Tag Archives: teenage mutant ninja turtles

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

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April 9, 2024

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

By Joe
Hail to the King, baby!

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

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

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

“Thanks for the hardware, Kirby!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kirby also comes with a little buddy.

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

And when I say little I do mean little.

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

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

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

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

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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March 26, 2024

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Deluxe Mouse-Jaw

By Joe
Let’s talk about evil robot guy and his mechanical sidekick.

Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can find them basically wherever Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line is sold. The deluxe figures are apparently going to be exclusive to Walmart. These are bigger or more involved figures that will cost you an extra five bucks. I’m not sure if it’s been confirmed that they’re exclusive to Walmart, or just first-run. Like a lot of store exclusives, don’t be shocked if they wind-up elsewhere by the end of the year. Lastly, we have the deluxe figures with included build-a-figure parts. These too will run you an extra 5 bucks vs. a standard figure and they can only be found at Target. And up first from that subline is Mouse-Jaw, the amalgamation of MOTU villain Trap-Jaw and the mechanical menace M.O.U.S.E.R. from TMNT.

I was going to just get the turtle boys, but here I am adding a villain. And a MOTU villain at that.

If you read my review of the Leonardo and Donatello figures from this line then you know I’m not much of a MOTU fan. It just never hit for me as a kid though I did watch the old cartoon and the mostly terrible movie. As a result, I only have surface level memories of the characters and toys from the show, but Trap-Jaw was indeed one such character. I also liked the robotic, or cyborg, type of characters and he seemed pretty neat. And, of course, I am well versed when it comes to Baxter Stockman’s mousers and I’ve owned several mouser toys over the years. This particular combination of characters feels quite clever. Mouse-Jaw (I’m assuming Mouse Trap was unavailable for toy marketing, or maybe Mattel just wanted a name it could trademark if it wanted) stood out among the rest when the first round of figures were revealed. He really looks exactly like one would expect of a mash-up of these two entities. All of the robotic parts on Trap-Jaw have basically been replaced with mouser parts. It’s all in the aesthetics of MOTU Origins, plus it comes with parts to eventually build the Metalhead-Roboto combination: Metal-Roboto (clever, huh?).

All right, that’s just a cool toy.

What kept me from getting this figure right away was not its design, but its price. Twenty five bucks for a retro-inspired action figure feels too rich. Granted, if you get all four of these planned releases you will end up with five figures for 20 bucks a piece – i.e. the standard MSRP for the other figures in the line. The issue there is I still think the 20 bucks is pushing it. Origins is typically in the $15 per figure range, but I’m guessing the extra five bucks is essentially Viacom’s cut for including the turtles. Still, being a TMNT fan and not really a MOTU one, I’ve mostly decided to pass on the MOTU characters. Lucky for me, Target stocked a lot of these guys and it soon became the only figure from the first wave warming the pegs at virtually every Target I’ve gone into over the past month. Perhaps for that reason, or just to make room for the next Target exclusive figure in the line, Mouse-Jaw hit the clearance rack recently knocking the barrier for entry down to $15. In other words, right in line with what I want to pay for this line.

“When your powers combine…”
“…I am flamethrower mouse guy!”

Mouse-Jaw, despite carrying that “deluxe” label, is still your typical MOTU Origins figure. The torso, legs, and left arm are pretty standard and molded in blue plastic, for the most part. His legs do feature some unique sculpting, which may be from past Trap-Jaw figures, and the feet seem new as they resemble mouser feet. What is definitely new is the head which looks like the usual Trap-Jaw portrait, only with a mouser head around it like a helmet. The bottom jaw of the mouser is what forms the famous jaw portion of Trap-Jaw. The face, which is green, looks like a separate piece that’s glued in leaving the eyes and inner mouth as the only parts needing paint. The top of the helmet has a mouser eye painted on it, and the other major new part is the right arm. It’s all in molded, white, plastic and it’s designed to match the white portion of his harness to create the illusion of the entire right side of the character’s body being robotic. The shoulder bares some resemblance to a mouser head and the wrist ends in a canon. It looks pretty cool, though in what is typical of the line the absence of paint harms the aesthetics. Some linework, a wash, or just some painted details on the sculpted bits would have really made this figure stand out even more, but I get it, that’s not what this line is going for.

This makes me wish Hasbro had snuck a mouser into its TMNT x Power Rangers line.

Mouse-Jaw’s chief accessory is an actual mouser. It’s a conventional take on the diminutive robot with a working jaw, swivel in the head, swivels at the hips, and hinges at the ankles. The head also slides a bit on the neck piece if you want Mouse-Jaw to cock him like a shotgun. It has the same chicken posture as always and size-wise is probably right in between the recent mousers from Super7 and NECA. It does lack a way to look up and down and the only paint is the red for the “eye.” Inside the mouth, is another canon and on the rear is what could be confused for a stubby tail, but is really an adapter to plug the robot into Mouse-Jaw’s arm canon. This certainly adds some flair to the display, though it makes Mouse-Jaw harder to stand. It’s especially hard to deal with if you also clip in the included flamethrower effect. Sculpted in translucent yellow-orange plastic, the flamethrower can fit in the mouser canon or Mouse-Jaw’s canon. You can also pop the legs off of the mouser and clip them onto the sides of Mouse-Jaw’s belt. It’s a little goofy looking, but presents a more streamlined mouser gun.

While we wait to assemble Metal-Roboto, his parts can be put to use by other figures.
You can also plug the Metal-Roboto weapons into the gun arm of Mouse-Jaw in case you think he needs a double gun arm.

The only other accessories included are the build-a-figure parts. These include the right arm for Metal-Roboto and a trio of weapon parts: a gun, axe, and claw. There’s also a little, silver, transistor-like accessory that appears to be a hand adapter so Metal-Roboto (or really anyone) can use the extra weapons in place of hands. The arm is done in metallic silver with a light blue forearm. The elbow won’t have much bend to it when the figure comes out, but that’s more of a topic for later. The weapons are molded in a slightly pearl, blue, plastic. There are two ports on the arm, one on the outside of the shoulder and one the top of the forearm, they can plug into and it looks like the third will plug into the figure’s back. It’s a bit of a bummer that Mattel included the right arm instead of the left. That’s because these figures are modular and Mouse-Jaw can use this arm for his own if you wish and it looks kind of cool, but I’m not replacing the mouser arm for it. At any rate, I am interested in completing this version of Metalhead so hopefully the next three figures are of interest to me (and can be had for less than 25 bucks).

At first, I had no idea what purpose this silver piece served.
Then I figured it out and it’s pretty cool.

The articulation for Mouse-Jaw feels like it’s pretty typical of the line. I say this as someone who has only handled the turtle versions previously, but it really is more of the same. Where Mouse-Jaw differentiates itself from those figures is at the head where the jaw is articulated. It doesn’t open that wide, but it’s not nothing. The right shoulder is pretty limited due to the sculpt. You won’t be able to raise the arm out to the side very far, not even 45 degrees, and for some reason the elbow can’t hit a 90 degree bend when it should have been easy to achieve that and then some due to the sculpt. The ankles are also pretty restricted due to the shin sculpt. The ankles are basically useless as a result, which is a shame as that’s the one articulation point I want as much range as possible for assisting with stances. The articulation is worse than the turtles and rather basic. This figure needs to derive its shelf presence via the design more than the posing.

I hope that armor’s fireproof, Donnie.

Despite those limitations, I do like this figure. It’s a fun look, though I do look at it and think to myself it would look a lot better with more painted details. That’s just not this line though and I can’t exactly hold that against it if it’s not what Mattel is striving for. At 25 bucks, it’s definitely overpriced especially if you have no interest in the build-a-figure. At the 15 I paid it’s pretty much right on the money for me. The next figure in the line is a Slash-Faker mash-up called Sla’ker which I’m less interested in. I definitely won’t want to pay full price so hopefully Target ordered a whole bunch of them and I can wait it out. If you get a chance to add this one for the same price I got it at then I think it’s a no-brainer if you’re at all interested in this line.

Like mousers and MOTU? Check these out:

NECA Cartoon TMNT Mousers Pack

It’s been a little while since we had a Turtle Tuesday around here. NECA was keeping me quite busy in March with release after release and really putting a hurting on my wallet. Not only were sets hitting stores, but items were going up on NECA’s website for preorder, all of which require payment upfront.…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Baxter Stockman

I am weak. When Super7 first unveiled its Ultimates! line of figures based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline from Playmates I said I was out. I still had those toys so why did I need 7″ versions of them in 2020? I had NECA and all of the TMNT product being released there,…

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by Joe

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Leonardo and Donatello

These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly…

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by Joe

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March 12, 2024

MOTU – Turtles of Grayskull Leonardo and Donatello

By Joe
The warriors of the forgotten sewer have just been legitimized.

These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly opening up, many of the world’s biggest toy producers have laid their hands on TMNT. One of the last remaining holdouts, Mattel, is now joining those ranks which is interesting because Mattel very nearly acquired the license from the beginning. A prototype was even made for a potential Mattel turtle, but it never went farther than that. Well, better late than never (yeah, right, think about all of the money Mattel and others missed out on by passing on TMNT in the 80s) as we now have Mattel versions of the turtles, but with a decidedly different flavor.

It’s Leo like you’ve never seen him before – naked!

Masters of the Universe is a toyline I’ve never been into. I was born into a post-MOTU world where the action figure market was massive: C.O.P.S., Transformers, M.A.S.K., The Real Ghostbusters, just to name a few. Sure, I watched He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on television like many boys my age and I had been excited to see the baffling live-action movie as well. I guess it just didn’t stick. For whatever reason, I can never recall asking my parents for the toys. I had friends and cousins who had a bunch of MOTU figures and play sets, but I never did and never really yearned for them either. It’s a bit surprising to me that I didn’t have one figure, but that’s just how it was. The only He-Man toys I can recall owning came from The New Adventures of He-Man. I had one action figure and one role play sword that made cool laser sounds. I don’t recall ever pretending to be He-Man while playing with it, rather I thought of myself as Link from The Legend of Zelda. That lone He-Man figure joined the likes of the Ultimate Warrior, Junkyard, and Sunstreaker as single toys I owned from popular toy lines.

That was an interesting design choice.

I suppose it goes without saying that the new mashup of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn’t specifically aimed at me since I don’t consider myself a MOTU fan. I do enjoy the good mashup though when it concerns my boys in green so it was naturally on my radar. And it’s impossible to be an action figure enthusiast in this day and age and not know about Masters of the Universe Origins. This retro-inspired toyline from Mattel is essentially the vintage line with modern improvements. The base look of the characters has changed very little, but they now have things like elbow joints – what a concept! It’s been well received and I constantly hear from TMNT fans how they wish Playmates Toys would do the same. It’s almost shocking that they haven’t tried (the Last Ronin figure they released is sort of in the same style), but maybe the re-releases are making them enough money?

Oh god I hate it. Put that shell back where it belongs!

First of all, I’ve seen the coverage of this line where a lot of the folks presenting it have stressed that this isn’t a mashup. It’s a story about the turtles and He-Man and there’s a companion comic book to emphasize that (it’s nothing special, but each figure comes with one). Bologna. There may be a story, but at least where the turtles are concerned, the character designs are clearly TMNT character crossed with MOTU character. Even the MOTU characters are getting turtle-themed armor so they’re like a mashup as well. Regardless, we have new character designs incorporated into the Origins set of tools and you’re either here for them or you’re not. For me personally, I could not care less about the MOTU characters. I’ll admit, Mouse-Jaw looks kind of cool, but I don’t need it. I’m here for the turtles and after only encountering the MOTU characters in stores, I finally came upon a lone Leonardo and singular Donatello so I decided to give them a whirl.

If you have always wanted to play dress-up with your turtles then these are for you.

This Turtles of Grayskull line of figures comes in a standard blister pack with new card art on the front and rear that’s pretty eye-catching. I confess, I don’t buy many blister-carded figures anymore so slotting these two in my shopping bag brought back the warm fuzzies of doing the same when I was a kid. Leonardo is billed as the heroic ninja turtle leader while Donatello is referred to as the heroic turtle-at-arms. In other words, this is He-Man Leo and Man-At-Arms Donnie. The Origins line is basically designed to be one size fits all – for the most part. This is nothing new to TMNT and it should come as no surprise that both figures are the same. The only sculpted difference are the heads. Origins differentiates releases via the accessories. Both figures have a bunch of removable armor pieces that either slide on or strap on. The only things non-removable are their furry trunks which are part of the sculpt, the wrist bands, and the shin guards. Donatello’s helmet also appears to be non-removable, which is a bummer.

They do have weapon storage, but in the case of Leonardo I don’t recommend it.

Both figures stand at a tick under 6″ – let’s call it 5 7/8″. They’re a little bigger than the vintage MOTU size, but I think that’s entirely due to these figures having articulated knees as opposed to pre-posed ones. As I said, the body is the same across both figures. It has a more pronounced V-shape to the torso and it reminds me a bit of the 2003 cartoon series design or the Super Mutants from even before that. It’s a different, more heroic, look for the turtles and their waists pinch in. The limbs are still plenty beefy and they have the right hands and feet. Leonardo is also in his classic Playmates green and Donatello in his brownish tone. The finish across the board is matte so no shiny, plastic, skin tones here. The shell is where the sculpt gets interesting as they have a sculpted-in shell on the back of the torso, but it’s not painted. Instead, they also have a more traditional shell that can be worn and it also doubles as a shield. It’s mildly unsettling. I don’t know why it bothers me, but it’s weird.

These two are pretty close in size to other modern iterations of the turtles so if you want them to drive the Turtle Van or the Party Wagon they probably can.

The Origins line is a throwback one, so it’s probably not terribly surprising to find out the paint, overall, is limited. The plastron is painted a sunflower yellow and each turtle has colored straps around their shins. The only other paint is reserved for the bracers on the wrists, the bandanas, eyes, and teeth. The paint on the bandana of my Leonardo is pretty sloppy with a lot of the blue continuing onto the face. I would have loved to have come across multiples of this figure in the store to see if some were better than others, but alas there has been only the one. The chest straps on my Leonardo were also stuck to the chest out of the package so the paint is a little marred underneath. There is a belt that goes across the back of the shell which is painted as well and it looks fine. Otherwise, these figures are more relying on the colored plastic of the armor bits to create shelf presence.

The traditional two-sword look for Leo kind of sucks with this release.

And those armor bits are a double-edged sword. Leonardo comes with a skirt piece, shoulder pads, and a chest harness which has this big, furry, mane attached to the back of it. He also has an additional forearm guard that is intended for his left arm. These three armor pieces just slide on and they make the figure more cumbersome to handle as they’re always moving. The Origins line is essentially a modular one so everything is intended to be mixed and matched amongst figures. In that, they’re kind of like the dolls we action figure collectors have been insisting are different from what we like. I don’t love the mane which appears to be glued to the harness which sucks. I was hoping it was removable, and I suppose if I really wanted to I could take it off, but I’m not the type to make permanent alterations to my toys. The chest strap does have some paint to it in the form of a big L in the middle of the chest which looks clean. The blue bits have a pearl quality to the finish, despite just being plastic and mostly look okay. They look better if you can hide the big rings on them that fit around the arms, but that can be a challenge.

Donatello looks fine, I’m just personally not a big fan of the Man-At-Arms aesthetic.

For Donatello, all of his armor comes on him out of the package. He has his own chest armor which features this big face guard right in the middle. I’ve never liked that aspect of the Man-At-Arms design and unfortunately that part doesn’t come off. In addition to that chest piece, he has a ring around his right bicep and a big piece of shoulder armor on the left. There’s a left wrist guard as well and he has shin guards which don’t loop on, but actually have plastic straps that basically function like zip ties. There are some silver bits painted on his chest and wrist as well as a fur trim, which is certainly a choice. The plastic is a lighter shade of purple and it also has that pearl quality that Leonardo’s has.

For some reason, I feel like the Power Rangers Shredder goes better with these guys than a standard one would.

In addition to the armor, both figures come with their own weapons. For Leonardo, he has his own take on He-Man’s sword of power, or whatever it’s called. It has a play feature in that it comes as two swords that can be snapped together into one. It’s cast in a silver plastic, and as one sword looks fine, but as two looks stupid. The handles are too thin for Leonardo to hold reliably and you’re better off just sticking with the one sword. It can slot into the belt on the back of the shell, but it’s tight and it left a weird bubble-looking eyesore on the blade. There must be a coating of some kind on the plastic. Donatello comes with what looks like a big mace. It’s all orange, and the handle is sculpted to resemble wood with tape around it like Donatello’s traditional bo staff. It can connect with Man-At-Arms’ version of the weapon to create one, large, version. There is a turtle shell sculpted into the top of the weapon, but given that it’s not painted it doesn’t really add to the vibe. I don’t particularly care for the look of this weapon, but it’s his only weapon so he’s going to have to make due. It also can slot into the belt loop and does so much easier than Leo’s swords. And as I mentioned before, the shells can come off and function as handheld shields, if you’re a sicko.

When it comes to mashups with other popular toy lines this definitely isn’t TMNT’s first rodeo.

Since this is a throwback line I wasn’t expecting much out of the articulation. Consider me surprised to find out these guys move pretty well. The heads are on double ball pegs so their range of motion is just fine. The shoulders are standard hinged ball pegs, but their range is plenty good as they can be raised up to a horizontal position and rotate just fine. They’re pegged in at a downward angle so rotating them can also raise the arms higher. There is no biceps swivel, but the forearm pegs in at the elbow and features a hinge so it rotates in addition to having the hinged motion. You should get 90 degrees, though this joint was the tightest on my figures. The wrists rotate and feature a horizontal hinge, the only major complaint I have since this is a line of guys wielding melee weapons. Give them vertical hinges!

I should probably toss-in one vintage comparison. This new Leonardo portrait and the shade of blue does give me 2003 vibes.

At the waist is a basic twist and the hips connect via ball and socket joints. They’re probably the most limited, or just tight, but they don’t kick forward as far as I’d like. I suppose this is a line of brawlers and not ninjas so I can’t expect the greatest range. There’s no room for the thigh to pivot on the ball joint, which is unfortunate. The knees are setup just like the elbows so you get a hinge and a rotation point. The hinge is very tight and offers less than 90 degrees of range. There is a shin twist and the ankles hinge forward and back and feature an ankle rocker. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the ankle rocker so that being there was a pleasant surprise that has colored my thoughts on the articulation in a more positive light. Stepping back from that, the legs kind of suck and there’s no ab crunch to be found. A ball joint at the waist would have been nice to get a little more nuance in there, but perhaps Mattel felt that would break-up the vintage look too much. It would have helped add to the modular nature of the line though as ball joints are usually easy to separate. I haven’t tried disassembling these guys beyond removing the head and the hands. The legs do not look like they’re designed to come off easily so I personally wouldn’t try.

As far as mash-ups go these figures aren’t bad. They’re definitely TMNT figures for MOTU fans first as opposed to vice versa. Some of the stuff I don’t like are just traits of the line and not something I’d expect Mattel to change because it’s attracting a new audience. Incidentally, it’s the modular elements of these figures that don’t go far enough for me that are among my biggest criticisms. I wish Donatello’s helmet was removable and the fur trim of Leo’s harness. I still think the removable shell is bizarre and off-putting, but that could just be me. It never bothered me when Cecil turtle did it in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but I guess I don’t like seeing Leonardo take off his shell.

“To arms, my turtles!”

The mashup nature of the line is probably what will determine how much someone likes it. Leo essentially crossed with He-Man is a no-brainer, though it looks like Michelangelo is going to be as well. Donatello as Man-At-Arms doesn’t do nearly as much for me and I mostly bought him because I know I’m going to at least want all four turtles. That’s just how these things go. They’re fun figures to mess around with though, and it does make we wish Mattel was in charge of a TMNT Origins line of its own since Playmates doesn’t appear interested in doing such. The quality of the construction is good, the figures have a nice feel, and I think they do a good job of balancing modern design with vintage aesthetic. At 20 bucks a pop, they’re not quite the deal I wish they were. At 15 bucks these would be no-brainers, but there isn’t much occupying that price level anymore. If you’re holding out for a clearance sale, it might be hard to come by. These things appear to be flying off the shelves with only the Target exclusive Mouse-Jaw lingering on the pegs near me (which may have something to do with its $25 price tag) so it may not pay off to wait. If you really want them, get them!

There’s not a lot of Masters of the Universe coverage here, but there sure is plenty of Turtle Talk:

Rad Plastic

I think it was during the summer of 2020 while spending one of the many days of that year inside and isolated that I stumbled upon a Twitter post about an upcoming book titled Rad Plastic. I believe the tweet was from the account The Toys That Made Us, which is (was?) a Netflix series…

by Joe

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Part 2)

Well, I sat on this one for awhile. Last summer saw the return of the Masters of the Universe to television in the form of Revelation. In somewhat typical Netflix fashion, the show arrived in “parts” rather than seasons though unlike many Netflix shows they’re at least not trying to trick us by calling either…

by Joe

Playmates TMNT The Last Ronin PX Previews Exclusive (Chase)

A few years ago, Mattel launched a new subline of action figures based on their most famous IP: Masters of the Universe. The subline was titled Origins and it basically took the vintage toys of the 80s and updated them with more modern articulation while still preserving that vintage aesthetic. And ever since then, collectors…

by Joe

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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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by Joe

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December 26, 2023

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Michelangelo

By Joe
Look who finally showed up.

Another Boxing Day is upon us and it’s an especially said one since 2024 is a leap year so we have to wait an extra day for Christmas 2024. However, it’s also the final Turtle Tuesday of 2023 so lets shell-lebrate with one last TMNT toy review before the ball drops on this one. March 2021 is when I got my hands on the NECA Quarter Scale Raphael from the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, in December 2023, the quartet is complete as I have acquired Michelangelo, the last of the brothers to see release. Because the four turtles were essentially all the same in that old cartoon series, NECA’s action figures follow the same mold. Literally. As such, there won’t be a whole lot to dig into with Michelangelo here that we haven’t already covered, but there’s a few things unique to this figure to touch upon. Mostly though, if you have and enjoyed the prior three then you’ve probably already ordered or already have Michelangelo.

Your Michelangelo can be either happy, scared, determined, or excited.

Michelangelo comes in the same Turtle Van style window box as the other three and will stand at nearly 15″ on whatever surface you choose to place him on. Just like the other figures, this mold is based on the 1:12 turtle figures first released in the Turtles in Disguise pack which have a more pronounced toon look to them based on the second season of the show and beyond, at least until the redesign that came late in the “Red Sky” seasons. There’s interchangeable expressions with the heads as each turtle came with happy eyes and angry eyes plus an assortment of mouth parts. For Mikey, he comes with the open-mouthed smile and the neutral, closed, mouth. If you have all four turtles, that means you now have two smiles, 3 open smiles, 3 neutral, and 2 yelling mouths. It’s kind of strange that we didn’t end up with four of anything so if you want all four turtles to look the same you’re out of luck, but there’s enough to have them all happy or angry at least.

Michelangelo arrives in a slightly different shade of green than his brothers.

Michelangelo looks basically the same as the others, just swap in orange for the other colors. He has the same belt as Raph which doesn’t feature any holsters for his weapons so you have to just sneak them in under his arms or something. The look for these figures is nice, though Michelangelo is a bit peculiar in that his skin tone is a slightly yellower green. You may not notice it out of the box, but once he’s with his brothers it’s apparent. It’s not a huge difference, but obviously it’s a difference that isn’t supposed to exist so someone screwed up somewhere. Either NECA approved a factory sample with this error color, or the factory messed it up when it went into production. How much it bothers one is going to vary. I don’t display my four turtles side-by-side so it’s not a big issue for me. I also don’t think the colors are so off that you can’t use the other mouth parts with Michelangelo. The hands look a little odder, but only if you place two different colored hands side-by-side. Nevertheless, if it sounds like something that will bother you then you could always wait and see if NECA does another run of these figures as it could be corrected then. Or maybe the newer releases for the other turtles currently on pre-order will look like this one.

The different colors are most noticeable with the hands while I think this mouth piece from a past figure looks fine on Michelangelo.

I’m not going to drill down into the articulation again since it’s the same as the other three. I will say that for Michelangelo his joints all seem to work as well as they can. Leonardo and Raphael both had fused thigh joints for me that just won’t budge even after applying heat while my Donatello works well. Michelangelo appears to have a fairly liberal amount of lubrication in his joints so things are moving very well right out of the box. The heads are still a pain in the ass to work with and will likely require a heat source, but at least that’s something that can be worked with. The thighs work fine and even the forearm swivels which I don’t know if I noticed that with the other three (or if it was possible). The joints are still pretty tight as they need to be for such a heavy figure. The knees, in particular, were stubborn out of the box, but I got them moving without heating them up. Michelangelo is going to move probably better than his brothers, though the heft of the figure will still limit what you can do with him.

Something youre figure won’t be able to do without modification.
Yeah, these aren’t the same as the ones on the box.
One long chain.

The main separator for these figures rest with the accessories. I already mentioned the head parts, but Mikey also comes with a set of gripping hands, pointing hands, and thumbs up hands. He’s basically only lacking the open palm hands. The gripping hands are exactly the same as before, so no vertical hinge and the fingers are spread further apart than usual since these are modeled after the sai-gripping hands intended for Raph. For those hands, Mikey has his nunchaku. Just like the 1:12 version, they’re done with painted plastic handles and real chain links connecting them. If you saw the solicitation images online or on the back of the box and got excited for how long the chain looks, you’ll be let down as the chain is much shorter on the final version. I count seven links while the figure on the box has basically double that. You could pry the links apart to create one, long, ‘chuk, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It means you won’t be able to do the under the arm pose on the box, so that’s a bummer.

As a nunchaku replacement, the Turtle Hook is lame, but as a tool? It’s cool.
More pizza.
The Turtle-Com is still nice.
Sorry Mikey, but I don’t think a quarter scale Kala is in the cards.

Michelangelo’s other unique accessory is the Turtle Hook, the famous weapon that supplanted the nunchaku since some cultures had an issue with that particular weapon. The Turtle Hook is an up-scaled version of the same that came with some of the 1:12 releases over the years. It’s painted and sculpted well and the hooks are on a hinge so you can open them up. They sound ratcheted and since the hook is very thin it’s definitely a little scary, but so far so good. There’s a yellow string affixed to it with a white piece of plastic at the end which Michelangelo can sort of grip. I wouldn’t mind a longer rope, or if they had built in a means to wind the rope on this larger version, but it’s overall a fun addition. The only other unique accessory for Michelangelo is a paper one which features an image of Kala the Neutrino on it. Otherwise, he has two slices of pizza which can connect with the six other slices to form one, whole, pizza if you have all four turtles. He also has a Turtle-Com just like the other three and it’s still a cool accessory, just less special since we’ve seen it four times now.

My chosen method for displaying this big boys. Yeah, the quadrant Mikey occupies is full of Gundam and other robots, but he’s just going to have to deal with it.

Michelangelo is really just more of the same, and that’s fine! It’s a bit of a bummer that the skin tone is a little different, but otherwise this is the figure you probably expected. All of the stuff that is good about the past three is still good here, and the bad stuff is still bad, though with Mikey at least the articulation is better than some. And it’s just nice to have all four turtles now. I have one in each corner of a display shelf I have and that open spot where Mikey is now is finally occupied, even if the quadrant he’s in doesn’t feature turtle figures (they can’t all be turtles). This is all I need him to do, and all I really need of the quarter scale line so if NECA announces giant Foot Soldiers or Shredder you’ll have to read about them somewhere else. Now that giant-sized Krang they showed off at Comic Con…stay tuned, I guess.

You’ve read my thoughts on Michelangelo, now read what I had to say about his brothers:

NECA Quarter Scale TMNT Toon Raph

My first NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles product was the original release of the Mirage Studios quartet released in 2008. Nearly a decade went by before I bought another TMNT product from NECA, and that item ended up being the quarter scale movie Donatello. It was love at first sight for me and Donnie, and…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Donatello

2022 has been a year of catch-up so far for me. A lot of stuff I preordered a year or more ago is finally coming due, and often without the actual preorder! The NECA quarter scale toon Donatello from the classic cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is yet another preorder that just didn’t get…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Leonardo

We’re not yet far enough removed from the holidays that Christmas has left my brain. And if you were to ask me what my favorite Christmas present was as a kid I wouldn’t hesitate to say my Super Nintendo. I had a real “Ralphie moment” in that I found it last having failed to notice…

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by Joe

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November 28, 2023

NECA TMNT Toon Turtle Van

By Joe
It’s finally here!

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 the end of the year, but that turned out to be far too optimistic. The vehicle did undergo a redesign between solicitation and release. Originally, it was going to have a big hump in the roof that most didn’t seem to care for (including me). To NECA’s credit, they listened and adjusted the design and the finished product looks much closer to the show than the prototype. Did that redesign account for the lengthy delay? Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know. All I know is that the Turtle Van is here and I’m going to tell you how I think it turned out.

The Turtle Van was one of my favorite toys back in the day. Of course, then it was referred to as The Party Wagon by Playmates, but I don’t think any of my friends referred to it as such because on TV they called it the Turtle Van. Like a lot of characters and playsets in the vintage line, the toy wasn’t modeled to look exactly like the one on TV. The Party Wagon was pretty close, but had more of a VW bus design to it. I still loved it, and the Christmas it came out it was a very hot item. I have an old home movie from Easter the following year where my grandmother can be overheard saying how impossible it was to find the Turtle Van at Christmas, which is why I received it as an Easter present (don’t weep for me, I got the sewer lair from her for Christmas). It was a big deal to a kid, right up there with the Ecto-1 and the Batmobile. It was hard to have an assortment of TMNT action figures and no Turtle Van. The thing was a necessity.

Ready to launch.

As an adult, vehicles for my action figures have limited appeal. I’m no longer a kid looking to actually play with my toys, so everything is purchased for posing and display. Vehicles rarely offer much in the posing department and they often take up a lot of real estate and come at a much larger price tag. This item was $250 plus $15 shipping since it was sold exclusively on NECA’s webstore, and for me, that price was basically right at the tipping point. I was hoping for $200 and assumed that wishing for less than that was a waste of time and $250 was about the most I was willing to pay. At the same time, I felt like I owed it to the kid in me who always wanted a Turtle Van that resembled the one from the cartoon to get this, and NECA’s seemed sure to deliver.

The Turtle Van comes in a giant box adorned with original artwork by Tim Lattie. The box itself measures 13″ x 17.25″ x 11.75″ and inside is a big clamshell held together by some tape. The van comes almost fully assembled, only the laser canons need to be inserted into the top, and there are no decals required. The van is approximately 7″ x 14″ x 11″ at the highest/widest points (excepting the canons). It’s a big vehicle and it will take up quite a bit of space wherever you plan to place it. The body is a matte, pale, yellow with a green bumper and roof. The tires are rubber with the inner rim a flat gray. All of the paint details in the bumper, on the tire cover on the front, and the roof look great. They are applied very well. The only paint imperfection I could find on mine is a tiny nick on the corner of the rear door. The windshield is transparent plastic or plexiglass as are the windows. The lights on the front and rear are LED lights which can be activated via a switch on the underside of the vehicle. There’s a dome light on the inside that sadly does not turn on as well. It very much looks the part and I really like how it turned out. The only critique I have is that the scale seems a touch off. It’s probably bigger than it should be and that seems most obvious when figures are placed in the front, bench, seat as they get kind of lost in this thing. I’m guessing the scale of the vehicle in the show wasn’t the most consistent, and it’s better to be too big than too small, but it is something I’ve noticed.

The Turtle Van has numerous features to it which help replicate how the vehicle behaves on TV. The roof opens up just like it did in the opening, though there’s nothing inside to launch them out. The interior has a bunch of generic electronics built into the walls so you can have Donatello messing around with stuff in there, though there aren’t any working levers or anything that intense. The driver’s side flips down to reveal a platform as it did on the show for Leonardo to take a stance and slice at some enemies. The opposite side swings open with a little half door below it that flips down similar to the Playmates version. For that side, there’s an included seat and laser canon that has to be snapped together, but then can be plugged in. By making it removable, it creates more space inside and I honestly can’t remember how often the turret showed up in the show after its first appearance. Sometimes, a collapsed version appears on the wall and NECA included what’s basically a plastic brick of the same which snaps onto the driver’s side platform.

The ladder, or “battle,” wall.
The hip wall.
For when the laser canon is stored.

Speaking of show inconsistencies, the wall behind the front seat seemed to change constantly. Sometimes it was wide open which is the default look for the Turtle Van. Other times, there was a brown hip wall which NECA included which can be plugged into the back of the bench seat. And then on other occasions there was basically a full wall which, for some reason, featured a ladder. I remember seeing that ladder as a kid and wondering where the heck it came from. I think there was, on occasion, an opening in the top for the turtles to emerge from, but my memory could very easily be faulty at this point. Nonetheless, the ladder wall is also included so you can have the Turtle Van resemble basically whatever version shown on TV that you want. It’s the type of attention to detail that I think collectors appreciate of a company like NECA and it’s something other companies just don’t seem to care about.

This thing is big!

In order to make use of these modular elements, NECA needed to make sure the inside of the van is accessible. We have the openings on the sides of the vehicle and the top and also the rear doors swing open too. The front of the roof can be removed as it’s just tabbed in and you’ll may need to do so in order to insert the optional wall parts. This is where some criticism can come in. The plastic feels a bit thin when it comes to the roof and removing that portion is definitely uncomfortable. The front doors, as well as the passenger side swing-open door for the canon, are attached via a lone, small, hinge each. It’s not the most reassuring design and I worry about displaying a figure behind the turret for a long time and what kind of stress that may place on said hinge. The driver’s side platform feels more secure, though the hinge could have been tighter as it basically needs to hit the surface of whatever you have the van on to support the weight of a figure when really it should be off the ground. The rear doors feel more secure, though are a tad finicky to get closed properly. The weight of the entire package feels fine though so this isn’t a cheap feeling product by any means, but there are some design decisions that aren’t as well thought out as I’d like. I would describe this as fragile, and if there’s one last thing I wouldn’t have minded to see included would have been some kind of stand to prevent accidental rolling of the wheels. A shelf drive would likely be catastrophic for this thing so plan accordingly.

“What’s up, dude?”
“Remember Leo, ten and two, ten and two…”
Rear lights.
Lights on.

NECA’s take on the Turtle Van easily qualifies as the definitive take on the vehicle from the show. It looks great, displays well, and even has some variety too in how it’s displayed. It may be a touch oversized, but at least that means you can fit a whole bunch of characters in it/on it which helps justify the amount of shelf space needed to display it. The only real bummer about the product is that it was pretty expensive and presently is not available to purchase at MSRP for those who wanted to wait and see how it turned out. I especially feel for anyone who disliked the hump in the original design, only to see NECA correct that after the preorder window had closed. Chances are, NECA will offer this again for purchase and it was even suggested by NECA that they may have extra after preorders are fulfilled. I guess keep your eyes open. At $250 (plus shipping), this thing is certainly in the luxury good category. No one needs it and your display of TMNT characters probably looks great without it, but there’s no denying it can also look pretty damn awesome with it.

Damn, this collection just got a lot bigger!

Well, if you want a Turtle Van, you’re going to need some figures to go with it:

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 TMNT Toon “Mutant Interest Story” – Deluxe April O’Neil

Whenever I approach my rankings for NECA’s now long-running action figure series based on the 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don’t always just pick the objectively best or worst toy in the line to slot them into the rankings. It’s a combination of the figure’s quality and the character’s importance. A great figure…

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NECA TMNT Toon “Colossus of the Swamps!” Deluxe Napoleon Bonafrog

NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures based on the animated series which debuted in 1987 has had some big figures. Most of these are what NECA terms “deluxe” releases and have included the likes of Krang in his android body, Chrome Dome, and the more recently released REX-1. The latest addition to…

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by Joe

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