the 1980s when the kids who grew up reading his work themselves broke into comics when his legacy and influence really started to shine. Two of his biggest fans also happened to be the co-creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Such big fans of Kirby were they that they essentially wrote him into an issue of one of their comics. The Donatello one-shot, “Kirby and the Warp Crystal,” sees the brainy turtle pulled into an another dimension where he has to work with a comic book artist by the name of Kirby to save the native inhabitants of this world and make it home. Kirby, with his pencil that has a magic stone affixed to it, is able to bring to life whatever he draws on his pad of paper. The issue has been re-released multiple times and included in trade paperbacks and was even adapted into an episode of the 2003 cartoon series where it was simply titled “The King.”

It’s impressive how detailed the sketch of Donatello turned out.

Through NECA’s line of action figures based on the Mirage Studios version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles we now have Jack Kirby – the action figure. Technically, it’s just Kirby and he is based on Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s caricature of Jack Kirby himself. It’s a release done with the blessing of Kirby’s estate and the credits on the bottom of the box reference the Kirby for Hero’s program and The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. Jack Kirby is mostly known for being an incredible artist, but he’s also known as a strong advocate for creator’s rights. Kirby, like a great many comic book artists, created their work under work-for-hire contracts that gave the publisher sole, creative, control over anything the artist came up with. It’s an unjust and unfair practice that has at least improved since the 1960s, but is hardly perfect.

“Thanks for the hardware, Kirby!”

The Kirby action figure isn’t one that is necessarily meant to “wow” those who buy it. It is, after all, an action figure of a middle-aged man with a pencil and paper, but it’s Jack Kirby! It comes in the standard trapezoidal box with brand new artwork on the front and sides by Kevin Eastman with product shots featured on the back. There is a cross-sell that would seem to indicate a new Triceraton infantryman character is on the way which makes sense since it would allow NECA to get more use out of the tools created for Zog. The other characters on the cross-sell are the Mirage-colors Foot Enforcer (coming soon) and the much awaited Rat King, a figure that was shown off last year at San Diego Comic Con.

“Ok, I’ll give it a try, but I can only draw stick figures.”

Out of the box, Kirby stands just a tick over the 6″ mark. He’s featured in a green sweater over a pale yellow, collared, shirt with blue slacks and brown loafers. It’s a simple figure, but it’s brightly painted with liberal use of black linework to give it that comic “pop” the line is known for. Kirby’s face is a mixture of excitement and concentration like his mind is working in overdrive to come up with something imaginative to capture on his pad of paper. The likeness to the artwork is very well done and, in turn, the likeness to the actual Jack Kirby is pretty solid as well. It’s a comic book version of Kirby and I think it works pretty well to capture how he probably looked in the 60s and 70s. There aren’t any obvious paint blemishes on my figure and everything appears to be in order.

The blaster doesn’t really fit the new turtle bodies all that well. It gets hung-up on the elbow pad.

What do you give an action figure of a comic book artist for accessories? Why, a pencil and paper, of course! Kirby has his pencil affixed with the magic stone. It’s this teeny, tiny, little item that is exceptionally painted for something so small. I’m not seeing any slop on the black thread holding the purple stone in place which is really impressive. Kirby has a set of fists, but he also has a right hand that is fixed into a pencil holding position to accept the accessory. I do question the wisdom of doing it this way. While it’s impressive how well the little pencil turned out, making it part of the hand mold might have made more sense as I fear this item getting lost. Kirby also has a wide gripping, left, hand and he’ll need it to hold his pad of paper. It’s a spiral-bound notebook and on one side is a sketch of Donatello from that issue with the special arm canon Kirby conjures up for him and on the rear is a demonic-looking character. Kirby also has a set of more standard gripping hands should you wish to give him some weapons or something, but I don’t know why you would.

This new version of the Gravitic Equalizer also lacks a lot of the paint hits as the one that came with the Fugitoid.

Also included in the box is a familiar accessory. It’s the blue arm canon (dubbed the Gravitic Equalizer by Kirby) from the Donatello one-shot which was previously released with Fugitoid. This time it has considerably less paint as it’s just all blue with black linework. The back of the box shows Kirby paired with the more recent, Jim Lawson, Donatello, but this accessory is meant for the original Eastman/Laird turtles that NECA did way back in 2008. I had no success getting this thing onto the newer turtles as they have bigger arms. Maybe some heat and persistence could cure that? The biggest accessory though is this little, red and gray demon from that very same issue. This little guy was created by Eastman and Laird, but very much looks like something Jack Kirby would have dreamt up. He’s about 3.125″ tall and features basic articulation at the head, shoulders, and hips. There’s more paint on this guy than a whole wave of Marvel Legends and he has this little hammer accessory. It’s gray with black shading and looks pretty neat. His hands aren’t the most pliable so you may want to heat them up if you want him to get a real good grip on it.

Kirby also comes with a little buddy.

Articulation for Kirby is pretty solid and typical of the more human characters we see in NECA’s cartoon TMNT line. He’s got a ball-jointed head, hinged pegs at the shoulders, double-elbows that feature a hinged ball peg at the top and bottom, forearm swivel, wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally, ball-jointed waist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ankle swivel, ball-hinged feet, and an ankle rocker. The shirt overlay will limit his movement in the torso, but his arm range is a plus and he won’t have any issue sketching on that notepad. The NECA double elbows are in effect and I know some people hate how these look. I’ve always maintained I think they look okay on sleeved arms like this so I’m fine with their use here. I like the extra forearm swivel they provide and I like that the hinged ball at the ankle pegs into the shin so we get a little extra swivel there. The only thing I don’t love is the “diaper” at the crotch which restricts leg movement. I can see a lot of collectors wanting to pair this figure with a 1:12 scale chair and desk and getting him to sit might be a problem.

And when I say little I do mean little.

A figure of a comic book artist isn’t as exciting as that of a ninja or a cyborg, but the fact that it’s Jack Kirby certainly adds a tantalizing layer to it. I can’t tell if this is a figure NECA will have a hard time moving a lot of units for or if it’s the type of figure that’s going to do very well as non-TMNT collectors may jump at the chance of owning a small version of The King. It’s a tremendously fun homage and I think my only true critique is I do wish it could have come with a chair and drafting table. Even if it upped the cost or we had to drop the little demon guy, I would have done it. I can see people creating displays of Kirby at a desk drawing away with a shelf over his head of his many creations in dramatic action poses. This is a fun one and I’m sure it was a dream come true for Kevin Eastman to make this figure a reality.

Kirby is going to hang out on my shelf with the O.G. turtles

Kirby is currently hitting Target stores as part of the NECA Haulathon event, but expect him to be made available at other retailers in the not too distant future. At Target, he’ll set you back $35 which I think is a pretty good price for this one.

Check out more from NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pulled from the pages of Mirage Studios:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Triceraton Zog

Haulathon 2023 has brought some pretty big releases to NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. And I mean big in a literal sense. REX-1 was tall and hefty and the multi-armed clone of Shredder was no slouch either. Those two seem to pale in comparison to Zog, the Triceraton warrior from NECA’s…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Fugitoid

I’m having a hard time coming up with an action figure line that has had retail releases separated by more than a decade. I don’t mean long-running lines of figures like G.I. Joe or Marvel Legends which have been around for decades, I mean a line that was started, ended, then re-started like NECA’s line…

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by Joe

NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

When it comes to the popularity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a lot of the credit goes to Playmates Toys. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the characters born out of a joke. Credit them for having the vision to think this joke had appeal beyond their small circle as they self-published Teenage Mutant Ninja…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, toys

April 8, 2024

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super Son Goku Ultra Instinct – Toyotarou Edition

By Joe
Still Goku’s most powerful form.

It’s sort of interesting to me that the first Dragon Ball action figure I review after the passing of creator Akira Toriyama is one based off of the artwork of his protege – Toyotarou. Toyotarou basically lived the dream of fanfic artist and writer turned official. It’s rumored that he worked on the fan-fic manga Dragon Ball AF, though I don’t know if that’s ever been confirmed or refuted, and he was the artist and writer for Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission. All of this work within the Dragon Ball universe must have put him on Toriyama’s radar for it was he who selected Toyotarou to be the artist for the Dragon Ball Super manga.

This figure comes in a much larger box than usual.

As a celebration of Toyotarou’s contributions to Dragon Ball and to also celebrate 15 years of S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ball releases, Bandai decided to release this special Toyotarou edition of the previously released Ultra Instinct Son Goku figure from Dragon Ball Super. The figure has been outfitted with new face plates to better reflect Toyotarou’s art style, which really isn’t all that different from Toriyama’s. The main feature seems to be narrower eyes which have a different sharpness about them. Toyotarou was also able to influence the expressions we have here and the figure received a slight re-deco to more reflect the colorization of the manga vs the anime. To cap it off, this release comes in an oversized box which also includes a book. Titled the Dragon Ball S.H.Figupedia, it catalogs all of the figures released in the line and also includes some short interviews and quotes from the people who are closest to the line. The only omission of note is Toriyama himself which is a bit of a shame. Maybe Dragon Ball action figures just weren’t his thing?

And the box is much larger than usual because it has this book all about the S.H.Figuarts line.

The figure itself is a reissue so it’s going to be pretty familiar to anyone who has the old figure. It’s also familiar to really anyone who has purchased a Goku from this line. For me, I never got the initial figure and there’s actually a lot more “new” here than I would have expected. He does share a lot of parts with one of the Goku figures I have and that’s the Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken edition. Both figures feature the same legs and arms, though for this figure the hole for the sleeves in the shoulder has been removed. The belt piece is different since it needed to include the tattered remains of Goku’s blue undershirt and the torso is completely different since this Goku is bare-chested. Basically every Goku uses the same hands and feet while the heads are obviously completely different. I believe the main hair piece is the same as before too, though it may have been modified for these new faces as these key-into the sculpt in a unique manner from what I’ve been exposed to.

There’s certainly new stuff here, but from the waist down these two figures are the same
Ultra Instinct lends itself well to simple, calm, posing.

Goku stands at roughly 5.75″ to the top of where his head should be. The hair is a nice, pearl, silver and it’s an opaque piece of plastic, not translucent like some special edition figures we’ve seen. The ears on all of the faces are slightly larger as that is something Toyotarou feels is a part of his take on Goku and I honestly wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t point it out in the included interview. The facial details are very sharp and crisp as this continues to be a real strength for the line. The torso and arms have sculpted battle damage, but no paint to bring them out. There is a slight wash to the torso and shoulders, a soft pink or orange which does give the figure a nice bit of warmth. It’s not on the rear of the torso which looks cold as a result. There appears to a hint of a dark wash to the pants which I mostly notice in the crotch and at the tips of the frayed parts. Otherwise, paint is mostly reserved for the wrist bands, boots, and some of the exposed flesh of the legs. The colors match well throughout and I am still quite fond of this torn gi sculpt. All in all, a nice looking version of Goku.

I’m really digging this eyes closed portrait.
They never stood a chance.

The different faces and hair help to bring this figure to life. Out of the box, Goku has the silver hair that most resembles the shape of his natural hair, but he also has a windswept version to swap to for action shots. Both look very nice and it will be hard to settle on a display for very long. His default face is a stoic one, but he also has a yelling portrait, side-eye, clenched teeth, and an eyes closed option. The eyes closed option is pretty damn cool and suits this form rather well, though it’s hard to turn-down how expressive the opened eyes are. I’m not normally into the side-eye options, but this one is like a glare. Whoever is getting the side-eye treatment from Goku is really pissing him off. For hands, the usual assortment is at play here: fists, martial arts posed, Kamehameha, and open. Nothing really special there and no effect part was included. That’s the only downgrade from the initial release which had a charging blast effect. It would have been nice to get one of those, though we have received quite a few of late. Really, a new aura would have been awesome as Ultra Instinct has this thick, almost syrupy, silver aura at times in the anime. It would have been fun to see Tamashii Nations attempt that.

The wind swept hair is a nice touch.
Maybe I should have grabbed Jiren after all so this Goku would have someone to battle?

The articulation for this Goku is virtually the same as the many other Goku figures we have received over the years save for the most recent Legendary Super Saiyan version which is on an all new body. I’ll link to some at the end of this entry if you want the full write-up, but suffice to say it all works just as well here, if not better. And it’s only better because there’s no shirt to have to deal with, but that was never a huge hindrance anyway. He actually can’t bring his arms across his chest any better than other figures and maybe a touch less. You just don’t have the sleeve flaps to fiddle with which is nice. I also can’t tell if there is a hinged peg setup in the diaphragm or if there’s just a little play on joint itself. It doesn’t lift as high as the other Goku figures, if so, but the clearance is fine and you get some forward and back articulation. It’s a well articulated Goku and the only things I dislike is the hinged ball peg at the head and the ball peg ankles.

Goku’s determined face.

The included book is basically the flagship accessory for this figure. Is that better than a blast effect? Yeah, kind of. Only because the book is unique and pretty well done. There isn’t anything truly revealing in it, no earth-shattering details about the development of the line or anything like that. It’s mostly just a celebration of the line and the product shots inside are all from the various solicitations we’ve seen in the past. I was hoping for a tease or maybe a reveal at the end of the book, but there’s nothing like that in it. It basically includes up to the Mecha Frieza figure, which is about to be released, and nothing beyond that. In terms of figures that have been revealed, it’s already out of date, but it probably would have been impossible for that to be avoided unless they had prototypes available for photography well in advance of the solicitations. Perhaps they could have done something to future-proof it a little via concept art or renders, but it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. It’s fun to flip through and the quality is pretty standard stuff. It’s 143 pages and in full color. There’s a dust cover on it, though it is a soft cover book. I like stuff like this so this was a selling point for me. Some people might not care and want more out of the figure for 80 bucks.

The book should be pretty fun for those who have been into this line for years.

The Ultra Instinct Son Goku – Toyotarou edition is a solid release for Bandai and Tamashii Nations. The figure captures the Toyotarou aesthetic rather well and I think it’s an improvement over the original release. It just stinks for those who missed out on that figure and wanted this one and had no interest in paying for the book. The figure doesn’t come with a whole lot and is basically like a 50 dollar release for the line meaning you’re paying about 30 bucks for the book and fancy packaging. When the first edition of this figure came out I wasn’t really sold on the Ultra Instinct design so I passed on it. I’ve warmed to it a bit since so I was happy about this new version as well as the included book. Yeah, I do wish there was an effect part or something else in the box, but I’m fairly content. I’m curious how many more Goku reissues on this body are to come. It feels like we’re on the verge of Bandai moving to a new body for the star of Dragon Ball and I’ll be curious to see if that does indeed happen. This figure was a Premium Bandai exclusive where the MSRP was $80. It’s sold out so if you want it you will have to track one down elsewhere. Maybe you’ll be able to get it for less if you don’t want the book? More likely, it will cost you more.

You like Goku? We’ve got Goku:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan 3 Son Goku

I believe I have touched on it before, and it’s also probably common knowledge among fans of Dragon Ball, that the story was supposed to end with Gohan’s triumph over Perfect Cell. Goku was dead and gone having sacrificed himself to save the world, but his son would carry on his legacy in his own…

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by Joe

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April 4, 2024

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Bartman

By Joe
Bartman! The figure you want?

When I concluded my review of wave 1 of The Simpsons Ultimates! from Super7 I was thinking that I’d be back with more reviews later in the year. That was in February of 2023. We are now in April of 2024 and finally wave two has arrived (my original order was place January 5th, 2022). I don’t know what the deal was, but for whatever reason The Simpsons got really backed up at Super7. Some of it was probably due to the licensor in Disney which we know forced the company to remove a cigarette smoking head from the Krusty figure. My understanding is the head was approved by The Simpsons team at 20th Century Television, but once it got to Disney it had to go. They have a strict no smoking policy when it comes to merchandise and while it was disappointing, I get it. Did that one alteration cause this line to get so severely delayed? Maybe, because waves 3 and 4 shipped right behind it. Unfortunately, there were more issues.

He’s a little guy.

Super7’s co-founder Brian Flynn announced in an interview on the Robo Don’t Know YouTube channel earlier this year that Simpsons (and their relationship with Disney) was dead. He didn’t elaborate except to say that the two companies didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Disney didn’t “get it” when it came to the Super7 business model. And maybe that’s because no one can figure that out? I thought about making a post about that interview here and the line’s cancellation, but realized it would just be a rant and I don’t really do rants. Super7’s approach to The Simpsons has been asinine. I’ve been a defender of the episode-specific approach of the company’s figures, but I’m also not dense. I can see all over social media and on YouTube the response to the line which has been “Where’s the regular family?” In that very same interview the line was announced as cancelled, Flynn talks about the importance of heavy hitters and recognizable characters to a wave of action figures. The reference is to ThunderCats, but for whatever reason that logic wasn’t applied to The Simpsons. Super7 figured that out way too late because they revealed a fifth wave which was going to include Marge (with Maggie), Lisa, and Groundskeeper Wily all in their normal, everyday, attire. Too little, too late, because the line is ending with the fourth wave.

Bartman is in some respects an action figure I really like. It’s pretty well made and looks like the character it’s supposed to. It’s also a terrific encapsulation for why this line is a failure. Before we get into that, let’s just talk about Bartman the action figure. It comes in the standard Ultimates! box with cloud-covered slipcover with an image of Bartman on the back and a note on which episode he first appeared in. Removing the slipcover reveals the figure inside behind a window box. These slipcovers are supposed to be going away soon, but at least it’s uniform for now with the first wave of The Simpsons.

Does he scale with Poochie? I have no idea, but this is what the two look like together.

Out of the box, Bartman stands at approximately four and a half inches. This puts the top of his spiky hair right at about chest level when compared with wave one’s Deep Space Homer. Bartman is probably a little too big for perfect scale, but it seems okay enough. As this is Bartman, it’s Bart Simpson with a cape and cowl mimicking Batman. This was mostly a licensing thing back in the early 90s, but Bartman did appear in the Season Three episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” which is where most of the inspiration for this figure comes from. The cowl is part of the sculpt and painted a dark purple. The shirt is Bart’s traditional orange which is in keeping with the episode, though most Bartman depictions outside of the show featured a light blue shirt. That would have made for an obvious variant, but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen now. Bartman has his blue shorts and blue sneakers and most of the figure appears to be colored plastic, but with a matte finish to reduce that shiny, plastic, look. The yellow parts of the limbs lack that finish, unfortunately, but it stands out less with a small figure.

From what I’ve been able to ascertain, this smiling head is not supposed to feature a side-eyed glance.

The paint on the head is pretty crisp. There will likely be minor imperfections around the eyes of most figures, but nothing egregious. Unfortunately, the pupils on mine are not aligned properly giving him a side-eye portrait. This appears to be uncommon based on images I’ve seen online. The cowl helps lessen the need for more of an outline on those eyes, something I felt Homer and Moe from wave one would have benefitted from. His default portrait features a toothy smile and it looks fine. There’s no black linework on his teeth, but that might have been overkill if present. Bartman does feature a cape, but for some reason it’s blue. His cape and cowl should match, and I don’t know if the shade of the cowl is even the right purple, but it’s close enough to the show. It also has a bow on it for some reason, which also doesn’t match the show. The bow matches the licensing art, but the shirt doesn’t – pick a lane, Super7! Bartman features a utility belt and I think it came from a video game. For a second, I thought it might be from “The Homer They Fall,” but that episode features a completely different belt. It’s thankfully easily removable and just slides right off the figure. The factory also missed (or whoever approved the paint sample missed it) the white circles on the inner half of Bart’s shoes. The circle is sculpted on his feet, but they were left blue like the rest of the foot.

This portrait is an odd choice.
Bart definitely needs his trusty slingshot.

Bartman comes with a whole bunch of accessories from that episode I mentioned earlier. He has four sets of hands: fists, relaxed, style posed, gripping. He also has a ninth hand clutching a wad of money. For head portraits, we get two extra: stoic and worried. The stoic head is bizarre in that his mouth is in a smile position, but his eyelids are partially closed. I don’t know what Super7 was going for, he just looks high. The worried look is fine and it pairs well with another accessory, or if paired with the money hand it can make him look desperate to purchase Radioactive Man number 1, but why no angry portrait? Most Bartman images feature an angry, or determined, expression and that’s even true of a lot of the episode. Hell, just look at the reference art on the damn box. It’s an odd omission.

Bartman can’t fly, so he kind of needs a skateboard to get around.
I’m so glad he comes with his trusty…bird’s nest?

For the rest of the stuff, we get Bart’s green skateboard. It features working wheels and has the familiar orange stripe down the center and a single peg for one of Bart’s feet. There’s the issue of Radioactive Man number 1 and the printing of the cover looks okay. It’s not a perfect recreation, and the back is blank, but it’s okay. There’s a bird’s nest which features a lone, white, bird and the remnants of the comic inside it. It’s an impressive paint job, but what the hell am I going to do with this? Bartman also has his trusty slingshot. He doesn’t have a back pocket to store it in, but it’s sculpted like it’s being drawn and the figure can do an okay job of simulating such a pose. Lastly, we get Santa’s Little Helper with Radioactive Man number 1 in his maw. The front legs and head swivel so it’s not a slug figure and overall he looks good. I wish he had an action pose head simulating him shaking it back and forth like how we see swirling effects for characters that have weapons they swing (think Thor’s hammer accessory from Hasbro, or Michelangelo’s whirling nunchaku effect) in circular motions. Or just a regular Santa’s Little Helper head to swap, but that would make too much sense.

At least Santa’s Little Helper is a nice inclusion.

The articulation for Bartman is nothing we haven’t seen before. A double ball-pegged head lets him look around reasonably well with little room to look up and down. Ball-hinged shoulders let his arms rotate and go out to the side while the single jointed elbows swivel and bend about ninety degrees. Wrists rotate and hinge and all of the hinges are horizontal in nature. There’s a ball joint at the waist for swivel and some tilt, though the t-shirt restricts a lot of that. The legs won’t go out to the side for full splits or kick forward all the way, but the range is probably enough for Bartman. The knees bend less than ninety degrees and the ankles feature hinges with limited range and acceptable ankle rockers. The cape is wired, so it has some pose-ability as well. It’s not big enough to do anything crazy, but it will work to simulate motion if you put Bartman on his skateboard or in a flight stand.

“Umm, Krusty? Your robe is open…”

Objectively speaking, this is a solid action figure. It moves well enough and it looks pretty good, though some of the flaws feel inexcusable at this price range. As a Simpsons fan though, I am so annoyed by this release. The cape is the wrong color and has a stupid bow on it that shouldn’t be there. The belt is useless and not from the episode this figure is drawing inspiration from and it along with the bird’s nest could have been scrapped for something better. How about, oh I don’t know, a plain Bart Simpson head?! Would that have been so hard? And if you’re thinking of painting one of the existing heads, the cowl is part of the sculpt and it will look awful if you were to do that. We don’t even get the most suitable Bartman portrait nor do we get a normal Santa’s Little Helper. Super7 went out of their way to deny us a regular Bart figure with a bunch of useless junk in the box and then they go on YouTube and act surprised that sales weren’t as good as they expected and can’t understand why Disney won’t just let them do what they want. I don’t normally do this, but whoever was in charge of this line at Super7 should be demoted or outright fired. It is the most asinine, stubborn, absurd approach to marketing a toy line that I have ever seen. At some point during these years of development Super7 could have added a Bart head to the package. “We hear you, we screwed up, here’s the thing you’re asking for,” but instead they dug in their heals, didn’t even bother putting a Simpson in Wave 3, stuck another Homer variant in Wave 4, then threw their hands in the air when it all went to shit.

“Finally, Radioactive Man #1 is mine.”

If you want a Bartman figure, this is fine. If the imperfections are going to ruin it for you, then by all means give it a pass. And if you’re on the fence, considering that the line is dead you will probably save yourself some money if you wait. I preordered all of Wave Two from Super7 directly as a show of good faith and to tell them I want more Simpsons. How did that work out for me?

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Deep Space Homer

Slowly but surely I am clearing out all of the action figure preorders I placed in the year 2021. Of the ones that had been remaining, the line I was most looking forward to experiencing was the line of Super7 Ultimates! based on The Simpsons. It was August of 2021 when these suckers went up…

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by Joe

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Moe

Our first two looks at the inaugural wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons have been two very episode specific takes. One was Deep Space Homer from the episode of the same name where Homer went to space and the figure presents the character in his space suit. The second figure was Poochie,…

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by Joe

Super7 The Simpsons Ultimates! Robot Itchy & Scratchy

We’re back with the fourth, and final, review of the inaugural wave of Super7 Ultimates! from The Simpsons. And today, you’re getting a two for one as we’re looking at two figures: Robot Itchy and Robot Scratchy. This pair hails from the Season 6 episode “Itchy & Scratchy Land” which was one part Westworld and…

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by Joe

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April 2, 2024

NECA TMNT Toon Punk Disguise Turtles

By Joe
They call themselves punks, but look more like poseurs.

Another year, another Haulathon. Haulathon, and the very similar Fall Geek Out, have become basically the only instances each year where NECA releases Target exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise as well as non-exclusive merchandise. It’s honestly not a lot of fun as it just creates a frenzy of panic where collectors aren’t sure what to expect. Will there be enough stock? Will any of this ever come back? Can I afford to miss out? Can I afford to not miss out?! I think last year I dropped over 400 bucks for this thing as there was something in the neighborhood of five two-packs, an accessory set, and some solo figures. You have to play the game though if you want to stay up-to-date with your collection, and after many trips to Target this past week I was at least able to land perhaps the most sought after this season: the Punk Disguise Turtles four-pack.

The spread. Only items not pictured are the extra hands.

The “punk” turtles is the name attached to the boys when they opt to go with leather jackets and sunglasses as a disguise over their traditional trench coats and fedoras. They popped up in the first mini series, albeit in different colors from what this box set represents. They showed up again for Usagi Yojimbo’s debut episode and it’s those outfits that NECA decided to go with. That means a black leather jacket for Leonardo, a dark gray leather jacket for Michelangelo, a brown leather jacket for Raphael, and a brown bomber jacket for Donatello. All four sport color-coded sunglasses with no bandana underneath and some fashionable high top sneakers. Going back to when I was a kid, I always thought this was a profoundly goofy look for the turtles. How on earth is this an actual disguise? Anyone who would see them would not be fooled at all. And why is it that adding a jacket makes them look even more naked than usual? It’s funny, and the whole show was pretty goofy so I am down for these types of releases from NECA that highlight just how goofy the show could get.

What kind of grocery store lets pants-less turtles in to do their shopping?

The four-pack is just that, a four pack of the turtles in these goofy attires. It comes in the now standard window box with toy photography on the sides and rear as well as a cross-sell of other figures. No flap or original artwork this time which is kind of nice since I won’t be tempted to save yet another box. These figures were sculpted by Josh Sutton and Tomasz Rozejowski. I don’t have a box from the Turtles in Disguise set handy and I’m curious if that’s where Sutton’s credit comes from as there are some parts shared. Then again, the hands in this set go way back to Trevor Zammit’s sculpts and he doesn’t get a credit. Either way, I do know that Rozejowski did a lot of the sculpting for this set which is mostly new stuff. Basically the neck, hands, and thighs are reuse. The bits inside the figures are likely reused as well, but the arms, torso overlays, shins, and shoes are new. The plastron is either new or heavily modified for the overlays which glue into the spot where the belt buckle normally would be. The back is hollow so these guys lack a shell, but there is a piece of the shell visible where the jackets end and that’s new.

The Turtle Van has plenty of room for groceries. It’s the ultimate Mom-mobile.

Obviously, the heads are all new and we basically get 3 identical ones and one unique head. The identical ones are all maskless and feature a large smile. The sunglasses peg into the sides of the head and have been glued in place, all except for the right side of my Raphael. It’s a good turtle likeness and I kind of wish the sunglasses were removable. These heads do not separate so what you see is what you get and they’re not compatible with the Turtles in Disguise heads. Michelangelo gets his own, unique, expression which is a big, toothy, grin. I do wish there was more variety here, even if it was just one more unique portrait to break up the display.

At least Usagi has sense enough to conceal his whole body, these dorks are going to blow his cover.

In true NECA fashion just about everything is painted. Even the parts molded in green plastic have some kind of overcoat to create a matte finish. It’s pretty clean too. Careful inspection of the shoes or the kneepads will turn up a blemish here or there, but nothing extreme. There’s a liberal amount of black linework on these figures throughout both the jacket and the physical anatomy. What’s not present is the usual two-tone approach to cel-shading NECA often goes with. It’s a feature of the line that is growing inconsistent the further we go. I’m not necessarily bothered by the omission so long as NECA keeps up the matte appearance and linework, but it may bother some people if they were expecting it.

Oh crap, I think I pissed them off with that “dorks” comment. Well, except Michelangelo who is apparently indulging in his favorite plant.

One of the big selling points for this set outside of the funny disguises are the alternate portraits. Each turtle comes with a more “punk” option that is an optional head with angry eyes and a mohawk. Once again, Michelangelo is the odd duck as he has these drowsy eyes (I’m sure other people will refer to these eyes as something else) with some vegetation on his head. This is from an episode where Michelangelo had to dress up like a plant to lure in a Seymour-like carnivorous plant. Maybe we’ll get the rest of the outfit in another set? The punk looks are from a European Tour episode, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t really remember them personally, but they look fun. And best of all, these ones are compatible with past sets as they separate below the bandana making these mouth options available for your other figures. At least, in theory they do, but these won’t work very well with any of the past versions of the Turtles in Disguise. I have both a matte set and a glossy one and I can say the full head-swap to these punk options look okay, but mixing the old eye parts with the new mouth parts looks pretty bad. The new Pizza Club editions of the turtles (single packed turtles being sold at Target now) should match them perfectly, but I’m personally not buying yet another set of turtles just to do that.

It’s great that the extra heads separate below the bandana for extra display options, but you’re not going to get much utility out of them unless you get the new “Pizza Club” release of the turtle figures.
The old mouth parts also aren’t going to work very well. They also don’t really fit on these new bodies because they’re too big.

The extra heads are, by far, the best included accessories, but we do have some more stuff. This set doesn’t seem as packed as that old Turtles in Disguise set and is more in-line with the recent four-packs. We get the standard assortment of hands: finger pointing, sai-gripping, open palms, and thumbs up hands. The four turtles all have to share those sets. Each turtle is equipped with gripping hands out of the box with Michelangelo and Donatello having the horizontal hinged hands and Leonardo and Raphael the vertical hinge. We also get two bags of groceries. They’re in brown paper bags and contain different contents. The items inside are fully sculpted and painted, but nothing is removable. One bag appears to contain food while the other stuff for Donatello’s lab. It’s a bit odd seeing the turtles purchasing so many vegetables, but this was the Usagi episode after all. Maybe they were for him?

Oh look, another skateboard and boom box…
At least this little robot dude is new.

We also get yet another skateboard. This one is a bit smaller than the last and has a more weathered appearance to it. It also rolls and I suppose it’s the best looking skateboard we’ve received so far. Speaking of things we probably didn’t need more of, there’s a pizza. No box or pan on this one, just toppings that appear to be pepperoni, mushroom, black olives, and banana peppers? Pretty tame by the show’s standards. Did you say you wanted another boom box for your turtles? Well you’re in luck because we got another one! I think this is the third one and it’s much smaller. It appears to be of the dual cassette variety and the turtles can hold it on their shoulder which they really need to be able to do in order to complete the look. Also included is a little ray gun with a red star on the handle. I have no idea where this is from, but it’s certainly from an episode. Lastly, is a little toy robot who is in a static pose like it’s running away from something or someone. It’s cute, though it’s another pull from the show I don’t have a specific memory of.

Even though these are the more “matte” Turtles in Disguise, you can still see how the punk turtles have a much darker shade of green for their skin tone.
Despite that, I think the new heads on the old bodies look okay. Just don’t try mixing and matching mouth and bandana parts.

The articulation this time around is a little different, but still pretty familiar. The head, neck, hips, and knees are all standard stuff from NECA TMNT releases of yonder while the big change is the inclusion of double-jointed elbows. Since these arms needed to be sleeved, it meant redoing the old single-jointed elbows with something better. I don’t know why they didn’t redo the elbows years ago for the regular turtles, and had they done so for the new Pizza Club versions they may have suckered me in once more, but it’s nice to have. I will say that I had a hard time initially with the thigh swivel on these figures. I had to invert them to get the proper leverage to loosen it up and they’re still pretty tight. I also wish there was a swivel at the ankle, but it looks like they just glued the feet onto the stumps of their shins. The ankles are not good as the range on both the hinge and rocker is pretty poor. And because of that, these figures can be more challenging to stand than expected. I’ll also add that my Donatello’s sunglasses head is pretty loose on the ball peg, though the alt head snaps on fine. Leonardo has a peg protruding from his left thigh that I’ll have to try and work deeper into the thigh with some heat. Otherwise, these are NECA TMNT figures. They’re going to move okay, but they’re hardly what one would consider super-articulated.

While a flying V guitar doesn’t strike me as punk rock, it’s certainly better than a keytar.
The one old figure that can make use of these new mouth parts.

This set of action figures is basically an expensive gag. If you are like me and always wanted to have these versions of the turtles on your shelf then you’re probably going to want this set. If they look too stupid to you though then I would say don’t bother. The extra mouth parts aren’t work the asking price of $150, especially since they’re not truly compatible with the old figures. I feel like NECA puts a Turtle Tax on all of their TMNT four packs and this one is no exception. The value is pretty poor as it’s putting each turtle at 37.50 a piece. If you parsed this set out into four separate releases there’s no way you’d find that much value in each one considering each figure only has one extra set of hands, one extra portrait, and an accessory or two. For the price, I feel like we should have got more extra parts to use with the other turtles or the two jackets seen in Season One which were red and white. With a modified approach, the jackets and arms could have been swappable pieces on at least Leo and Raph. If the mohawks and Mikey’s floral arrangement plugged into the bandana knot somehow that also would have given the new heads more utility. It is what it is though and that’s basically the going rate for a NECA four-pack feature the turtles. And if you’re curious, the new Pizza Club releases are $37 a piece and each only has one head, so I guess this four-pack is a better value?

Pay no attention to the Michelangelo driving the van…

If you’re looking to score a set for yourself then keep checking Target. These guys were part of the first week of Haulathon which seemed to have an unannounced street date of March 29th. It’s expected they’ll be shipping again during April so if you missed the initial drop it’s not too late. There will also be online drops on Fridays in April and this set should be a part of that as well. And if after that you’re still missing out, I’d say keep an eye on NECA’s webstore as they tend to make the turtle four-packs available through there as part of a second run. You’ll have to wait longer and pay their sometimes awful shipping fees (the flat rate option appears to be dead), but at least you should be able to get this set without having to resort to the secondary market. Unless you’re reading this in 2030, then you’re pretty well screwed.

NECA TMNT Turtles in Disguise

When NECA started on this journey into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon it first began with a video game. An adaptation of a video game, to be more precise. The 2016 San Diego Comic Con exclusive contained a four pack of the famous, green, pizza destroyers in a pixel deco. They were the first…

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by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT Accessory Set

We’re well into the cold of winter and spring feels like it’s just around the corner which means it must be time for another NECA Haulathon. Haulathon, if you don’t recall from last year, is basically a tandem promotion between NECA and Target which was just an excuse to get NECA some more visibility in…

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by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT The Tale of Usagi Yojimbo

The early issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles released by Mirage Studios include a few guest stars here and there. One of them comes from the pages of Usagi Yojimbo, the samurai rabbit by the name of Miyamoto Usagi. The pairing of samurai rabbit and ninja turtles was a big enough success that it migrated…

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by Joe

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March 29, 2024

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan Son Goku – Legendary Super Saiyan

By Joe
At long last, the legendary Super Saiyan has shown itself!

I can remember a time in my life when I was just dying to see Goku, the hero of Dragon Ball Z, become that which was prophesized: a Super Saiyan! The seed for such a transformation wasn’t planted very early in the show and really only started being mentioned as the original version of the English dub was nearing its end, but it only took a cursory search of the internet to find out what a Super Saiyan was. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Z wasn’t the hit FUNimation hoped it would be and that original direct-to-syndication order of a hacked-up 65 episodes was where it all ended for a long time. Only after interest was rekindled as we approached the new millennium did FUNimation go back to the localization process. Finally, on October 18th 1999, the legendary hero who was prophesized appeared on US airwaves (more than 8 years after doing so in Japan).

Goku’s initial Super Saiyan transformation was captured in plastic years ago by Bandai and Tamashii Nations. Dubbed “Awakening Super Saiyan,” it was one of the first releases in the S.H.Figuarts line to really catch my eye. I didn’t get it though, nor did I get the World Tour re-release of the figure which came out last year (or late 2022, I can’t remember). Unlike many of the convention exclusive releases in the line over the past few years, the World Tour edition of Super Saiyan Goku did not go up for preorder on the Premium Bandai website. It seemed an odd decision, but I think it was done because this particular figure we’re talking about today went up for preorder around the same time.

Not the proper Frieza to pair with this Goku, but give it time.

Super Saiyan Son Goku – Legendary Super Saiyan is a brand new release that features Goku from a bit later on in his fight against Frieza. The upper part of his gi has been obliterated at this point and his pants are in tatters. The more memorable aspect of this Goku though is just how damn big he got as that fight went on. He is positively jacked, similar to when he overdid it on the Kaio-ken against Vegeta, and his hair somehow seemed to get bigger too. I’ve always wondered if this is how series creator and artist Akira Toriyama envisioned the Super Saiyan transformation at first, then once he decided to make this something basically every Saiyan in the manga could do, decided to dial it back. With Goku as massive as he is against Frieza, there really wasn’t any other place to go with the Super Saiyan look when the characters needed to blow past that barrier. Vegeta in his ascended, buffed-out, state when he takes on Cell isn’t any bigger than Goku was against Frieza.

Look at that smug bastard.

Nonetheless, Goku looks pretty cool during the closing moments of his battle against Frieza and it’s high-time the look was captured in plastic. And since the base 2.0 Goku figure was feeling long in the tooth, it’s just plain nice to get a Goku that’s essentially all new parts. Even stuff like the hands and feet appear to be new tools. When Bandai revealed this figure in early 2023 it quickly rose to the top of my most anticipated figures for the year. I’ve had it for awhile now and since I’ve been buried under SHF releases ever since 2023 ended, I decided to let this one simmer. I didn’t want to review it when it was too new because maybe recency bias would play a large role in how I felt about it. It was even a bit of good fortune that I stumbled into that Super Saiyan 3 Goku because I got to go from this new figure, to an older Goku, and then back to this one. And after all of that I now feel pretty comfortable in declaring that this is one of my all-time favorite releases in the S.H.Figuarts line.

He even has optional bangs, more of a flying pose I think. They’re a bit gappy though especially around the sideburns.

Let’s start off with the details. Goku stands at around 5.35″ to the top of his face and roughly 6.75″ to the top of his hair. This puts the figure at about the same height as past Goku figures with the main difference being he seems to have a slightly shorter neck, but taller hair. It’s probably more accurate to say his neck isn’t any shorter, but that his traps are much bigger giving off the appearance that his head sits a tad lower. And bigger is definitely the name of the game with this Goku as every part of his body has been blown up for this release. Arms, chest, back, thighs – they’re all noticeably larger in size. Even his feet are bigger and there’s sculpted-in battle damage all over the figure. It’s in the form of lines, or cuts, but they’re only sculpted in. I’m surprised there’s no paint wash to bring them out as from a distance they’re hardly noticeable. Of course, if you collect this line then it’s not a big surprise as Bandai isn’t known for its paint apps. The paint on this figure is limited to light shading on the hair (my preferred approach to Super Saiyan hair) and shading on the pants which makes them brighten the further down the leg your eye travels. The boots have some yellow trim and red rope and the details of the face are painted. The paint all looks pretty good, the yellow on the boots could have been more saturated, but there’s not much to speak of.

He also has this alternate hair and bangs combo for when he’s really getting mad.

The sculpt is what is going to win people over with this figure. The hair is huge, but it’s appropriate for the character. The torso is rather messy to look at because of all of the articulation cut into it, but it’s not to such a degree that it’s an eyesore for me. Some may feel differently, but I like what I see. The belt is a floating piece and the tattered remains of the upper part of the uniform are part of the sculpt and it looks really nice. I love the gradient of the orange on the pants and how much it lightens near the bottom. It almost creates the illusion of a glow, an obvious necessity for a Super Saiyan Goku. And I mentioned it before, but it bares repeating, that this is my favorite approach to Super Saiyan hair. It’s molded in the same pale yellow we saw the Super Hero Gohan Super Saiyan head come in, but with some light air-brushing of orange on the front to give it depth. There are no metallic or translucent parts. My only complaint is that his sideburns aren’t part of the hair sculpt so you get an ugly seam with certain looks, but at least the standard bangs hide it.

He does look pretty nice with an aura behind him.

That’s not to say that everything is perfect with this version of Goku. You may have already noticed in my pictures that his chest is a different color than his arms and abs. Depending on your lighting, it’s going to be more obvious. I went with warm lighting waiting until the moment I had the maximum amount of sunlight I was going to have with a mix of white and incandescent light sources. It’s a bit more subtle, but if I had gone with pure white light it would have been even more noticeable. The issue is caused by the factory using a harder plastic for the chest, likely ABS vs the PVC we see elsewhere, which is a shame because I don’t think it needed to. It’s basically a hard overlay, so why not just use the same material as the arms, neck, etc.? My guess it’s a standard operating procedure to use harder plastic for this part of the figure, and no one bothered to try to something else. The other eyesore, for me, is that the pants are real busy around the crotch area. I like the torn parts, but they’re very poofy beneath that giving him a diaper look. Other figures of Goku taper in at the waist and the baggy pants don’t start to flow out from the leg until closer to the knee. This is largely caused by how Bandai has been doing its thigh twists recently and we saw the same with Trunks. I’d like them to stop as we’re not gaining better articulation with this setup, just poofy pants.

Here is where an actual blast would have been nice. Note how from a more head-on angle how the alternate hair also is hardly seamless along the hairline.

This figure also comes loaded with extra stuff. We’re used to getting a wide assortment of hands and 3 or four faceplates, but this Goku comes with even more. For hands, we get a set of fists, martial arts posed, open, clenching, Kamehameha pose, and Kamehameha posed with pegs. The hands all appear to be new sculpts. They have a sharper, more defined, appearance with more pronounced fingernails and bone structure which look really good. For expressions, we get four: smirk, stoic, clenched teeth, and yelling. In what is a unique turn of events, we get two hair options and two bangs options. The standard hair is how Goku looks throughout most of the fight with a collection of bangs hovering over his eyes. The secondary bangs piece has most of the bangs angled up except one piece. I could be wrong, but I think this is how he looked when flying or shooting off a blast. The secondary hair piece has all of his hair shooting up like he’s powering-up. It works great with the yelling face and any aura effects you may have, though the seams around his face are more pronounced with this option. The bangs do come off of this one as well, but they aren’t interchangeable with the others.

We now have a lot of charging Kamehameha effects, but few actual blasts. I only have the itty, bitty, one that came with kid Krillin.

Lastly, we get a charging Kamehameha effect. It’s pretty much the same effect part we’ve been getting a lot lately. For me, this is number four following Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Orange Piccolo, and the Super Saiyan 2 Gohan/Super Saiyan Ghost Goku set. This one is done in a very light, translucent, blue plastic with some white airbrushing on it. It has seven, acrylic, posts that clip in and it can be pegged onto either of the hands with the posts sculpted on. This version feels a little sturdier than some of the other ones I’ve received and plugging in the posts was a lot easier. It’s still a cool and appropriate effect, it’s just a little less special after the fourth one. I’m a little surprised we didn’t get an aura with this release, but recently Bandai unveiled a new aura effect that’s going to be sold with some other effect parts. There’s also a “getting punched” faceplate coming with the new Full Power Frieza so this is one of those releases that will get built out a little more in the future.

All of the extra stuff is wonderful to have, but I was really curious how this Goku would articulate. The older, 2.0 Goku has its issues that are getting harder to overlook as time goes on and this figure represents a chance to push the form forward. And in many ways it does, though it’s probably due less to new approaches to engineering than it is to the figure not having certain limitations to work around such as clothing. The head is on a double-ball peg and there’s a nice range of motion there. The hair isn’t as cumbersome as you may expect, and once combined with the ball joint at the base of the neck, you get all the range a Goku could want. The shoulders are ball-hinged and they peg into a ball and socket joint inside. This means you can raise the arms out to the side on just the hinge which will take the arm past 90 degrees, then use the ball peg inside the torso to raise the shoulders even higher. There is a butterfly joint which allows the figure to bring the arms inside the shoulders so the palms of the hands are practically touching, though it doesn’t let the arms go back very far. The biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows, and ball-hinged wrists all work as well as expected.

A gathering of Goku. Comparing the look of the torn pants on this release to the Kaio-ken version is like night and day.

The torso features a diaphragm joint. It may not be the prettiest in the world, but the joint at least works okay. It feels like a ball joint and it’s best at giving the figure a pivot point and some side-to-side motion. Going forward and back in a crunching motion is limited, but the ball joint at the waste at least helps there, but the ab crunch isn’t significant. At the hips, Bandai went with a soft, rubbery, overlay that goes over the crotch and above it. It’s almost too small to refer to it as a “diaper” because it doesn’t cover any of the thigh. This means it’s very flexible so Goku can kick forward past 90 degrees and also kick back and push on his butt cheeks for added range. Out to the side is no problem, though you may have to finagle the leg in such a way that the thigh slides under the overlay for full splits. The belt will sometimes pop off the sculpted indent on top of the pants, but it’s not too hard to get back into place if it’s even something that bothers you. The knot pegs into the belt and is able to rotate. There is a thigh swivel, though it’s more like a pivot as the range is probably in the neighborhood of 45 degrees. The knees will bend past 90 degrees, but not much beyond that due to the way the pants are sculpted. At the ankles, Bandai finally ditched the ball pegs it had been using for Goku figures and instead gave us nice ball hinges. They still attach via ball pegs so you can pop them out a bit to increase the range. They’re a bit more finicky when it comes to getting them in the best position for stances on your shelf, but much more rewarding than the old setup. The toe hinge is also still present and it’s fine.

This figure is just a couple tweaks away from perfection. The unfortunate thing is that such tweaks are not budget-related, just execution, illustrating how it could have been even better with just a little more effort.

I don’t know if there is anything on the older Goku figures that works better than it does here. I suppose kicking back, but that’s probably it. The articulation cuts in the torso are certainly cleaner on the past figures, but the added cuts here serve a purpose and it’s one they do well at achieving. I don’t think it’s on the level of an Amazing Yamaguchi release where the articulation is so plentiful that it’s ugly, but I can totally understand the person who doesn’t love the aesthetic of this one too. Best of all, the joints are nice and smooth. This is another release for Bandai’s Vietnam factory and it’s, by far, the best figure I’ve handled that has come out of there. The Super Saiyan Trunks – The Boy from the Future was plagued with quality control issues. Not the sort that ruined the figure, but the kind we’re not accustomed to seeing out of Bandai. This figure possesses none of those faults and if it wasn’t printed on the box I would have assumed that it came out of China.

After having this figure for about two months now I have to say I like it more now than I did when I first opened it. This is quite possibly my favorite figure in the line at this point. I’m not even sure which figure even comes close to topping it. Prior to getting this one, I hadn’t really given much thought to which release in this line was my favorite. I really like King Piccolo and I tend to enjoy the figures with more mass. Nappa may have been my favorite, though it’s definitely for the aesthetics and not the articulation as the shoulder pads on him are really cumbersome to work with. Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Vegeta were two that surprised me in how good they are, even if I find the look of that transformation to be so bad it’s good. This Goku however, hits it out of the park. It looks great, moves great, and comes with plenty of stuff. I mentioned an aura effect was almost expected, but I don’t mind its exclusion. If there had been a flight stand though that would have been awesome and really helped push it over the top. In the end, my only real gripes concern the fit of some of the hair pieces and the dis-colored chest piece which are both two things I can overlook. They basically bump it down from a 9.9 to a 9.5 if I were grading on a 10 point scale. If you collect Dragon Ball Z action figures, then this is definitely not the one to miss.

Akira Toriyama April 5, 1955 – March 1, 2024

Postscript: In between writing this and it going live we all received the stunning news that Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama had passed away at the age of 68. The entire manga/anime community mourns his loss and his impact can be felt across the globe. What a remarkable legacy. I have no doubt that the characters he created will live on in some capacity, but they’ll never be quite the same again. This must have been what it felt like when Walt Disney died. R.I.P.

I really enjoyed this release, but I also really liked these ones too:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball GT Super Saiyan 4 Goku

In the world of Dragon Ball, there are varying opinions on which version of the anime is superior. Dragon Ball Z is unquestionably the most popular, but there are people (like me) out there who swear by the original Dragon Ball that came before it. More recently, Dragon Ball Super has entered the fray and…

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by Joe

S.H. Figuarts Piccolo Daimaoh (King Piccolo)

Before there was the noble Piccolo, trainer of Gohan and ally of Goku, there was the evil King Piccolo. Known as Piccolo Daimaoh outside of the US, King Piccolo was the evil purged from the namekian Kame, who would assume the role of guardian of Earth in the world of Dragon Ball. Piccolo was the…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Nappa – Event Exclusive Color Edition

When it comes to my S.H.Figuarts collection, I’ve been able to largely keep to just Dragon Ball. And by Dragon Ball, I mean the original anime and manga that centered on a young boy named Goku. Even though that’s my favorite edition of the venerable series, it doesn’t mean my favorite is the one shared…

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by Joe

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March 26, 2024

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Deluxe Mouse-Jaw

By Joe
Let’s talk about evil robot guy and his mechanical sidekick.

Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can find them basically wherever Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line is sold. The deluxe figures are apparently going to be exclusive to Walmart. These are bigger or more involved figures that will cost you an extra five bucks. I’m not sure if it’s been confirmed that they’re exclusive to Walmart, or just first-run. Like a lot of store exclusives, don’t be shocked if they wind-up elsewhere by the end of the year. Lastly, we have the deluxe figures with included build-a-figure parts. These too will run you an extra 5 bucks vs. a standard figure and they can only be found at Target. And up first from that subline is Mouse-Jaw, the amalgamation of MOTU villain Trap-Jaw and the mechanical menace M.O.U.S.E.R. from TMNT.

I was going to just get the turtle boys, but here I am adding a villain. And a MOTU villain at that.

If you read my review of the Leonardo and Donatello figures from this line then you know I’m not much of a MOTU fan. It just never hit for me as a kid though I did watch the old cartoon and the mostly terrible movie. As a result, I only have surface level memories of the characters and toys from the show, but Trap-Jaw was indeed one such character. I also liked the robotic, or cyborg, type of characters and he seemed pretty neat. And, of course, I am well versed when it comes to Baxter Stockman’s mousers and I’ve owned several mouser toys over the years. This particular combination of characters feels quite clever. Mouse-Jaw (I’m assuming Mouse Trap was unavailable for toy marketing, or maybe Mattel just wanted a name it could trademark if it wanted) stood out among the rest when the first round of figures were revealed. He really looks exactly like one would expect of a mash-up of these two entities. All of the robotic parts on Trap-Jaw have basically been replaced with mouser parts. It’s all in the aesthetics of MOTU Origins, plus it comes with parts to eventually build the Metalhead-Roboto combination: Metal-Roboto (clever, huh?).

All right, that’s just a cool toy.

What kept me from getting this figure right away was not its design, but its price. Twenty five bucks for a retro-inspired action figure feels too rich. Granted, if you get all four of these planned releases you will end up with five figures for 20 bucks a piece – i.e. the standard MSRP for the other figures in the line. The issue there is I still think the 20 bucks is pushing it. Origins is typically in the $15 per figure range, but I’m guessing the extra five bucks is essentially Viacom’s cut for including the turtles. Still, being a TMNT fan and not really a MOTU one, I’ve mostly decided to pass on the MOTU characters. Lucky for me, Target stocked a lot of these guys and it soon became the only figure from the first wave warming the pegs at virtually every Target I’ve gone into over the past month. Perhaps for that reason, or just to make room for the next Target exclusive figure in the line, Mouse-Jaw hit the clearance rack recently knocking the barrier for entry down to $15. In other words, right in line with what I want to pay for this line.

“When your powers combine…”
“…I am flamethrower mouse guy!”

Mouse-Jaw, despite carrying that “deluxe” label, is still your typical MOTU Origins figure. The torso, legs, and left arm are pretty standard and molded in blue plastic, for the most part. His legs do feature some unique sculpting, which may be from past Trap-Jaw figures, and the feet seem new as they resemble mouser feet. What is definitely new is the head which looks like the usual Trap-Jaw portrait, only with a mouser head around it like a helmet. The bottom jaw of the mouser is what forms the famous jaw portion of Trap-Jaw. The face, which is green, looks like a separate piece that’s glued in leaving the eyes and inner mouth as the only parts needing paint. The top of the helmet has a mouser eye painted on it, and the other major new part is the right arm. It’s all in molded, white, plastic and it’s designed to match the white portion of his harness to create the illusion of the entire right side of the character’s body being robotic. The shoulder bares some resemblance to a mouser head and the wrist ends in a canon. It looks pretty cool, though in what is typical of the line the absence of paint harms the aesthetics. Some linework, a wash, or just some painted details on the sculpted bits would have really made this figure stand out even more, but I get it, that’s not what this line is going for.

This makes me wish Hasbro had snuck a mouser into its TMNT x Power Rangers line.

Mouse-Jaw’s chief accessory is an actual mouser. It’s a conventional take on the diminutive robot with a working jaw, swivel in the head, swivels at the hips, and hinges at the ankles. The head also slides a bit on the neck piece if you want Mouse-Jaw to cock him like a shotgun. It has the same chicken posture as always and size-wise is probably right in between the recent mousers from Super7 and NECA. It does lack a way to look up and down and the only paint is the red for the “eye.” Inside the mouth, is another canon and on the rear is what could be confused for a stubby tail, but is really an adapter to plug the robot into Mouse-Jaw’s arm canon. This certainly adds some flair to the display, though it makes Mouse-Jaw harder to stand. It’s especially hard to deal with if you also clip in the included flamethrower effect. Sculpted in translucent yellow-orange plastic, the flamethrower can fit in the mouser canon or Mouse-Jaw’s canon. You can also pop the legs off of the mouser and clip them onto the sides of Mouse-Jaw’s belt. It’s a little goofy looking, but presents a more streamlined mouser gun.

While we wait to assemble Metal-Roboto, his parts can be put to use by other figures.
You can also plug the Metal-Roboto weapons into the gun arm of Mouse-Jaw in case you think he needs a double gun arm.

The only other accessories included are the build-a-figure parts. These include the right arm for Metal-Roboto and a trio of weapon parts: a gun, axe, and claw. There’s also a little, silver, transistor-like accessory that appears to be a hand adapter so Metal-Roboto (or really anyone) can use the extra weapons in place of hands. The arm is done in metallic silver with a light blue forearm. The elbow won’t have much bend to it when the figure comes out, but that’s more of a topic for later. The weapons are molded in a slightly pearl, blue, plastic. There are two ports on the arm, one on the outside of the shoulder and one the top of the forearm, they can plug into and it looks like the third will plug into the figure’s back. It’s a bit of a bummer that Mattel included the right arm instead of the left. That’s because these figures are modular and Mouse-Jaw can use this arm for his own if you wish and it looks kind of cool, but I’m not replacing the mouser arm for it. At any rate, I am interested in completing this version of Metalhead so hopefully the next three figures are of interest to me (and can be had for less than 25 bucks).

At first, I had no idea what purpose this silver piece served.
Then I figured it out and it’s pretty cool.

The articulation for Mouse-Jaw feels like it’s pretty typical of the line. I say this as someone who has only handled the turtle versions previously, but it really is more of the same. Where Mouse-Jaw differentiates itself from those figures is at the head where the jaw is articulated. It doesn’t open that wide, but it’s not nothing. The right shoulder is pretty limited due to the sculpt. You won’t be able to raise the arm out to the side very far, not even 45 degrees, and for some reason the elbow can’t hit a 90 degree bend when it should have been easy to achieve that and then some due to the sculpt. The ankles are also pretty restricted due to the shin sculpt. The ankles are basically useless as a result, which is a shame as that’s the one articulation point I want as much range as possible for assisting with stances. The articulation is worse than the turtles and rather basic. This figure needs to derive its shelf presence via the design more than the posing.

I hope that armor’s fireproof, Donnie.

Despite those limitations, I do like this figure. It’s a fun look, though I do look at it and think to myself it would look a lot better with more painted details. That’s just not this line though and I can’t exactly hold that against it if it’s not what Mattel is striving for. At 25 bucks, it’s definitely overpriced especially if you have no interest in the build-a-figure. At the 15 I paid it’s pretty much right on the money for me. The next figure in the line is a Slash-Faker mash-up called Sla’ker which I’m less interested in. I definitely won’t want to pay full price so hopefully Target ordered a whole bunch of them and I can wait it out. If you get a chance to add this one for the same price I got it at then I think it’s a no-brainer if you’re at all interested in this line.

Like mousers and MOTU? Check these out:

NECA Cartoon TMNT Mousers Pack

It’s been a little while since we had a Turtle Tuesday around here. NECA was keeping me quite busy in March with release after release and really putting a hurting on my wallet. Not only were sets hitting stores, but items were going up on NECA’s website for preorder, all of which require payment upfront.…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Baxter Stockman

I am weak. When Super7 first unveiled its Ultimates! line of figures based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline from Playmates I said I was out. I still had those toys so why did I need 7″ versions of them in 2020? I had NECA and all of the TMNT product being released there,…

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MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Leonardo and Donatello

These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly…

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by Joe

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March 20, 2024

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jean Grey

By Joe
After getting short-changed by toy manufacturers for decades, Jean finds herself with two animated versions in the span of a few years.

If you are reading this the day it goes live then Happy X-Men ’97 Day! Today is the day the long-awaited sequel series to X-Men debuts on Disney+. Rather than fast-track a review of the first two episodes to this blog, I decided instead to do what I most often do: review an action figure! It was in 2020 that Hasbro announced a subline of Marvel Legends based on the 1992 animated series which were released throughout 2021. Arriving in attractive VHS styled boxes, the X-Men line was more dud than hit. I wanted to love it, but it was hard to shake the feeling that Hasbro was just phoning it in. Despite that, I still bought them all and I continue to buy some of the tie-in figures since Hasbro decided not to deliver the full team. That’s why when the first wave of X-Men ’97 action figures arrived last fall I used it to supplement my existing roster of characters by picking up Magneto, Rogue, and Gambit. The figures had an animated look, though they lacked the cel-shading of the VHS line, but were close enough. Just in time for the debut of the series is wave two. It’s comprised mostly of new characters like Goblin Queen and X-Cutioner as well as some redos in the style of X-Men ’97. As a result, it’s a less attractive wave for me since I don’t want letter of the day Magneto and the VHS Cyclops was one of the few figures I actually liked. However, there was one figure in the line that intrigued me even though I had the VHS version: Jean Grey.

The new figure has a bit of a dead eye going on, but it’s better than the old which looks like a duck-faced Sharon Stone.

I’m not sure which figure was my least favorite in the X-Men VHS line from Hasbro, but the fact that Jean is in the running should probably say enough. The figure is dated and Hasbro couldn’t even be bothered to get the color of her costume right, but more than anything, I just hated the portraits. The figure was a re-release of an existing figure with a new paint job as that’s basically all of the effort Hasbro could muster when it came to the line. She had a ponytailed portrait, but it looked nothing like the version of the character from the show. They also included her down hair portrait, even though she never sported that look in that costume during the entire show’s run, and it was a release that just left me all sorts of grumpy in the end. The only positive I could lay on it was that the cel-shading was actually done pretty well given the standards of the line.

I know there are a lot of people who dislike cel-shading on their figures, but this costume needs something because the design is rather plain.

Jean gets a redo with X-Men ’97, and like most of the characters in the show making a return, she still sports a look that’s very similar to her ’92 counterpart. It’s a costume based on the look Jim Lee gave her and based on some of the promotional artwork I’ve seen it looks like she’ll have the ponytail some days, and let her hair down on others. The figure itself comes in the usual blister and Jean has her hair down look on the card despite the default portrait being the ponytail one. The figure stands approximately 6.25″ to the top of the head. Her costume is basically now a pale orange and dark blue. The figure is mostly orange plastic with a V-shape of blue on the front of the torso and a more rectangular one on the back. The shoulder pads are little cuts of blue plastic pinned into the top of the joint. The belt is still separate from the body, but it fits quite snug to the crotch piece. Paint is largely reserved for the face, X logo, and the blue parts of the arms and hands. The blue on the torso appears to be plastic that’s been plugged into the orange portion. The legs have a lot of sculpted details to the costume, but zero paint which give the figure an unfinished look to it. It’s obviously a limitation to some degree of the character design, but some linework in the grooves cut into the legs would have added a lot.

New Jean seems to scale smaller, but I like that. The smaller head relative to the body is a better fit for the source material as well.

The main draw of this figure for me is simply the default portrait. Jean is sporting a very neutral expression to the point where she looks almost bored. The face and ears are at least painted okay, though it’s a little messy around the right ear. The blue trapezoid shape on her forehead is just painted on and lacks presence since it blends in with the dark blue cowl. The hair is a separate piece of bright, orange, plastic. The sculpt is fine, but Hasbro missed a paint hit as her forehead is visible between the top of the cowl and hair and it’s just left blue. Her part is going in the right direction though and her ponytail isn’t stupid long so I consider it a win. Her eyes are also blue this time, which is consistent with the animated series. The prior release went with the comic green eyes. Most of the colors match with the only one being off the crotch piece which is a darker orange. It’s more noticeable in pictures than in person.

Looks like they missed some paint on her forehead. As far as I know, this is true for all of the figures.

The portrait isn’t a homerun, but it’s a solid double and a vast improvement over the VHS figure. And if you’re like me then I have good news as the size of the ball joint on both figures is the same. If you want, you can put this head on the VHS Jean body and the only blemish is the dark blue cowl which should be shaded black. It’s not enough to bother me and since the cel shading was executed well I do think this will be my preferred Jean going forward. I do think the forearms on the new figure are a better match for the original series as well when it comes to the gauntlets she wears, but they’re the wrong color and I don’t know how easy it would be to swap the arms. The shade of orange wouldn’t be an exact match either, but someone more committed than me could definitely kitbash the hell out of these two figures.

She does seem even smaller when put next to Rogue and Bishop.

As for the actual, new, figure, it does some things better than the old while also creating its own issues. For additional accessories, we get the hair down portrait. Swapping is easy and the hair looks fine, but will lock the head down and cut out almost all articulation at the neck. This portrait has a slight smile to it, but it’s again another lifeless face. She looks like a mannequin. Aside from that, it’s at least painted well and the hair hides the ears. The only other accessories is another set of hands. She comes with a right fist and an open left hand. The second set is a style pose pair that are open and very similar (if not the same) as the open hands that have come with past Jeans.

“Look, mom! Double elbows!”

The articulation is an area where this new Jean differentiates itself from the past ones the most. As far as I know, we’re dealing with all new sculpts here. The head is on a double ball peg instead of the hinged ball peg the other Jean has. It’s an improvement, though once again Hasbro buried the lower ball too deep in the neck needlessly limiting the range. She barely has any range looking down and only a little looking up. Rotation and tilt are fine, but Hasbro needs to figure these joints out. The shoulders are standard hinged pegs and she can raise her arms out to the side a full 90 degrees from the body. There’s a biceps swivel past that, pin-less double-jointed elbows, and a swivel and hinge at the wrist. The elbows will bend well past 90, though it’s not the most attractive joint. This Jean can at least get her hands to her forehead though.

Aside from the cowl being a little off, I think this looks pretty good. Certainly an improvement.

In the torso we have…nothing. It’s almost bizarre to see no articulation cut into a torso even though it’s theoretically a cleaner presentation. Instead, we get a ball joint at the waist. It goes forward and back a bit and offers full rotation and tilt. This is in comparison to the prior Jean which had a ball joint in the diaphragm and nothing at the waist. It should be both! Why can’t we have nice things, Hasbro? The hips will go out to the side past 45 degrees, but shy of full splits. Jean can kick forward about 90 degrees, but not back at all due to the shape of her buttocks. There is a thigh twist and the double-jointed knees are pin-less and work fine. The ankle hinge bends back all the way, but not forward very far. The ankle rocker is pretty steep, but there. Lastly, the ponytail just pegs into the back of the standard head and can rotate.

Yup, this is how she’s going to live on my shelf.

Is this new Jean an improvement on the old? Yes and no. There’s a softness to the sculpt, and when combined with the lack of any articulation cut into the torso as well as no paint, it gives the figure a very plain appearance. The softness does appear to at least resemble the animation, though I’m sure the show will feature shading of some kind. I don’t know why Hasbro didn’t get her a ball joint in the diaphragm as that would have really added to the articulation, but instead it’s just mediocre. It’s nice to see the arms updated with double-jointed elbows and I prefer the sculpted-in forearm gauntlets, but not enough to display this figure in place of the VHS version. Instead, I’m just taking this new head, slapping it on the old body, and calling it “good enough.” I just wish I didn’t have to spend another 25 bucks to get my Jean figure to this current state.

Get your X-Men fix right here before you check out the brand new X-Men ’97:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Jean Grey

For some reason, Jean Grey has never been treated well by toy makers. Back in the Toy Biz days, Jean had to wait several years to finally show up in the X-Men line of action figures, and once she did, it was in some gimmicky line in a costume that looked made-up. Her first, good,…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Bishop

We’re going to keep this Marvel/Mutant Monday thing going for one more week! After taking a look at a trio of figures from Hasbro’s new X-Men ’97 line of figures in its Marvel Legends catalog I’ve decided to do one more: Bishop. The first three figures I looked at were basically all missing pieces to…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

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by Joe

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March 12, 2024

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Leonardo and Donatello

By Joe
The warriors of the forgotten sewer have just been legitimized.

These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly opening up, many of the world’s biggest toy producers have laid their hands on TMNT. One of the last remaining holdouts, Mattel, is now joining those ranks which is interesting because Mattel very nearly acquired the license from the beginning. A prototype was even made for a potential Mattel turtle, but it never went farther than that. Well, better late than never (yeah, right, think about all of the money Mattel and others missed out on by passing on TMNT in the 80s) as we now have Mattel versions of the turtles, but with a decidedly different flavor.

It’s Leo like you’ve never seen him before – naked!

Masters of the Universe is a toyline I’ve never been into. I was born into a post-MOTU world where the action figure market was massive: C.O.P.S., Transformers, M.A.S.K., The Real Ghostbusters, just to name a few. Sure, I watched He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on television like many boys my age and I had been excited to see the baffling live-action movie as well. I guess it just didn’t stick. For whatever reason, I can never recall asking my parents for the toys. I had friends and cousins who had a bunch of MOTU figures and play sets, but I never did and never really yearned for them either. It’s a bit surprising to me that I didn’t have one figure, but that’s just how it was. The only He-Man toys I can recall owning came from The New Adventures of He-Man. I had one action figure and one role play sword that made cool laser sounds. I don’t recall ever pretending to be He-Man while playing with it, rather I thought of myself as Link from The Legend of Zelda. That lone He-Man figure joined the likes of the Ultimate Warrior, Junkyard, and Sunstreaker as single toys I owned from popular toy lines.

That was an interesting design choice.

I suppose it goes without saying that the new mashup of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn’t specifically aimed at me since I don’t consider myself a MOTU fan. I do enjoy the good mashup though when it concerns my boys in green so it was naturally on my radar. And it’s impossible to be an action figure enthusiast in this day and age and not know about Masters of the Universe Origins. This retro-inspired toyline from Mattel is essentially the vintage line with modern improvements. The base look of the characters has changed very little, but they now have things like elbow joints – what a concept! It’s been well received and I constantly hear from TMNT fans how they wish Playmates Toys would do the same. It’s almost shocking that they haven’t tried (the Last Ronin figure they released is sort of in the same style), but maybe the re-releases are making them enough money?

Oh god I hate it. Put that shell back where it belongs!

First of all, I’ve seen the coverage of this line where a lot of the folks presenting it have stressed that this isn’t a mashup. It’s a story about the turtles and He-Man and there’s a companion comic book to emphasize that (it’s nothing special, but each figure comes with one). Bologna. There may be a story, but at least where the turtles are concerned, the character designs are clearly TMNT character crossed with MOTU character. Even the MOTU characters are getting turtle-themed armor so they’re like a mashup as well. Regardless, we have new character designs incorporated into the Origins set of tools and you’re either here for them or you’re not. For me personally, I could not care less about the MOTU characters. I’ll admit, Mouse-Jaw looks kind of cool, but I don’t need it. I’m here for the turtles and after only encountering the MOTU characters in stores, I finally came upon a lone Leonardo and singular Donatello so I decided to give them a whirl.

If you have always wanted to play dress-up with your turtles then these are for you.

This Turtles of Grayskull line of figures comes in a standard blister pack with new card art on the front and rear that’s pretty eye-catching. I confess, I don’t buy many blister-carded figures anymore so slotting these two in my shopping bag brought back the warm fuzzies of doing the same when I was a kid. Leonardo is billed as the heroic ninja turtle leader while Donatello is referred to as the heroic turtle-at-arms. In other words, this is He-Man Leo and Man-At-Arms Donnie. The Origins line is basically designed to be one size fits all – for the most part. This is nothing new to TMNT and it should come as no surprise that both figures are the same. The only sculpted difference are the heads. Origins differentiates releases via the accessories. Both figures have a bunch of removable armor pieces that either slide on or strap on. The only things non-removable are their furry trunks which are part of the sculpt, the wrist bands, and the shin guards. Donatello’s helmet also appears to be non-removable, which is a bummer.

They do have weapon storage, but in the case of Leonardo I don’t recommend it.

Both figures stand at a tick under 6″ – let’s call it 5 7/8″. They’re a little bigger than the vintage MOTU size, but I think that’s entirely due to these figures having articulated knees as opposed to pre-posed ones. As I said, the body is the same across both figures. It has a more pronounced V-shape to the torso and it reminds me a bit of the 2003 cartoon series design or the Super Mutants from even before that. It’s a different, more heroic, look for the turtles and their waists pinch in. The limbs are still plenty beefy and they have the right hands and feet. Leonardo is also in his classic Playmates green and Donatello in his brownish tone. The finish across the board is matte so no shiny, plastic, skin tones here. The shell is where the sculpt gets interesting as they have a sculpted-in shell on the back of the torso, but it’s not painted. Instead, they also have a more traditional shell that can be worn and it also doubles as a shield. It’s mildly unsettling. I don’t know why it bothers me, but it’s weird.

These two are pretty close in size to other modern iterations of the turtles so if you want them to drive the Turtle Van or the Party Wagon they probably can.

The Origins line is a throwback one, so it’s probably not terribly surprising to find out the paint, overall, is limited. The plastron is painted a sunflower yellow and each turtle has colored straps around their shins. The only other paint is reserved for the bracers on the wrists, the bandanas, eyes, and teeth. The paint on the bandana of my Leonardo is pretty sloppy with a lot of the blue continuing onto the face. I would have loved to have come across multiples of this figure in the store to see if some were better than others, but alas there has been only the one. The chest straps on my Leonardo were also stuck to the chest out of the package so the paint is a little marred underneath. There is a belt that goes across the back of the shell which is painted as well and it looks fine. Otherwise, these figures are more relying on the colored plastic of the armor bits to create shelf presence.

The traditional two-sword look for Leo kind of sucks with this release.

And those armor bits are a double-edged sword. Leonardo comes with a skirt piece, shoulder pads, and a chest harness which has this big, furry, mane attached to the back of it. He also has an additional forearm guard that is intended for his left arm. These three armor pieces just slide on and they make the figure more cumbersome to handle as they’re always moving. The Origins line is essentially a modular one so everything is intended to be mixed and matched amongst figures. In that, they’re kind of like the dolls we action figure collectors have been insisting are different from what we like. I don’t love the mane which appears to be glued to the harness which sucks. I was hoping it was removable, and I suppose if I really wanted to I could take it off, but I’m not the type to make permanent alterations to my toys. The chest strap does have some paint to it in the form of a big L in the middle of the chest which looks clean. The blue bits have a pearl quality to the finish, despite just being plastic and mostly look okay. They look better if you can hide the big rings on them that fit around the arms, but that can be a challenge.

Donatello looks fine, I’m just personally not a big fan of the Man-At-Arms aesthetic.

For Donatello, all of his armor comes on him out of the package. He has his own chest armor which features this big face guard right in the middle. I’ve never liked that aspect of the Man-At-Arms design and unfortunately that part doesn’t come off. In addition to that chest piece, he has a ring around his right bicep and a big piece of shoulder armor on the left. There’s a left wrist guard as well and he has shin guards which don’t loop on, but actually have plastic straps that basically function like zip ties. There are some silver bits painted on his chest and wrist as well as a fur trim, which is certainly a choice. The plastic is a lighter shade of purple and it also has that pearl quality that Leonardo’s has.

For some reason, I feel like the Power Rangers Shredder goes better with these guys than a standard one would.

In addition to the armor, both figures come with their own weapons. For Leonardo, he has his own take on He-Man’s sword of power, or whatever it’s called. It has a play feature in that it comes as two swords that can be snapped together into one. It’s cast in a silver plastic, and as one sword looks fine, but as two looks stupid. The handles are too thin for Leonardo to hold reliably and you’re better off just sticking with the one sword. It can slot into the belt on the back of the shell, but it’s tight and it left a weird bubble-looking eyesore on the blade. There must be a coating of some kind on the plastic. Donatello comes with what looks like a big mace. It’s all orange, and the handle is sculpted to resemble wood with tape around it like Donatello’s traditional bo staff. It can connect with Man-At-Arms’ version of the weapon to create one, large, version. There is a turtle shell sculpted into the top of the weapon, but given that it’s not painted it doesn’t really add to the vibe. I don’t particularly care for the look of this weapon, but it’s his only weapon so he’s going to have to make due. It also can slot into the belt loop and does so much easier than Leo’s swords. And as I mentioned before, the shells can come off and function as handheld shields, if you’re a sicko.

When it comes to mashups with other popular toy lines this definitely isn’t TMNT’s first rodeo.

Since this is a throwback line I wasn’t expecting much out of the articulation. Consider me surprised to find out these guys move pretty well. The heads are on double ball pegs so their range of motion is just fine. The shoulders are standard hinged ball pegs, but their range is plenty good as they can be raised up to a horizontal position and rotate just fine. They’re pegged in at a downward angle so rotating them can also raise the arms higher. There is no biceps swivel, but the forearm pegs in at the elbow and features a hinge so it rotates in addition to having the hinged motion. You should get 90 degrees, though this joint was the tightest on my figures. The wrists rotate and feature a horizontal hinge, the only major complaint I have since this is a line of guys wielding melee weapons. Give them vertical hinges!

I should probably toss-in one vintage comparison. This new Leonardo portrait and the shade of blue does give me 2003 vibes.

At the waist is a basic twist and the hips connect via ball and socket joints. They’re probably the most limited, or just tight, but they don’t kick forward as far as I’d like. I suppose this is a line of brawlers and not ninjas so I can’t expect the greatest range. There’s no room for the thigh to pivot on the ball joint, which is unfortunate. The knees are setup just like the elbows so you get a hinge and a rotation point. The hinge is very tight and offers less than 90 degrees of range. There is a shin twist and the ankles hinge forward and back and feature an ankle rocker. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the ankle rocker so that being there was a pleasant surprise that has colored my thoughts on the articulation in a more positive light. Stepping back from that, the legs kind of suck and there’s no ab crunch to be found. A ball joint at the waist would have been nice to get a little more nuance in there, but perhaps Mattel felt that would break-up the vintage look too much. It would have helped add to the modular nature of the line though as ball joints are usually easy to separate. I haven’t tried disassembling these guys beyond removing the head and the hands. The legs do not look like they’re designed to come off easily so I personally wouldn’t try.

As far as mash-ups go these figures aren’t bad. They’re definitely TMNT figures for MOTU fans first as opposed to vice versa. Some of the stuff I don’t like are just traits of the line and not something I’d expect Mattel to change because it’s attracting a new audience. Incidentally, it’s the modular elements of these figures that don’t go far enough for me that are among my biggest criticisms. I wish Donatello’s helmet was removable and the fur trim of Leo’s harness. I still think the removable shell is bizarre and off-putting, but that could just be me. It never bothered me when Cecil turtle did it in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but I guess I don’t like seeing Leonardo take off his shell.

“To arms, my turtles!”

The mashup nature of the line is probably what will determine how much someone likes it. Leo essentially crossed with He-Man is a no-brainer, though it looks like Michelangelo is going to be as well. Donatello as Man-At-Arms doesn’t do nearly as much for me and I mostly bought him because I know I’m going to at least want all four turtles. That’s just how these things go. They’re fun figures to mess around with though, and it does make we wish Mattel was in charge of a TMNT Origins line of its own since Playmates doesn’t appear interested in doing such. The quality of the construction is good, the figures have a nice feel, and I think they do a good job of balancing modern design with vintage aesthetic. At 20 bucks a pop, they’re not quite the deal I wish they were. At 15 bucks these would be no-brainers, but there isn’t much occupying that price level anymore. If you’re holding out for a clearance sale, it might be hard to come by. These things appear to be flying off the shelves with only the Target exclusive Mouse-Jaw lingering on the pegs near me (which may have something to do with its $25 price tag) so it may not pay off to wait. If you really want them, get them!

There’s not a lot of Masters of the Universe coverage here, but there sure is plenty of Turtle Talk:

Rad Plastic

I think it was during the summer of 2020 while spending one of the many days of that year inside and isolated that I stumbled upon a Twitter post about an upcoming book titled Rad Plastic. I believe the tweet was from the account The Toys That Made Us, which is (was?) a Netflix series…

by Joe

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Part 2)

Well, I sat on this one for awhile. Last summer saw the return of the Masters of the Universe to television in the form of Revelation. In somewhat typical Netflix fashion, the show arrived in “parts” rather than seasons though unlike many Netflix shows they’re at least not trying to trick us by calling either…

by Joe

Playmates TMNT The Last Ronin PX Previews Exclusive (Chase)

A few years ago, Mattel launched a new subline of action figures based on their most famous IP: Masters of the Universe. The subline was titled Origins and it basically took the vintage toys of the 80s and updated them with more modern articulation while still preserving that vintage aesthetic. And ever since then, collectors…

by Joe

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