Tag Archives: neca

May 7, 2024

NECA TMNT Toon Samurai Adventure Michelangelo and Space Adventure Donatello

By Joe
It’s time to go on an adventure!

I think most people understand that when it comes to a toy line the most popular figures are of the most popular characters. The problem is, what do you do when everyone has the most popular characters? You make them again, but different! That’s sort of the genesis of the variant action figure of a popular character. When Playmates Toys struck success with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it didn’t take them long to get the main turtles back onto pegs, but in a different form. There were the gimmicky Wacky Action Turtles which had wind-up features and there was the disguise series of standard action figures of the turtles, but with fun disguises. And we’ve talked about them before because Super7 has already remade three of the four (it would seem they have no desire to make Undercover Don) and I’ve reviewed them all. Now it’s NECA’s turn to try to extend the life of their line of figures based on the classic cartoon series by dipping into the Playmates well with this two-pack of Samurai Adventure Michelangelo and Space Adventure Donatello.

Normally, samurais are the domain of Leonardo.

Recently, Super7 has run into issues with Playmates where the company really doesn’t like them remaking their toys. Is it because they want to re-release them to stores as they have with many old figures? Maybe, or it could just simply be a company protecting its interests and the right to make that call at some point in the future. With NECA, it would seem their way around that same issue is to switch up the characters. Playmates did Sewer Samurai Leonardo so NECA does it with Mikey instead. Raphael the Space Cadet becomes Space Adventure Donatello. Same concept, different character and different design. These aren’t 1:1 recreations and they’re coming from a toy line that is doing very well. That certainly gives NECA a lot of pull with Viacom when proposing these sorts of things and if they want to humor Playmates or not.

And space is typically reserved for Raphael.

These two figures are creations by the fine folks at NECA with the obvious tip of the hat to Playmates. Michelangelo and Donatello never sported these looks in the cartoon, but you could probably fool someone with a poor memory of the show as it’s not far-fetched for that program. They also both follow the Punk Turtles and Pizza Club releases in introducing more facial expressions for collectors to mix into their collection. Though like the Punk set, these heads are better suited for the newer figures and not the older Turtles in Disguise due to the shade of green utilized. In some way, these figures exist on their own. I don’t have the Pizza Club editions since I already have two sets of the Turtles in Disguise release and the original NECA turtles, but I do have the Punk Turtles and the heads are a little different. Where those are dark green and matte, these new ones are the same shade of green, but glossy. The shade of Michelangelo’s bandana is also darker than what came with the Punk Turtles. Does it match the Pizza Club Mikey? I don’t know, but the lack of consistency is irksome.

And rabbits. They’re allowed to go into space too.

That said, these expressions should work okay with at least the Punk and Pizza Club editions and not so well with the older figures. The two expressions that come with Michelangelo, an open mouth and a teeth-gritting one, are brand new while the mouth included with Donatello is an old, closed, expression we’ve seen before. That’s disappointing considering I think even the Pizza Club Donatello comes with this one. The only new head part with Donnie is the top which features a covering and purple goggles similar to the old Raph the Space Cadet figure. You can at least swap out the expression if you wish, but only having angry eyes is a bummer.

Sort of reminds you of the old title card, no?

We’ll talk Mikey first. He very much looks the part of a samurai, but with a lot of color. The helmet is almost exactly like the old Leonardo figure, but done in bright yellow with lots of black linework. The main suit is a pale blue with black and yellow trim. The almost salmon-shaded armor looks good and also gives the figure a toy impression rather than something going for realism. Paint is mostly clean, but there are some parts where the black bleeds into the yellow on the forearms and shins. There is a waviness to the belt which I don’t think is supposed to be present, but otherwise the figure looks good. The helmet plugs into the peg hole where the bandana knot usually goes (no such piece is included so if you want him to go helmet-less you will have to salvage that from another figure) and it’s easy to slot in, but sits rather loose. The helmet will stay on, but don’t be surprised if it falls off a lot while posing the figure.

Old expression, but at least he’s got cool shades now.

Donatello’s space suit is a bit more understated when compared with Mikey’s samurai armor or Raph’s old suit. It’s an off-white color with black linework and some gray and light blue accents. It doesn’t pop like some other looks in this line, but it’s appropriate for an astronaut turtle. The helmet is done with transparent plastic and the back is painted. It’s nice and clear with no odd blemishes anywhere. Paint is very clean on this figure and even the more complex parts of the head are painted well. Donatello’s goggles are done in transparent plastic with purple rims and they look great. They even flip-up if you prefer and removing the helmet is simple enough.

“Whoa dude, mellow out!”
Double-jointed elbows on a turtle? No way!

The articulation for both figures is actually better than most turtles. That’s because the costumes allow for some degree of freedom where shells are concerned. Both figures have the standard setup in the head, neck, shoulders, and hips while also having an easy to access waist twist. Both figures feature double-jointed knees and ankles that pivot and hinge forward and back. Donatello has single-jointed elbows that bend about 90 degrees while Michelangelo gets a NECA first for a turtle in this line: double-jointed elbows. Despite the presence of elbow pads and bulky sleeves, Mikey can bend his elbow past 90 degrees which is pretty cool. All of the hands feature horizontal hinges though, which is a real bummer. A samurai with a bunch of melee weapons and dual-wielding astronaut should have vertically hinged gripping and trigger hands.

This is one well-armed turtle.
What’s the coolest weapon in the set? It’s almost always the one with the chain.

This set comes loaded with accessories. We already covered the heads for Michelangelo which include standard and angry eyes, but he also comes with an assortment of hands: gripping, fists, and style posed. Donatello has fists, gripping, trigger finger, and style posed hands. When it comes to weapons, these turtle boys are stacked! Michelangelo has a set of katana, a spear, a studded club, a circular-handheld blade, and a little sickle with a chain affixed to the handle that’s attached to a weight. They’re all fully painted and done well at that. The chain on the sickle is real chain and it will be hard settling on a display for this guy. Donatello comes with a pair of wacky looking pistols. They’re yellow and green and the muzzle makes me think of corn on the cob. Nonetheless, they’re based on an old roleplay toy for TMNT (thanks Johnny Nostalgia for that info) and are a fun deep cut as a result. Donatello also has this handheld device that looks like it could be something that is designed to propel him through space. It’s actually based on the old Wacky Action Donatello which came with an all gray version and even showed up in the cartoon as an aid for swimming. Donnie can hold it or it can peg into his back. He also has a little backpack device that can plug into the same spot as well.

To boldly go where no turtle has gone before. Well, except Raph. And those Star Trek turtles. And…

That’s a ton of stuff, but aside from the one peg hole on Donatello’s back the big thing missing here is weapon storage. Michelangelo especially has all of this gear, but no where to put it. No sheath, no hooks, no nothing. It’s a bizarre oversight. Donatello could have easily had holsters for his guns especially considering these designs are uniquely NECA and not based on anything. I can forgive the figure not having a spot for that giant thruster thing, but the sidearms? Bad design.

The only item storage on these figures.

The cool thing is if you want these figures to look more like the vintage ones it’s easy to just swap heads to make the samurai Leo and the space turtle Raph. Since the bodies aren’t really color-coded to Mikey or Donatello, there’s no clash of colors or anything. The necks are barely visible so any prior turtle release should work relatively okay for a full head swap, and with Donnie’s upper head being fully painted, he can use any mouth expression from before as well. It even seems like NECA tried to arm Michelangelo with weapons similar to the other turtles. He just needed a second one of those handheld bladed weapons to have two sai stand-ins. It does lead me to wonder what might follow. Surely NECA has plans for a Leo and Raph set in some sort of non-cartoon look, or maybe they will pull from the show? Leonardo as a musketeer would work as a toy and I’m sure there’s some look for Raph in there that doesn’t immediately come to mind. They can’t do an Undercover Don type of figure since they’ve essentially already done that, but they could do a beach one or something.

How will Raph and Leo respond to these bodacious outfits?

The real question is do I want more turtles in the style of the cartoon, but in looks that didn’t actually appear in the cartoon? I’m thinking it’s going to be a case-by-case thing. I was initially planning on passing on this set as something I didn’t need, but I liked the idea of getting some new expressions and there was the fear that when a Leo and Raph set comes along that I’d be remiss if I skipped this one. I believe that is what the kids refer to as “FOMO” and it sure is an effective marketing strategy. This line has been a big hit for NECA so I’m not shocked to see them try to stretch it beyond the show, just so long as we don’t miss out on the few characters we’re still missing from said show (I’m mainly talking Tempestra), but I have no real worries there. This set is exclusive to Target and will set you back 60 bucks if you’re so inclined. It’s a solid value given all of the stuff in the box and the quality of the figures and I’m having some fun here. If you come across it in your travels and the designs get your attention then I think you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.

We have plenty more TMNT where this came from including more NECA and what served as inspiration for this set:

NECA TMNT Toon Punk Disguise Turtles

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

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Sewer Samurai Leonardo

Well, after looking at the Wave 6 Slash a couple of weeks ago we can now finally turn our attention to a Wave 5 release from Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! series of figures: Sewer Samurai Leonardo. The thing with TMNT is, you have the four good guys, a few core allies,…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Space Cadet Raphael

It feels like it’s been awhile since we had a proper Turtle Tuesday around here, but today that streak ends. It also feels like a long time since we had a new wave TMNT Ultimates! from Super7 to talk about – and that’s because it has! Not including the glow-in-the-dark variant of Leonardo I looked…

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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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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

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 16, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, she’s feeling this new face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NECA TMNT Toon Punk Disguise Turtles

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

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Cartoon Casey Jones and Slashed Foot Soldier

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

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by Joe

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

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

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by Joe

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

April 9, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

By Joe
Hail to the King, baby!

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

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

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

“Thanks for the hardware, Kirby!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kirby also comes with a little buddy.

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

And when I say little I do mean little.

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

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

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

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

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Triceraton Zog

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

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Fugitoid

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

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by Joe

NECA Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Pack

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

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by Joe

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April 2, 2024

NECA TMNT Toon Punk Disguise Turtles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pay no attention to the Michelangelo driving the van…

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

NECA TMNT Turtles in Disguise

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

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by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT Accessory Set

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

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by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT The Tale of Usagi Yojimbo

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

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by Joe

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February 5, 2024

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Strongheart Ultimate Action Figure

By Joe
“Stand down, fiend! Or I shall slay you in the name of justice!”

It was roughly a year ago that I added Warduke to my collection from NECA Toys’ Dungeons & Dragons line of action figures. Warduke is basically a modern rendition of the character as featured in the vintage D&D toyline from LJN in the 80s. While I wasn’t a fan of that old toyline, I could not pass on such an iconic character design like Warduke. It was also always my intention to get him a buddy on the shelf. Or rather a foe. Enter Strongheart!

Strongheart is here because of the guy on his right.

Strongheart is another character pulled from that old toyline. He’s the good guy knight ready to oppose the likes of Warduke and the other baddies. He’s a pretty generic knight, and while his character write-up on the back of the box notes he follows the word of no god, he also passes as a pretty convincing paladin for those who care not for the lore. Mostly, he’s just a cool looking action figure. Ever since I saw him unveiled by NECA I knew I was going to add him to my modest collection, it was just a matter of when. I figured I’d come across the figure eventually during my many Target runs, but it never happened. Finally, I got sick of looking and just ordered him online from Target. I grabbed some water filters too so I could get free shipping. Sometimes, you just have to play the game.

Height comparisons with a Super7 Turtle and the Hasbro Drizzt.

Strongheart comes in the same style of packaging as all NECA Ultimate figures. The front of the box features artwork by Daniel Horne depicting the character while the rest of the box features product shots and a cross-sell for the half-orc assassin, Zarak. Strongheart is an action figure sculpted by Thomas Gwyn with paint by Jon Wardell and Geoffrey Trapp, and as mentioned previously, is based on the same figure from the LJN toyline. The character has also appeared in other media since. Strongheart stands a tick over the 7.5″ mark to the top of his helm, taller if you want to factor in the wings on his helmet or the head-tail thing which probably has a proper name. He’s a character covered from head to toe in armor. It’s sculpted in a dull silver and hit with a paint wash giving the appearance of a knight who has seen his share of battles. There are plated elements to the armor, mostly the torso, shoulders, and knees, with chainmail underneath. He has a brown belt which features a large loop his scabbard can slot into and there’s a blue skirt piece with some nice texture and paint details. This is a glorious looking action figure and a shining example of what NECA does best. Warduke may be the flashier of the two because of his character design, but I keep coming back to Strongheart and appreciating the little details like the plastic chains on his back and the straps on his gauntlets. Just a terrific looking figure.

More comparisons against Super7, since they do a lot in this 1:10 or 7″ scale.

Strongheart’s head is protected by a mighty helm which features a movable visor to reveal his face underneath. He has the look of a generic knight with a moustache, and as a reader of DragonLance back in my youth, I get some serious Sturm Brightblade vibes from this guy. Customizers could have some real fun with this one. Like Warduke, the wings on his helm are a rigid plastic and do fee like they could be a touch brittle. It’s fine in-hand, but definitely take care to make sure this is one figure who won’t take any shelf dives. The cape is soft goods and I really like the shade of blue in play here. It’s quite regal, befitting an honor-bound knight. It is wired, but it’s not a very heavy grade wire so it’s more of an adjustment wire rather than something designed to create wind-blown stances. Capes are an underrated aspect of NECA’s business as their soft goods capes are among the best around.

He’s got a fine looking mug, but I’ll be displaying this guy visor-down.

Strongheart comes outfitted with a trio of weapons and a bunch of hands. For hands, we get fists, gripping, tight gripping, and relaxed hands. The standard gripping hands are intended to work with Strongheart’s sword, named Steel, and his hammer. The sword is plain, but well-sculpted and it looks good. It’s a utilitarian blade, not an ornamental one. Strongheart holds it well and it slots into his scabbard easily. The hammer is more ornate in appearance with gold-painted accents on it. It looks a little undersized in his hand, but not comical. There’s a loop at the end of the handle, but I don’t see anywhere to store it on his belt which is a shame. The third weapon is a small dagger and it has its own scabbard which is “taped” to the sword’s. It’s like a concealed weapon, which seems like an odd thing for a knight to have, but maybe it’s more of a utility knife for him? Getting it into the scabbard was tough the first time, but I heated it and slid the tiniest slotted screwdriver I have into it as well and it works fine now. The tighter gripping hands work well with the dagger, though I’ll probably stick with the sword or hammer for my display. Strongheart also has a blue kite shield which he can feature on either arm. It has two straps done in plastic to slide over his forearm, but they’re pretty tight. I even popped one side of the front one off trying to get it on. It was only glued down, so I can re-glue it if I want. You could try to work that front strap into a gripping hand, but I find it works better with one of the relaxed hands.

If blades aren’t your thing he can always bludgeon his foes.

As was the case with Warduke, Strongheart looks better than he poses. He is easier to pose than Warduke as his torso doesn’t feature as complicated a design, but he’s not going to do anything crazy. The head is on a double-ball peg, I think, and it moves around fine. Just be careful with the wings. The tail on the top of the helm also swivels and of course we already talked about the moving visor. The shoulders are hinged ball pegs and they can get out to the side just about all of the way. The shoulder pads do a surprisingly good job of getting out of the way and aren’t much of an impediment. Like Warduke, he can’t place his arms at his sides as there just isn’t enough room carved out under the arm. There is a biceps swivel while the elbows are single-hinged and swivel. The hands rotate just fine, but like Warduke, all of the gripping hands feature a horizontal hinge which is a huge and inexcusable oversight. NECA, do better!

I appreciate the commitment to weapon storage here, I just wish it extended to the hammer.

The torso features a diaphragm joint that’s likely a ball joint. It doesn’t really move forward or back, but it can tilt and rotate a bit. The waist features another ball joint and you do get a little forward and back there, but it’s mostly for rotation. The hips are ball and socket joints and the legs move pretty well with the only real restriction being the skirt, which is all one piece of soft plastic. If one were to cut it up, you could probably get more range. There is a thigh twist on the joint, and the knees are double-jointed this time around. They’re pretty tight while the kneepads move up and down a bit to hide the joint. I was finding it tough to get this guy straight-legged because of the tightness. The ankles feature a hinge and rocker which work okay.

If you’re willing to put in some effort, you can get some decent poses out this pair.

Strongheart is pretty basic in the articulation department by today’s standards. He’s a guy in bulky armor, so it’s not unexpected, but could be better. I can get better weapon swinging poses out of the NECA Last Ronin figure and I feel like that level of articulation was achievable here. Still, he moves better than Warduke and I was having a much easier time posing Strongheart when trying to pose the two together while Warduke was frustrating. The lack of a vertical hinge for the hands is really irritating too as it removes a lot of stabbing gestures. I will say, and it’s pictured, Strongheart is capable of holding the handle of his sword while it’s still sheathed which is pretty cool, though he can’t two-hand hold it.

Even if he can’t pose all that well, it doesn’t take much effort to make this guy look bad ass.

If you’re buying Strongheart though, I bet you’re not doing so to put him in some outragious pose. He has presence on the shelf even in basic poses, and he can hit a few key poses to boot. I just love the look of this guy and all of the weapons and the shield really add to the experience. I wish he had a place for that hammer, I guess you can hang it off the scabbard, but it looks stupid. The figure looks great beside Warduke and I’m really happy to have it. I am not planning on going any deeper right now with these LJN remakes, but if NECA could get that DragonLance license then you bet I’ll be a day one buyer!

Want to see more from NECA or D&D? We’ve got a few other pieces that may interest you:

NECA Dungeons & Dragons Warduke Ultimate Action Figure

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

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NECA The Last Ronin (Armored)

When it comes to multimedia based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we find ourselves in a rare dry spell when it comes to television and movies. The final episode of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aired in 2020 with no new television series announced since. The show did receive a long-delayed finale…

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Hasbro Dungeons & Dragons Drizzt Do’Urden and Guenhwyvar

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

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January 16, 2024

NECA TMNT Toon The Adventures of Space Usagi

By Joe
Boldly going where some rabbits have gone before.

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 basically all of the A-listers from the show and many of the D-listers as well. One figure I thought I did not need was the Space Usagi variant that started showing up late in 2023. It was easy to pass on since I never encountered it, but mostly I felt like I didn’t need another Usagi, especially one that didn’t even show up in the show. When NECA wanted to include Usagi Yojimbo (and yes, I know, Usagi Yojimbo is technically the name of the comic and the character is Miyamoto Usagi, but we’re sticking with the TMNT name for the character to avoid confusion) in the main line, it meant getting a license agreement in place with creator Stan Sakai. And once they had that, it certainly made a lot of sense for the company to get more out of that agreement than just one figure, so while this one does bare the classic TMNT logo on the box it’s really more like a solo Usagi figure that just maintains his look from the cartoon.

The team is reunited!

As a kid, I liked Usagi Yojimbo as much as the next, but I never did get his action figure. I did get the variant Space Usagi figure and it was one I really liked. He looked pretty interesting with a partially cybernetic face (Terminator 2 was pretty damn popular and quite influential), shoulder pads, and a soft goods cape. The only weapon I recall him having (he came with more) was a bronze carrot gun which was pretty absurd, but as a kid it made plenty of sense to me. That figure went on space adventures with my Space Cadet Raph figure and I had a lot of fun with it so I was somewhat predisposed to like this new Space Usagi. Only this one looks nothing like that old design, so the pull wasn’t as strong as it could have been. No, what did me in was seeing the reactions of other collectors and reviewers to the figure. Even though I’m not a “professional” reviewer, I do avoid other reviews of anything I plan on reviewing myself so I don’t pre-judge anything inadvertently. With this figure, that isn’t the case as it was the reception that turned me on. Specifically, this review by YouTube channel Nostalgia Unboxed convinced me that this was a fun figure worth picking up so when I finally came upon it recently on a Target visit I decided to give it a shot.

Swords, guns, it all works for this version of Usagi.

Space Usagi is a single-pack, Ultimates, style of release like the previous Usagi. It features new artwork on the front by artist Ben Seto which has been done with a watercolor approach. It’s different from the usual f.h.e. inspired artwork, but it looks really nice and it’s going to hurt to toss it in the trash when I’m done with it. Usagi himself is a mix of old and new parts, but mostly new. He stands a tick over 4.5″ to the top of his head, not factoring in the ears, and he has a slightly redesigned portrait with narrowed eyes. The secondary portrait is the exact same as the teeth-baring one from the first Usagi with the flat-draped ears. The hands are also mostly the same (fists, open, gripping), but also include a set of trigger finger hands since this Usagi uses guns as well as blades. As far as I know, the rest of the figure is unique. He has a black and gold space suit that makes me think of Mega Man due to the oversized boots. The paint job is great on the gold parts and designed to simulate metal cel-shading. Rather than just do the bright colors on front and dark on the back, NECA went with a more stylized approach similar to the one it took with Chrome Dome. There’s hits of yellow, gold, black, and white to achieve the effect and it’s really striking. It’s also not perfect as there’s a smudge on the left boot of my figure and some of the edge work isn’t as sharp as it could be. The figure also appears to be sculpted in yellow so there’s a little yellow showing through around the pins on the arms, but nothing out of the ordinary for a mass produced figure.

Same alt head as the first Usagi, and just as much of a pain in the ass to swap too.

What does kind of stink about this figure is the engineering of the swappable parts. The prior Usagi was a real pain to swap the head on as often the neck would come out instead. This one is the same. If you plan to use the other head, maybe just go ahead and try to heat the default head first to see if that loosens it on the ball joint. If you can avoid getting the neck heated up as well, it might serve you well. Unique to this Usagi are the hands which are surprisingly tough to swap as well. The holes in the forearms are quite tight and you may need to heat them up to get the extra hands to fully insert. NECA also cast the hands in the same yellow plastic as the rest of the figure, but then painted them white which is a little frustrating. It means you need to be mindful when swapping weapons and such as scratching the paint will reveal yellow beneath it. It’s a very thick, chalky, paint so it doesn’t seem especially prone to chipping. I also can’t tell if the actual hinge is cast in yellow or not. If it is, the paint isn’t flaking so it isn’t an issue there. There’s some yellow on the posts, but that could easily be transfer from the forearms. It’s also possible only the new, trigger, hands are yellow (which would make sense if they were part of the tools for the body) as they’re the only ones that chipped on me and exposed the yellow. It’s possible the old hands are part of the same tools as the heads which were done in white.

I suppose two Usagis are better than one.
Usagi Yojimbo…still a little guy (rabbit).

The good news is that’s kind of the end of the bad with Space Usagi. Which version of the character you prefer is certainly a subjective choice, but there’s no question in my mind that this Usagi is the better action figure. The prior one had some design things to work around that this one doesn’t have. The articulation, as a result, is allowed to be much better. The head and neck are the same and they work fine, but the rest of the figure is vastly superior. The shoulders are ball-hinged and they’re not hindered much by the shoulder pads. He can raise his arms out to the side all the way and the shoulder pads flex if you want to rotate them forward or back. There is a biceps swivel, though the right one is stuck on my figure, and the elbows are double-jointed. Even with that though you’ll be hard-pressed to get better than a 90 degree bend at the elbow because of the bulky forearms and the joint itself is pretty small. If you can get the top hinge to bend all the way first then you may be able to do better than I. Wrists swivel and hinge and, unfortunately, all of the hinges are horizontal. It’s a shame they didn’t re-sculpt the gripping and trigger hands to vertical hinges since some of that tooling cost could have been made-up with the Usagi four-pack NECA solicited recently, but the wrist hinges have been a consistent issue in this line so I wasn’t expecting an improvement there.

“You’re getting a little too close to my gimmick, samurai.”

In the torso we have a ball-joint at the diaphragm. It provides for a little forward and back as well as rotation and tilt. Nothing crazy, but it helps for posing. As far as I can tell, there’s no waist twist and the hips are the usual ball and socket joint. Usagi can perform splits and he kicks forward reasonably far without much room to go back. The thigh will pivot on the ball joint, but there’s also a thigh joint below that, though it may be stuck on your figure as it is on mine. The knees are double-jointed and will bend past 90 degrees, though this is the spot where I’m seeing the most paint-flaking which is kind of a bummer. The ankles hinge forward and back a bit, though the bubbly design limits the range. There is an ankle rocker as well, and while the range isn’t fantastic, it works well enough to keep his feet flat on the surface. The large nature of the feet means he’s easy to stand and one-legged stances are also pretty easy.

This figure is a lot of fun to mess with and it’s made even better if you have a flight stand hanging around.
Usagi comes well-armed.

This Usagi just plain moves much better than the last one, which I found a little disappointing even though I understood why that was the case given his baggy clothing. There’s no doubt though that this one is more fun to handle and manipulate and it’s one of the best posing figures in the line. This is a good desk figure to have to mess around with and it is helped by the accessories. Usagi has the two heads I mentioned previously as well as a bunch of hands. To go with said hands are two guns and two melee weapons. For guns, we have a small, blue, pistol. It appears to be the same gun from the cover artwork, though there it’s gray instead of blue. There’s also a larger gun which the box refers to as a rifle, though it’s pretty short for a rifle. It’s all gray with some black linework and a yellow tip. It’s more gun-like than the pistol, which almost looks more like a flashlight or heat gun or something.

I do think of Usagi as a melee first type of battler.
Though this version of the character is definitely capable of blasting his way out of trouble.

For melee weapons, we get a laser sword and butterfly knife. The sword resembles a short katana and it has a green hilt with black cross-hatching and I quite like how it came out. It has an energy effect that’s done in a very soft, pliable, blue translucent, plastic. It slides over the blade, though the center is removed so it just goes around it similar to the chain on a chainsaw. I like how soft the material is as it should prevent paint rubbing. The sword also looks good with or without the effect. The butterfly knife is just a large knife with a yellow handguard. It looks like something one would use to hack through bone while butchering a carcass, though I’m guessing Usagi is a vegetarian and wouldn’t find a use for it like that. It looks fine, though is less fun than the laser sword. Also included is S.P.O.T., a robotic version of the little dinosaur that came with the other Usagi figure and we also get a helmet to complete the space suit. Like the vintage Playmates figure, the helmet is cast in transparent plastic and comes in two pieces so it can fit around his ears which poke through the top. It won’t work with the flat ears, but if it did it would have a hole in the top and we all know that wouldn’t work in space! Not that the other way works either, but it follows cartoon logic anyway. The box also lists his jetpack as an accessory, but since it’s a non-removable part of the sculpt I don’t consider it a true accessory. The thrusters on it don’t feature holes for blast effects either which feels like a missed opportunity.

If you like little buddy figures, you’ll like this little robo dino.

That’s Space Usagi though. I guess if you like what you see then you’ll probably enjoy this figure. I think it’s the first figure for the line that’s inspired by the cartoon series, without being from the cartoon series. There are more such sets to come as NECA tries to keep this toon line going even as it runs out of characters and looks from the show. As mentioned earlier, NECA even did a four-pack of Usagi Yojimbo in four different looks which are basically just variants of the previous figure and one of this one. There’s a new samurai Usagi in that set, but he’s also ticketed for this line as a single reason, just with a different deco. That four pack is technically a comic Usagi release and not tied to the TMNT show, though the look of 3 of the 4 figures are the same toon-inspired likeness. Either way, I didn’t need it so I didn’t order a set. I didn’t think I even needed two versions of the character, but I was essentially talked into this one. Will the same repeat when the samurai version arrives? Maybe, maybe not. I do know I’m happy with this figure and I really like that it only cost $32 at Target. Most NECA Ultimates seem to be coming in at $38 these days, if not more, so getting a mostly brand new figure for close to 30 bucks definitely felt nice. And while it has its issues, most of them aren’t a big deal to me personally so I think it’s definitely worth the price. Your mileage may vary, but this is one figure that shouldn’t be passed over so easily.

Introducing…The Carrot Crew!

Want to read more NECA TMNT reviews? We got plenty:

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 Turtle Van

It’s our last Turtle Tuesday before Christmas, though probably not of the year, and it’s a pretty big one: The Turtle Van! NECA solicited its version of the Turtle Van based on the same from the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in April of 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released before…

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by Joe

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

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

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December 31, 2023

2023 – A Year in Action Figure Reviews

By Joe

I don’t usually do year-end wrap-up posts. My collecting is usually too narrow to really warrant it, but this year I felt a little different. I probably spent way too much on my hobby in 2023 as there were a lot of releases that came in bunches. It’s probably going to have a somewhat negative impact on my collecting in 2024 as I try to narrow things down and stick to what I really want as opposed to what just looks cool. I’ve already made the decision to not collect NECA’s The Last Ronin line as I just have too much TMNT as it is and I don’t love the designs from those books enough to warrant figure purchases. Plus, where would I put them? I’ll probably be scaling back on Turtles in general since most of what I want has already been produced. Am I going to stop? No, not entirely, but I’m finally at a point where I can see something new on the shelf and not feel like I have to buy it.

That’s 2024’s business, let’s talk 2023 one last time. Rather than just rank the figures I reviewed in a top 10 or something, I figured I’d do it more like an awards show only my awards are both celebratory and dubious. You can’t have good without the bad, so if you’re one of those types that just hates anything that could be perceived as negative then maybe skip those. I’m also limiting this to figures I purchased in 2023 that were also current. Getting a figure that was new to me didn’t qualify if it was released prior to 2023. On the other hand, release dates are pretty loose so it’s possible you personally got something on my list in 2022 that I received in 2023. That’s just the action figure business at work. Let’s get to it though as so that we’re not here forever.

Longest Wait of 2023 – Mezco Batman ’89

This figure took so long to come out that I was starting to think it was never going to come out. Mezco isn’t known for its communication so folks who had preordered this thing, and paid in full, in 2020 were left completely in the dark. Maybe it would come, maybe it wouldn’t? 2023 ended up being the year where that wait finally came to an end. Was it worth it? Probably not. If I had a category for most interesting release of the year this figure would win that as well. It’s certainly an experience. Mezco did nail the Keaton likeness though which was the most important factor for me. I just question how well this silicon body is going to hold up over the years. Runner-Up: Super7’s The Simpsons Wave One

Best Figure not in 1:12 or 1:10 Scale – Mondo Sabretooth

I mostly collect 1:12 and 1:10 scale action figures, but every now and then a company gets me to dip my toes in something else. Usually that something else is 1:18, but Mondo has absolutely been killing it with its 1:6 scale line of figures from X-Men the animated series. There have been 3 releases in 2023: Magneto, Jubilee, and Sabretooth, and it’s Sabretooth that takes the crown for me by just a smidge. He looks awesome, poses well enough, and came loaded with accessories. These figures half shelf-presence for days. The only negative is the cost and space and that Mondo solicited 5 figures in 2023 which really did some damage to the old toy fund. Gambit should be arriving any day now too with Logan and Omega Red coming in 2024. I better make room! Runner-Up: Mondo Magneto and Jubilee

Worst Company – Hasbro

Sorry to kick you while you’re down Hasbro as the company just announced a layoffs to take effect next year, though maybe look at the top of the company instead? Either way, Hasbro keeps getting worse with its action figure offerings. The Power Rangers brand is stale, the Dungeons & Dragons stuff based on the old cartoon were riddled with quality control issues, and prices keep climbing on Marvel Legends and Star Wars while accessories and paint apps get cut. They’re putting out their most bare bones releases ever in those lines, but at a price greater than we’ve ever seen for those lines. More expensive plus poorer quality is not a recipe for success. I currently have two Hasbro action figures on pre-order and I’m not looking to add anymore. Runner-Up: Super7

Best Company – NECA

A more conventional round-up of the best figures of 2023 would have included these boys.

Basically, see what Hasbro did in 2023? NECA did the opposite. For the most part. Yes, their prices have gone up as well, but we haven’t seen a reduction in the product to go along with that price hike. NECA still keeps putting out tons of unique sculpts that are fully-painted with a generous assortment of accessories. They also managed to deliver their long-awaited Turtle Van and the product turned out pretty damn awesome. Now, lets just not talk about the pricing debacle that is the TMNT Sewer Lair. This is supposed to be a positive entry. Runner-Up: Jada Toys (even though I didn’t review any of their stuff here)

Best Original IP Release – Robot Reaper (Super7)

This is what sold me on this one.

Super7’s The Worst is their own collection of takes on popular, villainous, tropes, I suppose. Their first wave in their Ultimates! collection didn’t thrill me, but I could not keep myself away from wave two’s Robot Reaper. This thing is just a fun, clever, design and it’s also a fun action figure to mess around with. Some of the accessories I could do with out, and part of me feels like a sucker for paying full MSRP knowing full well it’s sure to be discounted, but when a company puts out something good I don’t mind paying full price. Runner-Up: Boss Fight Studio Saurozoic Warriors

Best Figure that Costs Too Much – MAFEX Scarlet Spider

He’s cool, but is he $100 cool?

Medicom’s MAFEX brand is basically known for being super-articulated and super expensive. Figures routinely cost over 100 bucks for those of us who dwell in the west and it’s hard to figure out why. Sure, some of the licenses they grab don’t come cheap, but Bandai puts out similar or better products for considerably less. And sometimes even for the same license. This Scarlet Spider figure is one I enjoy quite a bit despite feeling like it’s not worth the tasking price. It’s a better figure than what Hasbro is set to release very soon (one of two I have preordered), but I could very easily make the argument that the Hasbro one is a far better value which trumps any advantage the MAFEX figure brings to the table. Runner-Up: Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Robotic Rocksteady

Best Figure With Awful Quality Control – Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimates! Goldar

I’m not sure if Super7 has ever made a prettier action figure than Goldar from its line of MMPR figures. I mean, he is a sort of dog-faced monster, but the gold armor they sculpted and painted looks terrific and the character looks like it stepped right out of a television set in 1993. I can’t say the same for basically anything else in Super7’s MMPR line. It’s also the figure that I’ve seen break on camera in figure reviews more than any other. Whether it be the neck, wrists, or those damn wings, this is a finicky, fragile, mess of a figure. I don’t even like handling it as a result. I basically selected the head I wanted and the wing options and I don’t intend to change anything or move much. In some respects, it’s a terrible action figure, but also a great one. It’s a conundrum. Runner-Up: None

Worst Action Figure of 2023 – Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Animated)

Go ahead Venom, squeeze the life out of this twerp and his weird-shaped head.

This is one of those figures you may have received in 2022 that I got in 2023. Walmart put it up for preorder in the fall and didn’t ship them for awhile, if at all, while some were able to find it in-store in December. No matter, it’s my pick for worst figure of the year that I personally reviewed. And it’s kind of getting it on a technicality, as the worst figure I bought in 2023 was a reissue of an old figure in the McFarlane Batman – The Animated Series Mr. Freeze (what’s with figures based on 90s animated shows getting the shaft?). This Spider-Man is the infamous cel-shaded one, but I’ll defend the cel-shading to a point. It’s not awful like most of the X-Men figures were in 2022, though it’s nothing special. It’s fine. Everything else sucks though. The head is a bizarre shape and looks stupid, the body is way too undersized for the character this figure is based upon, and while it articulates better than some Hasbro Spider-Men, it still does some weird things. The accessories, which include two extra sets of hands and some web splats, are also terrible and since it was a Walmart exclusive it was really annoying to have to track down. Hasbro did a whole line of figures based on the ’94 cartoon series and yet they didn’t make the central character, Spider-Man himself, available in his red and blue threads to a mass audience. What a stupid decision and another deserving reason for Hasbro’s status as worst action figure company of 2023. Runner-Up: Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

Best Action Figure of 2023 – Mezco Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Green Ranger

I’m just sorry I don’t have an actual award to give him.

When Mezco first unveiled its take on the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I had a feeling it had a chance to be THE Green Ranger for me. I’d have no need for any other. It was another long wait, and the figure was released annoyingly enough as a convention exclusive, but it lived up to the hype. This figure is not perfect, but it’s the best representation of the Green Ranger in 1:12 form. The details look great, the proportions suitable for the source material, and the soft goods actually enhance the figure and not detract from it. It has all of the accessories you could want plus a flight stand. There are effect parts and even an extra holster for the Blade Blaster, if you want it. I was skeptical, and I almost put this guy in the runner-up category for the too expensive, but Mezco delivered a great product. It’s so good that I’m almost tempted to get the rest of the MMPR team, but then I look at the price tag and I feel pretty satisfied to just stick with Greeny here. Runner-Up: None, this figure was in a class by itself

Those are my thoughts on 2023. To my surprise, I didn’t pick anything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but then again, that brand had a lot of good releases in 2023, just nothing exceptional. I considered doing a “Best Toy Line” and that probably would have gone to NECA’s cartoon TMNT line, but I didn’t feel that strongly about it, nor could I come up with a corresponding worst toy line. As for 2024, I’m looking forward to it. I have a ton of stuff preordered with Bandai and its Dragon Ball line including some figures that I’m already eyeing as potential Figure of the Year when 2024 is nearing an end. And then there’s Mondo X-Men that I have preordered and we’ve seen artwork for Rogue and Cyclops so that line figures to expand. As for Mezco, I may have given them top prize for 2023, but I’m not planning on picking up anything from that company in 2024. Their brand is pretty specific and it often doesn’t appeal to me. It will take a perfect marriage of enthusiasm for a brand on my part and their unique talents to get me to buy another one. And while I may scale back my toy buying in 2024, don’t expect to see my reviews vanish anytime soon. There will still be plenty to talk about.

Looking for toy-related posts that are more broad than a single review?

Take My Money, Hasbro, Give Me X-Men Animated Series Legends!

  It’s been probably 13 or 14 years since I’ve purchased a Marvel-branded action figure. This is somewhat shocking to me because from the age of 7 to around 25 I spent who knows how much money on Marvel action figures. I was there for the inaugural Toy Biz line of Marvel Superheroes and X-Men…

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by Joe

Let’s Rank the NECA Cartoon TMNT Figures…Again!

It’s the first Turtle Tuesday in a little while that I don’t have some new TMNT review to post. Given that, I think it’s time to revisit the rankings I did last year for NECA’s toon line of action figures. This has become NECA’s most popular line, and while it has cooled a bit since…

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by Joe

Super7 is Heading to Springfield!

Wednesday, August 18th, ended up being quite an eventful little day in the world of toy collecting. There were some reveals from major toy companies, leaks, and even those long neglected Street Sharks fans got something to get excited about late in the day. Personally, it was a good day for me too as I…

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by Joe

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December 30, 2023

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Lexington

By Joe
The littlest gargoyle finally makes his shelf debut.

It took a bit over two years, but the Manhattan Clan is at long last assembled upon my shelf. The last character to arrive is Lexington, the smallest and most unique from a design standpoint of the clan. This line was a bit unexpected when it was announced and it was like a dream come true for 90s kids who watched the show as part of the Disney Afternoon. NECA’s take on the characters may not be exactly what fans would have wanted if given the choice, but it has been pretty good. Visually, at least. There have been issues as well and the size of the wings packaged with each figure has been a point of contention. Lexington, being that he doesn’t feature the large wings of his brethren, is a different beast all together. He’ll take up less space on your shelf as a result, but he’s not without his own problems.

Lexington comes in the same five-panel box as the rest of the line, just a good deal smaller given his more diminutive stature. The artwork on the front by Djordje Djokovic (linework) and Nate Baertsch (paint) depicts Lexington in a rather fearsome pose and makes the little guy look about as ferocious as he could. The figure itself is sculpted by Djokovic who is apparently really into Gargoyles and has been given the honor of sculpting them all. Like the gargoyles before him, Lexington combines some of the characteristics of the cartoon with a more realistic approach. He’s very cut and muscular, but his face is pretty close to the show. Whether you like this approach or not, it’s consistent with the rest so you have likely already decided at this point, or just simply made peace with it.

He seems to fit in well enough with the rest of the clan.

Lexington stands at roughly 5″ depending on how bent you have his knees. He scales pretty well with the rest of the clan. Again, I think Goliath could be bigger, but the rest look pretty good. Lexington has a bit of a smile going on with his default head and I think it captures the essence of the character. The skin tone is an olive green with some black wash that looks rather nice and I really like the blue of his loincloth. He looks good, but then there’s the wings. Yeah, his wings aren’t a thing you have to account for space-wise on your shelf, but you do for the design and function of the figure. We’ll get into that part more when we talk articulation, but NECA opted to do his wings as two pieces of somewhat pliable plastic. They don’t have a ton of flex, but obviously aren’t the hard plastic the other gargoyles have. They peg into his back on ball-hinges and then are glued into his forearms and thighs. They don’t drape like the wings in the show, NECA would have had to go with more of a soft goods approach to get that look, and with his arms down they take on this wavy appearance. It exposes the gap between the torso and the mid-section of the wing and it’s not a great look. He almost looks better in a pose closer to what he’s doing on the box art, but that’s a challenge too.

“Stop complaining about the wings!!”

Is this the right approach? I don’t know. Lexington’s wings were always going to be a challenge as his are closer to actual bat wings in construction. When NECA first revealed a prototype for Lexington, it looked like they did his wings in pieces so he had a fin on his arms and another on his back or thighs. It’s similar to how S.H.Figuarts does capes where from certain angles it looks like one, continuous, piece, but in actuality it’s segmented. I didn’t love that look so I would say this is better, but I don’t like the material. I get why NECA chose this route because this is plastic they can sculpt and paint and the detail is consistent with the other gargoyles in the line. Had they gone with a stretchy fabric, it likely would have been one color, but maybe not? The movie Shredder figures have some pretty cool looking capes with designs on one side and solid colors on the inside. The Shadow Master Super Shredder that NECA did even has this faux leather material for the cape that would have made for an interesting solution. If NECA were matching the cartoon, that approach would have been a no-brainer since a solid color would have been fine. They’re not though, but I still think that would have been better and it makes more sense when we talk about the articulation. Probably the best solution would have been to do both and match the arms swappable. Hard plastic for flying poses, soft goods for casual.

I think this is how he’ll live on my shelf, I just wish we had something for the controller to go to.

We might as well jump into articulation now since I’ve already teased it. The head is on a double-ball-peg and it gets great range in all directions. That’s partly because NECA carved out a little section on the back of the neck to give the figure more range looking up. This means Lexington is actually the only figure in the line who could actually be displayed in a flying pose where he’s looking forward and parallel to the ground. That is good, but almost everything else is bad. The shoulders are incredibly tight on this figure. NECA seemed to really want to reduce any gaps to almost nothing because these are shirtless, hairless, beasts, but the shoulders sit so far in the torso that it kills the range. Lexington can’t raise his arms out to the side all the way, and worse, there’s little room for leverage to work the hinge. I have gone through two figures so far because I snapped a bicep peg trying to lower his arms. Even though I had my thumb right on the seem between the shoulder and bicep, it still snapped like a twig without much warning. I would later snap a foot off trying to put his alternate head on, so yeah, this one seems brittle. Thankfully, Big Bad Toy Store has a terrific return policy.

He can also pack some heat if that’s your preference.

The shoulders rotate fine and the bicep swivel works. The elbows are double-jointed, but hard to work with because of the wings and how they connect to the forearm. There’s just not a lot he can do because of that. Thankfully, the pegs on the rear of the figure where the wings go into the back are forgiving and will pop out if you try to do too much so there seems to be little chance of ripping the wings out of the arms or thighs, but this guy is just not fun to handle at all. The wrists rotate and hinge and the gripping hands have a vertical hinge, so that’s good. The diaphragm can rotate a little, but again, wings get in the way. The same is true for any forward and back motion. There is a waist twist and the hips are ball and socket joints with a thigh swivel built in. The knees are single-jointed and they peg in and hinge so you can swivel there. The ankles have a hinge and a rocker and the toes do the same. They’re pretty tight, but manageable. The tail pegs into the rear of the figure and has a hinge. It’s bendy, just like the other gargoyles, and can act as a support when standing the figure on a shelf.

The figure would have some limitations with or without the wings, just as the other figures in the line do. Lexington can’t, for instance, do his usual crouch where he has his hands on the ground. It’s like his default pose in the show, and the fact that he can’t do it in figure form is a bummer. Getting his arms up and spread like they are in the box art is also quite the challenge. If you rotate the shoulders over the figure’s head, carefully, you can get close. Introducing a NECA flight stand is a pain though since the wings get in the way of getting a grip on the torso. You’re better off with something that can grab the figure by the thigh. For most though, I’m thinking this is a set it in a basic pose kind of figure and then forget it.

I’m probably never going to display my figure with this thing, but I can admit it looks pretty cool.

Lexington does come with a solid assortment of accessories, but even here there is a bit of a letdown for one very specific reason. He has the slight smiling portrait and a yelling one with white-out eyes that looks pretty good. He also looks kind of funny with it since he’s so small, but that’s true even in the show. For hands, we get a set of open hands, a gripping left hand, a trigger finger right hand, and a set of fists. The gripping hand is for use with a remote control, which might be from the episode that introduced Coldstone, or brought him back, I forget. He also has a headset that slips onto his head without issue for communicating with Elisa. The trigger finger hand is intended for his crossbow, which is an homage to the original Kenner figure. Like Broadway and Brooklyn before him, Lex gets an updated version of his old weapon which looks really awesome. It has a thick, real, chain on it. I don’t know how well a chain would work on a crossbow, but it looks cool. There are also four bolts that can slot into it, though they don’t fire.

Well, they’re all here now.

That’s a solid spread that spotlights Lexington’s character traits with a techy set and then the homage, but what’s missing are another set of caped wings. NECA had specifically called out Lexington as a figure that would come with wings for another figure considering he’s a much smaller character, but none were included. Perhaps development costs on Lexington ended up being higher than expected, or it was more of a business decision. Everyone is going to want to add Lexington to their shelf, so why essentially give away a sought after accessory when it could go to another figure that could use a boost? As a consumer, I hate that mindset, but I get it. As of right now, Hudson, Broadway, and Angela are lacking another wing option. Broadway is getting a variant next year that’s basically the same figure, but in a soft goods trench coat. That one is coming with caped wings, which sucks and is annoying. We know MacBeth is on the way so it stands to reason he’ll come with wings for either Hudson or Angela. We also don’t have caped wings for Thailog, but I’m guessing he’s a lower priority. An armored variant could easily come with those. At least that’s a variant I’d have interest in.

In some ways, Lexington is one of my favorite releases in the line. He looks good, I think he’s properly sized, and I’ve just always liked the character. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to call him a fan-favorite. In other ways though, he’s the worst in the line. I don’t like handling him, and I think his wings look terrible in any pose that isn’t featuring them spread out. And even that’s a pain in the ass to get right. My pictures of this figure are so vanilla because he’s such a chore to work with. I basically don’t want to touch this figure ever again. I don’t really want to recommend it as a result, but the reality is, if you’ve been collecting this line you’re not going to stop before you add a Lexington. That would be silly. I guess just have low expectations and handle with care. Maybe one day we’ll get a better option.

If you’re interested in more Gargoyles reviews, check these out:

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Broadway

We are getting oh so very close to assembling the original Manhattan Clan in action figure form! Disney’s take on gothic beasts originally included the following gargoyles: Goliath, Hudson, Bronx, Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington. The clan would grow from there, but those six are still the first that come to mind for me when I…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Brooklyn

For the first time in a long time, we did not have a Turtle Tuesday post this week. We do, however, have a Warriors by Night Wednesday for you! It feels like NECA’s Gargoyles line is the most stop-and-start action figure line I’m into of late. The line has seen large gaps between releases and…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Hudson

Happy Boxing Day! It’s been a minute, but we’re back with another figure in NECA’s line of action figures based on the 90s cartoon/property Gargoyles – Hudson! Hudson, who was wonderfully brought to life by the late Ed Asner, was always my favorite character in the show. He’s basically the old veteran of the group.…

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by Joe

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

December 27, 2023

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Elisa Maza

By Joe
Friend of the gargoyles, Elisa Maza, has joined the shelf.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a review on an action figure from NECA’s line of figures based on the Disney Afternoon animated series Gargoyles. That’s not due to me not getting any figures, it’s more just me not having a ton to say. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I wasn’t exactly excited to share my opinion. That’s primarily due to these figures being very fine looking figures, but they’re not the most fun to handle. The problems the first figure in the line had, Goliath, are still present in the most recent. I started to feel like a broken record as I kept saying “This figure looks great, but these wings suck and the posing is really limited as a result.” That’s been true of them all. Today’s figure though is different because we’re not looking at a gargoyle, but a human. And that human is none other than Elisa Maza.

New York’s only unarmed cop.

Detective Maza is the first human ally the Manhattan Clan makes in the series following the time-skip to present day New York. I suppose the crew thought their first ally was Xanatos, but he was never their friend. Elisa, being a detective and all, investigates a disturbance atop the skyscraper where the clan dwells and quickly runs into Goliath. It doesn’t take particularly long for the gargoyles to view her as an ally and once Xanatos’ deceitful ways are out in the open, she basically becomes their only friend. And along the way, she’ll become a romantic interest for Goliath because this property wasn’t afraid to go there. Love is love.

Maybe this should be the Cagney review with accessories.

As an action figure, Elisa is understandably less impressive than a monstrous gargoyle. She’s a plain clothes detective in denim pants and a red jacket. She still gets the same window box treatment from NECA with original artwork by Djordje Djokovic while the sculpt (and what NECA terms as fabrication) were handled by Thomas Rozejowski and Kyle Windrix. Elisa stands at roughly 6.5″ and is pretty well proportioned for the character. She has pretty long legs, and her coat is done with an overlay on the torso with the sleeves included as part of the sculpt of the arms. In other words, if you wanted to remove the coat you would need to find some new arms for her or else it will look silly. The coat does make her look a little frumpy, if you will, as basically all coats do in real life. She still has curves so I think there is a nice balance being struck here between the animated look and the realistic approach NECA has taken with the line when it comes to her body.

This old Toy Biz handgun doesn’t look too bad in her hand.

Where things get a bit murky is with the head. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with it, it’s just that the faces look very animation-inspired when the gargoyles have largely shunned that look. Her eyes are oversized like a cartoon would and her skin-tone is flat. Again, it’s not a bad sculpt and paint job by any means, but it isn’t consistent for the line. The gargoyles have all been sculpted and designed by Djokovic where as this figure was handled by a different team and it shows. I personally would have liked for this line to follow the animation, so I can’t say I dislike what’s done here, but I do have to concede that Elisa strikes a different vibe on the shelf when placed with the other figures. Even her hair more follows the show has it’s black with blue highlights as cartoons often do with black hair. This is likely something that is going to bother some more than others. Or maybe it will bother everyone since those who want that uniform look will obviously be irritated, while those who wanted that animated look might just be frustrated that the gargoyles aren’t done that way. I suppose this approach may end up pleasing few.

I also grabbed a third party gun for her. It’s not perfect, but will probably do fine.

NECA did provide Elisa with some accessories, though with one pretty obvious omission. Elisa has two styles of hair at her disposal: a neutral one and a wind swept version. Both fit on her head just fine and look nice. I do find myself leaning towards the wind swept portrait more often than not as it adds a touch of style. Elisa also has three different heads with three very similar expressions: neutral, smile, and a smile with a raised eyebrow. They all look fine, but are also way too similar. I would have loved some variety as even the neutral face almost has a hint of a smile to it. Maybe an angry expression? Or a startled one to reenact Goliath saving her instead of Demona?

Goliath’s inability to really look down comes into play here unfortunately.

Elisa also has an assortment of hands and accessories for her to handle with said hands. We get fists, trigger finger hands, a left hand with a pinching gesture, and a gripping right hand. The pinching hand is for her to display her included badge should someone question her credentials. It’s a small piece of plastic and the badge is rather neatly painted, but good luck not losing this thing. The gripping hand is for use with her flashlight which looks fine, but is just a flashlight. Her cat, Cagney, is also included, but not included is a hand for petting said cat. The cat looks fine though and has an articulated head. Just like the figure itself, the cat looks more cartoony than realistic. Also not included is something for those trigger finger hands. Yes, NECA did not include her sidearm. Why? Because they wanted to make us mad. No, obviously that’s not the reason and it was not an oversight because how could something like that be missed? NECA hasn’t publicly commented on it, but you can basically assume that Disney said “No” to Elisa coming with a gun. “But Demona, Thailog, and Xanatos all have guns?” you say, but I would counter their guns aren’t of the realistic variety. Elisa carries a standard 9mm that looks like an actual handgun and not some weird laser weapon. NECA gave us the hands, but we have to find our own gun. Even though this line is technically 1:10 scale, I find 1:12 weapons work pretty well. My old Toy Biz Deadpool handgun looked pretty good in her hands, and I also grabbed a generic one from Casting Cave. I haven’t painted it, though I really should, but it gets the job done for me.

Now Brooklyn can take up less space on your shelf.

Elisa does come with one other accessory and it’s one for a different figure. Like Bronx before her, Elisa comes with a set of caped wings for a gargoyle: Brooklyn. The wings work just like Goliath’s and fit over the figure’s neck and can be secured via pegs in the back. The plastic is soft, but not so soft that it won’t restrict the movement of the figure’s arms once on. It looks okay, but this look is still not the one desired by most which would be those relaxed, A-shape, wings for walking around. And I could be wrong, but I feel like Brooklyn went with the caped look less often than Goliath. I picture him in my head as often more crouched than the others and his wings more relaxed. At any rate, if your shelf is full because of those spread wings then this accessory is welcomed just to be able to squeeze more out of said shelf.

This doesn’t look like a fair fight.

Since Elisa doesn’t have wings like the others, I expect her to be a little easier to handle. She is, for the most part, though this is still a NECA figure and articulation is a lower priority than it would be with other companies. The head is on a double-ball peg, but the hair is going to restrict her a bit. You can rotate, tilt, and she looks down pretty well while looking up is tougher because of her hair. The shoulders are ball-hinged and she can rotate just fine and the arms raise out to just about horizontal. There is a biceps swivel and the double-jointed elbows bend well past 90 degrees. The wrists swivel and all of the hands feature a horizontal hinge which is lame as the trigger hands, at least, should have vertical hinges. There might be a diaphragm joint on the figure, but the coat makes it functionally useless. The waist twist is just a waist twist, though it feels like a ball peg so you get a tiny bit of nuance to it. The ball and socket hips go out to the sides nearly to a full split. Be careful with the diaper piece over the crotch as I have seen instances of the paint cracking which is unfortunate. The legs can kick forward almost to horizontal, again you probably don’t want to force it since it will stress that crotch piece, while the thigh twist works just fine. The double-jointed knees bend past 90 degrees and the ankles hinge and rock side-to-side and work fine. Her feet are a bit small relative to her body, so she’s harder to stand than you may expect. This one was often falling over on me overnight when I had it on my desk, but once I found a solid stance she’s been fine.

I’m starting to wish she came with a new head for Goliath that was a bit warmer of an expression.

One last thing to talk about with this figure is how she looks with the others. I already mentioned the style clash, but more important to me is that her scale is off. Or perhaps more accurately, her sizing really makes it apparent that Goliath is just too small. She looks fine with Bronx, Hudson, and Brooklyn while Goliath and Broadway clearly seem undersized to me. I’m thinking the idea here was to fudge the scale a bit. Goliath should be the largest, but he doesn’t need to be that much bigger than Hudson as he was in the show. And I guess that kind of works, but it starts to look bad when Elisa is introduced. Goliath being already out for quite some time and the pillar of the line, Elisa probably should just be smaller. Even though she’s probably perfectly in the realm of 1:10 scale being 6.5″ herself. On my shelf as I type this, she’s at Goliath’s shoulders which is just too tall. In the show she’s more at his chest. Part of the issue is the unique anatomy of gargoyle legs and I will admit that Goliath’s knees are bent more than I’d like, but it’s hard to have him standing otherwise. Also more of an issue with Goliath than Elisa is that he can’t look up so it’s really hard to do flying poses with Goliath carrying Elisa, nor can he look down at her. I’m starting to wish we could just get a Goliath redo at this point.

Despite the fact that she’s a human, Elisa looks like she belongs. I have Goliath about as tall as I’m comfortable with him (and I’m still expecting a shelf dive at some point) standing to mitigate any scaling issues.

Is Elisa Maza a worthy addition to your Gargoyles collection from NECA? At the end of the day, I think so since she’s a pretty integral character in the show and the comics that followed. The execution isn’t perfect, but some of the issues are definitely not the fault of the figure when it comes to scaling and accessories. It is a shame we couldn’t get her gun in the box and I doubt that could be fixed with a Gargoyles accessory set. It would have to be a generic weapons pack like what McFarlane does to get around DC not allowing guns with its figures. It sucks, but I’m obviously not mad at NECA and I’m not really even irritated with Disney as I get why these companies make these choices. It’s not the end of the world and anyone who collects action figures can probably source a gun from another figure without much problem. And if you can’t, there are plenty of customizers out there who can. On its own merits, this figure is just fine. It’s not extraordinary in any way, but anyone familiar with Gargoyles will know who that is on your shelf which is probably good enough for most.

If you’re interested in other figures from this line then check these out:

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Goliath

It was nearly 6 months ago that NECA unveiled one of its newest licenses for 2021: Gargoyles! I was incredibly pumped at the time to see that NECA had acquired Gargoyles because the license had so much potential. The show was basically a cult hit in the 90s often characterized as Disney’s answer to Batman:…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Brooklyn

For the first time in a long time, we did not have a Turtle Tuesday post this week. We do, however, have a Warriors by Night Wednesday for you! It feels like NECA’s Gargoyles line is the most stop-and-start action figure line I’m into of late. The line has seen large gaps between releases and…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Bronx

Well, here’s something different. Bronx, the good gargoyle dog, is NECA’s fourth entry in its relatively young line of action figures based on the beloved Disney Afternoon series Gargoyles. And not only is Bronx here all on his own, he’s also got something for his buddy Goliath that collectors of this line have been begging…

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by Joe

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