Tag Archives: joy toy

September 23, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Groundchuck

By Joe
Good luck stopping this guy.

Last week we had ourselves a look at Dirtbag from JoyToy’s line of 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. As most probably expected, we’re back this week with a look at his buddy Groundchuck, the mutant bull that could have very easily been named Bull’s Eye, but maybe Playmates felt that was too on the nose. Groundchuck debuted alongside Dirtbag in the vintage toy line back in the early 90s, but wasn’t originally conceived as an affiliated mutant. Dirtbag was going to be a foil for Splinter while Groundchuck was just your standard TMNT enemy. The cartoon made them a pair and it feels like that’s how they’re remembered now. Both also showed up in the video Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III for the Nintendo Entertainment System as boss characters of their own stage and as a proper duo in the more recent Shredder’s Revenge.

He’s pretty big.
Even his NECA counterpart doesn’t seem much bigger.

Groundchuck is another stout release from JoyToy standing at approximately 5″ to the top of his head and slightly taller to the highest point of his horns. The only characters in the line who can claim to be taller are Rahzar and Krang while his pal Dirtbag is more full of figure. Groundchuck, being a bull, is appropriately beefy with a barrel chest and meaty biceps and thighs. Like Dirtbag, he’s basically a recreation of the Playmates look which was also featured in the cartoon. He’s colored bright red and I’ve always loved the juxtaposition it creates with the tattered blue shirt and the cybernetic parts featured on his person. A portion of his head appears to be mechanical, including his right eye, as well as the entirety of his right leg and a chunk of his left thigh. The cattle motif is seen in the horned skull belt buckle and a similar one featured on his right pauldron while the bull’s eye appears over his right eye, upon his chest, and as a knee pad on his left leg (plus a brand on his left bicep).

No idea what these dog tags reference
There’s some storage, but not enough.
“Ahh, gives me wings!”

Like Dirtbag, there’s a paint wash applied to the fur which imparts a grimy feeling to the character. A lot of the add-ons like the belts and pauldrons have a distressed element to them via the sculpt and their own respective paint effects. I like the gold bits reflected in the many bull’s eye pieces as well as the more ornate left shoulder pauldron. The painted elements are done very clean including the face where his eyes and nose loop really pop. The only element about the presentation I’m left a little underwhelmed by are those cybernetic parts, namely the right leg. For those, JoyToy went with a pale gray plastic with a black wash over them. There are some bolts sculpted into places and those are hit with a metallic silver. I wish the entirety of the leg was done in that color with those bolts and the anklet done in a gun metal. I think the figure stands out on a shelf as-is, but would really demand attention with a shinier approach to the metal. Even so, Groundchuck has always been one of my favorite designs from the vintage toy line and JoyToy did the design justice here by basically not changing a thing and just upping the sculpt and paint.

Just so much stuff.

We talked about Dirtbag as being especially plentiful when it came to accessories, but Groundchuck may have him beat. The beast comes with four sets of hands: fists, gripping, trigger, and open. He has the same white marble chunk of a base and a City Sewer stand as Dirtbag. From there, we get a whole bunch of weapons and other assorted goodies. In the area of odd, there’s a crushed, red, can. I assume this is a Red Bull pun? It otherwise isn’t of great note, but if you want him to join the likes of Slash, Tokka, and Rahzar in a food-centric display it works. It’s probably the accessory of least interest, but not without purpose. On his belt is also a grenade which is easy to overlook. It’s green and gray and it will happily remain on the belt if you wish, or Groundchuck can hold it. For more ambiance, I suppose, there’s also a loop of rope with a gold grappling hook on the end. It’s molded plastic so it doesn’t do anything, but Groundchuck has a hook on the left side of his belt it can dangle from, just set it when you’re done posing him or else it will drive you nuts with how often it falls off.

NES flashbacks!
Per Playmates, this is a cattle prod gun.
“C’mere boy!”

Those are the basic items added in by JoyToy while most of the rest are reserved for fire power! Groundchuck comes with a reimagined version of his cattle prod gun the old Playmates toy came with. It’s colored in earthy tones of steel and brown with the twisting prod extending from the end. I’ve seen some shots of the figure with the prod removed leaving behind something that resembles a small bazooka or something, but it doesn’t seem to want to pop out of mine. Groundchuck also has his cross bow from the old figure and this time around it mounts onto a gun that resembles an assault rifle. The rifle works with or without the crossbow affixed to the top, but why not utilize it for double the firepower? Hailing from the cartoon is Groundchuck’s stylish pistol with bull horns at the end of the muzzle. It looks like it should be thought of as a taser rather than an actual pistol, but it’s good to see a nod to the cartoon version of the character. And if you know him primarily from the NES video game, Groundchuck also has a big hunk of pipe which his character wields as a weapon in that game. There’s a C-hook on the back of his belt that seems to be made for this item as well, though the fit is pretty loose. It will stay in place if left alone, but might fall out if you pick the figure up. There’s also what appears to be a matador’s cape or flag. It’s on a gold post and the flag itself is red, naturally. Mine has some black gunk on it that I’ll have to try and wash off. There’s a little hook by the C-hook on his back that the post of the flag can snap into. It’s not the most secure thing, but works to a point.

That’s neat.

Those are just the weapons, but to really make Groundchuck feel special JoyToy threw in a bunch of effect parts. It’s a bit of a surprise as we don’t have many, if any, effect parts included with the other figures and here’s Groundchuck with four of them. They’re all pretty interchangeable, but as best I can tell the gold, lightning, effect is intended for the bull horn taser. The color is a little dingy, I can’t tell if that’s on purpose or not, but it looks okay. Acrylic might have been better though. For the rifle, a simple red blast effect is included that clips into the front. There’s also a second one with a multi-part effect at the base implying muzzle flash that looks a little better, in my opinion. It’s possible that’s the one intended for the assault rifle, and the more simple one is intended for the opening on the heel of his cybernetic foot. I assume that’s intended to be a rocket propulsion system and either effect can slot into it. We also get a small missile effect with a long plume of smoke extended out the back. It’s a mix of red and gray and I think this is intended for his horn. Yes, the cybernetic horn contains missiles. I think this is from the video games, but to take advantage of that there’s an optional right horn that has the tip bent back to reveal a hole for the missile to fly from. You just pop off the standard horn and replace it with this one. As is the case with all of these weapons, the missile can go with any weapon so if you want Groundchuck to blast missiles from his rifle and lightning from his horn – go for it. It’s your figure to do as you please.

“Whoa, dude! Chill out!”

Articulation for Groundchuck is standard for the line and very much the same as Dirtbag. You get head, jaw, shoulder, elbow, wrist, diaphragm, waist, hip, thigh, knee, and ankle articulation. There’s not a ton of room for the jaw to open, but it works to add a little personality. The elbows are single hinges and will swivel as well as bend close to 90 degrees. The wrists use a double ball peg setup like Dirtbag’s, and while the optional hands can be a bitch to get on, they’ll go. Range at the hips remains mediocre and forcing the figure into something close to a split will cause the abdomen to pop off the ball joint there. The double-jointed knees are pretty much only good for a 90 degree bend and do get gappy at the bottom of the joint. For the feet, JoyToy cheated a bit with the hooves and basically added a heel to the sculpt of the right foot which makes the figure easy to stand. The hoof for the left leg is also generously sized even without a heel. He also has a tail which has a swivel joint. I think I see a hinge in there too, but it’s pretty limited as the tail goes through the soft plastic loincloth.

They’re kind of like the upgrade to Bebop and Rocksteady.

Groundchuck is going to move about as well as Dirtbag, Bebop, and Rocksteady. He does have a lot of stuff added to his sculpt that can get in the way as everything is an overlay including the shirt. All of it is removable if you find it too obstructive. It would require some effort to get all of it off and would likely require the removal of the arms. I like all of it so I won’t be trying to do that. The appeal of Groundchuck for me has always been the colors and the design where he’s just fully kitted-out with equipment. I think he was envisioned as something of a merc for hire, a marksman, or bounty hunter type and the look certainly fits that characterization. It’s that over-the-top look to the character that gets me and characters like Groundchuck are the first that come to mind for me when I reflect back on what Playmates did back in the 80s and 90s.

This one is just a ton of fun.

If that’s not an obvious endorsement for what JoyToy has done then let me say it in plainer terms: Groundchuck is the best release so far in this line. He’s honestly fantastic. The look, the stuff, he’s just perfectly realized for this line. There’s a nice balance of that realism JoyToy aims for with some of its sculpts as well as the toony origins of the character. There are a few shortcomings here and there and I wish the metallic parts were all shiny and chromed out, but I’m also just really happy with this one. Admittedly, I’ve always been a fan of this character so your mileage may vary, but if you’re collecting this JoyToy line and were considering passing on Groundchuck I would strongly advise you reconsider. I got my figure, as well as Rahzar and Dirtbag, from LT Cave. The price and shipping was all very reasonable and I paid around $40 for each figure. Obviously, the situation seems to always be evolving when it comes to tariffs and imports so I don’t know how things are going to be when this goes live, but I do vouch for that e-tailer. There are others that will ship to the US as well so you do have options if you’re based in North America and want to collect this line. It’s definitely in contention for best line of 2025.

In case you’ve been sleeping on one of 2025’s best toy lines, here’s some reviews to get you caught up:

JoyToy TMNT Dirtbag

Today for Turtle Tuesday we continue our look at Wave 6 (I think?) of JoyToy’s 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures with a character who should be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise: Dirtbag. Dirtbag first showed up as part of the Playmates toyline in 1991 before making the leap…

Keep reading
by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two…

Keep reading
by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

Keep reading
by Joe

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September 16, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Dirtbag

By Joe
Time to do some spelunking!

Today for Turtle Tuesday we continue our look at Wave 6 (I think?) of JoyToy’s 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures with a character who should be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise: Dirtbag. Dirtbag first showed up as part of the Playmates toyline in 1991 before making the leap to cartoon and video games like many before him. The mutant mole was billed as an adversary of Splinter on the cardback, but as far as I know that character trait never manifested outside of that blurb. He would instead be featured in the Planet of the Turtleloids story arc as yet another minion of the Shredder, albeit a reluctant one. He was paired up with Groundchuck, the mutant bull who also had an action figure released around the same time, and the two have felt interconnected ever since despite being largely confined to that ’87 edition of the franchise.

I don’t have the vintage figure for a comparison, but I do have the NECA one!

Even though his appearances have been kept to a relative minimum, Dirtbag is still pretty well remembered because probably millions of kids were exposed to him at the height of Turtle-mania. The fact that he’s being featured in JoyToy’s line comes as no surprise and his status as a miner means there’s a lot of accessories one can pull from such a background. JoyToy loves nothing more than cramming their packages full of bits and bobs to make their characters feel complete and Dirtbag really ups the ante here in unexpected ways.

Standing at pretty much exactly 5″, Dirtbag has got some size to him.

Dirtbag’s appearance is kept pretty faithful to his original design. He’s a gray-ish colored mole with a stocky build. To achieve the color, JoyToy molded the figure in white plastic and applied some gray dry-brushing over his exposed fur. The fur is a great deal more defined than it was on the old toy or in the cartoon and the dry-brush approach does give him a more grimy appearance befitting a miner. His outfit is more or less the same with a green shirt and dark, gray, shorts to go along with a fetching red hard hat. He keeps the asymmetrical feet which Playmates loved to utilize as one is bare and the one is booted, but his toes are poking through given his pretty sharp looking claws. He has picked up some chromed-out kneepads and spiked shoulder pauldrons and he still retains his useful backpack and elegant, red, ascot. I like that JoyToy retained his beady, little, yellow, eyes and the way his ears poke out from under his helmet is, dare I say, adorable. There’s a grittiness to the character design brought on by the paint and numerous spiked surfaces, but he is almost cute in appearance so you would be forgiven if you assumed he were an ally as opposed to an enemy of the turtles.

He is the king of removable stuff.

As is the case with many JoyToy products, a lot of the embellishments on the figure are removable. The pauldrons, backpack, ascot, belt, and knife holster could all be removed if you so desired. The figure comes apart relatively easily at the waist (some would argue too easily, which we’ll get to) making removal of the belt a synch. The other parts take a bit more effort if you want to go that route, but since the limbs attach via either a ball socket or a peg it probably isn’t as hard as you might think. The backpack is, sadly, not functional, but it does have two straps on the bottom that can hold some of his items in place. He also has a tail which needs to be inserted out of the box, but it goes onto the ball peg with minimal effort. The figure looks quite nice with clean paint applications. If there’s one thing about the aesthetics some might not enjoy it’s the very mechanical appearance of the knees, but only when viewed from the back. The actual joint is basically silver and dark gray, a pretty unnatural color combination for the back of one’s knees even if that one is a mutated mole.

So many choices…

Dirtbag’s accessories start before you take a single item out of the box. The backpack is already in place and on it is a red monkey wrench in a slot on the side. It can come out and become a weapon with ease, or remain on the pack. On his left thigh is a knife sheath with a white-handled knife inside. There’s a nice, metallic, finish to the blade and the white handle almost gives off the impression of bone which is pretty cool. On his belt is some dynamite, but these sticks are non-removable. To make up for that, Dirtbag does come with a bundle of dynamite as well.

Rail guns and dynamite – what more could you want?

For hands, Dirtbag has sets of gripping, relaxed, wide gripping, and trigger finger hands. The wide gripping hands work well with the bundle of dynamite while the trigger finger hands are intended for his rail gun. This thing has some nice detail and paint work and my only critique is I wish it had an optional hose to run to his backpack so we could assume an air compressor was in there. Technically speaking, I don’t think this weapon could actually fire as presented. If that bothers you then you can just hand Dirtbag some of the melee weapons which could also double as just tools if you don’t think he’s such a bad guy. There’s an axe, pick axe, and a shovel and all of them have a nice, distressed, look to the sculpt like they’ve been used over and over. The axe looks especially nice as it has some big gouges in the metal portion and tape wrapped around the handle.

“Hey dude, we don’t really have to fight, do we?”
“Far out!”

By far the craziest accessory though is Dirtbag’s wheel barrow. I don’t recall any past versions of the mole featuring one, but this gave me a chuckle. As far as toy, 1:18 scale wheel barrows go this thing looks pretty great. It has two handles and a nice, deep, “barrow” with a working wheel. It’s such a large and specific accessory to include with a figure that I am left to conclude that the designers over at JoyToy are a bunch of maniacs. It’s great though and it’s another way to store all of Dirtbag’s stuff. In addition to the tools, Dirtbag also comes with another piece of the white base and a disc stand featuring the City Sewer design. I’m a little surprised he didn’t come with a Foot logo stand, but it’s also not something he needs.

Dirtbag being easy to separate at the waist means he can use this digging effect part from the NECA release if you so choose.

Dirtbag, being a chunky and cumbersome design, likely won’t wow anyone with his articulation. For a JoyToy release, he’s pretty much par for the course. We have a double-ball at the head, hinged jaw, ball-hinged shoulders, single hinged elbows, double ball wrists, diaphragm ball joint, waist ball joint, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, hinge and rocker ankles. The tail is also on a double-ball peg and has a bendy wire in it as well, though the bend is fairly limited. Range at his joints is acceptable. The single-hinged elbows also swivel so that is essentially your bicep swivel. The diaphragm joint is pretty nice when it comes to tilt and swivel, but it and the waist offer little in the way of crunch. He’ll also pop apart at the waist easily like Bebop and Rocksteady when kicking the legs out to the side. There just isn’t much room in the crotch area and what happens is the thighs literally force the abdomen off of the ball joint there. It’s not a hard piece to put back together or anything, but it can get annoying. I wish they would lengthen the peg that the ball is molded onto so that it would prevent that from happening as easily in the future. The knees are also gappy, which is a trend with JoyToy and their double-knees. The gap is usually at the very bottom of the joint and there aren’t many poses where this will be visible, but it’s still avoidable with a little more thoughtful engineering.

I don’t think he looks like such a bad guy.

Those critiques are fairly minor as this miner is going to pose probably as well as most would ask of him. He can handle all of his weapons just fine and also the wheel barrow. Dirtbag was the figure in this bundle of three that makes up Wave 6 I was least excited for, but now that he’s in-hand I’ve really come to appreciate him. He has so much stuff, but it all feels useful and purposeful. Well, maybe not the wheel barrow, but it’s so damn wild that they gave him one that I can’t help but love it. Will I actually display it is the real question as that’s quite a bit of shelf real estate, but I think I’m going to have to bring it into the display from time-to-time. In an age where we as tool collectors often obsess over things like mold reuse, it’s awesome seeing a company say “screw that,” and deliver some very specific parts. Dirtbag is a pretty cool release. If you have fond memories of the old toy or the character from the show or video games then you’ll probably enjoy what JoyToy has done with him. He along with his buddy Groundchuck have almost muscled their way into essential territory for me when it comes to TMNT collections to the point where I’m surprised they really haven’t shown up more often. And speaking of, you can probably guess who will be featured here next week so be sure to come back if you want to hear about the cybernetic bull with lethal accuracy!

The JoyToy TMNT collection continues to grow:

JoyToy TMNT Krang

The surprise line of the past year has unleashed perhaps its very best with Krang. Krang dates back to the 1987 cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because that show became such a household name, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of just how insane a character design Krang is. Krang was created by David…

by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two…

by Joe

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September 9, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

By Joe
Rahzar is back and this time he’s packing heat!

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two debuted in the franchise’s second film, The Secret of the Ooze, and made the jump to the cartoon series later on. Because a lot of kids saw that movie and had the old Playmates toys the duo have had pretty strong staying power even if the kids of 1991 were disappointed to not see the familiar Bebop and Rocksteady in the film. JoyToy’s take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has largely been a mix of the cartoon and vintage toy line with a sprinkling of 2003 and even 2012. With Tokka, we got what was actually more of a unique take on the character as he had a pirate theme going on. It left me curious what JoyToy would do when it got to Rahzar, but now we have our answer.

He’s not the biggest boy, but he is a pretty big boy.

JoyToy’s Rahzar is actually quite similar to his appearance in the film. He’s a big ugly wolf decked out in refuse salvaged at a scrap yard. A lot of what’s featured on his person is pretty much a 1:1 match with that film with only minimal differences. One such difference is the grill that he wears on his chest has been given a skeletal appearance instead of gold chrome. The forearm and thigh armor has a silver color palette to it as well. And that’s kind of it. The coloring of Rahzar is a very pale brown for his flesh with a darker brown for his patches of fur. There’s a redness to it, almost like rust, which plays off of the junkyard aesthetic pretty well. I think I would have preferred a little more fur to his look, but the costume in the movie wasn’t completely covered in fur either.

I purposefully waited for Rahzar to be in hand before doing comparisons to past Tokka and Rahzar offerings.

The main difference between this version of Rahzar and the movie is the portrait. There’s a touch more cartoon to the character here as he looks like a conventional toon wolf. It’s the only bit of the cartoon version of the character that I see in this sculpt. The film version is quite unique with a wide snout and lots of teeth poking out. He still has visible teeth, but it’s a much cleaner presentation. The one thing about the face I’m not sold on are his eyes. They’re white with slits for the pupils that start off really thick and thin out as they go down. The angle is a little weird as they don’t follow the curve of the eye. He reminds me of the Disney take on the Big Bad Wolf. It’s a minor critique as overall I do like the look of Rahzar. The paint is clean and the sculpt has a lot of detail. He also has some size at a tick over 5″ making him a little bigger than Bebop and Rocksteady, but obviously not as big as Krang (and probably the Triceratons, who I didn’t get).

As so often is the case, JoyToy packed a ton into this box.

Rahzar comes with a plethora of accessories, most of which aren’t really based on anything from his past appearances. For hands, he has a set of open hands, gripping hands, as well as a right trigger hand and a left fist. I wish we got a set of fist and trigger hands, but it is what it is. Calling back to his appearance in the film, Rahzar comes with a beat-up truck door that he can wield as a shield. It has an old fashioned look to it with a lever door handle and a dented, rusty, paint job. It’s not a very realistic paint job, but it’s probably good enough. The reverse side is surprisingly fully sculpted with a strap to slide over his forearm and a handle he can grab onto. It’s probably easier to pop the hand off first to get it in place. I like that he can duck behind it, but also look through the window, which works well in conjunction with his included firearms.

“Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?”

Rahzar isn’t really thought of as a gun-wielding character, but JoyToy apparently doesn’t care. Rahzar comes with a pump-action, police style, shotgun. The pump doesn’t actually function, but he can hold the weapon one-handed or two-handed without issue. It looks pretty nice and has some decent paint. My only critique here is that it doesn’t have enough of an opening at the end of the barrel to accept an effect part, not that he comes with any. If the shotgun seems too small in his hands, Rahzar also has a bazooka. He can hold it with ease over his shoulder or he can carry it by the handle if he wishes. There’s a sight on it that can line-up with his line of sight pretty well too. And it comes with a missile to plug into the front of it. And that missile is…Rahzar’s head with his tongue hanging out? It’s pretty weird, definitely very cartoony. I’m not sure if Wile E. Coyote would even go for something like this. If you think it’s too goofy you obviously don’t have to use it, but it’s certainly a memorable item.

This missile is ludicrous.

Rahzar also has some handheld items to turn to if guns aren’t your thing. Similar to Slash and Tokka, he has some bladed weapons he can grip. They have a curved blade on one side and more of a spearhead on the front. On the other side is a small tooth-like point. He also has a massive, spiked, staff that reminds me of the big, padded, weapons you would see during an episode of American Gladiators. It’s got some nice silver paint and it can snap into the back hook on Rahzar’s harness. Lastly, we have two items that are more of a callback to his animated appearance. There’s a big old hunk of bone in meat with a massive bite removed as well as a kebob. The kebob is on a giant skewer and the food can actually be removed if you want. There’s also a pretty massive, chocolate-frosted, pre-fight donut. I guess this one would be called a Texas donut. If you prefer your Rahzar to be more of a food monster than a violent enemy, you have your options. There’s also a chunk of the white stone base included and a circular disc stand with the city sewer pattern printed on.

They go well together.
Food monster.
The ancient traditions must be respected.

Rahzar is about as well articulated as most of the figures we’ve seen in the line up to now. And like most, he’s also rather bulky because of all of the optional pieces tacked onto him in the form of thigh guards, shoulder pads, and his loincloth. The head is a double ball peg with a hinged jaw. It looks down, but not really up. From there we have hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, double ball wrists, ball jointed diaphragm, ball waist, steel double ball hips (like Krang), thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, ball-jointed ankles. He gets plus range at the knees, elbows, and hips with those steel joints doing a really nice job. The thigh swivel is built into the hip joint so it’s not a cut meaning it won’t have the same range, but it looks nicer. The torso is really limited though owing to the grill on the front. The left shoulder on mine also has this annoying tendency to pop out of the socket, while the right seems fine. The shoulder pauldrons are attached via a loop that goes over the shoulder peg so it’s not particularly restricting. The way the upper body is sculpted is what forces the arm to an angle and I think that’s what makes the arm want to pop out on me. It goes back in without any fuss.

“Mama!”

Rahzar will have enough articulation for most. I wish his head had a little more range and that JoyToy did something to make the diaphragm work better. Putting the grill on a swivel or hinge might have accomplished that. He certainly looks cool though and he can wield his various weapons and accessories convincingly. Rahzar will fit in with Tokka and maybe they’ll even invite Slash to join him since those two have been hanging out together while I waited for Rahzar’s arrival. I don’t think Rahzar is my favorite design in the line so far, but he does handle nicely and feels good. I wish all of the figures could have this hip setup, but I’m guessing it’s a lot more expensive than an all plastic approach. It has one seemingly major advantage though which will be discussed in the reviews to come as Rahzar is the only figure in this wave with the steel hips. If you’re in on this line, get Rahzar. You won’t be disappointed.

The JoyToy line is really filling out:

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

Keep reading
by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Krang

The surprise line of the past year has unleashed perhaps its very best with Krang. Krang dates back to the 1987 cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because that show became such a household name, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of just how insane a character design Krang is. Krang was created by David…

Keep reading
by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rocksteady and Beebop

No, that is not a typo you see in the title of this entry. This is a review of the JoyToy versions of classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles henchmen Beebop and Rocksteady. I don’t know why it says Beebop on the box, but this is a Chinese company and English is probably not the primary…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

January 7, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Shredder

By Joe
Enter the Shredder.

Every hero needs a villain, and for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that number one villain is The Shredder. Setup as a foil in his original appearance, Shredder really became the main guy when the cartoon series was put into development. That show needed a villain who was always around and Shredder was the best choice. Ever since, he’s basically remained in that role with few exceptions so whenever a new company steps in to put their stamp on the franchise they usually bring old Shred-head along with them.

He’s a little Shredder.

JoyToy’s 1:18 scale line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures got off to a strong start with the four turtle boys. Whenever I approach a new take on the property, I always like to start with the turtles and Shredder. If I really like what I’m seeing then I’ll start to fill in my collection. Shredder is the seventh character in this line to go up for order and my fifth addition. Though technically I committed to Bebop and Rocksteady first, but they haven’t shipped (I think I’m going to have to change vendors). I’m fine with that though as when I first saw JoyToy’s take on the turtles I really wanted to see their Shredder. And once he was unveiled it turns out he looks pretty familiar.

These turtles scale much bigger than typical turtles.

Shredder arrives in the same style of box as the turtles. His design is that of a heavily armored Shredder and, for me, it’s impossible not to get 2k3 vibes from this figure. He has huge shoulder pads, a slim face, and a sash fashioned with the red Shredder logo from that show. He’s basically all silver and black and his eyes are little white points in the blackness of his helm. The main difference between the two designs is the texture of the armor of this figure is a bit more realistic and also weathered, to a degree. And his eyes aren’t red. The number of blades on the shins and forearms is different and this Shredder has a fashionable, purple, cape and sash.

And if JoyToy is indeed going to copy that 2003 look of the villain then that’s a pretty good one to copy. I love Shredder in that show and I was really impressed with his portrayal back then so this is a great foundation for this figure. It’s a lot of colored plastic, but there’s a dark wash applied to grime the figure up a bit. There is some white on the sleeves which is oddly placed, but the metallic armor does a decent job of selling the illusion of metal. The one aspect of the presentation I’m a little down on is the height. At 4.25″ this Shredder isn’t much taller than the turtles who stood right around 4″. This puts Shredder at about 6.375′ if he were a real person. That’s well above average and seems about right for Shredder so I guess my issue is more with the height of the turtles, not Shredder.

I don’t know what these weapons are, but they’re pretty gnarly.
Ninja stars? Why not?

Shredder comes with a bunch of stuff, some expected, some familiar, and plenty new. For hands, Shredder has gripping, tighter gripping, and bladed. The bladed hands are fists with his customary blades that are held affixed to a band that slide over his fingers. They look cool, but if you want to utilize his weapons then you’ll have to go with the gripping hands. And for weapons, Shredder has a katana, a short sword, and a pair of double-bladed weapons. The curved nature of the bladed portions makes me think of the weapon included with the Playmates turtles that resembled a hook of sorts, even though it’s a different shape this time around. Shredder does not have storage for those, or technically any weapons. He has a pair of scabbards on his belt, but they have dummy handles that plug into them. The scabbards are a bit warped from the package so maybe that’s why? I’m surprised they don’t just function as intended. There’s also a pair of throwing stars which work well with the tighter gripping hands and Shredder also comes with a disc stand with his own logo on it. Like the turtles, he has a quadrant of a larger display stand. This one is made of white “stone” with a center manhole so it’s different from what the turtles came with which is cool. I’ll need more figures if I want to make a whole base.

He has better range going out to the sides at the hips than the turtles, but kicking forward is still an issue.

Articulation for Shredder is similar to the turtles, but also different. The head feels like a double ball peg and the softness of the helm allows for a decent range of motion. The ball hinge shoulders work fine and the shoulder pads are soft and can be dealt with there. Peg and hinge elbows allow for swivel and 90 degrees of bend. Wrists are ball-hinges, rather than double-ball pegs, and they work as intended. The diaphragm features a ball joint with another at the waist. Between the two, Shredder gets good rotation and even decent forward and back “crunching” motion. It can get a little gappy, but it’s not too bad. Hips continue to be a problem for JoyToy though. Shredder can almost hit a split, so that is much improved over the turtles. He can kick back an okay amount, but kicking forward is dreadful. I don’t know what they’re doing to so severely limit the forward movement of the legs, but they need to correct that. There’s just not enough room between the top of the leg and the abdomen so if you push it beyond what it wants to do you’ll probably separate the figure at the waist. Since it’s a ball joint, this isn’t a scary thing, but it makes it easy to see what’s going on. There is a thigh swivel which does what thigh swivels do. Double-jointed knees go a little beyond 90 and the ankles work well with a hinge and rocker setup.

Shredder triumphant!

I really like this Shredder. It’s not perfect, but for a 1:18 Shredder it’s pretty much all we have in this scale. And that by no means is an indication that I’m settling here. This is a nice figure. The upper body poses really well and you should have no trouble finding some intimidating poses for this figure. And I think it’s a better overall figure than the turtles and I really like those figures. If you’re into this scale and took the plunge on those turtles, then you owe it to yourself to add this Shredder to your collection. He’s great and it makes me want to see more from this line. Maybe I should get the Foot Soldiers I passed on? Can I continue to hold out hope that BBTS will get Bebop and Rocksteady? I’d hate to miss out.

We’ve got more Shredders and more JoyToy Turtles for you to check out:

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