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 “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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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