Tag Archives: rahzar

September 9, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

By Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The JoyToy line is really filling out:

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

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

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by Joe July 15, 2025July 14, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Krang

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

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by Joe June 3, 2025May 30, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Rocksteady and Beebop

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

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by Joe February 4, 2025January 21, 2025

Leave a comment | tags: action figures, joy toy, joytoy, rahzar, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the secret of the ooze, TMNT, tokka | posted in toys

April 5, 2022

NECA Cartoon TMNT Tokka and Rahzar

By Joe

Memorable mutants from their not so memorable role.

There is certainly a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles product flying around these days, but I would guess collectors and fans of the property are paying the most attention to two toy makers in particular: NECA and Super7. One search for “NECA” on this blog will reveal that the company has produced a ton of TMNT action figures based on various iterations of the characters be it movies, television, or comics. As for Super7, their output is much slower and more specific, though they still have released 16 figures thus far and a handful of variants and have three additional waves already solicited. Super7’s approach is to essentially reproduce what Playmates made 30 years ago at a new scale and with modern technology. Both NECA and Super7 basically received permission to go full tilt on TMNT at the same time, and both have said they basically sat down at Toy Fair, explained the direction they were each going in, and basically have a handshake agreement to not step on each other’s toes which has held up just fine.

Sometimes though, multiple iterations of the property intersect. Playmates very much did its own thing when it came to characters and designs, and for awhile, the cartoon did as well. As the show went on though, the writers, artists, and so on started to just lift more from existing sources probably because it gets hard to keep coming up with new ideas for a show that’s pretty formulaic and largely exists just to sell toys. And since it’s a glorified commercial, why not just include the toys in the show directly?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before about this line, but these guys look like they jumped right off of the screen.

When it came time to make a sequel to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 film, the writers wanted to include some mutant henchmen for Shredder. When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird balked at including the cartoony Bebop and Rocksteady, new mutants were created in Tokka and Rahzar. Playmates foolishly felt the first movie would be a massive flop and did not support it with toys, but after it was a success, they were ready for the sequel and produced figures on several characters including the newly created mutants. Playmates wasn’t going to match the look of the costumes in the film, and it’s likely things were being worked on simultaneously, so their take on Tokka and Rahzar turned out a little different from how they appeared in the film. The film was another hit and the characters proved popular, so to no one’s surprise, Tokka and Rahzar made the jump to television. And since it was likely far easier to model them on the toys, that’s what the show did. All of this is to say I feel a little bad for Super7 since NECA has essentially provided us a set of figures that are based on the cartoon, which was based on the toys. It’s basically the same deal as what we saw with Antrax and Scumbug earlier this year.

Let’s just jump right to the comparisons! Left to right: Playmates Tokka (first run), NECA toon, and NECA movie.

Tokka and Rahzar come in the standard window box packaging we’re all used to at this point. They were initially offered as part of NECA’s Haulathon event and in a confusing fashion as they were sold on costumes.com. Apparently, it would have cost too much to create a new website. That website was also supposed to be for international customers only, but no one configured the site to actually lock out US residents so it ended up being a free-for-all when everything went up on March 18th. This set was said to be open to all in some places, but it was all terribly communicated and a lot of confusion was out there. I placed an order on that site, and a set arrived less than 2 weeks later even though product wasn’t supposed to ship until April (I’m not complaining). These guys are going to Target, and maybe online too, and it’s possible by the time this post actually goes live that all of this has been sorted out. For now, it’s a mess, but I got some toys out of it.

And now for the wolf. Same arrangement as before. I think my vintage Rahzar is the first run which had red paint around the eyes in error. Later releases featured black like the toon version.

As mentioned before, Tokka and Rahzar are based on their appearance in the episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter!” and the designs for the characters are clearly based on their action figure counterparts from Playmates. It came pretty late in the cartoon’s life, episode 166 out of 193, so several people collecting this line barely remember their appearance. I personally was still watching, but I’d drop off the following season when the “Red Sky” era began and the show underwent a soft reboot of sorts. I remember being quite surprised to see this pair show up though, and even more surprised when they were intelligent creatures. Aside from resembling the movie characters to a certain degree, the pair are pretty damn different. They’re a bit morally ambiguous and largely out to satisfy their stomachs. Rahzar makes it very clear to Tokka that he’s his only friend in the world, which is about the only character development they really get. Rahzar seems to dislike everyone, but Tokka, and he does make some comment about no one being able to stop them so I guess they’re villains? Tokka is mostly useless though as he’s easily subdued and just exists to make Rahzar mad when something unfortunate befalls him. He gets captured by the mutant racist Dirk Savage, leading to a showdown between Savage and Rahzar that’s just a set piece for the turtles to save Savage and have him realize the errors of his ways. That’s the cure for racism in Hollywood, you just need to have the party the individual is racist towards save them. Problem solved! Tokka and Rahzar’s story just sort of ends there and they never show up again.

“All right son, I’ll take you to the dog park.”

Rahzar is obviously the larger of the two standing at around 7.25″ to the top of his hair. Tokka, is much shorter and chunkier coming in at around 5.25″. Both were sculpted by Paul Harding who has already made a mark on this line with expressive sculpts of Dirtbag and Groundchuck and it looks like NECA was so pleased with Tokka that they’re prepping the figure for a re-release as an Archie Slash, which makes sense since the Playmates Slash was repurposed into Tokka! Both figures are impressively sculpted. Rahzar has a lot of extra parts added to him like the broken shackles, forearm and thigh pads, and that grill on his chest. Tokka has various warts and similar blemishes on his body to go with a spiked shell that’s a dead-ringer for the old toy. He has elbow and knee pads plus those spiked shoulder pauldrons. I love the detail on both and the paint is what is expected of this line. The black linework is clean and really causes the pair to “pop” and we get that bisected shading as well with light on the front and dark on the back. The only overlay in use here is the green “diaper” on Rahzar so it’s hard to say if NECA expects to get much reuse out of his mold. If not, I love to see the commitment on display here from NECA to make the best possible versions of these characters uncompromised by cost-cutting measures.

Tokka’s shell features the same arrangement as the old toy for the spikes. There’s even the same linework on the center nubs.

When it comes to shortcomings from a presentation perspective, there’s very little to complain about here. We’re basically down to nitpicks as the paint around the spikes on Tokka’s shell is a little sloppy around the edges, but it’s pretty minor. The shurikens on his belt also have a soft appearance in the paint department, but again, it’s a nitpick. The only real blemish on either figure is with Rahzar’s right shackle. There’s a sizable blob of gray paint on it from the forearm guard that’s a bit of a bummer. The shackle is a separate piece that can come right off once the hand is popped off so, if I want to, I could easily take it off and try to touch it up. It’s tough to paint white over a dark color though so I don’t know that I’ll bother, but that really is it as far as issues. This is a very clean set.

These guys just want to eat and hang out, and honestly, I can relate.

Since our boys here only showed up in one episode, they didn’t really get to do much aside from eat and get captured by Savage. Given that, NECA included a bunch of food! There’s a turkey platter with about half of a bird on it, some sliced potatoes, and a big slab of salami, I think. There’s also a turkey leg and some bone-in-meat plus a whole fish which was something actually used as a weapon against Rahzar. There’s also yet another handheld, control, device that looks like a fancy adding machine. It’s the controller to the control cuff that actually came with the Mondo Gecko figure so, little by little, we’re building the arsenal of Dirk Savage (the foot trap that came with the Punk Frogs also belongs to Savage). Each figure also comes with a set of gripping hands and a set of open hands. I’m a little surprised there are no fists, but I don’t know that I actually miss them. The accessories are all painted very nicely, and even though I’m not sure what I’ll do with a big turkey platter, I’m happy to have it.

This line is certainly an appearance first, articulation second, sort of line, but these two boys move pretty well. We’ll start with Rahzar first who has a ball-jointed head. It feels like it might be a double-ball peg as he can look up very well, and bury his chin with rotation and tilt. There’s also a hinged jaw to add personality and it works very well. He’s most limited at the shoulders where traditional ball-hinges are hampered by the shoulder pads. The pads can slide a little, but he can’t really lift his arms out to the side much. He can rotate just fine though, and he has a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows that get you 90 degrees or better, and wrist swivels with horizontal hinges. In the diaphragm is a ball joint that will mostly let the figure rotate, but you get some tilt and he can arch back and crunch forward a little bit. The hips are on ball-sockets and are nice and firm. You get a thigh twist there to go with double-jointed knees and the standard hinge and rocker combo at the ankles. All of those joints work quite well and I love that he has big feet because he’s easy to pose and stand. There were no stuck joints and they’re all cast in the most appropriate color of plastic too.

They seem to scale just fine with the turtles.

Tokka is similar, but being another turtle character, he has some limitations of his own. His head basically sits forward on the sculpt so he’s more limited in the up and down department, but he does have a really nice jaw hinge to make up for it. This dude can open wide! Like Rahzar, he has shoulder pads too that prevent him from bringing his arms out to the side, but he gets good range out of the double-elbows despite the elbow pads (why can’t we get these on the hero turtles?) and has a biceps swivel and standard wrist articulation. Like the turtles, he appears to have some joints in the torso, but unlike the turtles, it’s pretty useless. I can’t get any twist out of them, but braver folks than me might be more willing to really crank on that joint. The hips are ball and socket joints and he has the same thigh twist, double knees, and ankle articulation as Rahzar. Tokka’s feet are really impressive as he can bend each one back all the way so the foot lines up with the leg and he can bend it really far forward. It gives the figure a great base and I’ll definitely be happy to have a Slash with this kind of articulation later this year.

“Tokka, you and I are all we got!” “Have you been watching those Fast and Furious movies again?”

I feel like I’ve been saying this with a lot of the two-packs of late, but this set is another contender for best in the line. I’m partial to the bugs from a design standpoint, but I can’t imagine these two turning out any better than they did. These guys are picture perfect recreations of their animated look and the sculpt, paint, and articulation really comes together nicely. I suppose the accessories aren’t the most exciting we’ve seen, but it’s not as if there was much in the show associated with them. I guess we should be mad at the designers of the toon for not giving them some of their action figure accessories.

Tokka and Rahzar have started off as another Haulathon exclusive, but I suspect NECA will make every effort to get these figures into as many hands as possible so if you missed the initial drop keep your eyes open. Basically every set these days to hit Target brick and mortar has been relatively easy to get ahold of, excepting maybe the turtles themselves. I’m willing to bet Tokka and Rahzar will follow a similar pattern and hang around for a bit. Maybe I’m underestimating their popularity due to their appearance in The Secret of the Ooze, but that remains to be seen. If you can’t tell, I definitely give these guys a strong recommend so get out there and hunt these bad boys down like you’re Dirk Savage himself, just don’t be a racist!

1 Comment | tags: action figures, dirk savage, neca, paul harding, rahzar, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the secret of the ooze, tokka | posted in Television, toys

December 26, 2020

NECA TMNT Secret of the Ooze Tokka and Rahzar

By Joe

Merry Boxing Day every one! I hope you enjoyed the Christmas content this year, but it’s time to go back to our usual programming. Which in 2020 means toys. And I just could not wait any longer to talk about what was probably my most anticipated release of 2020: NECA’s Tokka and Rahzar based on their appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

One of the last, big, events of 2020 was New York Toy Fair. The show, occurring annually in February, is ostensibly a trade show, but over the years it has become much more. Like E3, coverage of the event has basically turned it into a full blown consumer event, only the general public is still largely kept away in the case of Toy Fair. The event was originally a time for producers to show their wares and solicit orders from retail partners and other vendors. Now, most of that stuff is handled throughout the year since communication is so much easier these days than it was 30 years ago and for the big toy producers the event is almost more like a chance to show off and get the consumer excited for what’s to come later in the year.

For last year’s event, I was pretty excited to see what NECA had cooking in the oven when it came to its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license. I’ve definitely been more interested in the cartoon line, and I certainly was heading into Toy Fair 2020, but what ended up stealing the show for me was a two-pack from a movie I don’t even really care for. Tokka and Rahzar were the new mutants introduced for the sequel film The Secret of the Ooze in 1991. The movie is pretty hokey and kind of dumb, but the creature designs for Tokka and Rahzar (handled by the talented folks at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop) were off the charts. They’re imposing, and while NECA originally said it wasn’t that interested in producing toys based on the sequel, it basically had to give in to fan demands where these guys were concerned.

NECA’s Chris Raimo did a bang-up job on the packaging.

This year, NECA started distributing all movie-related product for TMNT at Walmart. It has not gone well. NECA had to endure a lot of fan backslash, some of it justified, some of it not, throughout the summer when product was scarce. Sort of as a mea culpa, the company decided to do something different with the planned Tokka and Rahzar two-pack. Rather than send it to Walmart like it did with the other figures, the company decided to do a manufacture-on-demand run via its website. For one week in July, anyone who wanted a set (or multiples) could place an order on NECA’s website and expect delivery later in the year. The only catch was you had to pay upfront, but you were guaranteed a set of figures in the fall. I don’t know if Walmart showed little interest in the set (it was more expensive than a standard two-pack, retailing for around $70) or if NECA just never offered it to the retailer, but either way, this method of delivery was a god-send. Sure, the wait was a long one given how much excitement I personally had invested in the set, but all-in-all, going from an ordering window to delivery in less than 4 months is a pretty short wait and it looks like the company pulled it off.

Sorry fellas, but your replacements have arrived.

My set arrived in mid-December, so I’ve had some time to enjoy these “babies” before making this post. First of all, the box for these guys is huge! It’s the standard window box we’re used to, only it had to be increased in size to accommodate these guys. This sucker is 5 1/2″ deep, 9 3/4″ tall, and nearly 14 1/4″ long. The box is decorated with numerous product shots and the image of the turtles huddling over a broken canister of ooze from the theatrical poster. If you’re a mint-in-box collector then you’ll have to clear some space to display this thing. It’s appreciated since NECA could have skimped on the presentation considering this isn’t going to appear on store shelves, but then again, this sort of distribution is fairly common these days and NECA knows that a lot of collectors were going to buy two sets: one to open and one to preserve.

Jason Frailey handled the sculpt-work on these figures and to sum up my reaction simply, it would be: holy shit!

You think a dog’s breath is bad, imagine what Rahzar’s must smell like!

The figures themselves are a sight to behold. They’re depicted as they were later in the film when they do battle with the turtles at the junkyard. Tokka has little on his body aside from elbow and knee pads, while Rahzar is decked out in all kinds of stuff. As in the film, Tokka is the smaller of the two coming in at right around 7″ at the top of his head, with his shell protruding a bit higher. Rahzar stands a tick under 8″ and both figures have tremendous presence on a shelf. They’re very much in scale with each other, though some collectors may be a little disappointed that the scale isn’t perfect when it comes to the turtles. They are shorter, as you’ll see in pictures, but it’s not as drastic as it looked in the film. Granted, the film usually utilized a low angle when filming the two together. I think it’s good enough, but considering the scale on Super Shredder was basically perfect it might surprise people slightly that these two aren’t bigger.

They’re big boys, but the super version of their “Mama” is still able to stand taller.

The scale may very well be the last of any criticisms I have for these two. I certainly have little or no quibbles when it comes to the sculpt and overall look of these boys. Tokka is done in a slightly more olive skintone when compared with the turtles and it looks fantastic. He has a real dingy look to him, and it’s enhanced by the wash on his wrist tape which is quite dirty looking. His eyes are really expressive and I’m just waiting for him to bark at me that he wants a donut. What’s really going to impress though, are the various spikes on his shell. They have a springy quality to them, but don’t confuse that for me saying they aren’t sharp. You know when you’re holding this guy. Rahzar looks every bit as good as his box-mate. Well, I should say he doesn’t look quite as perfect as Tokka, but that’s only because he had fur in the film, but here it’s sculpted plastic. That said, it looks pretty damn good and I’m not suggesting NECA should have gone with faux fur as that might not have come out well. His eyes are super expressive as well and his mouth has that permanent grin he possessed in the film. The claws on his hands and feet look amazing with the amount of yellow and a dark, brown, wash to really bring them out. The texture on the black, rubber, armor pieces is also perfect and it’s great to get a good look at the detail on them since it’s hard to see in the actual film. I never even noticed before now that the pieces on his thigh appear to be torn from rubber tires with nails jutting through them. The grill on his abdomen is secured with actual chain links and swings around freely, not distractingly so. There’s a lot of soft plastic utilized for things like his loincloth or the little tassels on his shoulder and knee pads that not only look great, but seem to be durable enough. It’s hard to imagine someone else better nailing the aesthetics of these guys, even if done at a quarter scale, that’s how impressive they are.

Let’s talk articulation. These figures look good enough to be statues, but they aren’t and I’m glad for that. It’s also fun to talk about them because unlike a lot of NECA two-packs, these are two very different figures. And as far as I can tell, they don’t share parts with any other figures that NECA has done. Let’s talk about Tokka first. Unlike the good guy turtles, this guy has quite the neck on him. He can look up, down, and all around. The neck is jointed at the base which enhances his range of motion and it’s all quite impressive. On his head itself, the end of his beak can tilt in and out and his jaw can open very wide. He’s got some ugly teeth and a big, purple, tongue in there as well. Better yet, his eyebrows articulate! This is quite possibly the coolest feature of the set as it allows you to recreate basically any expression Tokka wore in the film. Want him to be angry? No problem. Confused? Check! It’s tremendous! At the shoulder we have the typicall ball and hinge that’s hindered a bit by the spikes on his shoulders. He can still raise and lower his arms and do what is largely expected of him. At the elbow he has a double joint plus a swivel above and below the elbow. The pad really hides everything too. His wrist rotates and he’s got a hinge as well. Inside the shell, there’s a ball-joint that allows for some pivot, but not much. At the legs he’s got ball-joints and hinges with an upper thigh swivel, pretty standard for NECA figure. He can kick back probably farther than you think given the giant shell on his back, and his legs can come out to the side. His knees are double-jointed and swivel above and below the knee, and like the elbows, the pad hides everything. His feet possess a hinge, though the hinge is either super tight or limited by the sculpt as it doesn’t move a whole lot. His feet can rock side-to-side and given how large they are you should have little issue getting him to stand safely on a shelf, even on one foot!

Rahzar, being that he is not a turtle, is articulated quite differently though I’d say the range of motion is pretty similar. His head sits on a ball-joint, and even though he has no articulation in his neck, he’s able to look up and down pretty well and tilt his head side to side. There’s no facial articulation beyond the jaw, which works great. He can open real wide and close his mouth up pretty tight, possibly even better than the actual costume could considering all of the teeth and his extreme underbite. The shoulders are ball-jointed and hinged and the big shoulder pads definitely prevent some movement. He can still raise his arms up to the side, he just can’t raise them over his head real well. He has the same double-jointed elbows that swivel above and below the joint, and even though he doesn’t have elbow pads to hide the articulation, the sculpt is impeccable and does a great job even without such an aid. The wrists rotate and have hinges like basically all NECA figures. The abdomen features a ball-joint in the diaphragm that allows for full rotation (careful with the chains) as well as some tilt, though there’s no ab crunch. The legs are on ball pegs and sit a bit higher than Tokka’s. They can twist a bit above the thigh, but not all the way. The knees are single-jointed and the only other swivel is below the knee. The feet are hinged and can rock side-to-side. I’m a little surprised at the lack of double joints in the knees, but like Tokka, Rahzar can move around pretty well. He’s not a ninja, so he doesn’t really need a ton of articulation and what he has is probably more than enough for whatever pose you want to go for. He stands well, and I was even able to get him to stand on one foot as well even though his feet aren’t nearly as wide as Tokka’s.

NECA gave us two figures sculpted to perfection with a great deal of articulation, but you know they also had to throw in some accessories too. These two guys weren’t known for wielding weapons or anything, but there are certainly some items they’re associated with. First off, we have extra hands. Both figures come packaged with what I consider relaxed, open, hands. Both have two extra sets. Tokka has two fists, though the fingers aren’t fused together so they’re kind of like really, tight, gripping hands, but they’re not needed for any gripping. He also has a pair of dedicated gripping hands with his left hand being more relaxed. Rahzar has a really tight gripping, right hand that’s more of a fist. He also has a looser gripping, right hand. He also has two gripping left hands that are very similar, but one is definitely more open than the other. Rahzar’s claws, being what they are, basically makes his stock hands function as gripping hands as well so you’re choice of hands will likely depend more on aesthetics than use. Swapping them is rather painless, assuming you don’t accidentally grip Tokka’s shell, though I should point out the only paint issues with these figures reside with Tokka’s hands. It’s a problem that has plagued NECA’s other figures, but the hinge is painted black to match the tape around his palms and it will flake off almost immediately leaving behind the olive plastic. NECA really needs to cast the hinge in the dominant color of the hand to prevent this. At least with Tokka, the wraps on his wrist can hide the hinge better than most, but it’s the lone eyesore with this set.

He seems awfully angry at that pipe for some reason.

In addition to hands, they’ve got some stuff to either hold or admire. Tokka comes with his big, lead, pipe which is bendy so he can demonstrate his strength, should you please. Rahzar can also hold it just fine, so it’s not just Tokka’s. There’s also a big chunk of a utility pole from when they wreak havoc on New York’s streets that can be wielded like a club. It’s textured really well and it can also fit in Tokka’s mouth. Rahzar also has his shield he wore on his forearm briefly in the film. The paintjob on it is terrific, and the straps just slide loosely over his forearm so there’s no fuss with it. There’s also a can of ooze, the same one that came with Super Shredder. There’s a fire extinguisher for when the turtles need to speed up the reverse mutation process. And speaking of which, in order to reverse their mutation you need a box of traditional, pre-fight, donuts! And we have one! By far, the best accessory is a little pink, cardboard, box that has the Simply Donuts graphic on it. There’s a stack of seven donuts molded together to fit into it, plus an eighth donut that has been smooshed exposing the mutagen cube inside. Your turtles can hold the box, and one of the baddies can hold the squished donut to recreate one of the better scenes from the film. You can also shove that donut in one of their mouths too, if you prefer your mutant babies be ignorant.

Is this the most quotable scene from the movie? If not, it’s close.

The accessories are appreciated, but honestly, these guys would be awesome if they arrived with nothing. NECA has positioned itself in “toy of the year” talk with these babies, as these are two incredible action figures. The only negative to add is that these guys are basically unattainable now at retail pricing. NECA set them up as made-to-order and it sounds like if you didn’t order a set you’re out of luck. NECA apparently didn’t even order extra for quality control as the only other downside is that I’ve talked to a few people who had issues, either a misassembled figure or missing accessory, and NECA couldn’t help them. NECA is also sensitive to the fact that they are a collector brand so they do not want to devalue their products, but they’re also a company out to make money so if there is tremendous demand for these figures after this release then maybe something will happen in the future. Never say never. They could do a limited box set release, a single card release, or maybe re-release them re-tooled with pixel art to mimic their appearance in Turtles in Time. That probably won’t satisfy people who want the screen accurate version, but I suppose it would be better than nothing. All I’m saying, is NECA has said stuff is one and done before only to re-release it later. If you missed out, you’re going to have to go to eBay for the time being or hope someone ordered two that was forward thinking and assumed a collector would have missed out. These guys are awesome and if I had missed the pre-order window I honestly don’t know how high I’d go in terms of price to get a set, but I know I would not want this set missing from my collection so I think I’d do whatever it took to fill that void.

Tokka and Rahzar all but complete my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film collection. NECA is prepping an April from the first film that will be released in the same fashion as this set, made-to-order, and there’s a good chance I’ll grab that. Otherwise, I think I’m good. I don’t need Secret of the Ooze Shredder or turtles and I definitely don’t need a Keno. If they can ever get the likeness rights for Tatsu then maybe I’ll give that a whirl, but NECA has been unable to get ahold of him and even put out a plea to anyone who knows him to speak with him on their behalf. The only other announced products are a Secret of the Ooze Shredder (I should say teased, never shown) and a two-pack featuring Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi, and as tempting as a little Splinter in his cage is, I don’t feel like I need that set. If this is the final movie set for me though, then what a way to go out!

Remember, stupid babies need the most attention.

4 Comments | tags: action figures, neca, rahzar, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the secret of the ooze, tokka | posted in Film, toys

January 29, 2020

The NECA TMNT Wish List

By Joe

shredder vs raph The early months of the calendar year are generally among my least favorite. They’re cold, dark, and dull where I reside. About the only good thing on the calendar is the annual New York Toy Fair in which vendors roll out previews of the toys to come for the next fiscal year and sometimes beyond. These last few years have been particularly exciting for fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as easing of the master toy license by Nickelodeon and Playmates has allowed other companies to enter the mix. The company that has most taken advantage of this new frontier is NECA which currently has three toy lines based on the property hitting shelves. It’s a crazy fun time to be a Turtle toy collector as a result as NECA has taken a nostalgic approach to its figures which is something Playmates rarely does. And this year figures (pun intended) to be an exciting one as lots of figures are set for reveal.

If you haven’t been involved with the lines up to now, here’s a refresher. NECA is currently hard at work packing Target with two-packs based on the 1987 cartoon. Figures released so far include all four turtles in both toon accurate colors and licensing material (i.e. bright green) colors, Shredder, Krang in his bubble walker, Bebop, Rocksteady, and the always serviceable Foot Soldier. Already unveiled and set for release this spring are figures of April O’Neil, Casey Jones, Leatherhead, Slash (in his cartoon outfit), and battle damaged Foot Soldiers. In addition to them, we’ve already seen previews for a Foot Alpha, Metalhead, Triceraton, Traag, Granitor, and Krang’s android body. That’s a lot to take in with much more likely in the can.

It’s a safe assumption we’ll soon be getting updated turtles to match their appearance in the famed sequel, as well as a few other choice figures.

At Gamestop, NECA is currently sending figures based on the 1990 film. They have thus far released the four turtles, Shredder, Foot, and Splinter. A special Loot Crate edition of Splinter is in production depicting him as a spirit from the camping sequence and with 2020 being the 30th anniversary of that film you know NECA has more on the way. We also know they intend to move onto The Secret of the Ooze so the movie line still has some legs.

At online and specialty shops, NECA is set to roll-out figures based on the popular arcade/SNES game Turtles in Time. The first of the four should be hitting retail soon and features Leonardo and Donatello complete with their weapons and surfboards from the Sewer Surfing level. There’s also a purple Foot Soldier who too packs a surfboard and Slash in his game-specific attire (which happens to match his comic look which the old Playmates toy was based on). All of the figures in this line feature a pixel-deco paintjob. Just revealed is wave two which includes Raph and Mikey as well as Shredder (the non Super version from the arcade) and Leatherhead. Considering a lot of the same players from the show were featured in that game, it stands to reason the cartoon and video game assortments will likely feature similar characters.

That’s a lot, and there’s already probably a lot more ready to be unveiled in a few weeks, but now feels like a good time to compile a wish list. I have collected all or parts of all three lines so far, but my main focus now is on the toon line. The 1990 film is my favorite anything related to TMNT, but there’s just not a lot left from that film NECA needs to touch. I have less fondness for the sequel, but wouldn’t mind some figures from it. The video game line is certainly cool, but not a huge priority right now. It may become one though if the Target two-packs continue to be extremely difficult to track down. Since the game figures are sold online and can even be pre-ordered, it makes acquiring them a lot easier. Plus they’re sold separately so there’s no danger of having to pay for a second, unwanted, figure in a two-pack (which so far hasn’t been an issue).

To sort of collect my thoughts in one place, I’ve decided to put together a little list of my most wanted from NECA. I suspect several of these will be unveiled at Toy Fair, but it would be a stretch to expect all of them. The cartoon actually featured far fewer characters than the old toyline, but many did make it into the show. NECA is thus far only doing characters that were in the cartoon, and if you’re nostalgia is just for the old Playmates line then maybe check out what Super7 is doing with its TMNT figures. Here is my list though, and I think number one is probably the same for many such lists:

Splinter (Cartoon) – We have the turtles, we have the main villains, and soon we’ll even have April and Casey, but what we don’t have yet is the beloved sensei to the turtles: Master Splinter. Playmates never did do a proper toon version of the character, but it can be assumed that NECA will and it will be spectacular. He’ll assuredly come with his walking stick, and hopefully some fun accessories like a mug of tea or maybe some sushi. Afterall, he never was all that fond of pizza.
There’s no way this guy smells pleasant.

The Rat King (Cartoon) – Possibly my favorite villain from the old show, speaking purely from a design standpoint. The turtles may have dwelled in the sewers, but the Rat King was really the only denizen that actually looked the part. If a cartoon character could have an odor, surely Rat King would have qualified. He would need to come with a few rats, though I’m blanking on additional accessories needed. It’s a long shot, but it would be rad if NECA could include a removable hat and duster to cover the redesign that came later in the toon’s life, but my guess is they’d rather hang onto that as a variant down the road.
I have an unexplainable fondness for this little guy.

Baxter Stockman/Baxter the Fly (Cartoon, Game) – I’m cheating a little by including both at number three, but my dream is for Baxter to come in a two-pack with his mutated fly persona. Toss in some mousers, and that’s quite a set! Baxter the Fly is also a figure I’m prepared to double-dip on should he get a video game release as well (and you know he will) because it will likely come with that outrageous gun he wields. And in case you’re not familiar with the game, I speak of the gun that could shoot fists and hand slaps.
Raph is probably about to make a joke about them being right behind him.

Pizza/Sewer Monster (Cartoon) – The Xenomorph inspired Pizza Monsters seem like a solid option for NECA’s Ultimate figures based on the cartoon. The Ultimates are for deluxe figures that will be sold individually as opposed to in two-packs. We don’t know where they’ll be sold, but we do know the Foot Alpha, Metalhead, and Krang’s android body are ticketed for such a release. The Pizza Monster makes for a nice fit because it could feature a fully grown version as well as smaller ones representing the larval forms and such. It’s a classic and well-remembered episode, so much so that NECA even did a Sewer Alien based on the film franchise Alien as a convention exclusive designed to mimic the TMNT version.
Groundchuck (right) was pretty cool. Dirt Bag (left) I could take or leave.

Groundchuck (Cartoon) – Groundchuck was one of my favorites of the Playmates toys. The bright red fur with blue attire and steel leg just looked cool to me at the time and I think it would look great as a NECA figure today. In the cartoon, he was paired with Dirt Bag whom I’m less enamored with, but it would certainly make sense to package the two together. He did not appear in Turtles in Time though so he might be a low priority figure since he doesn’t easily fit into that line (he did, however, appear in other games).
I know some people are still mad we got these two instead of Bebop and Rocksteady, but it’s hard to deny they’d make awesome figures.

Tokka and Rahzar (Film, Cartoon) – I’m not super into The Secret of the Ooze, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think its featured dim-witted duo wouldn’t look great in plastic. Tokka especially would likely look awesome, while Rahzar would be a bit tricky given all of the fur. My guess is NECA would sculpt the fur in plastic as it did with Splinter, but who know? If they continued in their quarter-scale line maybe fur would be a feature there. Regardless, I think they would look awesome and I would also be interested in cartoon versions of the characters. It remains to be seen if NECA could create a sculpt that works for both mediums though as the cartoon versions basically looked like the Playmates figures. The two also appeared in the game so NECA could have possibly triple-dip here, though it might be safer for them to just make the film and cartoon/game versions separate.
Mondo Gecko was a character we were supposed to think is cool, and we all did.

Mondo Gecko (Cartoon)- Seemingly everyone’s favorite non-turtle character was Mondo Gecko. He had a skateboard, bright colors, and was named Mondo – what’s there not to like? He’s likely a high priority figure as a result for NECA and it would surprise me a little if we don’t see him in a couple weeks. NECA will likely try to make him screen accurate which is a bit unfortunate because the figure was so much cooler. I still think he’ll turn out fine though.
The heroes we truly need.

Rhino Man and Mighty Hog (Cartoon) – Yeah, I’m cheating again with another two character entry, but what are ya gonna do? I’m mostly avoiding variants of already released figures for this list, but I do love Bebop and Rocksteady and those figures NECA did are so damn awesome that I want to see more of them from the company. While the robots Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady are quite tempting, I think I’d actually prefer the super hero versions of the characters: Rhino Man and Mighty Hog. Even though this is the preferred variant for me, my guess is we actually get SNES versions of the two in pirate attire before anything else.
It helps that NECA won’t need to make a licensing deal with Kevin Nash thanks to the giant helmet.

Super Shredder (Film, Game) – Now you can’t have figures based on The Secret of the Ooze without including the big baddie from the end: Super Shredder. Given how quickly he was dispatched, Super Shredder was certainly more bark than bite, but man was he intense looking. NECA would have some fun sculpting all of those spikes. This bad boy would have to be big too, unlike the puny version Playmates gave us many years ago. And unlike Tokka and Rahzar, it wouldn’t be too difficult to turn that film-based figure into a video game one as he basically looked the same. He’d just need to have cool fireball effects and maybe a little screaming turtle.
Cooler than Batman. There, I said it.

Dark Turtle (Cartoon) – For my last entry, how about a deep cut? We’ll undoubtedly see figures of the Punk Frogs, Mukman, and maybe even Bug Man before we see a Dark Turtle, but he’s worth remembering. Dark Turtle, in case you forgot, was a one-episode appearance and is the alter-ego of Donatello. He basically looks like Batman, and what’s not to like about a turtle dressed as Batman? I’m not super interested in variants of the turtles, as I think I’m still fatigued by the many Playmates flooded the market with 30 years ago, but this one I’d go for.