Tag Archives: teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012

November 25, 2025

NECA TMNT 2012 Raphael

By Joe
He’s got the most attitude on the team.

We are onto the third member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its everyone’s favorite hot head. Raphael got softened for the 1987 cartoon series to make him sarcastic and a bit of a goof-off. He didn’t take anything too seriously and had a certain dry wit about him. It’s quite different from his comic book portrayal where he was emotional, easily angered, and often confrontational not just with his enemies, but even his family. That Raphael was immortalized on the big screen and seemed to convert a lot of viewers into Raph fans. Perhaps that’s why his personality has mostly been kept the same for future iterations of the character, though with both Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mutant Mayhem, his character has once again seen a softening.

Sort of like Wolverine, Raph is a bit of a short king.

For the 2012 show, Raphael was confidently in angry teen mode. He could clash with his brothers, in particular Leonardo, and was often irritated by Mikey, but his love for them is never in doubt. And since it was a Nickelodeon show, he had to keep the potty mouth in check. NECA’s take on the character is another sculpt by May Thamtarana with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. Box art is by Ciro Nieli and Raph is number 3 in the wave making him the first being reviewed by me in proper order. Out of the box, Raph stands at about 5.375″ and unlike the previous two he’s sporting his non battle mode portrait, though since it’s Raph it still presents as a scowl.

As good as he looks, something’s off with that green.

Raph is another excellent sculpt by Thamtarana. His proportions are well captured as are the little details that make Raph, Raph. His neck and limbs are just slightly larger than his brothers as he is the more brawny turtle. There are some harder edges to the shape of his thighs and biceps and his wrist and foot wraps are the proper color. Like Donatello, there appears to be no shared parts between Raph and Leonardo, or Raph and Don for that matter. The only parts the turtles continue to share are hands. Raph has a more battle-damaged shell and his plastron has that lightning bolt like crack in the top left. He looks great, except for one thing.

I thought it might help to get an array of Raphs to illustrate my point as well as a picture from the source material.

Raphael is just not the correct shade of green. He’s a deep green similar to his Playmates counterpart. In the show, his complexion was far more pale and hued very close to Michelangelo. This darker green appears to be more common in licensing art and some of the offshoots of the show, like the Half Shell Heroes. The question here is did NECA have this color forced upon them based on the reference material Viacom supplied? Or did they just mess it up? Considering how detail-focused director Trevor Zammit is with the ’87 toon line it’s hard to imagine him not knowing what color Raphael is supposed to be. And if your first thought is, “Well, since it’s a newer show maybe he’s not that familiar with it,” know that he is on record as saying the 2012 series is his favorite depiction of the turtles. The prototypes on display at New York Toy Fair showed the same so the only thing I’m willing to rule out is that this wasn’t a factory error NECA had to roll with. It just is what it is and collectors will have to decide for themselves if it’s a deal breaker or not.

Raph comes with a buddy and a not-buddy.

Obviously, for me Raph’s complexion was not a deal breaker since I bought it knowing full well it was wrong. I can’t say I dislike this color, but I would have definitely preferred him to be screen accurate. To go along with the figure we get a secondary portrait featuring his whited-out eyes and a yell. For hands, we get the usual gripping hands, fists, and a set of the relaxed open hands Leo came with. Raph also has the slice of pizza, smoke bomb, and T-phone. For unique accessories, there’s Chompy, the baby space turtle Raph took in for a little while. You may be wondering why he didn’t come with Spike, his first pet turtle, but he’s coming with someone else. Raph also comes with his nemesis: a tiny cockroach with a tracking device. Raph hates cockroaches and this little guy would go on to become the Cockroach Terminator. He looks good, but there’s almost too much paint and it gets a little messy. Lastly, Raph has his trusty sai. They’re very thin and rigid with zero give so they’re a little scary. Do be careful with them. Because of the thinness, you may be tempted to try and fit them into the tight gripping hands, but I would still advise to just play it safe and heat those hands first. He has his weapon storage on the rear of his shell which works well.

“Want this last slice I found under my bed?”
Weapon storage.

Raph’s articulation is exactly the same as Leonardo and Donatello. His range is no better or worse than either as well, though Donnie’s thinner arms seem to get a little more range at the elbow. Like Donatello, my Raph did not have any stuck or stubborn joints. He has been pretty free and easy since coming out of his box. He does present his own frustrations, but they’re not really articulation related. The sai handles are so thin that he doesn’t get a great grip on them. They won’t really fall out, but they’ll spin around a lot when handling him. And if you’re the sort who likes to have their Raph hold his sai with the middle blade between his fingers then you will definitely want to heat the hands first. And I would reheat them to remove the sai as well. It certainly looks cool to display him this way, but I’m hesitant to leave him for too long like this out of fear it might warp the sai.

Too bad Leo has to remain eyes-out.

Raph is another solid entry in NECA’s 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line. He is structurally the same as his brothers so if you like them you’re probably going to enjoy Raphael as well. He just comes with the unfortunate caveat that he’s not the right shade of green. And we’re not talking about a minor difference here, but a pretty obvious one. Like I said in the write-up, if that doesn’t bother you then you’re sure to like this figure. If it does, well, it might be the only thing you can see. I confess, it does bother me and it’s in the back of my mind every time I look at the figure, but I wasn’t going to not get Raphael. This isn’t a line I plan to go deep on with variants and such, but if NECA ever does a corrected Raph I might have to bite at that.

Miss any of our TMNT 2012 coverage? Check these out:

NECA TMNT 2012 Donatello

We were able to get through some of the logistics of this line with Leonardo, so for this second review we can just get right to it. One of the best decisions the 2012 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made was bringing back veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen. He’s voiced countless characters over the…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT 2012 Leonardo

We’re going to start this one off with a question: When you order directly from a producer, do you expect to be first in line for product? NECA’s recent launch of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series raised this question. On September 16, NECA launched the line…

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by Joe

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November 18, 2025

NECA TMNT 2012 Donatello

By Joe
He has a way with machines.

We were able to get through some of the logistics of this line with Leonardo, so for this second review we can just get right to it. One of the best decisions the 2012 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made was bringing back veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen. He’s voiced countless characters over the years, but many know him as Raphael from the original TMNT cartoon. For the 2012 show, the decision was made to have Paulsen play a different turtle: Donatello. It made sense to move him off Raph who is almost never portrayed in the same manner as he was in that cartoon. He’s more aggressive, frequently angry, and not the wise-cracking fellow from the old show. Not that Paulsen couldn’t adapt to a different style, but hearing his take on another turtle was an opportunity for something different.

It felt like it made sense to show Donnie with the shortest and tallest figures from wave one.

Donatello in the 2012 show is similar to past versions of the character. He’s the brains, able to come up with clever gadgets and such, but he’s also pretty introspective, insecure, and about as confused about his place in the world as most teenagers. It was fun seeing an episode where Donatello questions the worth of his bo staff. As a kid, I always saw that weapon as decidedly lame compared with what the other turtles had. Combine that with the more feminine purple of his bandana and it made Donatello the lamest turtle to my six-year-old brain. This Donatello is one I can appreciate and he has more nuance than perhaps any of his brothers. His affection for April is a long-running story and a bit tragic in some ways.

This thing can be fiddly.
“All right, a real weapon!”

NECA’s interpretation of Donatello comes courtesy of sculptor May Thamtarana with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. Ciro Nieli did the illustrations on the box just as they did for Leonardo. Donatello stands a tick under 5.875″ giving him considerable height over his brothers, but leaving him shorter than Shredder. As the tallest turtle in the show, this strikes me as appropriate. His sculpt is almost entirely different from Leonardo’s and that’s going to be true of his brothers as well. From what I can tell, the only parts shared between the turtles are the hands. Everything else is unique which is pretty impressive and can also be a sign of variants to come.

You know Donatello is always going to have gadgets.

Donatello is very well built for not only is he taller his proportions are pretty on-model. His limbs are longer and compared to some of his brothers thicker, or thinner, depending on the turtle. His belt and plastron have the same weathered approach as Leonardo and by default he’s sporting his battle portrait. NECA and Thamtarana really nailed the shape of Donnie’s head which is smaller and rounder than the others and sits pretty high. Like Leo, he’s the most on-model interpretation of this character we have seen yet cast in plastic. He also comes with some minor assembly required. The holster for his bo is a separate piece which plugs into his shell. There’s a hole in the shoulder strap to accommodate this. The actual part is a softer plastic than basically everything else in the box and I saw some people express frustration with getting it in place. Mine went in without issue, but I also got to it shortly after it was delivered in a fairly cool climate which may have helped. If it were warm and more pliable it might have been a different story.

“Having a chicken around really pays off!”

Donatello comes with gripping hands by default as well as a set of open hands and a set of pointing hands. The right open hand is more of a C-grip hand and I assume it’s for his other accessories. He does have an alternate portrait with his pupils visible and a big, open-mouthed, smile which exposes the gap between his front teeth, a hallmark of the character. It’s a great likeness and it’s exactly the kind of portrait we want to see with these figures. He also has his trusty bo staff which can separate at the tape. This makes it a little easier to slot into his holster, but also allows for it to be switched with the included bladed end creating a naginata. Donnie’s lame weapon got a little upgrade in the show. He also has more unique accessories in the form of his microscope goggles and a homemade tracking device that appears to be made out of a Game Boy and egg beater. The goggles don’t get a snug fit on either head, but will probably stay if placed on a shelf. Donnie also has the same T-phone, smoke bomb, and pizza slice as the rest. His last accessory is Dr. Cluckenstein, the big-brained chicken. She looks good, though is just a slug figure with no articulation. Mine also came with one of the toes broken off which is a bummer. It’s the only real quality control issue I had with the wave.

Poor little fella has a broken toe.

Donatello has the same articulation as Leonardo with the only difference being his shape provides for more range in places. He can look up much better than Leo and his shoulders are easier to engage with. He’s also the figure I had the least amount of issues with out of the box as far as stuck joints are concerned. Knees and elbows all worked fine as well as the ankles. He has the same horizontal wrist hinges as Leonardo, though it’s less of an issue with his chosen melee weapon. His gripping hands are just as rigid though so you’ll want to heat them up before trying to get him to hold his staff. Even the C-grip hand isn’t particularly good for anything without some heat if you want him to actually grip something with any authority. I did have issues swapping heads again, though in this case the default portrait came off fine, it’s just the alternate didn’t want to go on. I just heated it up and that was that.

They’re a lovable bunch.

Donatello is an overall better release than Leonardo and might be the best in the line. I’ll reserve judgement for that until I’ve spent more time with the rest of wave one, but I think he just comes together in a nicer package. His articulation is slightly more forgiving, his accessories more purposeful, and best of all he has two worthy portraits for your display. He’s still not as articulated as he could be, but if you just want an on-model Donatello from the 2012 series you’ll be hard pressed to do better than this.

We have plenty more from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to refer you to:

NECA TMNT 2012 Leonardo

We’re going to start this one off with a question: When you order directly from a producer, do you expect to be first in line for product? NECA’s recent launch of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series raised this question. On September 16, NECA launched the line…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Toon Donatello’s Portable Portal Generator

Is this it? Have I finally hit the point where my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy collecting is out of control? It just might be, for today we have Donatello’s Portable Portal Generator, the latest piece from NECA’s line of toys based on the vintage cartoon series. And it’s not that this is a bad…

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by Joe

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November 11, 2025

NECA TMNT 2012 Leonardo

By Joe
He’s the leader in blue.

We’re going to start this one off with a question: When you order directly from a producer, do you expect to be first in line for product? NECA’s recent launch of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series raised this question. On September 16, NECA launched the line on its own webstore where their fans could purchase the four turtles as a bundle. If they wanted to add Shredder, then the order would qualify for free shipping. It seemed like a solid deal. Then on September 28th, the same selection of characters appeared on Walmart’s website as in-stock. Those who took advantage of the NECA sale were still waiting for their order to ship, but someone who waited it out could order from Walmart that weekend and get their figures a few days later. A bit of a raw deal, but it’s just toys, right?

It’s another installment of turtles from NECA.

It gets a little more complicated when the reality that NECA fulfills all its own orders is introduced. In other words, whether you order through NECA direct or Walmart, you’re just ordering from NECA. It all gets packaged and shipped by NECA, and even though the people who ordered directly from them were charged upfront, the people who ordered through Walmart essentially jumped the line. And then following that came the shipping woes. Numerous reports of wrong orders, wrong tracking numbers, duplicate tracking numbers, and partial shipments. Several people who ordered from NECA ended up getting shipments of just Michelangelo and Shredder with an assurance the rest would ship later. This on top of NECA’s well publicized shipping woes of the prior year just added to an overall bad experience. I got my set through NECA. I ordered on the 16th of September and didn’t receive a partial shipment. I got the whole thing on October 29th. I don’t really care about when I get stuff, as long as I get it, but it is annoying to see the same company prioritize different orders. Just better communication would solve most of the issues, but apparently that’s too hard.

The likeness is pretty damn good here.

It’s a shame there was such consternation in the collector sphere for this line because I think it had a lot of positive buzz leading up to release. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nickelodeon show was a hit both commercially and critically. It’s held in high regard by old and new TMNT fans for its successful melding of the classic comic book tales and some new stuff. It’s really one of, if not the, best takes on the franchise. As part of the 40th anniversary, Nickelodeon wanted to celebrate a lot of eras of TMNT and do so by merchandizing the hell out of it. Super7 had the 2003 cartoon shopped to them while NECA got 2012. And while I grew up on the 87 toon, the 2012 series was the one I watched with my kids. They loved it and for them it’s “their” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so this franchise holds a special place in my heart. When NECA announced they were doing figures from this show I was very much onboard.

He comes with a decent assortment of stuff, but I’m guessing most will just rock the swords.

And up first is the leader in blue – Leonardo. Unlike other iterations of the turtles, this is a property that can’t get by with one sculpt for four boys. The turtles from this show all had a unique appearance. It wasn’t just a different colored bandana or a belt with a shoulder strap. As a result, it feels more appropriate to give each turtle his own review. I did get Shredder as well, so we’re going to have a lot of TMNT content for a little while. I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get these reviews out because we also have Christmas to talk about, but we’ll see how it goes.

I don’t really know what these hands are for, but he comes with them.

Each turtle is sold as an “Ultimate” version with the standard five-panel packaging. It’s adorned with artwork by Ciro Nieli. The sculpt is by a name new to me, May Thamtarana, with paint by the usual NECA duo Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. There’s no photography on the box which is a bit unusual, but it does have some spine art which will create a mural for those saving boxes. Leonardo, despite being the leader, is actually numbered 4 in the series which is just wrong. Everyone knows it goes Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, then Michelangelo. That’s the only order I’ll accept.

Scale on this line is going to be pretty interesting.

Leonardo stands at right around 5.5″. If you’re curious about scale, that would put him at a height of 5’6″ in 1:12 scale, 4’7″ in 1:10 scale. I think it’s safe to say that NECA is going for 1:12 with this line based on that. I tried to find an official height chart for the show, but came up empty. I saw lots of unsourced claims that Leonardo is supposed to be between 5’4″ and 5’6″ with one outlier saying he was a mere 5’1″. I did see one piece of production art for Leatherhead that placed Michelangelo at an even 5′ while NECA has the figure at about 5.125″ tall. In other words, I think this is close enough.

He has a gun. Cool?

What is going to be this line’s strong suit is the overall look and proportions of these characters. From the unique proportions to the shape of the limbs it’s all very evocative of the show. NECA, as usual, utilized a liberal amount of paint to bring Leo to life. The body may be molded in green plastic, but it’s coated with paint as well to give it a rich, matte, finish. There’s some nice dry-brushing on the wraps present on the wrists and ankles and some weathering to the shell. He comes ready for battle with whited-out eyes and a little slit of teeth visible which was applied cleanly. The only shortcoming I’m noticing in the presentation department are the knee pads, which while textured very nicely, do give off a shiny appearance like they’re not painted. The right-most scabbard also has some sloppy, white, paint inside it and I’m not sure why they bothered as it seems to interfere with the swords as well. On one hand, it’s some nice attention to detail if that was always visible in the show, but I’d also rather be able to insert a sword into it easily.

If it wasn’t already useless, I can’t even get this alternate head onto the figure because the ball joint keeps popping out of the neck.

Where we are going to run into some issues is with the accessory load-out. When NECA debuted these figures at Toy Fair earlier this year each turtle appeared to have the battle portrait and a more casual one. When it came time to ship them, that was still true of 3 of the 4 turtles, but not Leonardo. His alternate portrait has his eyes closed like he’s meditating. I know there was a storyline where he was unconscious a few episodes, but literally no one wanted this portrait in place of one where his eyes are open with visible pupils. It’s either really bad judgement on NECA’s part or a naked attempt at making a future accessory pack or variant figure more enticing. I usually have to reserve this mini rant for Super7, but if NECA is going to call this the “Ultimate” Leonardo figure, then he needs a portrait where his damn eyes are open. As for the portrait itself – it’s fine. If that’s what you want for your Leonardo. I can’t see myself ever using it and that’s especially true since I can’t get his default head off without having the neck joint come out with it.

This scabbard keeps falling off, which is really annoying.

Aside from that major boner, the rest of what’s in the box is pretty solid. Leonardo has his two katana, and in keeping true to the show, one is shorter than the other. Maybe it’s hard to find matching swords when you live in a sewer? It’s funny that they bothered to add this detail to the show since it’s not an obvious or dramatic difference, but it’s represented here. The swords are well-painted, but the hands he has to hold them are extremely rigid. Heat them up, don’t try to shove them into his hands, no good will come of that. In addition to those gripping hands, Leo also has a set of fists, relaxed open hands, and these odd looking hands that kind of look like a “hang loose” gesture. He also comes with a smoke bomb (basically a little egg), T-phone, and a slice of pepperoni pizza. Those three things are included with each turtle. His unique accessory is a gun that I think he acquires from The Kraang in an episode. I don’t remember it, and NECA doesn’t list out the accessories on the box, but it looks pretty cool. It’s just as hard for him to hold as his swords if you don’t heat up a hand, but he can support it with an open hand for a two-handed pose.

Everybody comes with a T-Phone, pizza, and smoke bomb.

I was curious how these turtles would pose given their more slender profile vs other iterations of the gang. For the most part though, these are NECA figures and they handle like NECA figures. The head is a double ball-joint with decent range. The neck is angled though so Leo doesn’t look up very well, but aiding that is a diaphragm joint that basically just allows the entire shoulder and neck area to rock back and forth a bit. It’s not dramatic, but it’s also not nothing. Arms are fairly basic: shoulder ball-hinge, bicep swivel, double elbows, wrist swivel and hinge. The gripping hinge is the wrong one as once again NECA failed to provide a vertical hinge for a sword-wielding character. It’s perhaps my biggest pet peeve with the company as they’re incredibly inconsistent about it. Most of the Ultimate releases in the toon get the correct hands, but we’re starting off on the wrong foot with the 2012 line. Seriously, I’d trade the stupid gun for better hands. Or a better alternate portrait.

You can pose him with the smoke bomb if you really want to.

The rest of the articulation is also pretty standard. There’s a waist twist, but the shell really limits it. The side panels seem to extend a lot lower than usual too which cuts it off further. Ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, and ankle hinges and rocker round it out. The shell/plastron interferes with range at the hips. The plastron is soft, but not that soft. He won’t kick out a full 90 degrees nor can he do splits. The ankle rockers gave me some trouble out of the box, but I seem to have them moving now without having to heat them up. I didn’t have any issues with the usual trouble spots of knees and elbows, but the shoulders are pretty tight. And since the arms are so thin, they can be a bit harrowing to manipulate. It’s hard to engage the shoulder hinge without putting strain on the bicep peg. If you’re used to NECA articulation, then I don’t think he’s necessarily much better or worse than we typically see. I do wish we would get some real innovation at this point when it comes to TMNT figures because the same old articulation schemes are getting hold. I feel like we should have ab crunches by now. If Hasbro can make a Hulk clap than surely someone can make a turtle bend over.

To match eyes or not?

Leonardo isn’t the lead-off homerun I was hoping for with NECA’s new TMNT 2012 toyline. He looks great, but the little issues with things like his scabbard, the way too tight gripping hands, the wrong hinge articulation, and that lame alternate portrait really put a damper on him. He’s also the only figure in this first wave, including Shredder, to not come with a little buddy character and that’s a bummer. The gun accessory is really well done for what it is, but it’s just so useless. I’ll never display Leonardo with a gun, which just puts more of a spotlight on what’s missing. He’s the best looking 2012 Leonardo we’ve received provided you want to display him in battle mode and that’s going to have to be good enough if you’re into this version of the franchise.

We don’t have a lot of TMNT 2012 toy talk here, but we have some plus a lot of Leonardo:

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Classic Rocker Leonardo

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

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by Joe

JoyToy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

It’s been said before and it will be said again: everyone is making Ninja Turtles. It feels like the list of companies not making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is smaller than the list of those who are. Viacom has not been shy about licensing the brand out to toy makers and it’s reaching a point…

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by Joe

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