September 19, 2024

Marvel Legends Walmart Exclusive Retro Card Venom

By Joe
“We are Venom!”

On Tuesday, I posted a review for the NECA TMNT Adventures Cryin’ Houn’ action figure, a figure that debuted during this year’s edition of Walmart Collector Con. Today, we’re looking at a true exclusive from that event. Cryin’ Houn’, and a lot of other figures released that day, were basically a first to market agreement that are now available from other places. This figure, Marvel’s Venom, was only available through Walmart and that’s usually a bad thing. The retro carded animated Spider-Man released in 2022 was a Walmart exclusive and a brutal one at that. A lot of people I know had their orders cancelled and the figure was notoriously difficult to track down in-store. Worse, it was Spider-Man! A central figure to Hasbro’s line of figures based on the 1994 animated series and it was only available through Walmart. It was as much a boneheaded move by Hasbro as it was Walmart, but no matter how you sliced it, the consumer experience was less than optimal.

“Look ma, I can lick the back of my head!”

This Venom? No freakin’ problem. Did Walmart finally learn its lesson and up their order totals for their Marvel Legends exclusives? Perhaps, because a brand new Venom on a retro card is probably a pretty in-demand release. Venom has been popular seemingly from the get-go when he was introduced during Todd MacFarlane’s run on The Amazing Spider-Man. The previous retro card edition of the character was released as a Pulse Con exclusive and was a take on Venom from the ’94 cartoon. This one is a more evergreen interpretation and while it does share a lot of parts with that figure, there is some new stuff to talk about with this one. Now, I am normally not a huge Marvel Legends collector, but as I detailed in my review for that previous retro card Venom, I’ve always liked the character. I was a bit iffy on this one though when it was announced, but the whole Walmart exclusive aspect kind of forced my hand. In a bid to avoid later regret, I decided to grab one and I have some thoughts.

Since I only have one other Hasbro Venom, we have to compare then.

As stated, this version of Venom does come on a retro card. There’s an illustration of Venom on the front that is different from the previous version. It doesn’t jump out as an era specific take on the character and almost looks like an alternate take on how Venom could have looked in that ’94 cartoon. That makes sense since that’s exactly what this retro card is looking to invoke memories of. That edition of Venom was a bit weird as it featured blue and red shading and a “butt” head. There’s some charm there now in looking back, but had Venom looked like he does on this retro card then I think that would have been an improvement.

Despite their differences, they still love each other. Maybe a little too much.

Nonetheless, this Venom is more of a comic take on the character. Or more appropriately, a Legends take on the character as Legends often seeks to add a touch of realism to the characters. Venom stands right around 7.25″ to the top of his head giving him a decent amount of size which is appropriate for most takes on Venom. If you have that animated Venom figure, then you’ll be familiar with the arms and legs utilized for this figure. What’s new is the torso and heads, though I believe one of the heads is from a different Venom release. This does mean that we got rid of those obnoxious holes in the traps of the character that were a holdover from that mold’s prior use with Omega Red, and it also mean we have some new articulation to talk about.

Their favorite past time? Ganging up on Spider-Man.

What’s not really different though is the approach. Venom is basically just all black plastic with little paint. The paint is reserved for the spider logo that wraps around the body, the white patches on the hands, and the details on the face like the eyes and teeth. The body has different finishes too which is odd. There are spots where the plastic is fairly matte in appearance, but other spots are glossy. Were they trying to create hot spots on the sculpt to accentuate the slimy aspect of the character? Probably not. If so, it’s a foolish approach because it’s very inconsistent. The figure is a chunky one relative to other Legends releases, though the plastic feels like it’s of a lower quality. There’s a rubbery aspect to it, especially in the legs, and the joints have a gummy feel as a result. The white spider logo was sticky out of the box. A lot of the tack has been remedied by simply leaving the figure out for over a week now, though some spots (like under the arms) remain sticky to the touch.

This time, the spider logo continues onto the butterfly joint.

The paint is minimal, but also not as cleanly applied as it could be. There’s a blemish on the right pectoral of my figure and the edges are pretty fuzzy on the rear of the figure. Since the figure is black plastic, the white is also not opaque enough to hide that. Especially in the creases of the muscles where too much of the black shines through. Unlike the prior retro card Venom, for this one Hasbro decided to paint the spider leg onto the butterfly joint in the shoulder blades rather than squish the spider to fit inside them. It’s fine, though if you’re viewing the figure from behind it means you will have to line-up the logo to keep it from looking stupid. The paint on the faces is also kind of messy around the teeth. The alt head on mine also has a black speck in the middle of the right eye which kind of drives me nuts. The left eye is also a little sloppy around the edges.

For those curious, the animated Venom lacked the white patches on the hands and this is how a hand swap would look. I still think the patches are the wrong shape, but better than nothing.

The paint isn’t great, but the overall sculpt will probably please most. He’s very muscled and has some huge traps to speak of. The chest is pretty solid and the torso tapers in a bit towards the abs. The shoulders are still too small for my liking and they sit lower than I’d like as well. Oddly, I feel like some poses draw more attention to that when usually it’s the straight up and down poses where that is most evident. The proportioning is solid, though his hands are huge. They’re the exact same hands as the previous Venom I looked at so it’s not new, but he’ll look goofy in a neutral pose with open hands. Venom is routinely drawn with exaggerated hands so it’s not a bad thing, just something to be mindful of when posing. It’s not a perfect sculpt, but as a generic Venom body it’s likely to please most who collect the line.

This new head is a decent enough take on the MacFarlane design, one of my preferred looks for Venom.

In true Marvel Legends fashion, Venom doesn’t come with a whole lot. The figure is at least not a more premium priced figure so I guess we can excuse the lack of accessories. This figure comes with four hands: fists, and open hands. The two open hands are not mirrored as the left is more of a clawing hand. There are also two portraits. The default one, which I think is an old sculpt, has narrow, jagged, eyes with an open mouth. Emerging from that mouth is a giant tongue that curls back towards the body. The style of the head reminds me of the look Venom had during the Separation Anxiety storyline which was illustrated by Ron Randall, but I don’t know if that’s what the sculptor was going for. The alternate head is a closed mouth with eyes that are more like slanted half circles. It looks like it’s inspired by the debut panel for Venom drawn by Todd MacFarlane in Amazing Spider-Man #300. The two open hands even play into that image. Todd’s take on Venom was more squat than this figure and really bulky, but in the world of Marvel Legends, this is probably as close to a MacFarlane Venom as we’re likely to get.

The neck articulation on this guy is terrible. Left is an example of how far up the figure can look.

A lot of the articulation on this figure is familiar, but there is some differences to speak of. It starts with the head which features a double-ball peg instead of the old neck hinge. I am on record as not liking the hinge because it looks stupid when pushed all the way up or down leading to broken neck syndrome. The double-ball peg often sacrifices some of the range looking up, but adds for more nuance posing – tilt, if you will. This double-ball peg, on the other hand, is terrible. The bottom ball is way too deep in the neck. Worse, the neck on this bulky body is pitched forward at a slight angle and the end result is that this Venom has zero range looking up. He can look down, rotate, and has some tilt, but it’s bizarre to see nothing looking up. And this is the part of the sculpt that’s new so I don’t know why they didn’t just do it better. It’s really not that hard. Having the lower ball peg sit higher would help, though really the figure probably needs another joint at the base of the neck. We’ve seen Hasbro carve out a slot in the back of the neck on their Spider-Man figures which helps a little, though looks awful and is also unnecessary if you just make it better. Some people think it’s a safety issue, but these figures already come with small hands and such that are more of a safety issue so I don’t buy it. I think they just don’t spend that much time on this sort of thing.

Despite the head, this figure will pose okay.

The other new joint with this figure is a diaphragm joint. Venom is more like the newer Spider-Man figures in that he has a ball joint in the chest and a hinge in the abs. The new joint allows for the figure to rotate pretty well, though if you go too far it will start to look weird. There’s a little bit of tilt and a little forward and back. It’s an improvement, but would pair better with a ball joint at the waist instead of the big hinge. The hinge here isn’t of much use. Sure, the figure can bend forward far enough and back, but with the limited range at the neck it’s mostly useful in allowing Venom to look at his toes. You won’t be able to do deep crouches or anything because of that neck. There is also a butterfly joint which works just as well as the old figure, and the arms and legs are the same. Venom can’t do splits, but he kicks forward okay. He is a little top heavy, and some of the gumminess of the legs is a contributor to making him harder to stand than expected.

This Venom will pose okay for a Legends release. He’s actually better than the animated Venom because of the change to the torso. The head is almost unchanged as even though that figure featured the disc joint it still had pitiful range looking up because of the angled neck so those missing the hinged neck should probably banish it from their mind. This figure would probably have worse articulation with that setup because we’d lose the tilt aspect. Aside from that, the hips are still suboptimal. It’s not hard to give figures the ability to do splits, but Hasbro has problems with it for some reason.

He sure is a happy looking fella.

Is this the best Venom Hasbro has done? I don’t know. I’m not really qualified to do that since I own so few. I can say I hate the “monster” Venom aesthetic they did a few years ago and the three-pack Venom doesn’t look as good as this one, to me. Nor do I care about vampire Venoms or the movie one, so given all of that, then yes, I would say this is probably the best. That’s just me from a distance. It’s not the perfect Venom and it even has some pretty glaring issues that I think will bother even some of the more forgiving Legends collectors. Most will probably deem it good enough, and I do genuinely like the MacFarlane-esq head-sculpt. I just wish the figure went all the way in making it resemble the MacFarlane character design. And I really wish it didn’t have this gummy feel to it. It’s not a nice figure to handle.

If you’re a Legends collector who wants a different Venom, this might do it for you. There has been quite a few Venom figures of late so there probably isn’t anything new on the horizon (save for another movie version) to wait for. It’s priced like a standard Legends release so if you’re happy with the typical value of the line then this should do it for you. It has been popping in and out of stock at Walmart ever since it started shipping, so if you have yet to get it then you may want to keep an eye on it. I don’t think it’s expected to appear on store shelves so trying to track it down in-store will likely lead to frustration. If Walmart has sold out of its allotment though, then you’ll have to go third party where it will hopefully not be too expensive. Until Hasbro produces an obviously superior Venom, this one is likely only going to get more expensive due to the exclusive nature of it. Good luck!

If you want to read more about some of the figures I referenced here, then check out the below:

Hasbro Pulse Con Exclusive Marvel Legends Series Venom

When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in…

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Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Animated)

It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…

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Marvel Legends Retro Card Scarlet Spider

It was in this space last year that I shared my fondness for the Scarlet Spider costume when I reviewed the Medicom MAFEX Scarlet Spider action figure. I don’t buy much from Medicom because their figures are really expensive for what they are, but I sometimes break my own rule when I think they’ve made…

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September 17, 2024

NECA TMNT Adventures Cryin’ Houn’

By Joe
Can the turtles hope to withstand the might of Cryin’ Houn’?!

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, but no toy collector enjoys hearing the phrase “Walmart Exclusive.” Such was the case for today’s figure, and many others, around the time of San Diego Comic Con. Walmart had their own collector con which is just a marketing way to say that a bunch of exclusives and first run figures would be made available on their website. It got off to a rocky start as the listings went up hours before they were supposed to causing them to switch to “Sold Out.” Naturally, a lot of people took to social media to vent their frustrations, but when the actual, intended, sale time came all of those items went back up. All in all, it actually ended up being fairly smooth with lots of actual exclusives lasting into the weekend. Some even beyond that! I personally wasn’t after much, but one figure I did want to get was NECA’s take on Cryin’ Houn’, an intergalactic four-armed dog from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. He wasn’t a true exclusive, just a first available type of deal (you can now buy the figure at Target as well as Walmart), so I wouldn’t have been bothered much had I missed out. I didn’t though, and since we have now examined the Stump Wrestling turtles, it’s time to look at their chief rival in the squared circle.

He’s not so much tall as he is chunky when compared to other figures in the line.
And we’ll throw in a comparison with a pretty standard sized Marvel Legends figure and a 1:10 Super7 figure.

Cryin’ Houn’ debuted in issue number seven of the Archie TMNT Adventures line of comics. I’ve never actually read the issue (I know, I need to get on that), but I’ve been familiar with the character for a long time since the cover image is pretty iconic for the line. Cryin’ Houn’ took on all four members of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the same time because he has four arms. Never mind that collectively the turtles have eight, but we’ll go with it. The TMNT wiki website has him listed at 7′ 16″ which I don’t know if that’s a typo or a goof on how wrestlers overstate their height routinely. He’s also listed at 275lbs so if this beast is really over eight feet tall then he’s actually a bit light for his size. Especially considering how bulky he is.

The sledgehammer is probably a sound strategy, Michelangelo.

Cryin’ Houn’ comes in the standard TMNT Adventures box with new artwork from Ken Mitchroney, only the box is noticeably larger than most. It’s probably similar in size to the Man Ray box, but deeper. Cryin’ Houn’ was sculpted by Tony Cipriano with Kushwara Studios also credited. I need to find out what the role of Kushwara is in the sculpt, I’m guessing they’re responsible for creating the physical sculpt from a digital file created by the sculptor, but I don’t know that for certain. Paint is credited to Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo.

A super kick, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to phase him.
Nor does whatever this is by Raphael.

Cryin’ Houn’ follows the apparent rules of this subline of TMNT figures from NECA. He stands at approximately 7.125″ to the top of his head and about 7.5″ to the top of what I assume are his ears. Cryin’ Houn’ is a dog-like creature that would look at home among the Beagle Boys of the Disney comics, save for the whole four-armed thing. He’s painted all over with liberal use of black lines near his muscles and in the folds of his wrestling uniform. I like the contrasting colors as his flesh, or fur (there’s no fur texture), is a muted brown while the uniform is a bright pink with purple striping. The black and white wrestling boots look nice and he has a logo on his abdominal region that appears to be a skeletal cat. His eyes are outlined all in black which helps them stand out and his face is sporting a cocky smirk. The paint is all really clean with the only problem area being right where the boots meet the calves. It’s very minimal though. I also have a dot of light brown around the chin that’s barely noticeable. Unlike the turtles, this figure does feature pins in the knee, but NECA painted over the pins so they don’t stand out so bad.

A chop block? That seems more likely to work.

Cryin’ Houn’ is a chunky sculpt. He is heavy in the hand and quite a bit of fun to behold. And it’s important that you like the sculpt because it’s the main selling point. He’s not a figure that does much or comes with a lot. The articulation is very basic and also pretty limited. The head is on a double ball joint, but this is one of those characters where the neck is basically coming out of the top of the chest as opposed to sitting on top of the body. That means he can look side to side well enough, but he can’t really look up or down much. And the tilt afforded by the joint isn’t the most useful. He does indeed possess four arms and all four are attached to the body by a simple hinged ball. Rotation is fine at all four shoulders, but the hinge range is maybe 45 degrees at all four spots. There is no biceps swivel and all of the elbows are a simple pegged hinge. Because of how the back of the elbow is sculpted, the figure can’t quite straighten its arms out all the way, but the elbow hinge will allow for a 90 degree bend. And since it’s a peg, there’s a swivel there as well, but the cut of the joint isn’t the prettiest so the swivel has limited use. All of the hands rotate and feature a standard horizontal hinge.

Oh but it didn’t. Now Cryin’ Houn’ has poor Donatello setup for the Doggy Bomb.

The torso does feature some kind of ball joint in the diaphragm, but it’s of limited use. The singlet the character is wearing was done with an overlay so there’s no cut going through it. Forward and back at the joint is functionally useless and really it just provides for a minor amount of rotation, though the singlet will raise up when doing so and might not be as visually appealing. If there’s a waist joint it’s rendered totally useless by the overlay. The hips connect via a ball and socket joint and since the character design here calls for a huge upper body with comparatively tiny legs, the range is pretty limited. He kicks back a little, and forward just a little. I don’t think he can even kick 45 degrees forward. The legs will go out to the side a bit, but not enough for splits. There is a little twist at the thigh for adjustment posing. The knees are double-jointed, but they’re only going to bend about 90 degrees. The ankles are one of the few places not compromised by the sculpt as they’ll hinge forward and back a generous amount with a solid ankle rocker.

The impact was brutal, but at least our turtle friend has a sense of humor about it.

Cryin’ Houn’ is not going to do much on your shelf beside stand there and look imposing. As such, he’s like a true monster wrestler, the sort of big man that really didn’t do a whole lot in the ring either. He’s meant to remain vertical when going on the offensive with punches, elbows, some eye pokes, and little else. He can’t even get his leg up for an effective big boot and his arms can’t cross his chest at all so no chokeslams. I guess he can do a one-handed chokeslam. He’s also not designed to take abuse either so he’s basically one of those big guys who doesn’t sell his opponent’s offense. A tough draw for the turtles.

Now he’s just showboating.

If you were looking for Cryin’ Houn’ to feature some accessories to make up for the lack of articulation, well then I’m afraid you’re going to be let down again. This figure just comes with some alternate hands. In total, he has a set of open hands, fists, clenching hands, hang 10 hands, and a lone devil horns hand and an “Ok” hand. I would have liked to have seen some pointing hands or maybe even thumb’s up hands, but otherwise I’m fine with the selection. What I really miss is an alternate portrait. An angry one would have been nice for when he’s engaged with an opponent or something fun like a portrait with swirling eyes in case you want him on your shelf getting obliterated by a steel chair. Mostly though, I wish we got some more wrestling accessories. How about a championship belt? If one didn’t exist in the pages on Archie comics then another chair would have been nice. Some different refuse for the ring like what the turtles came with, a ring mic, or just some other kind of wrestling weapon. Only hands is just a bit of a letdown.

When all else fails, hit him with the chair!

And that letdown stems in part from the list price of this guy. Cryin’ Houn’ will set you back 50 bucks which is pretty steep. That’s close to the price of a NECA TMNT two-pack. Is there a two-pack’s worth of value in this box? Certainly not. There’s a lot less in the package than what came with a figure like REX-1 and this one is set to be sold in more places than that figure. Plus, just like REX-1, NECA already has plans to reuse the tools created for this figure to do an El Mysterio, a masked version of Cryin’ Houn’ who showed up later in the comics.

Now that’s more like it!

At the end of the day, I don’t have any real insight into the economics of toy production. I can only judge a product like this one against others being sold by NECA or by other toy companies. And that comparison has this figure coming up short. Given the articulation limits and the lack of accessories, Cryin’ Houn’ is a tough recommend at 50 bucks. And that’s coming from someone who is content to own this figure. I think he’ll look good in my makeshift ring display with the other Stump characters, I just wish I didn’t have to pay 50 bucks to add him to the collection.

I may need a bigger “ring.”

We have plenty more reviews from NECA’s TMNT Adventures line of toys:

NECA TMNT Adventures Stump Wrestling Four-Pack

When I was a kid, I didn’t really get a lot of comic books. I most often would encounter them at the grocery store and I always hoped my mom would end up in the check-out aisle with the comics instead of candy so I could maybe convince her to get me one. And when…

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NECA TMNT Adventures Man Ray

Back when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world, there was a lot of brand synergy between all of the various media being generated by this one mega popular piece of intellectual property. The comics came first followed by a toyline which necessitated the creation of an animated mini series to basically serve as a…

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NECA TMNT Adventures Dreadmon

We’re almost done with all of these NECA Haulathon drops from March and up today is the last of the single-packed figures, the Mighty Mutanimal Dreadmon! Technically, he’s the third figure in NECA’s line of figures from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures since he’s listed as number 3 on the box. However,…

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September 12, 2024

Dragonlance – Dragons of Eternity (2024)

By Joe
Cover by Philipp Urlich.

When I first heard about the existence of Dragonlance Destinies, two of the three books in the trilogy were already completed and released to the world. It’s a remarkably convenient way to consume a trilogy of books, because not only were two of the three out, but the third was about a month away from release. Being unplugged from the world of Dragonlance meant that I could go in without much knowledge of what was to come. It was almost like walking into a random movie theater for a film I had never seen a trailer for. It’s my preferred way to take-in just about any piece of entertainment. The less I know going in the better. And when I started reading that first book, Dragons of Deceit, and found it took place after the book Test of the Twins, but before Dragons of Summer Flame, it had me wondering why that was? Was this trilogy a way for authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman to take their precious characters on one more adventure before moving on from Dragonlance? Or, considering the fact that time travel was set to play a prominent role in the trilogy, was this going to be a way to reboot the series? Now that I am done with the third book, I can safely say I feel like I have the answer to both questions.

I say that as a mild warning, because if you’re like me and you don’t know much about this trilogy going in then you may want to avoid reading about it at all. Especially if you loved Dragonlance at any point in your life because I can safely say if that is true then you’ll have a good enough time with this new trilogy. If you want a simple recommendation, a yay or nay, to Dragonlance Destinies then consider this a “yay.” It’s not perfect, but it’s a nice nostalgia blanket. The books are breezy, easily consumed within a week when reading casually, or consumed much faster if that is your preference. The cast of characters is a bit large, but they’re also largely familiar so there’s no real fear of getting lost even if your speed of consumption is much more deliberate.

With that out of the way, lets recap quickly where Dragons of Fate left off and Dragons of Eternity begins. Our time displaced heroes Raistlin, Tas, Sturm, Destina, and Kairn, had just escaped the past where they had been sent in the first novel in the trilogy. They had found themselves in the age of Huma, or the Third Dragon War, along with the embodiment of the god Chaos that had been trapped in the Graygem and hung around the neck of Destina Rosethorn. She had wanted to use Chaos to travel back in time and save her father, but through a calamity of errors she and the rest ended up much farther back than intended. Everything went wrong at the end of Dragons of Fate. Huma and his silver dragon lover, Gwyneth, were both murdered by an assassin. The Queen of Darkness, Takhisis, was on the verge of victory in a battle she wasn’t supposed to win. The heroes escaped, but the Device of Time Journeying took them to a future they didn’t recognize. Kairn found himself at The Inn of the Last Home just before the The War of the Lance was supposed to break out, only instead of a reunion of friends he found a city occupied by the Dark Queen’s forces. Dragon Highlord Kitiara was there as were her brothers, Caramon and Raistlin, now wearing the black robes and both acting in service to their older sister.

Time travel in Dragonlance is its own thing. The same person cannot exist twice at the same time, so when a person travels back in time to a time and place where they also existed then they simply take over the body of their past self (a warning to would-be time travelers: Don’t travel to a setting where you existed as an infant). Because of this, Raistlin knew what happened and he knew who Kairn was. He advised the monk to flee back to the present where he personally originated from where he could consult with the god of neutrality, Gilean, and seek counsel on how to fix the past. Because of their actions in the past, The War of the Lance now never took place. Instead, there was The Lost War in which Takhisis finally defeated the other gods who opposed her and established her rule for all time. Since a god exists in all times, the plan hatched by Kairn and the others is for him to travel back in time with Tanis Half-Elven to the time of The Lost War. There, he will reunite with Destina, whom he left behind, and the two of them will travel back to The Third Dragon War again and try to fix what they so badly broke. Meanwhile, the Heroes of the Lance in the age of The Lost War will do their best to distract the Dark Queen in that time in a bid to help Destina and Kairn go unnoticed for if Takhisis were to seize hold of the Graygem there would be no telling how powerful it would make her.

The other rule of time travel in Dragonlance is that it’s always equated to a river. It’s less a metaphor, and more just a truth of how time works. When someone travels back in time and actually manages to do something to alter the flow of the river of time, it takes a little while for that to impact the present. In other words, this isn’t Back to the Future where changing the past immediately changes everything to come. It also means that when traveling back in time again there’s no chance of running into one’s past self. Should Destina and Kairn return to the time of Huma once again, it’s basically like they were never there previously with Raistlin and Sturm. And if they’re successful, it will almost be like they were never there at either time. No one in their party will remember what happened and time will move on just as it did before. That is why Kairn is able to leap ahead of the river of time back to the present to even hatch this plan to save time itself.

That’s the general setup and for longtime fans of Dragonlance it’s almost like reading an alternate version of The War of Lance. We get to adventure with Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Tas, Flint, and Raistlin on a quest to thwart the Dark Queen. And their maneuverings in this new Lost War era makes up the bulk of the book. Once again, the apparent protagonist of this new trilogy, Destina Rosethorn, is more or less sidelined. She obviously has her part to play in what happens, but it doesn’t consume a whole lot of ink. As a result, she’s hard to care about and her romance with Kairn is hardly what one would call steamy. It’s established quickly the two find each other attractive, but following that there’s no real insight into why they fall in love and are even discussing marriage at times. Perhaps it’s merely a relationship of lust and convenience for the both of them.

My criticisms of the Destina character are nothing new, so I’ll put a pin in that topic now. As for the rest, it’s very enjoyable to read about these characters together. I was worried it would play out more like a relay race when Dragons of Fate ended. Sturm and Raistlin’s part would be over and it would be onto Tanis and maybe Flint. Instead, we get basically the whole crew and it works. It’s fun, and while it isn’t an entire trilogy of these characters running around the world of Krynn, it’s substantial enough as a nostalgia trip. And the inclusion of Chaos, an entity that can actually alter time, and the interesting era in which this story began does create actual stakes.

I’m not going to spoil the ending of the book, but let’s just that the chronology of Dragonlance is forever altered by this book. And if you read the two previous, then you already knew that was going to happen. The Device of Time Journeying was changed in Dragons of Fate so it could no longer exist as it was supposed to in later books when it showed up. And if you are someone who is more plugged into the goings on of Dragonlance then you probably also suspected as much. Recently, I stumbled upon the below Tweet from author Margaret Weis concerning what would be the next book in the chronology, Dragons of Summer Flame:

As someone who doesn’t keep track of all things Dragonlance, that came as a surprise to me. That book was a bit divisive in the fandom, not because it’s bad or anything, but because of the change it brought (We fear change). I assume Tracy Hickman has similar feeling towards the book, but don’t know that for certain. Needless to say, if one were to reboot Dragonlance then the time of Dragonlance Destinies is a logical place for that reboot to take place. I was also under the impression that Dragons of Eternity was to be the last in the series for Weis and Hickman. I am not certain of where I read that or if it was my own assumption, but once you get to the end of Dragons of Eternity there is a note that both Weis and Hickman will be back with more works in the series. And at GenCon last month, it was confirmed that the next book from the duo will be about Huma and Magius set before The Third Dragon War. In other words, if you close this book wondering what’s going to happen next then you’re in for a wait.

And perhaps that wait could be forever? Maybe the point is to reset the timeline from a certain point and then let the readers imagine what comes next? It is my belief that Weis and Hickman approach their novels as their own entity. It’s a story they want to tell so even though they are tied into the game Dungeons & Dragons it doesn’t mean they’re writing something for the sake of said game. If they were to though, leaving players to adventure in a post Destinies Krynn wouldn’t be a bad spot. As for the trilogy itself, I enjoyed getting reacquainted with this world and its characters. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it fan service, but I do think Weis and Hickman share a lot of the same desires when it comes to these characters as their fans. They enjoyed putting them in a new adventure, some of the pairings we saw, and yes, some of the changes. There was an interaction of sorts teased throughout that didn’t come to play and I suppose I was left a little dissatisfied at that, but perhaps it’s for another story? Time travel stories can be messy, though they’re rarely boring. Dragons of Eternity is a good capper to this trilogy and is probably the strongest of three. If you’re a Dragonlance fan, especially one for a bygone era, then I do think you owe it to yourself to go on one more journey with these characters. It’s likely to a put smile on your face and keep it there for the whole duration of the adventure.

For more Dungeons & Dragons fun, give these a read:

Dragonlance – Dragons of Deceit (2022)

My favorite series of books as a youth belonged to Dragonlance. The Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that spawned numerous novels was a world I enjoyed inhabiting. I didn’t fall into Dragonlance until I was in middle school and my very first book in the long-running series was Dragons of Summer Flame by Margaret Weis…

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by Joe

Dragonlance – Dragons of Fate (2023)

What’s this? After only doing one novel review in the 10+ year history of this blog we have two in the span of a week? That’s what happens when yours truly stumbles upon new stories in a beloved franchise. I outlined my experience with Dragonlance in last week’s review of Dragons of Deceit so there’s…

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by Joe

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Strongheart Ultimate Action Figure

It was roughly a year ago that I added Warduke to my collection from NECA Toys’ Dungeons & Dragons line of action figures. Warduke is basically a modern rendition of the character as featured in the vintage D&D toyline from LJN in the 80s. While I wasn’t a fan of that old toyline, I could…

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by Joe

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September 10, 2024

NECA TMNT Adventures Stump Wrestling Four-Pack

By Joe
Coming to a Monday night near you!

When I was a kid, I didn’t really get a lot of comic books. I most often would encounter them at the grocery store and I always hoped my mom would end up in the check-out aisle with the comics instead of candy so I could maybe convince her to get me one. And when I was a kid, we also had an old hunting camp in my family for hunting and fishing. It was purchased by my great grandfather in the 1940s and it was basically a two-room dwelling not much better than a shack, but I was a kid and liked smelly, dirty, places where I could pee off the porch so it was awesome! My dad would take me up on occasion and when he would it often meant stopping at a convenience store where I was allowed to pick out snacks and such. On one occasion, my dad let me get a comic book too and I selected TMNT Adventures #10. Being that I wasn’t a comic reader, I was really confused when I opened it up and saw Raph in an all black costume. It would be years later that I would find out this costume was a wrestling costume the character just chose to keep wearing. It was cool though and something I wanted in toy form almost immediately.

These new Archie turtles share nothing in common with the toon line.

Last summer, NECA unveiled their take on the Stump Wrestling turtles from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. They looked great even though they were just early paint masters. No articulation, just sculpts and paint. At the time of showing, I wanted them and figured it wouldn’t be too long, but that wait turned into 13 months. Now hitting Targets, this four-pack features all four turtles from issue 7 in their wrestling attire. No surprise, they look great, but they also feature some surprises too.

Check it out, dudes, new shells!

I think when NECA started wading into the Archie universe most assumed the turtles would come and when they did they would feature some similarities with the cartoon turtles. We were wrong. These first Archie turtles are entirely new sculpts. Nothing has been recycled from those cartoon turtles which are coming up on being ten years old going back to their original release. They have featured some modifications along the way, but it’s always fun to get new stuff. Especially as NECA seems more interested in wading into more stylized interpretations of the licenses they hold. These turtles, which are based on the artwork of Ken Mitchroney (who also supplied art for the box), look like they stepped right off the page. Assuming, of course, that page was illustrated by Mitchroney. Other artists worked on the book and while they all went for a toon aesthetic, they also all had their own signature look. I love Mitchroney’s work so these look terrific to me and the paint applications (credited to Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo) really bring them to life.

“This is some bullshit right here, turtle!”

For these new Archie turtles, NECA turned to the team of Tony Cipriano, Tomasz Rozejowski, and Kushwara Studios to craft the sculpt. That’s a pretty big deal for all involved because these figures will likely be repeated again and again for other versions of the characters. In comparing them to the toon figures, these Archie ones are noticeably chunkier. They stand right around 5.75″ which makes them just a hair taller than the original toon figures. What stands out more is that the proportions are different as they have bigger hands and feet than the toon figures. The headshape is different and the shell is very different. There is more of a horizontal approach to the panels on the shell where the toon guys have a shell composed around a center hexagon. The plastron doesn’t have that little, center, diamond and the limbs are also thicker. I like the toon turtles, but these new Archie figures probably do a better job of really capturing the style of the source material. They’re just fun to look at, and it doesn’t hurt that they have some pretty interesting attire.

“He’s got evil intentions with that sledgehammer!”

But wait! There’s more! This may be a detail more interesting for characters going forward, but NECA is making some engineering changes on their end in a lot of the waves they work on. And as far as I know, these new turtles are just the start. These figures are pin-less at the elbows and knees which also means these turtles also feature double-jointed elbows, something the toon turtles lack. Pin-less joints have become something that toy collectors pay a lot more attention to these days as Hasbro made it a selling point of their Marvel Legends line. Most import companies have been doing them a lot longer. They’re technically not pin-less, the pins just aren’t visible which is the whole point. For me personally, I don’t care that much as long as the visible portion of the pin doesn’t create an eyesore. For Hasbro, that happened a lot with Spider-Man as the outer arm and inner arm are different colors which meant the pin was often red giving him a red dot in the middle of a sea of blue. With the turtles, it’s never been an issue since they’re green so the pin could be green. Pin-less joints can also create an eyesore all their own because the joining piece for the knees and elbows is often cast in a firmer plastic which can lead to discoloration. With these figures, it’s fine and this may be less an issue with NECA since they paint everything. Hasbro does not, so it’s not uncommon to end up with shiny knees or elbows that are a different color from the rest of the arm.

Yes, that is Donatello on the left.

This post is already getting long so let’s get into it since we have four figures to talk about. To no one’s surprise, the base figure is essentially the same across all four turtles with only minor differences. They have different overlays and heads and share most of the accessories as well. It’s also a fun set to show someone who is not familiar with this version of the turtles because they may have a hard time figuring out who is who. Donatello is especially confusing since he’s wearing a mask that’s mostly red with some yellow. His knee pads and elbow pads are also yellow and if you were playing arcade games in the 80s then you know Michelangelo often ended up being yellow for some reason. Leonardo and Michelangelo feature their signature colors while Raph is in his all-black. The all-black looks really cool as it’s a matte finish with blue highlights. The paint across all four is really clean. The only issues I have is Michelangelo has a green dot on the wraps of his right forearm and there’s a little bit of paint rub/stick around Leonardo’s knees related to the kneepads he has on.

These guys are going to pose better than any of your other NECA turtles.

We’ll talk articulation now and my demo figure for this is going to be Raph because he’s essentially a blank body. The others have some impediments, but stuff like Leo’s shoulder pads is designed to move out of the way, but there’s no denying that Raph is going to have the absolute most range because he’s basically naked. The head is on a double ball peg with a ball joint at the base of neck. This gives you basically all of the range you could want at the head. Going back, the head will eventually hit the shell, but they’re still capable of looking up. The shoulders and hips are the same as the toons and have about the same range as well. The new double-jointed elbows look solid and will bend past 90 degrees. Not way past, but it’s an improvement. There is a diaphragm joint and the plastron is glued in around the pectoral region so the bottom will move out of the way. This mostly allows for rotation, but there is a little crunch forward and back. The other joints work as expected. Some of the knees and elbows will probably be stuck at one hinge or another, but I was able to free them all up without heat. The figures feel sturdy.

I guess you have to have a ring bell and fire extinguisher.

A box set of turtles styled around pro wrestling should lend itself well to accessories. For starters, we get some hands. All of the turtles come with gripping hands by default which, unfortunately, have horizontal hinges. For the brothers in green, we get a set of pointing hands, thumb’s up hands, flat hands, and wider gripping hands. For Raph, he has some open, style posed hands and a set of fists. We also get some things for the characters to wield. Up first is a sledgehammer which looks like a sledgehammer. There’s a fire extinguisher that appears to be a new sculpt when compared with past fire extinguishers (we’ve had a few at this point across various lines). The nozzle is hard plastic so it sadly can’t be articulated, but it looks fine. There’s also an ice cream cone, a can of not Pepsi, and a red cup with a straw. I guess this is stuff for the audience to throw at the boys in displeasure?

Lining him up…

Two items that are very much in the world of pro wrestling include the ring bell and a chair. The ring bell features a little dinosaur guy who I assume is the one who strikes the bell in the comic. It’s a very Flintstones-esque design. He doesn’t move or anything so it’s more for show. The folding chair is definitely more of a true weapon. It can open and close if your turtles need a seat, but it’s better utilized as a weapon. It’s a worthy addition and by far the best accessory of the bunch. Of note is what’s not included which would be the signature weapons of the turtles themselves. The larger hands mean that the older weapons from the toon line won’t work quite as well here, but I assume NECA is just delaying a set of Archie weapons until they do more generic turtles. I really only miss them with Raph since he would wear this costume for several issues so a set of sai would have been nice. An alternate portrait for each turtle would have been nice too.

Good God, almighty!

Which takes us to probably the only major negative here – the price. This set retails for $150 at Target. Based on how last year’s Mirage Turtles were sold, it’s entirely possible these guys get broken up into single releases for a wider distribution. Though given that they’re variants, maybe they won’t? I’ve often said that NECA puts a “Turtle Tax” on all of their actual turtle figures. Two-packs typically cost between $55-$60 and single, “ultimate,” releases are hovering around $36 now. The Pizza Club single toon turtles were priced at $38 and included less stuff than a typical ultimate figure. This is now the fourth or fifth four-pack to go for $150 so it’s not a surprise anymore, but it’s a bit of a bummer that these things seem to be coming with less and less.

This Stump Wrestling mini-universe is going to get even bigger!

If the price doesn’t bother you then I can give these figures a hearty recommend. I am having a lot of fun with them in a way I never did with the toon ones. They’re just fun to hold and pose. NECA is also really building out this Stump Wrestling setting with a lot of characters so these guys figure to occupy a space in one’s collection all their own. If you like turtles and have ever been amused by the world of pro wrestling then you’ll probably like these whether you read the comics or not. I’m pretty much all-in and this Archie subline is becoming my new favorite so expect plenty more from me.

Here’s more from the world of NECA and TMNT Adventures:

NECA TMNT Adventures Jagwar

The next figure in NECA’s line based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic series is a much anticipated one for fans of those books and its spin-off The Mighty Mutanimals. And that’s because this character is making his debut in plastic. Previously, we looked at Slash who has been pretty well-represented in some…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Man Ray

Back when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world, there was a lot of brand synergy between all of the various media being generated by this one mega popular piece of intellectual property. The comics came first followed by a toyline which necessitated the creation of an animated mini series to basically serve as a…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Dreadmon

We’re almost done with all of these NECA Haulathon drops from March and up today is the last of the single-packed figures, the Mighty Mutanimal Dreadmon! Technically, he’s the third figure in NECA’s line of figures from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures since he’s listed as number 3 on the box. However,…

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by Joe

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September 5, 2024

Dragonlance – Dragons of Fate (2023)

By Joe
Cover art by Philipp Urlich

What’s this? After only doing one novel review in the 10+ year history of this blog we have two in the span of a week? That’s what happens when yours truly stumbles upon new stories in a beloved franchise. I outlined my experience with Dragonlance in last week’s review of Dragons of Deceit so there’s no need to do so here. To summarize, I loved the series as a kid and was surprised to find out that the writing duo of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman had returned to the world of Krynn with a new trilogy. I read through Dragons of Deceit in a somewhat leisurely manner, but it picked up near the end which catapulted me into the second book in the trilogy, Dragons of Fate.

Dragons of Deceit introduced the character Destina Rosethorn, a literal child of destiny and daughter of a Solamnic Knight who perished battling the forces of the Queen of Darkness in the famed battle at the High Clerist Tower which also claimed the life of Sturm Brightblade. Destina was a difficult character to latch onto. She is somewhat cold and detached due to her devotion to The Measure, a strict set of rules laid out by the Knights of Solamnia. She’s also a privileged woman raised in a castle. When much of that life of luxury is taken from her she is willing to abandon her morals and put the world in extreme peril to basically regain her castle and her status. Her plan is to travel back in time using the famed Device of Time Journeying and essentially trick her father with a cowardice potion so that he abandons his post and survives the battle.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Destina found herself mixed up with a kender named Tasslehoff Burrfoot. We know Tas well as he’s a featured character in most of the Weis/Hickman novels and through some polymorph magic he even comes to think he’s married to Destina, but not Destina. She tricks him by disguising herself as a kender which basically secures Tas’ devotion to her. She also impresses a monk named Kairn and it’s he who is in possession of the Device of Time Journeying. And because of Tas and his unwillingness to return to the site where his friend Sturm died, he, Destina, and Kairn end up getting sent back through time to the Inn of the Last Home on the night the Companions gathered and the events that would lead into the War of the Lance are put in motion.

It’s here that all goes wrong. Raistlin, being a magic user of some proficiency, sees through Destina and notices the gem dangling around her neck: the fabled Graygem which contains the essence of the god, Chaos. He also notices her trying to slip a potion into Sturm’s beverage for it would seem Destina changed her plan on the fly and hoped to make a coward out of him in a bid to save her father. Bad move, because it sets a string of wild events into motion where Raistlin goes to strike at her with his staff, Tas tries to stop him with the blue crystal staff of Goldmoon, and Kairn hastily tries to reactive the Device of Time Journeying to send them all back to where they came from. Only it’s just Kairn that gets transported back. He winds up back in Palanthas in the present with the Device of Time Journeying blown to bits. And the others? Destina and Tas wake up in a forest outside the High Clerist Tower, only it’s still under construction. Raistlin and Sturm are with them as well and they soon see a Solamnic knight pass by with a wizard at his side: the famed duo of Huma Dragonbane and Magius, fated to die in the coming dies driving off the Queen of Darkness.

That is where the story begins. It presents quite the predicament as our time-displaced friends need to figure out how to survive in the past without also upsetting the past. Meanwhile, in the present, the wizards Justarius and Dalamar the Dark are tasked by Astinus (who is the god of neutrality, Gilean, in his human aspect) with repairing the Device and coordinating a rescue effort. And it’s only via Astinus that they even know where to look. Astinus is an immortal being who records all of history as it’s happening, and when they go to research the past they find his pages have been wiped blank and the names Raistlin Majere and Sturm Brightblade have been added to the roster of those who stood in defense of the High Clerist Tower during the Third Dragon War.

If you read my review of the previous book, then you know I was only lukewarm on the material. The new characters weren’t particularly engaging and it felt like it was all just a long ruse to provide Weis and Hickman a chance to play with their old toys – the Heroes of the Lance. Dragons of Fate doesn’t really do much to dispell that suspicion, but it is a far more entertaining read. Destina is basically sidelined and the story leaves her with little to do. This is more the story of Raistlin and Magius. Magius is basically a hero to all wizards of the future because of his prowess as a war wizard and his friendship with Huma. The legendary Huma is celebrated, while only the wizards choose to acknowledge the contributions of his greatest friend. Raistlin will be gifted his staff after passing the dreaded test at the Tower of High Sorcery. It was more like a consolation prize since he emerged from said test in such dreadful condition, but it’s a treasured artifact of his and now he has a chance to meat the man who crafted it.

The story also introduces new wrinkles to how time travel works in Dragonlance. Previously, time was always referred to as a river. One person cannot hope to have much influence over how a wide river flows. It takes something much more which is why Destina had no fear about harming the future by saving one man. We also have it confirmed that actions in the past do not immediately impact the present. Time is a river, and when the past is altered it’s like letting water through a dam. Those downstream can see the oncoming rush of water and can either act in response or wait for its arrival. This is illustrated by the blank pages in Astinus’ book and I suspect it will play an even bigger role in the third part of the trilogy which I plan to start after I finish writing this.

The other new wrinkle thrown in is that time does not affect the dead, so to speak. When Raistlin and Sturm are thrust back in time we find out the keeper of souls essentially lost them. They have returned to their mortal body to inhabit it at a specific point in time (the gathering at the inn), but they retain all memories of the lives they lead including the stuff yet to come. This impacts Sturm very little who died a hero’s death, something he aspired to. As for Raistlin, he redeemed himself at the end of Test of the Twins, but his fate is rather miserable. His former apprentice, Dalamar, fears what he may do in the past with access to the Graygem. The Graygem is Chaos and Chaos is the one being that can influence the past with relative ease. Its presence at a moment in time when Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, was roaming the world is incredibly dangerous for if she were to obtain its power it would likely allow her to triumph over the other gods and claim the world as her own.

And that’s the main conflict. The people in the past need to find a way back to the present, the people in the present need to find a way to reach the people of the past, and everyone needs to keep the Graygem away from Takhisis. The book is basically the same length as the prior one, sub 400 pages, and it moves rather quickly. Momentary conflicts are resolved quickly almost like the authors are handwaving it away. Broken Device of Time Journeying? No problem! The battle between Huma and Takhisis is the thing hanging over everyone’s heads, including the reader’s, and it’s a conflict that the book will save for the end to decide if it happens or not. There’s a detour with Tas that’s kind of ho-hum, and a romance angle for Destina that doesn’t land. What does work is basically everything with Raistlin. Weis and Hickman seem to love writing Raistlin as much as they love writing Tas and they’re quite proficient at it. While I do worry this may be a bit too much of a redemption arc for a character they clearly love, I can’t deny I did not enjoy seeing him adventure with Magius. And if anything, it’s a shame Weis and Hickman waited so long to actually write for the character of Magius because he’s another fun one.

The story is obviously not over as we have a third book just released to wade into. I enjoyed the ride Weis and Hickman took me on with this one, though I have some reservations about where it leaves us. Perhaps those worries will be unfounded, but it almost feels like we’re doing a relay race with the Heroes of the Lance and we may get handed off to the less interesting characters for the finale. Hopefully, I am wrong. I do still wonder what the ultimate resolution will be here and what kind of lasting impact, if any, it will have on the world of Dragonlance. Could this be some really exciting reset or will time right itself and ultimately this was just a fun diversion for three books? Who can say? Well, those who have already finished the new book can and I plan to join them in the coming weeks.

Dragonlance – Dragons of Deceit (2022)

My favorite series of books as a youth belonged to Dragonlance. The Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that spawned numerous novels was a world I enjoyed inhabiting. I didn’t fall into Dragonlance until I was in middle school and my very first book in the long-running series was Dragons of Summer Flame by Margaret Weis…

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by Joe

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Strongheart Ultimate Action Figure

It was roughly a year ago that I added Warduke to my collection from NECA Toys’ Dungeons & Dragons line of action figures. Warduke is basically a modern rendition of the character as featured in the vintage D&D toyline from LJN in the 80s. While I wasn’t a fan of that old toyline, I could…

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by Joe

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Warduke Ultimate Action Figure

When it comes to the subject of New Year’s Resolutions, I consider the topic to be a fairly silly one. If there’s something in your life that you could improve upon, or a habit that should be broken, don’t wait for a new year to try to make that change – just do it! Making…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Books

September 3, 2024

MOTU Turtles of Grayskull Splinter-Skull

By Joe
Things are getting out of hand so here comes Splinter to lay down the law.

A couple week back I bemoaned the Walmart exclusive Krang from Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line for being particularly troublesome to track down. I couldn’t even find one in store or online to purchase at MSRP and had to buy it from a third party – on Walmart’s website no less. Contrast that to today’s review of the Splinter-Skull figure (from here on just referred to as Splinter) that’s exclusive to Target. It went up for preorder probably six or eight weeks ago with an actual release date. I missed the preorder, but when release date rolled around there it was online and in-store. No problem.

There’s a lot more sculpted detail than usual with this figure.

Splinter is the third deluxe figure in this line released at Target. The deluxe tag doesn’t really refer to the figure itself, more the fact that it comes with a build-a-figure part for Metal-Boto, the Metalhead Roboto mashup. Aside from that, Splinter is not much different from the rest of the line in that you get a figure and an accessory. The difference with Splinter is while he’s on the MOTU Origins body, he’s a rat so he needs a little added texture. I don’t think what’s here is anything new, there are other beast men in this line that likely benefited from a furry sculpt, but it is new to me.

If you want something closer to a vintage Splinter you can ditch the cape and even the harness.

Splinter is basically the sensei we know and love from TMNT crossed with King Grayskull. That means he gets to wear a harness over his usual kimono and has a big, fur-trimmed, cape and spear. The head portrait seems to very much be drawing from the classic Playmates Splinter as he has a very large nose with his teeth poking out. The kimono is in the same color as it was in the ’87 animated series and is done with soft plastic that clasps in the front. The torso piece is separate from the portion that covers his thighs which is basically done as a belt. The cape is cumbersome, but stays on. It just clips around his neck somewhat loosely, but certainly adds a regal quality to the presentation. Splinter is also rocking some braids this time and the typical MOTU bracers and leg wraps.

Welcome to Hot Rat Summer.

What really stands out though is the physique. We’re just not used to seeing Splinter as anything but a somewhat frail, old, rat-man. This Splinter is positively jacked and it’s almost funny to behold. He looks great and Splinter can be a big, tough, guy if he wants, but it is very different for the character. I don’t know if that is something that will bother anyone, but it’s the first thing I see when I look at him. He’s a big, beefy, rat boy and I’m tempted to display him shirtless for maximum effect.

“Whoa Sensei, have you been workin’ out?”

Splinter actually comes with two accessories: a spear and an extra hand. The extra hand is a left hand and it’s in a clawing pose, I suppose. The default hands are standard gripping hands. The spear has a translucent blue tip and bronze handle. It feels just a tad short and I wish there was an extra half inch to the handle, but it’s fine. The spearhead can separate from the handle and be held like a sword as well, if you so choose. Articulation for Splinter is the same as always with the only addition here being the tail which connects via a hinged ball peg. It’s slightly preposed to begin with so it has limited use. A bendy wire would have been neat, but I wasn’t expecting one either.

Some assembly required.

The other accessories are the build-a-figure pieces. Splinter comes with the torso and shell of Metal-Boto which is welcomed since we previously received the right arm, hips, thighs, and head. Now we have something to connect those stray parts to and the only pieces missing now are both feet and the left arm. He also has a few more weapons expected too. Since this is a modular line, you can assemble the figure with parts from other previously released characters for a Frankenstein approach. Before, that couldn’t be done because the head joint is unique in that it has an action feature. Turning Metal-Boto at the waist causes the red cover for the jaw to move up and down. It’s kind of cool, I guess. The rest of the figure will be included with the upcoming Two-Bopsteady expected in October.

It’s not hard to find some parts to make this guy both complete and creepy.

Splinter is a figure I wasn’t that excited for initially and was only planning on buying to get the Metal-Boto pieces. I’m happy to say I have been pleasantly surprised by what Mattel did here. I dig this look for Splinter and there’s enough of the original character preserved in this version to make him feel familiar as well. His weapon is more interesting than most and his armor pieces have actual utility. I think this figure looks pretty cool with everything on or everything off and even some mix in between. He’s a nice addition to the collection and I’m really looking forward to assembling Metal-Boto in the near future.

And this will continue to go on forever.

Check out more from Mattel’s MOTU Origins Turtles of Grayskull line:

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Shredder

For today’s latest Turtle Tuesday action figure review, I think we can go a little light. That’s because I am looking at yet another action figure release from the Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull crossover line between the heroes and villains of MOTU and those of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.…

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by Joe

MOTU Turtles of Grayskull Krang

Two words that are much hated in the toy collecting community are “Store Exclusive.” Add a “Walmart” in front of that phrase and you get something akin to a worst nightmare. The world of “collectibles” has always relied on same degree of scarcity. The 90s saw a collector boom across various mediums which created a…

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by Joe

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Skeletor

When it’s come to the Turtles of Grayskull line by Mattel, I have mostly stayed in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles side of the pool. I have all four turtle boys plus Sla’ker, who is more Slash than Faker if you ask me. The one exception has been Mouse-Jaw, but the classic Masters of the…

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by Joe

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August 29, 2024

Dragonlance – Dragons of Deceit (2022)

By Joe
Cover art by Philipp Urlich.

My favorite series of books as a youth belonged to Dragonlance. The Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that spawned numerous novels was a world I enjoyed inhabiting. I didn’t fall into Dragonlance until I was in middle school and my very first book in the long-running series was Dragons of Summer Flame by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. If you know anything about Dragonlance then you know that’s a really odd place to start. I ended up there because I needed a novel to read for school and my best friend had just finished reading it so he let me borrow it. A dragon composed of molten lava on the cover while a knight in clad in black armor challenged it certainly looked interesting enough so I jumped in and enjoyed. Sure, I was confused by some aspects of the story and I had to piece things together either on my own or by peppering my buddy with questions.

And I had to do that because Dragons of Summer Flame is basically the seventh novel in the series, though someone just looking at the various titles would think it was the fourth. That’s because the first book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, continued through to …Spring Dawning which concluded the first story and gave way to the Twins trilogy. And those are just the books written by the chief architects of Dragonlance, Weis and Hickman. Numerous other authors contributed to Dragonlance and I would go on to read some of them, but mostly stuck with the original authors. I would end up reading the main series almost backwards as after Summer Flame I went to Time of the Twins. It would be years before I finally read the original trilogy. I would also read the first fifth age trilogy by Jean Rabe and Weis and Hickman returned with the War of Souls which I read as well as The Dark Disciple and the Forgotten Chronicles. Until now, the last Dragonlance book I read was Dragons of the Hourglass Mage released in 2009.

Like a lot of things, I’ve lost touch with a franchise I once adored. Some of that was due to the dreadful animated movie released based on Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It did not spawn a franchise. I thought the franchise was dead as Wizards of the Coast seemed to favor other settings, namely Forgotten Realms, and I had heard rumblings of legal entanglements where Dragonlance was concerned. I basically found out recently that those issues had been resolved and Weis and Hickman have returned for what I suppose is assumed to be their final Dragonlance trilogy which they have dubbed Dragonlance Destinies. It worked out rather well for me as I had two books to catch up on with the third set to release in August. It’s like a no wait cheat code!

Dragonlance novels are basically intended for those in their teens. I do not go into this first book expecting something more than that. I don’t know if the authors reject that assumption or not, but it is how they read. Dragonlance is anchored by a handful of well-developed characters dropped into a fantasy world that’s fairly idealized and often cliched. It’s not a harsh or realistically portrayed environment, or rather, as realistic as fantasy can be. There’s no mention of chamber pots or flesh rot. The government operates as it should, for the most part, and there are pretty clear lines of good and evil. The main character in this new trilogy is literally named after the word destiny so there’s often a lack of subtlety. The setting appealed to me as a kid because, well, dragons! They’re D&D dragons so they’re magical beasts of various colors that can communicate as well as humans, if not better. There are gods who play a huge role in the machinations of the mortals that dwell on the world of Krynn with most getting directly involved in the plots. In other words, this is definitely not A Song of Ice and Fire, the most recent fantasy setting I immersed myself in.

The Destinies trilogy begins with Dragons of Deceit. It’s an interesting place to start as it’s set during the War of the Lance. Destina Rosethorn is a young woman of noble birth. Her father is a Knight of Solamnia and a minor character from the Dragonlance Chronicles books. He’s mostly known for dying in the battle at the High Clerist Tower which also claimed the life of Sturm Brightblade. We begin just before that and then move past it. Destina is left with just her mother who came from a tribe of humans more aligned with nature than chivalry. Solamnic law would have her father’s estate pass to the next male heir, and Destina being an only child complicates that. There was a will in which her father named her heir, but it was burned in the raid on the city of Palanthas around the time of her father’s death.

As is probably expected, everything collapses. Destina’s cousin is able to secure a court order to her father’s estate meaning she loses Castle Rosethorn, which has been in her family for generations. Her betrothed leaves her since she no longer has the backing of a noble family and even her mother returns to her people. Destina is left all alone, though worth noting she is not homeless as she was allowed to retain the family’s home in Palanthas which her father kept for when he needed to do business in the main city (she had a really hard life up to this point…). Still, she is unable to reconcile this new life as her own, but a story she comes across in one of her father’s books about the Device of Time Journeying gives her an idea.

It’s at this point that Dragonlance veterans known what Destina found. The Device of Time Journeying is a central part of the Legends trilogy. Destina wants to find it so that she can go back in time and save her father so that none of this will ever happen. The problem there is her father died a noble death which is essentially what every Solamnic Knight aspires to. Destina displays a knowledge of The Measure, a list of rules and laws that guide all Solamnic people, but is willing to betray her own self and her own moral code to undo what has been done. That’s because she hatches a plan with a renegade wizard named Unger to give her father a potion of cowardice so that he would flee the battle and thus spare his own life.

The issue that arises from her plan is that Dragonlance has established some strict rules when it comes to time travel. Time is explained as a river and one person alone cannot impact its flow. It is said that only the races of chaos can actually change time. Destina, being a human, is not among one of those races. That is why Unger suggests she carry with her the Graygem, which is a gem that contains the essence of the god, Chaos. It’s a central item in Dragons of Summer Flame so we basically know what’s going to happen with it, but at this point in time Unger has simply stumbled upon on it. He has seen a vision of the future which includes this gem being smashed and the gods vanishing. Seeking to either avert that future or profit from it somehow, Unger has tracked it to a Dwarven kingdom, but he was savagely beaten when trying to obtain the artifact through deceitful means. Unger is the catalyst for this adventure, and it wouldn’t be much of a story if this threat of time travel didn’t bare fruit.

Without getting too in the weeds and spoiling the plot, I will say that Destina’s journey puts her on the path of the famed Heroes of the Lance. She is merely a conduit for the authors to play with these characters once again, and by time travel no less, they can essentially revive those who are dead. It’s an interesting choice since it’s been preestablished that time is hard to change in any meaningful way, but Dragons of Summer Flame presented an ending that was pretty controversial at the time. It was basically a reset for Dragonlance and one that may have been essentially mandated by the forces in charge of the actual game. When Weis and Hickman came back to write The War of Souls trilogy, some viewed it as them “fixing” what had become of Dragonlance in its fifth age. Is this story going to be a way to undo essentially all of that? Probably not, but it’s an interesting thought.

The movements of the plot are a bit plodding, but the book itself is less than 400 pages so it’s not exactly sloth-like. It’s biggest obstacle is Destina herself. She feels inconsistent. She’s a smart and capable woman apparently devoted to her father and The Measure, but lacks any sort of conviction. If we had been spending stories upon stories with her, some of the events of this book would feel like a real betrayal of her character. At times, the book itself even brings this up, but merely acknowledging it doesn’t remedy it. The introduction of the other Heroes of the Lance feels a bit like a crutch too. Weis and Hickman appear disinterested in writing a novel without the kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot and he will worm his way into this one essentially becoming a de-facto main character by its end. If Dragonlance has a main character, it’s basically Tas. There are also moments where the plot moves quickly, and I don’t just mean time skips. Things that need to happen or items that need to be found basically just are. It’s remarkably convenient that a character like Unger exists for Destina to come in contact with.

The conclusion of this part of the story is, by far, the most interesting part of the book. Everything leading up to that point was fine. I was carried by my nostalgic affection for this series and I spent considerable time lounging on a beach in Jamaica with nothing to do except drink and read. I didn’t become invested though until that end. I suppose one of the hallmarks of a good book is it makes you want to immediately crack open the next one, should it exist, Dragons of Deceit did accomplish that. I won’t know how worthwhile it is until I’ve read the trilogy, but for now, it’s a start.

Is D&D your thing? Well, I hope you like toys then:

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Strongheart Ultimate Action Figure

It was roughly a year ago that I added Warduke to my collection from NECA Toys’ Dungeons & Dragons line of action figures. Warduke is basically a modern rendition of the character as featured in the vintage D&D toyline from LJN in the 80s. While I wasn’t a fan of that old toyline, I could…

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by Joe

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Warduke Ultimate Action Figure

When it comes to the subject of New Year’s Resolutions, I consider the topic to be a fairly silly one. If there’s something in your life that you could improve upon, or a habit that should be broken, don’t wait for a new year to try to make that change – just do it! Making…

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by Joe

Hasbro Dungeons & Dragons Drizzt Do’Urden and Guenhwyvar

I was quite surprised when Hasbro unveiled a deluxe action figure set starring the Forgotten Realms hero, Drizzt Do’Urden. Drizzt was a character I was familiar with going back into my middle school days when I traded Star Wars novels for Dragonlance. Even though my nose was buried in stories about Raistlin Majere and Tanis…

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by Joe

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August 27, 2024

Transformers x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party Wallop

By Joe
A collaboration 40 years in the making.

The list of properties the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed over with gets shorter by the day. When I look back to the 1980s, I view the big action figure lines as Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. TMNT has crossed over with Ghostbusters in the past and we’ve covered much of the current TMNT x MOTU releases from the past year as well. We also know, thanks to the book Rad Plastic, that Playmates wanted to do a TMNT x Star Wars line, but it didn’t come to fruition. They did get to touch on Star Trek, and the turtles have also had releases with the likes of Batman, Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and Street Fighter.

Now the turtles can aid the Autobots in their never-ending fight against the Decepticons. And I guess save Christmas.

Well, scratch another off the list as 2024 is the year that TMNT and Transformers got together to make a baby. A robot baby. Transformers are no stranger to a bit of cross-promotion. That franchise has collaborated with Back to the Future and Ghostbusters as well as current Hasbro property G.I. Joe. Transformers has even collaborated with Pepsi and Target, so that’s a brand that’s pretty much up for anything. It’s actually surprising that it’s taken this long for TMNT to get the Transformers treatment. Hasbro already did some work with the brand via the Power Rangers cross-over so a relationship was already established. Plus, the turtles have their own iconic vehicle to contribute to Transformers just like BTTF and Ghostbusters which is precisely why we have Party Wallop.

Turtle Vans – Assemble!

TMNT fans know that the turtles drive around in a battle van of sorts. In the 1987 animated series, it’s known as the Turtle Van. When it made the jump to toys, it became the Party Wagon though the name was never altered in the cartoon. The two are similar, but different. The Party Wagon is a little closer in style to a VW Microbus without being so close to it that a license was required. The Turtle Van is more of its own thing. It’s armored and boxy while both incarnations of the vehicle include a turtle shell pattern on the roof, twin laser canons, a spare tire on the front with the group’s logo, and a front bumper fashioned to resemble a turtle beak. For the Transformers collaboration, Hasbro (or Takara, I don’t know who makes the call) opted to match the look of the vehicle from the show, while referencing the Party Wagon name via the robot’s name of Party Wallop. There’s a TMNT x Transformers logo on the packaging which uses an image of the Party Wagon, so if you’re confused I guess you have every right to be.

Of course, he’s not going to be to scale with your 1:12 or 1:10 figures.

Party Wallop comes in a somewhat complicated blister package. It’s adorned with licensing art from the TMNT franchise and the Transformers logo across the top. There’s images of the toy in both vehicle and robot mode on the back as well as a call out to the fact that this toy can function as a robot version of each of the four turtles so make sure you go out and buy 3 more. There’s also a call-out to how both franchises are celebrating 40 years this year so I guess 2024 was just the perfect time for this collaboration to happen.

Party Wallop can resemble whichever turtle you please, like the best turtle: Leonardo.

Full disclosure, I am not a big Transformers fan. I think they’re wonderful toys, it’s just a rabbit hole I never went down wholeheartedly. I had maybe one or two toys from Gen 1, and a few from Gen 2. On this blog, I’ve looked at the RED Soundwave, the Super7 Optimus Prime, and the Christmas themed Optimus Prime released in 2022. Of those three, only the Christmas figure is one that actually transforms. I do have the first Masterpiece Optimus Prime and Megatron because when they came out I was flush with money from graduating college and needed something dumb to spend it on. I missed my window to sell both as there are better Transformers toys out there now. All this is to say that I don’t know the ins and outs of Transformers. I can’t speak to how complicated this figure is compared to others or if the quality is noticeably better or worse.

If it needs to do machines, there’s Donatello.

Party Wallop, in robot mode, stands right around 6.5″ to the top of its head and 7″ to the top of its “shell.” The figure is primarily constructed in colored plastic featuring yellow, green, and gray. The painted areas are sparse. There’s the teeth on the robot’s head and the dark green linework on the rear of the shell. The front of the crotch is painted yellow and it’s over a hard plastic that I initially mistook for diecast. The plastron, or chest, is also painted a slightly darker yellow than the colored parts. There’s blue paint for the windows of the vehicle and some other minor paint hits for metallic parts and lights. The paint is all applied well, it’s just limited, but that makes sense for a complex, transforming, action figure such as this one.

When Party Wallop is feeling rude, there’s Raph!

As for the actual look of the figure, it’s pretty solid. It looks like a robotic turtle and the designers did a good job of incorporating some finer details into this figure. The head of the figure by default is just a generic turtle head, though shaped like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle head. The figure also comes with four extra skull tops that feature a colored bandana for each turtle. You simply pop one off to slide your preferred turtle into place. The front belt buckle also folds down and can rotate to display either a blank, gray, circle or a circle with the initial of your chosen turtle. The chest looks like a Ninja Turtle chest, or you can clip-on the front of the Turtle Van for a different look, or have that clipped to a forearm like a shield. The proportioning is good with full formed arms and legs.

And when it’s time to party, there’s Michelangelo.

Aspects of the presentation that don’t work quite as well is just the overall look of the mostly plastic approach. There’s no getting around how a lot of the yellow and gray plastic imparts a cheap look to what is not exactly a cheap figure ($50 MSRP). There’s not a whole lot that can be done to change that though, yellow plastic especially has a tendency to not look premium, but you’re not going to fully paint a transforming toy. It would just be a mess after a few transformations because of all of the parts rubbing together. The shell, which is basically the roof of the Turtle Van, is a little awkward looking too. From the front, it’s fine, but from the side it’s clear that the figure has no back. It’s just an open cavity that the shell is supposed to hide, but since the shell isn’t curved, it doesn’t really accomplish that as well as it could. The one thing that does bother me that probably could have been fixed are the tires. They’re done with hollow, plastic, wheels and they just look like crap. Some actual rubber tires would have been nice, but I’m guessing such things aren’t as common today as they were 35-40 years ago when it comes to a Transformers toy.

Every turtle, robot or organic, requires pizza.

Party Wallop does come with a few accessories. Out of the box, the spoiler of the vehicle needs to be attached along with the front of the van. The nose of the van is basically an accessory too as it’s removable and the reverse side features a pizza pattern. Do robots eat pizza? This one does, apparently. Also included are the weapons you would expect: twin katana, nunchaku, sai, and a single bo staff. The weapons are done in gray plastic with the nunchaku being connected by actual chain links, though they’re made of plastic. They’ve been redesigned to have a more techno appearance befitting that of a Transformer. There’s also storage for the weapons and extra head-toppers on the figure which is appreciated. There are slots on the underside of the shell for the heads and bo (which has two hinges in it so it can collapse into a rectangle) while the other weapons all have tabs on them to slot onto the hips, the sides of the shell, and under the shoulder pads.

There’s storage under the shell for the extra head parts and the staff.
The swords and sai have spots to plug into while the ‘chuks slot in under the shoulder pads.

As an action figure, Party Wallop articulates rather well. I am used to older Transformers that basically swiveled at the head and shoulder and often not much else, but this figure can do quite a bit. It has a ball-jointed head so there’s tilt and some rotation with a little up and down. The shoulders rotate and go out to the side just fine while the elbows bend a full 90 degrees. The wrists can tilt in like a horizontal hinge and they also rotate. There is a waist twist, and the hips go out to the side almost all the way for splits while kicking forward and back a full 90 degrees. The knees bend 90 degrees and there is a thigh swivel. The ankles can pivot in and can hinge up as well, but not back. The shell is basically on an armature so you can move and position that if you need to, mostly for adjustment posing. It’s a pretty damn good spread though and all that’s truly missing is an ab crunch or butterfly shoulders. Having that ankle rocker is a pretty big deal for stances all by itself.

Party Wallop has a twenty step transformation process to convert it into the Turtle Van. For someone who doesn’t buy a lot of these, I found the process almost intuitive enough to transform it without referring to the instructions. And most of the stuff I did have to turn to the instructions for was just to confirm I was doing it right as the joints are all very tight and I didn’t want to break something. It does not feel fragile though, it’s just firm to prevent loosening overtime. There are portions that need to clip together and those can be a pain, but I didn’t find it overly annoying.

If you have some TMNT minifigures (I don’t) in need of a Turtle Van, this might work okay.

The completed Turtle Van looks the part in that no one would mistake it for something else. No one is also likely to confuse it for a non-Transformer as there are some unsightly seam lines on it, mostly on the side windows. I guess that couldn’t be avoided. I also wish the shell lines on the nose of the vehicle were painted like they are on the roof because that piece looks especially cheap. There are also two large hinges on the side of the vehicle that are unsightly, but also somewhat blend in with the texture of the van. In order for the front plate to function as a shield for the robot, the rear windows required peg holes for it to slot into and they look awful. I feel like they could have figured out a better way to do that which didn’t require unnecessary holes. The weapon storage for the sai and swords also switch to the bottom of the vehicle. The sai work fine, but the katana (if you can even get them into the slot properly) stick out of the front of the vehicle a little and it looks silly. They were so close to getting it right with the storage options – oh well.

As a vehicle for your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles display, this Turtle Van won’t scale with anything. It’s way too small to fit in with any prior toy line. I suppose if you bought a set of those World’s Smallest Toys Turtles they would scale okay. It’s almost big enough that you could fake it with some Lego turtles, but probably still a tad undersized for that. That’s, of course, fine as this isn’t designed to scale with anything other than Transformers. Compared with my Christmas Prime, it seems fine so if you are someone who just collects these Transformers collaborations and prefers to display them in alt mode it should hopefully work out okay. I am guessing most will display it in robot mode though as their chosen turtle.

Party on, dudes.

For someone who is not really into Transformers toys, I do like this figure. I think it achieved what it wanted to do in creating a robot version of a Ninja Turtle that transforms into the Turtle Van. The details are all there and the van is fairly on model. If you’re someone who has a whole bunch of Turtle Vans at this point, it’s fun to slot into a collection as it’s bigger than both Hot Wheels versions, but smaller than the Jada one (which I don’t have). Having the robot be able to represent whichever turtle one chooses is a genius idea. It adds a fun factor to the package and also encourages people to buy multiples. At $50 a pop, I don’t have any desire to buy more than one, but it was a nice try on Hasbro’s part. If you’re into these Transformers collaborations then I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t find enjoyment with this release too. And if you’re a TMNT collector primarily, this is a unique item to add to the collection.

If you read and enjoyed this review then here’s some other items you may want to check out:

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…

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by Joe

Transformers R.E.D. Generation 1 Soundwave

Full disclosure here: I’m not much of a Transformers guy. Transformers took off when I was a wee one and I kind of missed the boat. I had some friends and cousins really into it, and I even had a few myself that were gifted to me, but it was nothing I gravitated towards. And…

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Transformers Generations Holiday Optimus Prime

We interrupt our regularly scheduled holiday posts with something very familiar to this blog: a toy review! Yes, we have ourselves another Christmas toy to talk about and it too comes from Hasbro. We already looked at a Star Wars toy at the end of November, and now we’re turning to what I suppose is…

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by Joe

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August 20, 2024

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Shredder

By Joe
Shredder has entered the fray.

For today’s latest Turtle Tuesday action figure review, I think we can go a little light. That’s because I am looking at yet another action figure release from the Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull crossover line between the heroes and villains of MOTU and those of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These figures are essentially all the same. They have the same build, engineering, and some even have the same weapons. The differences are mainly in the head sculpts and whatever additional clip-on armor is provided. And for today’s release we are looking at the chief villain of TMNT: The Shredder!

Looks like this Shredder chooses to bring an axe to a sword fight.

When I first saw this MOTU-ified Shredder I wasn’t 100% sold on it. Even though Shredder figures are usually among my favorite in a given TMNT line, this one wasn’t an instant hit. It evokes memories of the original Playmates Shredder, one of the few Shredder figures I don’t care for, with its bare chested approach and black pants. It is, of course, on a MOTU Origins body so it’s not in that ridiculous preposed position of that figure, nor does it have any soft goods or blue metal. Instead, we have Shredder with a full helm and a Shredder/Foot-themed harness across his chest with a blue, plastic, cape affixed to it. The promo images made the armored pieces on his arms, shins, and helm look very plasticky. I am happy to say that in-hand it looks noticeably better.

I suppose he looks menacing enough.

That’s not to say I’m in love with what I see here. And it starts with the helm. Mattel gave Shredder a full helm that basically just has some eye holes in it. The eyes are red with black surrounding them. The fins atop the helm are a little different in that the two going around the helm connect in the back, which looks fine. It’s textured like crudely smithed steel with impact marks and the rear of the helmet which surrounds the head has a texture similar to that of movie Shredder, specifically Secret of the Ooze just without the gold coloring. That stuff is all fine, but what I don’t really care for is the face. Mattel sculpted the mouth area like it has an actual opening mechanism. And the shape of that mouth is like that of a crudely made robot with a severe underbite. I don’t like it and it makes him look like a dinosaur to me.

This duo looks rather formidable.

The rest of the figure is mostly fine. The pauldrons at the shoulders and forearm guards basically slide on while the shin armor clips on. It’s all snug and stays in place and it all has the same color and dented texture of the helm. What I don’t like is that the blades which go on the backs of Shredder’s hands are part of the forearm piece. You basically position that armor so that it appears to be affixed to the back of his hand. It probably would have been too cumbersome to have the blades slide onto the hands, but I think this is the rare spot were uniquely sculpted hands were called for.

I’m told this is a Horde Crossbow.

And speaking of hands, Shredder features one gripping hand and one open hand, which is pretty unique from my limited interactions with this line. It’s just like the old Playmates figure with the right hand for gripping and the left open and I’m guessing it’s a nod to that figure, because why else would Shredder need an open hand? For slapping jerks? The gripping hand is useful for his included axe accessory. It appears to be new since it has a 2003 era Foot symbol stamped into it. It has a serrated edge and looks pretty nasty, though it’s just the one color which matches the other “metal” parts of the figure. Shredder’s other weapon is a crossbow which can snap onto a forearm. It’s a dark gray with what I guess is a dragon head in the center of the bow itself? There are two tabs inside the apparatus that look like they have a purpose, but I don’t know what that could be. It’s possible this weapon is reused from some other release that had a clip-on arrow or something for it that is not included here.

He has enough articulation to, more or less, achieve his “classic” pose.

Articulation for Shredder is exactly like the other figures in the line so there’s not much to discuss. The added armor at the shoulders doesn’t hinder movement there, nor do the armored parts on his forearms and shins. The ankle rocker continues to be a sore spot with this line. I felt it worked fine with the turtles, but most of the other figures have more of a swivel than a true ankle rocker. The angle of the pin going into the foot isn’t severe enough for it to function properly which is a bummer. Shredder at least has fairly wide feet relative to his body and even with the added weight of the cape coming off of his back he’s fairly painless to stand, unlike Skeletor which has fallen over multiple times since entering my shelf space.

“You guys look like a couple of dorks.”

This Shredder is fine. Nothing really spectacular going on here or anything unbecoming of the character. It’s a fairly unimaginative take on Shredder and the few, subtle, changes made to his design to fit into this MOTU aesthetic offer little. The axe accessory, while a little unusual for Shredder, is at least fine and looks pretty violent. The crossbow kind of sucks though. At the end of the day, I bought this figure because he is Shredder and my Turtles of Grayskull collection is large enough that Shredder felt like a necessity. He’ll likely end up being one of my least favorites though and I’m holding out hope for a Super Shredder deluxe figure to make up for this one (Note: since writing this Mattel has shown off a mutated, snake, Shredder for this line that might be interesting).

Shredder vs Splinter. The cosmic ballet goes on.

Check out these other reviews from Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull line:

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Deluxe Sla’ker

It’s a Tuesday, and I have a new Turtles product to talk about, so let’s make it another Turtle Tuesday! And today brings us the second in the line of deluxe Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line exclusive to Target – Sla’ker: The evil cybernetic snapping turtle! This is Slash, the…

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by Joe

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Skeletor

When it’s come to the Turtles of Grayskull line by Mattel, I have mostly stayed in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles side of the pool. I have all four turtle boys plus Sla’ker, who is more Slash than Faker if you ask me. The one exception has been Mouse-Jaw, but the classic Masters of the…

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by Joe

MOTU Turtles of Grayskull Krang

Two words that are much hated in the toy collecting community are “Store Exclusive.” Add a “Walmart” in front of that phrase and you get something akin to a worst nightmare. The world of “collectibles” has always relied on same degree of scarcity. The 90s saw a collector boom across various mediums which created a…

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by Joe

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August 13, 2024

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Tatsu Ultimate Action Figure

By Joe
“I, Tatsu, now lead! Let any who challenge, step forward…”

NECA’s line of action figures based on the 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be my favorite part of my collection. The figures have just been so good at capturing the likeness of a film that is my favorite iteration of the beloved franchise. Over the years, we’ve received lots of action figures from this line including the turtles, April, multiple versions of Casey, Shredder, and more. It’s a nice selection of characters from the film, but one guy has been missing. Well, NECA kept at it and almost stealthily released the latest addition to the film toy line in the form of Master Tatsu.

Looks like he was worth the wait.

Tatsu, portrayed on the screen by Toshishiro Obata (with Michael McConnohie providing the voice for some reason), was Shredder’s right hand man and field general for the Foot. He was an all new creation for the film as in the comics Shredder didn’t really have a named lieutenant and in the cartoon there was an assortment of characters that would not have fit in with the spirit of that film. There wasn’t a whole lot to Tatsu’s character. He mostly stalked around and grunted often sporting an expression like he just smelled a fart. In short bursts we saw he was tolerant of the children around him, but also vicious in the dojo. He seemed like a tough, capable, guy for the job, but he took Casey lightly and took a driver to the face on account of that. In the sequel film, things went even worse for him and following that he was never heard from again.

Tatsu may lead the Foot into battle, but he’s also in charge of the clan’s laundry.

Tatsu may not have been a superstar in the films, but he played a large enough role that his absence from the toy line has been felt. He’s been the missing link, but despite repeated attempts, it seemed like NECA was never going to be able to get Obata onboard. I don’t know what changed, but obviously something did and now we finally have Tatsu in all his glory. My assumption is this version of the character is based on his appearance in the first movie, though I don’t think there was much difference in his costume for the sequel. The sculpt and fabrication of the figure is credited to some new names for me in May Thamtarana and Trevor Grove. If they do sculpts for NECA’s other lines I don’t know, but it’s always nice to see new names on the box.

Tatsu comes with a bunch of stuff, but he may just look to be at his best when armed only with his fists.

Tatsu stands at approximately 6.5″ tall. His default portrait is that scowl we all know and love from the film and it’s quite a good likeness for Obata. The body is an interesting mixture of sculpted and soft goods. That “flap” over his shoulders with his insignia on the back is plastic, while he has soft goods for his robes which he wears underneath. There’s a sculpted sash across the waist with the usual (for this line) spandex belt for weapon storage. The pants Velcro in the back and I suppose the soft goods could be removed if you were determined, but I’m content to leave as-is. The body is sculpted underneath and he appears to have black pants and boots similar to that of the Foot Soldier, though I don’t think the parts have been reused. The arms are bare so it’s possible you could create a bare-chested Tatsu if you wished, though he may not have any sculpt in his abdomen. I suppose it’s possible the torso is reused from the Shadow Warriors set, though I didn’t inspect it close enough to determine that for certain.

Channeling his inner Steve Blackman.

We’ll jump to the articulation as there’s always a concern there when it comes to soft goods. I’m happy to say that the pants and sleeves are pretty loose-fitting and don’t hinder the articulation much. The head is on a double-ball joint and works fine while the arms can raise out to the side without hindrance. Rotation will be a little bit of an issue with the soft goods, but probably not to the degree where it will prevent you from achieving a certain pose. The elbows are just single-hinges with a swivel and the wrists swivel and hinge. All are horizontal, which is a bummer. There is a joint in the torso, but it’s limited as it is with most of the figures in this line. There’s a waist twist and ball-socket hips which work well for splits, but kicking forward will be a small issue with the soft goods, though it can be worked around. The knees are double-jointed and the ankles hinge and rock very well. He’s pretty much standard for the line. Could it be better? Yes, but there’s nothing surprising here for good or bad.

I kind of like the fan, though I concede it doesn’t really fit his character.

Tatsu does have quite a bit of stuff in the box which is amusing since he didn’t wield weapons in the films. For hands, Tatsu has a set of fists, chop, and gripping hands. There’s also an additional right gripping hand that’s in more of a pinching gesture. It seems intended to work with his fan, of which he has two. One is open and one is closed. The closed fan is a pretty boring accessory since it’s just a black stick with a little white paint, but the open one looks nice. I believe it’s from a Tatsu trading card associated with the movie and was a prop that never made it to screen. I think the same may be true for the red, demon, mask he comes with. There was a version of Tatsu in the 2012 series that wore one so it could be a reference to that. It’s really well painted and looks awesome, but I don’t know what to do with it. Tatsu can wear it if his mug upsets you, but this may upset you more.

I don’t know why this is here, but it looks pretty cool.
Swing and a miss.

Tatsu does have an extra portrait which is him yelling. It’s not great. The scowl face is great and the perfect expression for the character so I don’t know if there’s a portrait I’d have wanted over it, but this yelling one is poor. I’ll never display it. Tatsu can just look grumpy as he wields his other weapons which include a katana and a kendo stick. The katana looks lovely and has a sheath with some ties on it. It also slides into the elastic sash with little effort. The kendo stick is well-sculpted and painted just as well. I don’t know what to do with it, but it looks nice. Tatsu also has a Foot mask if you want to recreate the scene where he passes it on to Shredder for a graduation ceremony. It’s all sculpted plastic so it’s not an actual makes any character can wear. It’s fine, but it’s pretty odd that Tatsu doesn’t come with the one weapon we see him brandish in the film – a knife. At least Shredder came with one, though the handle is so thin that the gripping hands won’t work with it very well.

We’ll just stick with this face.

How do we feel about having Tatsu finally in the collection? Pretty damn good, if you ask me. I think as a figure, it looks great. I was surprised by the soft goods, but they seem to work fine. A more cut-up, all sculpted, Tatsu might have looked unsightly so I get why NECA chose this route. The likeness is terrific where the standard head is concerned and there’s certainly plenty in the box. Is it anything you’re likely to display Tatsu with? That I don’t know since I’m used to just seeing him stand around looking pissed. NECA did a good job, and I credit Trevor Zammit with this, of digging for some worthwhile accessories to fill the box. The fan is a fun cut, and I love how the Oni mask turned out even if I’ll never place it on the figure. It makes me wish we learned a little bit more about Tatsu in the films. We were deprived of him having some crazy alter ego or something.

He may be armed with sports equipment, Tatsu, but I’m betting a driver to the noggin doesn’t feel very good.

If you would like to add Tatsu to your collection, he’s currently shipping out to Walmart. Some people have been able to get him off the website, but I had no such luck. Finding nothing but empty pegs all over my area, a fellow collector stepped in to help so a very special shout out of thanks to fellow Danzig fan @adamoverboard who sent me this figure all the way from Texas. Without his help, I’d still be making too many fruitless trips to Walmart, which I’m still doing anyway since I know other people still on the hunt and I’d love to pay it forward. Hopefully, Walmart gets more stock soon or NECA just puts this guy on their website. Too many people have been waiting a long time for Tatsu and it would be nice to see everyone be able to get him without much fuss. It does leave me wondering though if this is it for the 1990 movie line for me? I don’t need a Charles or Chief Stearns and I’m really happy with the figures we already have. I’m sure NECA will find something to do that will give me pause (there appears to be a new Casey in Foot disguise on the way), but if my collection ends here then I won’t be disappointed.

Some parting words of advice from Master Tatsu: Never lower your eyes to an enemy.

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