Tag Archives: mirage studios

September 8, 2026

NECA TMNT Adventures Leatherhead

By Joe
It’s time to finish a team.

NECA may be done with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the close of 2026, but the company is at least making an effort to close out a few things on the way out. Tempestra, the last member of the group of villains featured in the episode “Night of the Rogues,” will finish off the cartoon collection and should be arriving in stores sometime in October, or shortly thereafter. For the Archie subline, the Mighty Mutanimals has been the primary focus since the line got off the ground. It started with Slash, who while not a founding member, did eventually join up with the Mutanimals. Man Ray followed and was soon joined by Jagwar and Dreadmon and along things went for years slowly, but surely until only one founding member was missing: Leatherhead. Leatherhead had already received four different figures from NECA based on his appearances across the franchise including one already from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. That particular one was the wrestling Leatherhead from the Stump Wrestling era which is pretty different from his original appearance and later appearances with the Mutanimals. His Mutanimals era is very similar to his depiction in the cartoon so I was curious how eager NECA was to get to this version of Leatherhead. Then when they did Mondo Gecko, who is very similar to his toon version, I figured it was something that would happen for sure and now it has. Our last figures from NECA based on TMNT Adventures is the Mutanimals version of Leatherhead.

This is not the first Archie Leatherhead we’ve received from NECA.

Now, before anyone chimes in with a comment about Ninjara, yes, I know she exists andsome think of her as a member of the Mighty Mutanimals. She’s not a founding member though and I can understand why NECA would be focused on just the original squad which is captured on the box art for Leatherhead. NECA probably knew this was the end for awhile so they brought back Ken Mitchroney to not only create some Leatherhead art, but to create a full squad image that mimics a comic book cover to go on the front. Leatherhead’s box is the same shape as the past releases, but it has that fifth panel on the front which is what allowed for the ability to include such a picture. And it looks great and there’s a headshot of each member on one side of the box and a solo Leatherhead on the other. The inside of the flap is a full squad photo on a beach (too soon) of all of NECA’s figures and they do look pretty great together.

You can swap their heads, if you wish.

Leatherhead is a mostly all new sculpt by Tomasz Rozejowski with a credit also attributed to Kushwara Studios. Paint was handled by Mike Puzzo and Geoff Trapp and the box photography was taken by Matt Kloberdanz. Leatherhead may be the second Archie Leatherhead from NECA, but his design necessitated a lot of new tooling. For one, the torso of Mutanimals Leatherhead looks like that of the cartoon version and basically all versions with the scaling. The wrestling design emulated the heroic wrestlers of the era so that Leatherhead gets some nice, well-defined musculature which wouldn’t really work with traditional alligator anatomy. Still, it’s not all brand new as this figure was able to reuse the arms and tail from that release as well as any hands they share and the crotch piece. The abdomen also looks to be the same underneath the overlay. The head, torso overlay, and legs are all new this time around though it maintains the same proportions as the wrestling version. If not for the different chest, they would look just like the same character in a different outfit. And in an interesting choice, NECA made sure that the heads could be shared between these two. The hat is a removable piece that slots onto the little spikes on Leatherhead’s brow so it fits on the wrestling version as well. The only reason to swap them is that the wrestling head has an articulated jaw while the new one has a permanent grin. When I got that wrestling Leatherhead, I thought NECA messed up by not sculpting the mask he wears in the comics over his eyes, but it’s possible the choice was a deliberate one for this release. Instead, he just has a heavy black outline around his eyes that is a mediocre mask, but subtle enough eyeliner for use here. The only other difference is that the wrestling version has white eyes with black pupils while this new one has yellow eyes with black. That’s a detail that may bother some, but I am personally not bothered by it. The only failing with this approach is the red hat left behind some paint rub on the new Leatherhead so I am not eager to use that one on the wrestling body. I probably wouldn’t have anyway though. The green is ever so slightly more blue on the wrestling figure, but not enough to look out of place to my eye.

One of two big guns.

As a figure, Leatherhead stands at about 6.25″ to the tips of the ridges on his head. He’s clad in his furry, brown, vest and torn purple pants. The animated version went with all blue for his pants and boots and it’s a look I’ve never liked. I’ve heard the pants described as hip waders which may be true, but I think the cartoon was just being cheap and looking for an excuse to keep the whole leg one color. Here he has brown boots which makes for a more attractive presentation. The colors are nice and saturated and there’s a ton of black linework throughout the body and clothes. Another difference he shares with the prior Leatherhead is that the claws are painted white and outlined in black on every hand, including the fists. The paint throughout the teeth is really neat and tidy and there are no obvious blemishes on my figure. He is a bit squat looking which is in contrast to the Mitchroney art on the box showing a slimmer, taller Leatherhead. Several artists worked on the Archie books and there are some who depicted him like this so I don’t think that’s a failing, but a conscious choice. His earliest appearances when he was an adversary seem to reflect these proportions more than some of the later ones. He should be a striking piece for the shelf and pops as well as the other Archie figures. This style really became my favorite as the lines from NECA went on and it’s a shame this is the last one.

I think this is the Ftoom rifle, but I just call it “the bigger one.”

As a last hurrah, Leatherhead comes with a lot of stuff. He has a pretty typical assortment of hands to choose from: fists, open, gripping, a trigger finger right hand and a a loose gripping left hand. That loose gripping hand seems to be here exclusively for the Turnstone, which is just a white sphere. This is the mystical object that turned Jess Harley into Leatherhead in the Archie books. As an accessory, it is literally a white sphere so not the most exciting thing, but it does suit the character to have it included. He also has his pole knife which is a pole with Leatherhead’s knife strapped to the end. It is all white with just a little black linework on the rope and the blade itself. Leatherhead also has two firearms: the Ftoom Rifle and the Thoom Blaster. I don’t know which is which, but they’re both big. The big white one looks more like a rifle to me, but only because it has a scope. There’s some light blue shading in places and some black circuitry sculpted onto the sides. The blaster is a yellow and white design and a little bit smaller, but still a comically large gun for Leatherhead to wield. Both fit well enough into the trigger hand while they can also be finagled into the wide grip by hooking the trigger guard onto the finger. Both may be large, but they’re extremely light and the same is true of the pole knife. It feels like ABS so they’re also very rigid. You do not want these to tumble off your shelf because they will be susceptible to both breaking and paint scratching. That’s also why I’d be careful with the tight gripping hands as you don’t want green paint rubbing off on any of these lightly colored weapons.

My Leatherhead prefers to keep it simple.

The constant shortcoming of NECA’s Archie line of TMNT has been the articulation and Leatherhead is no exception. He’s pretty basic and similar to the wrestling one, only now he has an overlay on the torso which prevents any diaphragm articulation from being usable. He has: head, shoulder, elbow, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. The elbows and knees are single-hinged and they won’t hit a 90 degree bend at either spot. They do swivel and there is a built-in thigh swivel as well. The figure does have those bicep “sleeves” that swivel which makes the elbow swivel more visually appealing. The head doesn’t have much range and the waist is mostly there to rotate as the range on the ball joint doesn’t provide for much else. The tail is plugged into the rear of the figure with a peg and hinge so it can rotate on the peg and hinge up and down. There’s a heavy gauge wire inside it as well that allows for some posing. It’s probably best to bend it into whatever shape you want and then plug the tail into the figure to avoid putting stress on the actual peg because it is a thick, plastic, tail. Leatherhead can basically pose just enough to wield his included weapons. He can do a walking stance as well, but this isn’t a figure you buy for its posing. By the standards of the day, it’s mediocre. By the standards of the line, it’s fairly average.

Mutanimals…assemble!

If you have been collecting this line then you likely know what to expect of Leatherhead from NECA. It looks great, it really captures the spirit of the character, and if you keep things in-box you’ll be really happy with the presentation here. The figure has a slight uptick in price at $38 if you buy it from Target. He may be more money from other retailers. I don’t believe he has shown up elsewhere yet, but I would expect it to unless other retailers are no longer interested in the line. Since it has indeed been confirmed that NECA is losing the license at the end of the year, it’s possible the figure could hit clearance in the future if you’re not crazy about the price tag. It’s also possible that speculators may start snatching a lot of these late releases by NECA up in hope that it will appreciate in value enough to warrant sitting on them for however long that takes. As a send-off for the line, I think it’s fine. The packaging does help to make Leatherhead feel a little special and for those who always wanted a collection of The Mighty Mutanimals it’s nice to finally have them all in plastic. It is a shame that this means we won’t be getting that standard April NECA teased over a year ago by showing off the artwork Chris Allan had done for the packaging. And it’s really a shame we never got standard, Archie, turtles. I figured they were just holding those back for an eventual four-pack, but maybe the last few four-packs did not do well and retailers soured on them. They already had the tools for much of it between the wrestling turtles and the April as the fifth turtle release. The wrestling turtles have in recent months shown up at Ross stores in single packs for the low price of $15 so customizers do have access to cheap fodder provided they have a Ross nearby (I don’t). Those never to happen turtles were the thing I wanted most from NECA going back years now so it’s a real bummer we’re not getting it. I’m basically content with the movie and toon stuff, but not getting those Archie turtles is the one thing that will haunt me when I think about “What might have been.”

Let’s let Slash get in on this.

For more TMNT Adventures figures from NECA, check these out:

NECA TMNT Adventures Wingnut and Screwloose

NECA started down the Archie-verse of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2022 with the Mighty Mutanimals-adjacent Slash. For most, The Mighty Mutanimals team of heroes consists of Man-Ray, Jagwar, Leatherhead, Dreadmon, Mondo Gecko, Wingnut, and Screwloose. For those folks, NECA began that team in 2023 releasing the trio of Man-Ray, Jagwar, and Dreadmon all within…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures April – The Fifth Turtle

NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures based on the pages Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures by Archie Comics is like the little engine that could. It’s not a fast-moving line, the releases aren’t always heavy hitters, but when they land they’re usually pretty damn good. And NECA appears to be slow-walking this…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Stump Wrestling Leatherhead

We are rolling right along with more reviews of NECA’s TMNT Adventures line of action figures and we’re also staying within the realm of Stump Wrestling. When the turtles wound up in the intergalactic wrestling federation, they didn’t just encounter aliens, they also encountered an old foe. I don’t know how Leatherhead wound up as…

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by Joe

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April 7, 2026

NECA TMNT Usagi Yojimbo – Miyamoto Usagi

By Joe
The samurai rabbit is back at it.

Stan Sakai stumbled into a pretty good thing when he met the co-creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and struck up a creative friendship. It would seem all liked and appreciated each others work with Eastman and Laird’s ninja turtles and Sakai’s samurai rabbit. The fateful little pairing would eventually lead to Sakai’s rabbit and the turtles crossing over in each other’s works and even a publishing deal with Mirage Studios for a time. Likely more lucrative for Sakai was Usagi being included in both the Playmates toy line for TMNT and the 1987 series. Usagi Yojimbo, as the fanbase knew him, would go on to appear in other shows and toy lines and there’s a pretty good chance that most who know of the character know of him first and foremost via his interactions with the turtles.

If you have been around the fandom long enough then you probably know we have a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster thing going on with Usagi Yojimbo. The name of the books from where the rabbit comes is titled Usagi Yojimbo, while the character’s name is actually Miyamoto Usagi. I don’t know why he was credited as Usagi Yojimbo within the turtle franchise, but it has stuck with a lot of fans even as later incarnations of the franchise (like the 2012 series) corrected it. For its own TMNT toy line, NECA was smart to secure the licensing rights for Sakai’s samurai rabbit for inclusion in the company’s toon toy line. This apparently even boxed out other companies like Super7 who had a mock-up for their own version of the character that had to be trashed. NECA utilized the license to do the expected and release an action figure of the character based on his appearance in the old cartoon, but they’ve also done other variations like a space version, an armored one, and even a four-pack of different looks. For all of them, NECA stuck with their base design of the toon version with one of the four-pack versions sporting more of a Sakai likeness in the face. It’s only now that we’re getting a true Stan Sakai version of his classic character molded in plastic.

This is hardly NECA’s first dance with Usagi.

In 2023 the turtles once again crossed over with Usagi in a story written and illustrated by Sakai. NECA has used that series as the basis for its new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Usagi Yojimbo line consisting of Usagi and the four turtles. We’ll talk about the turtles next week, but for this one I felt like we should let the rabbit take the spotlight first. As I mentioned already, this is a version of Usagi that is unquestionably based on the artwork of Stan Sakai. He’s taller, more imposing, and all decked out in armor unlike the more simplified toon version many are used to. This is a line sculpted by Tomasz Rozejowski and Kushwara Studios with paint by the duo Mike Puzzo and Geoff Trapp. Each figure is sold separately, but not in the typical five-panel NECA Ultimates box. Instead it’s more of a standard window box like we’re accustomed to seeing with the retro cloth figures. Each release is numbered with Miyamoto Usagi being number 1 and the box is color-coded as well. There’s some scenery illustrated by Ben Seto, but most of the box art is reserved for photographs of the figures and they’re by Stephen Mazurek. I’m a little surprised there’s no art from Sakai like a mural for the side of the box, but such a thing would also be wasted on me since I’m going to throw these out. It’s probably a good thing that I planned to do that from the start as my Usagi box got pretty banged up in transit. I got these all direct from NECA via Target’s website when they went up for order on March 20th as part of the Haulathon event we all so love dearly.

His posing is going to be limited, but he can get his hand onto the hilt of his blade while it’s still partially sheathed.

Usagi stands at about 5.25″ to the top of his head not factoring in the ears. Out of the box he sports a rather grim expression and his hears are bound together as they so often are like a ponytail which is sculpted to appear to be blowing in the wind. He has that trademark arc over his left eye Sakai so often illustrates and there’s some fur sculpted to the edges of his cheeks, but that’s it as far as textured fur goes. Usagi is decked out in a lovely blue suit of armor which includes a lighter blue undershirt that is covered with a checker pattern on the sleeves. The armor is textured and fully-painted and looks absolutely gorgeous. I am a sucker for blue so I’m predisposed to like this design, but I am really blown away with the accuracy of the paint applications. There’s rivets of red and panels of black and gold and if you’ve ever painted something black and gold then you know how ugly that can get with an unsteady hand. The paintwork continues onto the rear of the figure, no skimping out here, and there are subtle embellishments of black linework to give the figure that comic look. The pants are all black and he’s sporting brown sandals. The paint job isn’t perfect, there’s a little bleed in spots on the shoulder pauldrons and the left foot has a faint yellow mark on the otherwise white foot, but for a mass-released item at $38 I have no complaints. This figure looks spectacular.

Ears are swappable, and easily so.

Usagi comes loaded with accessories – more than the turtles. For portraits, we get the previously mentioned grim expression as well as a smirk and a gritting teeth expression. Each head has a set of ears which can be moved from portrait to portrait. We have the windswept ears plus down ears and a more neutral look. Swapping ears is painless while swapping heads is a bit troublesome. I had to use heat to get the stock head off. The hands are much easier to swap and for those we get a set of fists, gripping, and open hands. Other accessories include a pouch, and having not read the story I have no idea what’s in it. Usagi can hold it, but there’s no place to store the pouch on his belt which is a bit unfortunate. He also has his sword which features a lime green wrap and yellow trim. Paint rub can happen if you’re not careful when inserting it into his hand, but the hands are a bit softer than usual for NECA so it’s not too hard to get it in place. Usagi also has a scabbard permanently affixed to his belt and the sword slides into that just fine. There’s also an included Tokage decked out in armor similar to Usagi’s. If you don’t know what a Tokage is, they’re little dinosaur-like creatures from the book. It’s a slug figure so no articulation, but the paint app is nice and he’s a fun, cute, addition.

I feel like the ears down look is best suited for things like hoods, which this figure does not have.

NECA usually impresses with the aesthetics when it comes to action figures and not so much with articulation. Usagi here is, unfortunately, no exception to that rule. He’s pretty limited and the intricate armor isn’t going to make things easier, but believe it or not, he’s better than the turtles we’ll be talking about next week. For articulation points we have the ears, head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. The elbows and knees are both single joints. You won’t get a 90 degree angle at either and the knees don’t seem to want to swivel on mine. This is a bit irksome as the left leg isn’t centered, but it thankfully is only visible from the back. Since I can’t line the hinge up with the opening in the thigh it means the range on my left leg is even worse than the right. The ankles and range at the head are at least a plus, and in a surprise move NECA actually included vertical hinges on the gripping hands! This is something they didn’t include in the original toon Usagi and I honestly almost forgot to check here as I had given up on NECA going back to this method after they declined to do this for the 2012 Leonardo. I should add that the shoulder pauldrons are mounted with pliable plastic so they do a decent job of getting out of the way when articulating the shoulders, though I’d be hesitant to leave them posed in such a fashion for fear of them permanently assuming an unflattering position.

That Stan Sakai fellow does good work.

Miyamoto Usagi looks absolutely resplendent in his samurai armor and the portraits and overall vibe really do a tremendous job of capturing Stan Sakai’s artwork. He has enough stuff while the articulation is going to severely limit the ability to pose him like a proper samurai. NECA’s articulation shortcomings have started to ware on me over the past year or so, but here I’m more forgiving because I am absolutely in love with how this guy looks. He doesn’t need to assume an elaborate pose to have presence on a shelf. I considered passing on this release at first thinking I could just be happy with the turtles, but once I got a good look at it I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I currently have no idea where I’m going to display this mini collection in my home, but I consider it a good problem to have. This is the best figure of Usagi we’ve ever received and it’s unlikely we’ll get a better one anytime soon.

If you’re a fan of the samurai rabbit and TMNT then you may appreciate these figure reviews:

NECA Cartoon TMNT The Tale of Usagi Yojimbo

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

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Toon The Adventures of Space Usagi

When it comes to NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures based on the old cartoon, I’ve pretty much been all-in. The only figures I’ve passed on have been the style guide variants for the turtles. That will probably change in 2024 as the collection has grown quite large and has hit on…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Toon Granny Bebop and Baby Rocksteady

When 2025 is all said and done I think we’ll look back on it in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collector sphere as the year the NECA toon toyline started showing its age. For some, that probably already happened. Jersey Red, Chakahachi, Lotus Blossom – who the heck are these characters? They are pretty deep…

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by Joe

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

March 10, 2026

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios The Shredder – Worms of Madness

By Joe
Bring on the madness!

NECA’s dance with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began way back in 2008 with a set of four turtles based on the first issue of the comic series. That set would then have other figures crafted around it of which most were cancelled, but when the license opened up and TMNT proved a hot seller they all found their way into the hands of collectors. A couple of years ago, NECA went back to the well and produced a new set of turtles based on their later look in the Mirage Studios run of comics based on the artwork of Jim Lawson. Those bigger, bulkier, turtles looked out of place with the old Shredder NECA produced based on his first appearance so it was all but assumed that an update would follow at some point. That update arrived in 2025 in the form of the Worms of Madness Shredder two-pack which was released at Walmart and also offered up to online retailers for the low, low, price of $60. More in some places. Despite my desire for a new Shredder based on his return appearance, I was not interested in this two-pack at that price. And that’s because the second figure in the set is basically a repaint of the initial one only shirtless and maskless so I played the waiting game. I knew it was only a matter of time before Walmart put this on clearance because they have a tendency to do just that, sometimes very quickly too. When the set was dropped to $30, I placed an online order and picked it up from my local store later that day. Mission accomplished!

2025 was really the Year of Shredder for NECA, and this isn’t even all of them!
He’s going to fit in well with your Lawson turtles.

This set probably looks weird to someone not familiar with the Mirage run of comics and the name Worms of Madness isn’t helping. What most TMNT fans are likely aware of is that the Shredder was never intended to be some evergreen opponent for the turtles. Truly, I don’t think co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird ever expected to do multiple issue of what was ostensibly a gag comic which is probably why the Shredder was killed-off in that inaugural issue. When the franchise made the leap to children’s television and the toy aisle, the desire for a standard rival was created and the Shredder was the best fit. Perhaps Eastman and Laird felt the same for they laid the genesis for Shredder’s return in the Leonardo one-shot published in 1986. Considering that Shredder was literally blown up, it was going to be a hard sell to the reader for him to be alive all of a sudden. Enter the worms! I don’t know if I ever quite understood where these things came from, but essentially the Foot mystics had access to some special worm that could take on the form of whatever it ate. They basically gathered up whatever remained of the original Shredder, fed it to some worms, and from that we got a new Shredder (as well as the malformed clones NECA has already immortalized in plastic). The only truly relevant thing to know here is that when Shredder was brought back he took on a different look that was more reflective of the evolving art style in the books. He was taller, broader, and all together just more imposing to look at. This is a Shredder that will fit in with your Lawson turtles, and considering that NECA never reissued those first appearance turtles, this is likely the Shredder most will want in their collection over what has been made available up to now which makes this two-pack all the more frustrating since the other figure may not be something most people want.

He’s imposing.
Shredder clones – assemble!

Shredder stands at a full 7″ and is another sculpt by Gurjeet Singh who previously sculpted the Foot Elite Assassin. The two are very similar stylistically and I would have expected them to share parts, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Yes, they likely share some as the musculature of the abs on both is pretty much the same, but the sash is different. Shredder is also pin-less at the knees and elbows so while the arms appear to be more or less the same, some updates had to be made for Shredder in order for him to be pin-less. That must have been a driver for NECA with this figure as they probably could have just reused the arms, legs, and maybe even the chest and called it a day, but opted not to. Shredder is mostly clad in a skin-tight, dark red outfit that has a vague hint of purple to it. It’s more purple than the Elite and the browns on the sash, boots, and gauntlets are a more Earthy brown than the Elite. The metal portions are all a shiny silver with an ever so slight hint of blue. There’s also some sculpted distress details like this is a guy who has seen his share of battles. The black linework is frequent throughout and I continue to love the completely black-out flesh beneath the helm as that’s how the character was colored in the comics. He’s long of leg with a slightly undersized head which really conveys that comic look. This is definitely a more intimidating Shredder and I’m content with the looks of it.

Back dat ass up!

For accessories, Shredder has multiple sets of hands: fists, gripping, chop, and open. For weapons, he has a pair of swords that you’ve probably seen before as well as the smaller version of the bladed polearm (I think this came with Karai too). There’s also a tiny worm since you can’t have a Worms of Madness set without the worm. And then there’s the other Shredder. He’s his own figure, but in a way feels like an accessory. In the books, the turtles tangle with Shredder and eventually he removes his shirt and all of the armor on his head and arms to reveal his weird, wormy, body. It’s basically just a textured body with lots of lines carved into it. I’m thinking maybe to mimic the look of an earth worm? I don’t know, but for the figure you get a duplicate sculpt with different forearms to remove the wraps and armor. There are lots of subtle grooves in the torso with a paint wash applied to bring them out. I don’t know enough about toy making to know if this necessitated new molds or if this distress could be added to the sculpt without cutting into steel. The head is certainly new as it’s an unmasked Oroku Saki and it looks fine with clean paints. He does lose part of his sash, the bit that hangs over the crotch and rear, which exposes the odd sculpt of the bum area. Shredder has a big, droopy, butt that has a lot of area around the thigh hollowed out presumably to allow for more movement forward and back. It looks fine on the regular Shredder since he has a way to hide it, on the second figure it’s just out in the open and kind of funny looking. I guess be mindful of how you leave him on the shelf, unless you want to accentuate the buttocks then by all means do so. This figure also has the same assortment of optional hands as the other Shredder.

Worm.
This diaphragm joint is no substitute for a proper waist joint.

Since we’re dealing with two identical figures from a structural standpoint, the articulation is going to be the same across both. We get: double ball head, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, diaphragm, hips, knees, and ankles. To my surprise, there is no glove or boot cut like we’ve seen with toon versions of the character from NECA. There’s also no vertical hinge for the gripping hands, something I’ve basically come to expect with NECA as much as it irritates me. As previously mentioned, the elbows and knees are pin-less and work just fine. Range at the head is acceptable while the standard Shredder has the shoulder pauldrons which interfere with the shoulders. I don’t know why they don’t either pin them to the shoulder itself or use a loop through the shoulder peg. The diaphragm joint gets a little forward and back and rotates easily, but there’s no waist cut. I don’t know why NECA has been omitting waist articulation of late with its Shredders, but I don’t like it. Hide a ball-joint behind that sash and let us get this figure into more natural poses. The diaphragm joint isn’t a great substitute because the figure looks ridiculous if turned more than 45 degrees. He does get decent range at the hips though I find the ankles to be a bit tough to work with. The left bicep on my Shredder is also binding and not rotating. The right arm is fine as are both on the Saki figure. I’m not sure if heating it would do much good as that could make shearing it off easier. It’s at least the only trouble spot between the two figures as nothing is too tight or too loose. It’s still pretty basic articulation by today’s standards so don’t expect import-level posing or even Marvel Legends caliber. For this line, it’s mostly as one would expect.

Is this the update people were hoping for out of NECA where Shredder is concerned? I think so as it looks the part based on his appearance in the comic and he definitely looks like he can hang with the updated turtles. Did anyone want to pay $60+ to get this and the shirtless variant? That is probably less of a slam dunk. I know personally I did not want this other figure. At all. I assume NECA added it to the mix to basically make a cheap (for them) two-pack since it’s two figures using essentially the same tooling. It’s too bad they didn’t pair him with the Foot Elite instead. And I say $60, but a lot of places have this set at $70 which is an even worse deal. I do have to wonder if NECA had gone with a swap-able torso instead could they have convinced more people to pay $50 for the release than what they sold at the two-pack price? Would it really make a difference compared with the actual costs? I can’t answer that, but I feel like there was an opportunity to up the perceived value of the package, but maybe dropping half a figure from the set isn’t as big a cost savings as I would imagine. All I know is that their basic, single pack figure is $35-$42 depending on where you get it. I wouldn’t pay that for the extra figure in this set so I needed to wait for it to be essentially free to feel comfortable buying this one. And I was fortunate that I ended up getting Shredder for even less than that. If you think this figure looks neat and can get it for the same price then I think it’s an easy recommend. As a two-pack with mostly ho-hum accessories, it’s a much harder sell. You have to really want shirtless, wormy, Shredder and place considerable value on him to make it worth your while. Maybe if they had included something fun with the set, like a wormy stump for his neck, that could have made a difference. Instead, I could never shake the perception that this set was a money grab and we were being forced to pay extra just to get the new Shredder we wanted, but sometimes that’s how the toy industry works.

Leonardo always wins.

If you enjoyed this look at Shredder then here are some Shredder-adjacent reviews you may find informative:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Elite Foot Assassin

NECA has gradually built out the ranks for Shredder’s Foot Clan via its line of action figures based on the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as published by Mirage Studios. The clan got started way back in 2016 with a box set released in conjunction with New York Comic Con. That set featured Shredder,…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Shredder Clones

NECA and Target’s Haulathon event which has seen a vast assortment of product dumped onto shelves recently was not content to limit the products to just the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Far from it, as an assortment of comic book based characters were also released and today we’re going to look at the first…

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by Joe

NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

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

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by Joe

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August 26, 2025

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Elite Foot Assassin

By Joe
There’s a doings a-foot.

NECA has gradually built out the ranks for Shredder’s Foot Clan via its line of action figures based on the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as published by Mirage Studios. The clan got started way back in 2016 with a box set released in conjunction with New York Comic Con. That set featured Shredder, two Foot ninja, and a Foot Elite ninja. The sculpts were based on the original Eastman and Laird intended one-shot that became anything but. As the comic went on, the look of just about every character changed. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird grew as artists and refined some of the looks they had devised initially. Once TMNT became a marketing juggernaut, the pair stepped back allowed other artists such as Jim Lawson to work on the books which further moved the characters away from their initial looks. NECA has marked that with its re-release of the turtles which emulate the work of Lawson and now we’ve moved onto other characters like the Foot Elite Assassin.

He’s far more intimidating than the old Foot Elite.

I’m not sure if the Elite Assassin was ever intended to be different from the old Foot Elite. With Shredder dead, these guys basically assumed leadership of the Foot Clan and they were depicted as bigger and badder than what NECA gave us back in 2016. The design is more or less the same though as a regular Foot ninja with a faceguard like Shredder, a round hat resembling a conical sedge hat, and the remnants of a cape or cloak. Where this guy differs from the old look is in the proportions and overall size. He comes in at just about a full 7″ to the top of his head. His chest is much broader and there’s more meat front to back as well. His arms and legs are equally beefy, though not on the same level as the Foot Enforcer. He’s overall just way more imposing and shares none of his parts with the old figure.

He also has some size on the turtles.

The version of the figure I’m looking at today is the standard colors one. We already have seen two other colorways with the first one being an all red and black edition. I think that one is based on the IDW reissues, but there’s also a black and white one which was released around the same time as this standard one. The standard one follows the basic Foot coloring with a brownish-red tunic, gray pants, and brown wraps on the forearms and shins. There’s a big brown sash across the midsection and from the hat drapes a red hood of sorts that leaves the face visible. For the face, we have the faceguard which is done in silver and the flesh is painted all in shadow with two, beady, white eyes peering through. The hat can be removed and the red hood is attached to it. Doing so reveals a somewhat comically small head, but if the head was made any bigger it would probably look a little too big with the added hood. Plus, it’s not meant to be displayed without the hat since it leaves a big peg hole in the top of the head sort of like a Lego mini figure.

If you don’t like the cape it can easily be removed.

The paint is fairly simple, but clean, and has the usual NECA comic embellishments. There’s a lot of linework the emphasize the muscles and to outline all of the wraps. There it’s remarkably clean though if you get in close you’re likely to find some places where the linework doesn’t precisely match the carved-out groove. The faceguard is a nice, metallic, silver and the forearm armor contains a hit of light blue shading at the edges to create the illusion of a metallic surface. It’s a nice effect and so simple which makes it a shame that other companies don’t do the same with their figures often opting to just use bare, gray, plastic for metal parts. I do very much like the proportions on this guy so a tip of the hat to sculptor Gurjeet Singh. Nicole Falk is also credited, though I see her name most often credited with “fabrication” which makes me think she handled the cloak, which is also well-tailored and looks fabulous. Geoffrey Trapp and Mike Puzzo handled the paint for this guy.

Oops
Time’s up, turtles!

The Elite Assassin comes with a fair amount of weapons and other assorted parts to do some assassinating. The hands available include sets of fists, gripping, chop, and open/style-posed hands. He also has an alternate portrait with no faceguard. According to the box, the face is supposed to be a clean-shaven face and there’s some shading applied to the lips, but some wires were crossed at the factory and the lip shading turned into a mustache. I’ll never use it so I don’t care, but it is kind of funny. For weapons, we have a short sword, a handheld sickle, a longer sword with a ball and chain attached to the hilt, and everyone’s favorite weapon, a pair of gray sticks. These guys may have been drawn with such weapons in a comic somewhere, but I don’t think it’s something we really need. He also has a time bomb which I’m sure is from the comics and it’s well sculpted and painted. The bladed weapons are all silver with some blue applied and it looks nice, though different from how they do metal with the turtles. For some reason the Foot get silver and the turtles get white. Makes sense to me!

“I’m not exactly feeling intimidated here, dude.”

Articulation is where these NECA figures often come up short and the Elite Assassin is no different. He does some things well, and some things not so well. The head is the unusual setup of a ball peg because the head is so small. This is the type of joint a lot of import companies utilize for wrists, too bad NECA doesn’t do the same. As a joint for a head, it’s fine, but the hood is going to limit rotation quite a bit. Shoulders are conventional hinged ball joints and we have bicep swivels, double elbows, and swivel and hinge wrists. The bicep swivels on mine are tight and when they do move they feel like they’re binding more than rotating as the bicep wants to kick back to where it was. Definitely something to be careful with. The hands all have a horizontal hinge, including the gripping hands, which is unfortunate and honestly quite annoying at this point. I’m thinking of just boycotting NECA figures that don’t come with the proper wrist articulation at this point because they’re so, maddeningly, inconsistent with it.

He’s not a total stiff, but some waist articulation would have really helped out.

The only articulation in the torso is a ball-joint in the upper diaphragm. It kicks forward and back a suitable amount and will rotate some as well. It’s not going to provide a true ab crunch though, but it would have with a ball-jointed waist. Given the large sash around the waist I don’t know why NECA didn’t just do this. A ball joint there would give him some nice forward and back and provide for more natural rotation. Hips are the typical ball and socket with a thigh swivel built in. There’s double-jointed knees and ankle hinges and rockers that work fine. Missing is a boot swivel and forearm swivel, even though there are natural places for such to exist. It’s annoying with the forearms since the armor continues onto the back of the hands so rotating the hands breaks that up. Lastly, we have a nice wire going through the cape which does allow for some dynamic posing of that.

I guess if he doesn’t want to get up close, this ball and chain thing will have to do as a ranged attack.

This is a solid figure that’s so close to being a great figure. The missing waist articulation is more of an annoyance for me than the wrists and I don’t know why NECA didn’t put that in. If he had that he’d move pretty damn well. I think much of this figure is utilized for the new Shredder currently available in a two-pack. I don’t know if that one has waist articulation and I don’t plan on finding out until it’s available as a single-packed figure (or it hits deep discount). And for an assassin, I do think this guy should have some kind of a ranged weapon. The sword with the ball and chain is pretty cool, but doesn’t seem very practical for an assassin. He looks cool though and isn’t a total stiff so if this is something you’re interested in based on the look of it you’ll probably be content. I found this guy at Target where it only set me back $35. He’ll probably be available in various other places eventually if he’s not already, though probably at a small markup.

If you feel like your Foot Elite Assassin needs some companions then these might interest you:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often…

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by Joe

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

May 6, 2025

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios April (Version 2) with Professor Obligado

By Joe
Say “Hello” to her little friend.

Back in 2008, when NECA was planning out a line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures that they hoped would run for a long time, they turned to the turtles’ most trusted ally when it came time to do a fifth figure. The line wasn’t long for this world, and that figure of April O’Neil from issue two of the Mirage Studios run of comics ended up as a convention exclusive. She had a couple of variants, and came packaged with Mousers as well, but she was also the end of the line. Be it poor sales or issues with the master license holder, NECA’s Mirage run of turtles was brief, but has since been resurrected. We’re almost nearing a point where it feels like NECA, not Playmates, is releasing more unique sculpts per year when it comes to this franchise and it’s no surprise that in 2025, in the month of April no less, NECA has decided to return to the character once looked to as the most logical release after the turtles themselves.

An updated April for your updated turtles and newish Casey.

Version 2 of April is presently shipping as part of the Target Haulathon, that oh so expensive time of year for those who collect NECA TMNT. The old figure is one I never bought. April was a little rough in her debut appearance and creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were not too proud to admit that it took them awhile to really learn how to draw April. That figure fits in well with those early TMNT figures NECA produced as they’re based on the first issue, but for those looking for an April that vibes with the more recent output from NECA a new figure was needed. For inspiration, NECA turned to issue #11 which has become somewhat infamous online over the years. Namely, for those who want to champion that April was originally conceived as being black or at least mixed race. While it was true that her name came from April Fisher, a woman who is of a mixed race, Eastman and Laird have always been pretty clear over the years they envisioned her as a white woman. In issue 4, she received a new hair style – a perm. Combine that with the name thing and the fact that Eastman and Laird often used people in their orbit to base April’s looks on and you can see why this became such a big thing.

April’s got a new look.
The inspiration for this figure.

Apparently, Eastman has at least embraced this retcon of sorts as this new April from NECA depicts her as a black woman. And why not? NECA already did a white April (well, many if you count the cartoon and movie lines) and people seem to like this idea. Some don’t, which is often the case when you start talking about race because there are racist assholes out there, but this is Kevin and Peter’s baby and if they like this depiction of April then that’s good enough for me. We know Kevin at least does since he did the artwork for the box. I guess Peter could hate it, or he could be fine, or indifferent, it doesn’t matter. It’s an April action figure and all that really matters to most would be is it any good?

“You know, I’m something of an artist myself.”

April is a figure sculpted by Richard Force and Tim Miller. Or I should say, April and her boxmate are sculpted by the duo. I’m not sure if one sculpted April and one sculpted her pack-in, but at least we know they both contributed where as most toy companies don’t give us that much info. Paint is credited to Geoff Trapp, Mike Puzzo, and Holly Knevelbaard. April stands at around 6″ to the top of her hair. She’s depicted in her outfit from issue 4 of a pink shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and a brown jacket. At least those were the colors in the earliest color versions I have seen, though for me I’m most accustomed to seeing April and everyone else in black and white.

Not a figure made for the classic (and probably sexist) female pose.

The presentation for April is fairly basic. That’s not necessarily a negative, it’s just the reality of an action figure based on a normal woman. There’s no crazy super powers to capture or outlandish costume, it’s just a woman in casual attire. She has her poofy hair which is done in brown with some light brown brushed over it. Her expression is serious, but fairly neutral. There’s some linework on her cheekbones and her lips are red and outlined in black. She has a simple gold necklace sculpted around her neck and some big hoop earrings which appear to be part of the sculpt for the hair. The jacket and shirt feel like they’re an overlay, but the material is more firm than usual. There’s a lot of black linework on the clothing and the paint job on the sneakers is pretty complex and mostly clean. The paint is sharp and the appearance of the figure is too. My only critiques would be it looks like they missed a paint app on the zipper of her coat as it’s just left brown. They also gave April a serious case of “flat butt,” why did you do her dirty like that NECA?

This little guy gets all the stuff.

April comes with three sets of hands: open, fists, and gripping. That’s it. I wish we got a second portrait from the panel where she shows off her new haircut as she just looks really happy in that shot and it would be nice to give her the option of being happy on the shelf. Her articulation is pretty basic for the line as well. If you have Kirby or Baxter then you should have a pretty good idea of how April moves. Her hair really limits the range at the head to basically a swivel. The shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees all work well and as expected. The range at the hips is good, but she can’t quite hit a split. Ankles are a bit limited and for some reason the left ankle on mine doesn’t want to pivot (it’s gummy and just snaps back into a neutral position). The waist is a ball joint, but it just swivels for the most part because of the size of the overlay. The torso isn’t going to do anything and the gripping hands have the wrong hinge, not that she has anything to hold. Her feet being relatively small, she can be a deceptively difficult figure to stand. I’ve had her topple over numerous times already in the short while I’ve had her.

I think I’ll keep the hat on him.
Plenty of Utroms these days, and I didn’t even bother with the little one from the robot.

That’s April, but she’s technically not alone. Joining her is Professor Obligado, an Utrom ally with a series of short stories by Stephen Murphy. He’s very similar to other Utrom characters we’ve received in that he’s a little more than a slug figure as he has two articulated tentacles. He also gets the bulk of the accessories as he has a fedora, pipe, pick axe, paint brush, can of ink, and two extra tentacles one of which has a can of some spray molded to it. He looks fine and the swapping features are fun, but I would have liked something for April. It’s almost like NECA saw doing another April as an obligation, but rather than make her as much fun as they could, they threw in another character after doing the bare minimum.

At least Casey has weapons to spare.

This review has taken on a negative tone, but I should stress that this figure of April isn’t a bad one. It’s just fine. There’s nothing special about it, it does what you would expect, and the execution when it comes to the sculpt and paint is up to NECA’s standards. The articulation isn’t great, but still what one would expect of the line. It just lacks imagination. Obligado is fine, and those who really dig the Utrom characters will enjoy adding him to the mix. That doesn’t shake the feeling that I only bought this figure because I want an April and I would have bought anything. At least she turned out far better than the cartoon one. If you’re feeling inclined to pick this one up, April sold out online, but can be found at Target. If you don’t want to shop there for any reason, know that she’ll eventually show up elsewhere, but with the current state of things who knows what she’ll cost? Right now, the MSRP is $35 and hopefully it stays that way.

There are plenty more heroes and villains from NECA’s TMNT line of figures based on the original comics:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to…

by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Rat King

Rats! Is what Charlie Brown would say at the sight of today’s subject, the almighty king of the rats himself, the Rat King. Rat King has always been a favorite of mine when it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villains. Like a great many, I was introduced to the character via the cartoon series…

by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

Say the name “The King” to a comic book fan and they will immediately know of whom you speak. Jack Kirby is a titan in the world of comics. Creator or co-creator of a great many characters known throughout the world today, it’s hard to imagine what a comic book would look like without his…

by Joe

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

October 8, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

By Joe
There’s a new Shredder in town.

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to do a second so there wasn’t much thought given to the character, but it was The Shredder that would be selected to be the main foe for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they made the leap to other forms of media. The comics basically followed suit by bringing Shredder back first as a clone, or rather, various clones. Once that was exhausted, the two had a new solution: offspring.

The daughter is a little more trim, but nearly as tall as daddy.

Credit to Eastman and Laird for selecting Karai as the successor to The Shredder. Most creators would probably turn to the son, but they decided to go with a daughter. Karai entered the picture during the City at War arc, a sort of grand finale to the Mirage era of TMNT. She, not surprisingly, set out to avenge her father who was murdered by the turtles. She decked herself out in traditional Foot ninja garb while also taking on the armor of her father, including his rather famous helm. Karai has since made the leap to other TMNT media and is pretty well known at this point, but for a time, she was basically only known to fans of the comic books.

Karai slots in pretty well with other figures in the line.

NECA’s take on Karai, dubbed Karai as The Shredder, depicts her as she first appeared as basically the new Shredder. She comes in the standard Mirage Studios box with brand new artwork by Kevin Eastman. The figure is a sculpt by May Thamtarana with paint by the usual duo of Geoffrey (no longer Geoff?) Trapp and Mike Puzzo. The figure is currently shipping to Target as part of the latest TMNT promotion there, but it’s expected this figure will see a wide release in the not too distant future.

Karai is depicted in her Shredder disguise which is not much different from the Foot ninja or the other versions of Shredder we’ve seen from NECA. She stands about 6.5″ tall and out of the box she comes unhelmed. She is understandably more slight than those Foot ninja or her father, but she does feature comic style muscle tone on her bare arms. The figure is predominantly a dark red with sculpted linework and painted details in black. Her skin has a slight olive tone to it which adds to the overall darker presentation of the figure versus the old Shredder. She features a pretty angry looking face with a somewhat messy head of hair like she’s either in battle or perhaps just discarded her helm. The painted details are all quite sharp and the armored portions of her attire are painted a lustrous silver with black detailing.

Realize your destiny, Karai.

Karai’s appearance gets kicked up a notch when the standard head is swapped with the helmed one. Not because there is anything wrong with the default look, but because the helmed head is just done so well. It’s the same silvery color as the bladed bits, but with a liberal use of black shading. Her eyes are just white slits in blackness and I love the shading on the mouthguard portion. The black around her eyes almost looks like it doesn’t quite fill the entire area though, but I think it’s intentional and not a defect of my figure. She absolutely looks like someone who would emerge from the darkness and take your life before you even knew what happened. Standing her beside NECA’s original Mirage Shredder also highlights how far the company has come with its paint applications. The old figure looks downright bland by comparison as there’s a lot of bare plastic and less shading. I suspect we’ll eventually get a new Shredder on an all new body (like we are with the cartoon line) to replace this one some day because it’s definitely fallen behind the newer releases when it comes to shelf presence.

If she doesn’t want to wear it she could always use it as a trick or treat bucket.

Karai also features an assortment of hands and weapons. For hands, she has a set of fists, gripping hands, and open hands. The gripping hands feature the much preferred vertical hinge, a change I’ve been calling for with NECA figures for awhile now, though unfortunately the hinge on my left hand is stuck. No amount of heat or messing with a blade has been able to get it to budge for me and it looks like the disc portion is protruding ever so slightly more than it is with the right hand so I’m thinking it’s a factory defect. The hands in general did feature tight hinges because they’re painted silver so you may need to break the seal, so to speak, to get them moving.

That’s a pretty nasty looking weapon.

While I love the vertical hinge, I do have to say that the gripping hands could have been executed better. Or maybe it’s the fault of the weapons, but Karai struggles to get a tight grip on most of them. She has a long, bladed, staff which features a shaft that’s just a little too thick for how her hands are molded. She can hold it, but it will fall out a lot and probably drive you nuts as you work her into a pose. Her long sword is basically the same and I believe it’s a weapon we’ve seen with the Foot Enforcer. She does have two, smaller, swords which both feature knuckle-guards. These work much better with her hands and maybe it’s because they’re the only newly tooled weapons in the set? She also has an empty mask she can hold or have placed on a shelf beside her. It’s all one piece and, no, it won’t fit over her unmasked portrait. It’s a fun inclusion and will probably be appreciated by toy photographers.

You can kind of see how chunky that sword handle is even in this shot.

Articulation for Karai is pretty much standard for the line. The head is on a double-ball peg and moves around pretty well. The helmeted head actually has better range as the hair of the standard portrait limits the range looking up. Shoulders are your standard ball hinge and the shoulder pauldrons will get in the way a bit when rotating or trying to raise the arms out all the way to the side. There is a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows, and the wrists swivel and hinge. This figure is not pin-less, which ordinarily wouldn’t bother me, but her arms are so thin that I do find myself wishing they were pin-less. There is no forearm swivel with the armor that I can find which does disappoint me. I like being able to line them up with the hand blades, but the only way to do so is via the bicep swivel.

She wields these a lot better than the larger weapons.

In the torso there’s a ball joint just under her bust. This provides for a little back, a little forward, and a generous amount of tilt as well as rotation. There’s a ball joint in the waist as well, though her sash comes up pretty high over her abdomen and will limit the forward and back movement there making it mostly just a swivel point. The ball-jointed hips will allow the figure to hit full splits out to the side and swivel at the inner thigh. She does have a “diaper” covering on the crotch which limits her forward kicking. She can be forced into a 90 degree kick forward while kicking back is minimal. Double-jointed knees follow and the ankles feature the standard hinge and rocker. Because of the shin guards, I would have welcomed a boot cut, but NECA declined to give us one. Karai also has pretty small feet so she can be a little challenging to stand, but overall her articulation is fine and she’s likely more dynamic than most of the figures in the line given that she’s not nearly as bulky as most.

Karai was basically a no-brainer for the Mirage line and presenting her in her Shredder attire made the most sense. She does feature some other looks in the comics, but this is really the only one I need. I’m curious if NECA will do more variants of her to get more out of these molds. It seems like they’re committed to doing IDW color variants of all of the figures so it certainly wouldn’t shock me to see the same take place with Karai. I do think she turned out well, I just wish she could wield her weapons a bit better. It’s also a shame I have a seized wrist hinge, but hopefully that’s not a widespread issue. At approximately $37, she’s not a cheap figure, but a bit better value than some of the others currently out there by NECA. Karai should make for a nice addition to your TMNT Mirage Studios display, now hopefully we can get a better Shredder to join her.

We have plenty more from NECA and Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA Mirage Shredder and Foot Clan NYCC Exclusive Set

The Shredder had a rough go at things for awhile when it came to plastic. He was featured rather prominently in the old Playmates line, though perhaps not as prominently as one would expect. Playmates never did do a movie version of him, aside from Super Shredder, and his figure was arguably the worst from…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

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

Keep reading
by Joe

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

October 1, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Rat King

By Joe
RATS! Ahh-ooo-ahhh!

Rats! Is what Charlie Brown would say at the sight of today’s subject, the almighty king of the rats himself, the Rat King. Rat King has always been a favorite of mine when it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villains. Like a great many, I was introduced to the character via the cartoon series and the tie-in toy line, but like a lot of characters in the world of TMNT, Rat King has existed in many forms. When it comes to the original Mirage Studios line of comics, he was a bit more abstract than he was in the show. He’s basically shown to be a hallucination of Master Splinter – is he even real? Kind of, sort of. He first appeared in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which seemed to have an on again/off again relationship with what was canon in TMNT. Tales was a series not written by creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and it basically meant that the two could use it or not when doing the main comic line. Splinter, after his hallucinations have passed, stumbles upon a shuriken-filled corpse that sure looks like Rat King from his appearance in Tales so I guess he was canon all along.

Make some room on your shelf for the king of rats!

Regardless of all of that, Rat King is a fun design and it’s no surprise that NECA opted to include him in their line of action figures. First unveiled at San Diego Comic Con 2023, Rat King has started showing up in both Target and Walmart over the past few weeks and should be readily attainable for most. And if not, expect him to show up at other outlets in the not too distance future. NECA’s take on the monstrous character mostly follows his initial appearance in the Tales story, but also with a nod to his later appearance during the City at War arc of the main comic.

The monster who lurks in the sewers.

Rat King is a figure sculpted by Brodie Perkins with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. The box art was handled by TMNT co-creator himself, Kevin Eastman, and is of the standard size and design for the line. His character is credited as a co-creation of Jim Lawson, Eastman, and Laird which probably explains why he was included in the City at War arc. The figure itself stands a tick under 7″ giving him some nice size relative to other figures in the line. His default portrait is the monstrous one from his debut which is a head wrapped in bandages with only the eyes and mouth visible. The rest of his flesh is mostly black save for the bridge of his nose. A tangled mess of red hair pokes through the gaps in the wraps with some of the spots of his scalp featuring hair that’s cropped close to the head. Either he shaved it or he’s fond of pulling his hair out..

The design of the comic Rat King is similar to that of the cartoon, just a whole lot grimier.

The body of the Rat King is a patchwork of green and black. There’s a rough texture to the clothing, like that of a burlap sack, with patches and stitch marks all over. The yellow-orange wraps are found in various places like the biceps, waist, and forearms. The suit covers his entire body save for the hands and there’s a black paint wash over everything giving this guy a real grime to the presentation. He actually looks like a creature that emerged from a sewer. The wraps on the upper body and arms are sculpted-in while the legs are separate, floating, pieces. I assume this was done because the placement of said wraps changed with his appearances in the comics, but they come across as more annoying than anything since they’re prone to falling down. This figure, unlike some recent additions, is not pin-less at the knees and elbows. Normally, this isn’t something I bother pointing out, but with Rat King it’s a bit of a shame because the pin on the left arm goes through the wraps and NECA opted not to paint it. Instead, he has green circles in the wraps which is unsightly in a similar manner to how Hasbro used to make Spider-Man figures in its Marvel Legends line.

“Sorry little buddy.”

Aside from that blemish, the figure is quite a sight to behold. It’s large and gangly in the limbs and really evokes the source material well. I love the broad shoulders and chest which gives him a presence beyond just scary, smelly, guy. He actually looks like he’d stand a chance in a brawl with our heroes, though he’s probably better off relying on his clever tricks and such because the only weapon he’s bringing to the fight is a stick. It’s shaped similar to a baseball bat and it will have to do. He also has an assortment of rats, but I don’t see how they’ll be of much use. They’re all brown rats and he has three of them: sitting, crawling, and grasping. As best I can tell, the grasping rat is intended to grab onto the end of the bat while the other two can be balanced on the figure as you see fit.

Someone felt we needed two styles of fists with this guy.

For optional parts, Rat King has an assortment of hands and a secondary portrait. With the hands, NECA made at least one curious choice. We get two sets of gripping hands with one being tighter than the other. The bat seems to work fine with both, so it’s a little odd, but not as odd as the fists. For those, we have two sets once again. One has the thumb coming over the fingers and the other features the thumb tucked under the fingers. Why two sets? I have no idea. It feels like they had room in the budget and didn’t know what to do with it or something. I’d have taken more rats, personally. He also has a set of open, clawing, hands. These are the most monstrous looking as they’re covered in warts and don’t have any wrappings on them. The alternate portrait is what I’d call handsome Rat King. It more resembles his City at War appearance as his jaw is visible and he has a smile. The eyes are also all white and more of his scalp is visible. It’s a more confident Rat King and it really gives this guy two worthwhile display options: as a monster of the sewers or the more cool and calculating villain he’s sometimes shown to be.

Seems like a bit of a mismatch, but looks can be deceiving.

Articulation for Rat King is pretty standard for the line. A double-ball peg in the neck gives his head nice range in all directions with the exception of range looking up as he has one of those necks that’s angled forward instead of straight up. There are ball-hinges at the shoulder, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, and hinges at the wrist. The bulkiness of the arms means the elbows won’t bend much past 90 degrees and even though he comes with two sets of gripping hands, none feature the preferred vertical hinge for melee weapon wielding. There’s a ball in the diaphragm that allows for some forward and back as well as rotation and tilt. There’s a basic waist cut, ball-jointed thighs that swivel and kick forward 90 degrees and go out to the side for splits. Knees are double-jointed, but like the biceps, won’t go much past 90 because of the thigh meat. Ankles swivel and hinge and they work just fine.

Get him, boys!

Rat King should do what Rat King needs to. The wrist hinges are unfortunate, but expected with NECA these days. Finding poses is no trouble, with or without the rats, and the only thing I don’t like about moving this guy around are those damn bandages on his legs. They’ll almost never stay where you want them to and I’m tempted to either glue them or take them off all together. I suppose once he’s on a shelf it won’t matter, but they really needed to be tighter.

Rat King is a great addition to the Mirage line of TMNT from NECA. While I find myself really drawn to the bright colors and cartoony nature of the toon and Archie lines more and more, these gritty Mirage figures feel like they’re more in NECA’s wheelhouse. I’ve always associated NECA with horror stuff and Rat King is a character that plays to NECA’s strengths. He’s also a great design from the books and a well-executed action figure with only a few nitpicks to draw attention to. Should you wish to add him to your collection, he’ll set you back about $37. It’s not cheap, but it feels like a better value than some of the other recent figures we’ve looked at so you won’t hear me complaining.

If you like Rat Kings and comic turtles then we’ve got you covered:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Splinter

When NECA started down the path of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with the 2008 release of the four titular characters, it didn’t go very far. After the turtles came April, but as a convention exclusive, and then nothing else. It would be years before their Shredder, which was shown off at the very same convention…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Cartoon Rat King vs Vernon

When I last reviewed a NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles two-pack it was the Splinter vs Baxter Stockman set and I referred to it as potentially the last essential set for some. The key word there being “some” as I am not “some” and didn’t consider myself “some” when I wrote that, for there are…

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by Joe

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August 6, 2024

NECA Mirage TMNT – The First Turtles SDCC 2024 40th Anniversary Edition

By Joe
Today belongs to the originals.

As the story goes, one night Kevin Eastman was drawing with his friend and partner-in-comics Peter Laird when the idea to doodle a ninja, anthropomorphized, turtle entered his brain. Laird was so amused by this drawing that he too drew his own take on it. What was done just to amuse each other eventually turned into something that would change both of their lives as well as the lives of many others.

Kevin Eastman was commissioned to do the packaging and it’s appropriately “special.”

In 1984, the first issue of Mirage Studios’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit shelves and became an indie darling. That comic would go on to inspire a toyline, which beget a cartoon series, and a phenom was born. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, once thought of as a fad, are still relevant today now more than 40 years from their inauspicious beginnings. To celebrate the milestone, NECA partnered with co-creator Kevin Eastman to create an action figure two-pack of those inaugural turtles. Sculpted by Paul Harding with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo, the set was sold as a two-pack at San Diego Comic Con as well as a presale on NECA’s own website. The First Turtles are just the latest in what are sure to be more celebratory figures to come. It’s on the heels of Playmates’ own Original Sketch Turtles which can currently be found at Target and on Amazon. Those turtles were the more refined, second pass, versions of the characters which bare a strong resemblance to what would be featured in that first comic, where as these originals are quite crude by comparison.

The original Eastman pose, as best as I can recreate it here.

The set sold by NECA comes in a rather large box adorned with new artwork by Eastman. It also features a lenticular slipcover depicting the drawings changing from black and white to color. The rear of the slipcover is almost bare white as the idea here was for convention goers to be able to have Eastman sign or even doodle on the box for them. I suppose that is still possible for other convention appearances to come. The interior box is a fairly typical NECA window box that displays both figures and their accessories quite well. The only thing missing is the actual original drawings which I’m surprised by, but maybe there were legal reasons. This really is a pretty nice display item, but I’m no in-box collector so let’s rip into this one.

And the original Laird pose.

First of all, the figures here are presented fully painted in color that’s basically a match for what NECA did with the Jim Lawson turtles released in 2023. The original drawings were never colored by Eastman and Laird, but since Eastman worked closely with NECA on this release it can be assumed that this is how he and Peter likely would color them today. We also don’t really know how tall they envisioned these guys to be or if any consideration was really given. Eastman probably had input there, but I don’t know if Laird had any involvement (he’s essentially retired after having sold the property to Viacom over a decade ago). Based on interviews Trevor Zammit of NECA has given, it sounds like NECA had some freedom to figure out how to present these two. Eastman’s turtle, which was really more tortoise-like in some respects, was made bigger and chunkier while the more lithe version Laird came up with is shorter and thinner.

These pair pretty well with the Playmates Original Sketch Turtles, which were like the second version of the property.

We might as well discuss the Eastman turtle first since it was the one said to be created first. The figure stands roughly 5.75″ to the top of its head. He may not be the tallest figure in the line, but he’s definitely a big boy. This turtle is quite chunky and there’s a nice heft to the figure. The shell is quite large and another area where NECA had to exercise some creative freedom since the drawing depicted the character from the front. Now, these turtles are not intended to be any, one, turtle from what followed. This isn’t Michelangelo or Raphael, it’s just a ninja turtle. Still, he has some recognizable traits from the turtles that followed. He’s sporting the red bandana along with brown elbow and knee pads and wrist wraps. There is no belt, but there is a tail. The original turtle also did not hold any weapons, but did have nunchaku affixed to both forearms which this figure does as well. The weapons are fused together, but do have real chain links affixed to them. They tab into a slot on the inner wrist band and are quite easy to work with.

A little too Raph.

What really stands out about the first turtle is the portrait and proportions. The head is more egg-shaped with barely any sort of beak. The eyes also feature pupils and areas of green around the eyes are visible through the eyeholes on the bandana. The hands and feet are large and more closely match that of an actual turtle. The hands look more like flippers for swimming through the water while the feet are quite tortoise-like. He has five digits on each limb as opposed to the three and two that would follow. The paint job is truly exquisite as there is tons of black hatch lines all over. The articulation cuts are not very prominent making this figure look almost like a statue. While subjectively many may find this turtle to be crude and even a bit ugly, objectively the figure is nothing short of a work of art when compared with the original sketch.

A lot of Michelangelo can be found in these original designs.

The same is true of the Laird turtle. This one clocks in at around 5.375″ and is far less substantial in mass when compared to the Eastman turtle. Laird’s turtle is similar to Eastman’s in style, but different. There’s a mask in place, but on this turtle it extends over a pronounced beak essentially wrapping around where the nose would be. It does feature the nunchaku on the forearms, but there are no chain links present this time and the straps holding them on are the only other garments on the turtle. There are no pads or belts, and the hands and feet feature four digits instead of five. He still is more turtle-like than the finished design, but the leaner proportions make him a bit more convincing as a ninja, even if still comically implausible. The paint job here is just as good as it is on the Eastman turtle, and despite the smaller size, this figure still has substantial weight to it.

The Lawson turtles were like the advancement of the original Mirage style.

Where the two figures also differ concerns the articulation. The more slender Laird turtle was likely easier to work with and articulates slightly better than the Eastman variety, though neither turtle is intended to be placed in poses many would consider “dynamic.” Both feature neck and head articulation with basic arm articulation. There are no double joints on either figure and the range at the hinge joints is probably going to be less than 90 degrees for most. The bandana knot and tail swivel while the hips are ball sockets with thigh swivels engineered into them. Neither turtle is going to be able to hit a split or kick forward all that far. The Laird turtle gets to have hinges at the knees and ankles with an ankle rocker. The Eastman turtle, who has big stumps for legs, just has one set of hinges below the kneepads. There is basically no ankle to be found on this guy so that’s it.

And, of course, it was the ’87 version of the property that launched a phenomenon.

Safe to say, if it’s articulation that you prioritize in your action figures then these are not for you. I think for most, they’ll pose them like the original drawing and call it a day. And that’s definitely a viable display option, but it would mean ignoring all of the goodies in the box. NECA decided to load this pair up with all of the weapons you would expect and more. That means we get a set of katana, nunchaku, sai, and a bo staff. There’s also a nunchaku with a whirling effect that even spins and looks really nice. There’s a tonfa as well if you prefer more of a Last Ronin vibe. All of the weapons are fully painted and look great. There’s a slight crudeness baked into some of them as well such as a chip in the blades of the katana and the wraps of the bo being off-center. They also appear to be based off of the original sketch of the four that followed which, if so, is a logical choice.

The tonfa has to nod to this guy, right?

In order to properly wield such weapons each turtle comes with an alternate set of gripping hands. The standard hands are an open style and the gripping are just that. They feature horizontal hinges, unfortunately, but at least they work with the clip-on nunchaku just fine. Both turtle can adequately wield any of the included, though aside from those clip-on ‘chuks there’s no weapon storage to be found. NECA also decided to give each figure one optional portrait. The default ones from the drawings are what I would deem stoic, while the alternate ones are angrier and feature exposed teeth, something we would be most accustomed to seeing out of the TMNT. It’s an appropriate alternate, for sure.

A fun set that feels like a real piece of TMNT history. Track it down if that’s something that appeals to you.

NECA’s send-up to the origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a worthy inclusion in the year-long 40th anniversary celebration. It’s cool to see both of the co-creator’s original vision celebrated here in action figure form. While they don’t exactly put the “action” in action figure, they make for a great display piece and it’s something that I think diehard TMNT collectors will want to add. Since this was a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, it’s now unfortunately sold out and only available on the after market. NECA sometimes sells remaining stock online and at future conventions, but the likely easiest path to owning this set for those that missed out is to keep an eye on retail. It’s expected that some stores are going to be home to an another version of this set where the figures will be painted in black and white, but with red bandanas and weapon handles. It looks like it’s going to contain everything from this set as well, though the slipcover will probably be dropped. The SDCC version was priced at $70 so expect something similar for the retail version. Listings for it have already been spotted at Walmart, but NECA’s own solicitation did not mention any store by name so I don’t think this will be exclusive to Walmart. Needless to say, I really dig this set for what it is and I think every TMNT collector should try to pick up the version they like best.

More from the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Playmates TMNT Original Sketch Turtles

Last week we took a Turtle Tuesday off which feels like a rarity for this blog. And that’s because there seems to be new stuff featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles branding coming out all of the time. And it’s only going to become more plentiful as the franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.…

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NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

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

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Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Classic Rocker Leonardo

When I was a kid, I had parents with divergent musical tastes. Dad likes oldies from the 50s and 60s while mom was more into modern rock (then 80s). One area where their tastes overlapped was Bruce Springsteen. We had several of his records in my house and I distinctly remember that cover to Born…

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by Joe

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April 23, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

By Joe
He’s got some enforcin’ to do.

When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often have you seen the turtles turn a practical army of Foot Soldiers into fodder? They need a challenge as much as the Foot need a win, and that’s why we have the Foot Enforcer.

The Foot Enforcer from NECA Toys’ line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures based on their appearance in the pages of Mirage Studios was actually a 2023 release. It was styled after some colorized issues of the books released by IDW, the current license holder/partner for TMNT when it comes to printed media. Those colors put the Foot in a shadowy scheme of black, blue, and purple. It’s a similar combination to what we saw way back with the Loot Crate Shredder. I am personally just collecting the more traditional color scheme of maroon and gray which is what the original NYCC edition of the Shredder and Foot came styled as so I skipped last year’s release. I was betting on this version eventually coming out and my bet paid off as part of this year’s Haulathon is the Mirage Studios version of the Foot Enforcer and he was worth the wait.

He’s a big, chunky, boy with a big weapon.

The Foot Enforcer comes in the standard trapezoidal box with new artwork on the sides from series co-creator Kevin Eastman. The Enforcer stands a tick over 6.5″ and is basically a normal Foot Ninja as far as costuming goes until you get to the head. There he sports a helm with a face covering not unlike the Shredder himself with some fabric draped over the back and side of the head. He also has some spiky gauntlets for added intimidation. What lurks under that helmet is a mystery as what would be the exposed part of his face is painted black with two red slits for eyes. He definitely looks a great deal more intimidating than the usual Foot and not someone I’d personally want to run into in a dark alley.

This is a good example of parts reuse from NECA.

The paint job is typical NECA with lots of flat colors enhanced by black linework and a touch of shading. The shading is reserved for the top of the helm which has a nice comic look to it as well as the sides of the little spikes on his gauntlets. That’s an impressive little detail that adds a nice touch. Some of the parts of this guy are likely reused from the similarly built four-armed Shredder clone. Basically the arms and the legs which was to be expected. The forearm assembly is the same as the clone Shredder with the forearms plugging onto the meat just past the elbow. I guess that means, if you wanted to, you could swap forearms between the two. The hands wouldn’t match though as the Shredder clone had brown skin, but it’s there if you want it.

It’s easy to forget how big and chunky the turtles are too.

This figure looks awesome, there’s no simpler way to put it. I love the size of him and the heft I feel when I pick it up. This is a solidly built action figure, and after handling so many figures recently made by another company which charges almost 20 bucks more per figure, this is just like a nice treat to behold. And NECA made sure this bad boy was outfitted with all kinds of stuff to properly massacre the turtles on your shelf. For hands, he has a set of fists, gripping, chop, and a set of gripping hands also making a “Devil Horns” gesture. Those hands appear to be included just for the tri-handled nunchaku he has. The thumb is molded to the middle finger so the handles of this weapon can just slide snugly into place and look cool doing so. The other gripping hands are best used with the other weapons: short sword, long sword, and naginata. The short sword has a spiked handguard which looks vicious while the long sword has some nice size to it. The naginata is much longer with a long blade at one end and a pommel with red “ribbon” on the other. From tip to tip it’s nearly 7.25″ so it’s quite big. All of the weapons are well-painted with a little linework on the blades to give them that comic look. The nunchaku-like weapon is not painted, but it’s three, gray, handles all joined by black thread and looks appropriate enough.

This guy can definitely handle more adversity than your typical Foot Ninja, but probably not this much.

For articulation, this guy is pretty standard. He was a bit stiff out of the box in some places, in particular the biceps, but nothing that couldn’t get worked out with a little effort and patience. The head doesn’t get much range looking up because of the cowl, but all of the other directions are adequate. The cowl is soft plastic and it can slide underneath the shoulder pads or over them if you wish. Arms and legs are standard with double joints where you would expect. The meatiness of his forearms means he can’t really bend the elbow past 90 degrees, but I think most will be satisfied. Because the forearms plug onto the arms you do get a swivel point there. All of the hands feature a horizontal hinge, a repeated error by NECA. The way the armor continues onto the backs of the hands likely would have made vertical hinges a little tricky to utilize, but I think NECA is more than capable of figuring that out.

This guy is good for mostly basic poses. The lack of a butterfly joint does limit how much one can do with the weapons. There’s also really nothing in the torso aside from the waist twist which is a bummer. I’d have taken the trade-off of breaking up the sculpt a bit to get a diaphragm cut into this thing. NECA likes to go with overlays for the torso of its figures so it’s not a surprise they did it this way, but it (along with the vertical wrist hinges) is a change I’d advocate for across the board with their figures.

These guys look pretty good together, but these more modern figures from NECA do put the old ones to shame in some respects.

If you’re collecting NECA’s line of TMNT based on the Mirage Studios looks, this guy strikes me as a no-brainer for your shelf. You could probably get by without a Baxter (I know I am) or a Renet, but a big, beefy, Foot Ninja adds some nice shelf presence. The real challenge is stopping at just the one. This figure is currently being shipped to Target stores in the US and has been solicited on costumes.com for international purchase. It is not a Target exclusive though and it’s expected that this figure will eventually be sold through online retailers in the near future. If you want it, it might be a little tricky in the short term (the online drop at Target has come and gone), but not long term so don’t cave for an eBay price unless it’s close to MSRP.

Looking to add more figures to your NECA Mirage TMNT collection:

NECA Mirage Shredder and Foot Clan NYCC Exclusive Set

The Shredder had a rough go at things for awhile when it came to plastic. He was featured rather prominently in the old Playmates line, though perhaps not as prominently as one would expect. Playmates never did do a movie version of him, aside from Super Shredder, and his figure was arguably the worst from…

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NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Shredder Clones

NECA and Target’s Haulathon event which has seen a vast assortment of product dumped onto shelves recently was not content to limit the products to just the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Far from it, as an assortment of comic book based characters were also released and today we’re going to look at the first…

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TMNT Loot Crate – First Appearance Shredder

It was back during the winter that Loot Crate announced a series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crates for 2020. At the time, Loot Crate had done one previous crate that was apparently intended to test the waters to see what the appetite was for this sort of thing among the TMNT fanbase. It didn’t…

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by Joe

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April 9, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

By Joe
Hail to the King, baby!

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

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

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

“Thanks for the hardware, Kirby!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kirby also comes with a little buddy.

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

And when I say little I do mean little.

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

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

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

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

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

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NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

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

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