Tag Archives: teenage mutant ninja turtles

May 9, 2023

NECA Cartoon TMNT Mighty Hog and Rhino-Man

By Joe
Look who came to save the day.

We did it! We finally made it to the end of the Haulathon releases from NECA Toys and we may have saved the best for last. Back in early 2020, I made a wish list for what I wanted from NECA and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was only 10 deep, though there were some duos in there, and with this release we have finally completed my initial wish list. Rhino-Man and Mighty Hog are the super hero versions of Rocksteady and Bebop. Don’t confuse them with Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady, those are the robot versions, these are the cheesy heroes with their underwear over their pants and capes tied around their necks. I don’t know why I liked this design so much for the pair. I think as a kid, I just liked superhero versions of popular characters. When Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck did it I thought it was fantastic. And those Happy Meal toys with the Looney Tunes in superhero costumes are maybe the best Happy Meal toys of all time. I suppose my affection for such things just caused the episode where Bebop and Rocksteady try their hand at heroics to be retained in my brain. A great many episodes of that show went in and went out pretty effortlessly, but Rhino-Man and Mighty Hog have lived rent free in there for over 30 years.

I love that these guys have been scaled down a bit as one of the only complaints I had about the wave two figures was that they were a little too big.

Perhaps Bebop and Rocksteady aren’t really so bad which is why tI liked seeing them as superheroes, even if they weren’t doing it out of a sense of justice. They’re almost too stupid to be evil, and as comedic relief in the show I think I warmed to them. Both have a very classic superhero look: shirt, trunks, tights, boots, cape. Rocksteady also adds some gloves and goggles while Bebop swaps his glasses for a bandana-style mask. Rhino-Man stands at about 6″ and is dressed in bright colors. Yellow for the shirt, red for the boots and gloves, and a light blue for the tights. He has his own logo on his chest and the goggles (which are removable) and blue cape just complete the ensemble. Bebop’s go as Mighty Hog has a bit more of DIY vibe to it I guess because he was designated the sidekick. His red cape is tied in a knot around his neck and he doesn’t get his own logo opting for a big, orange, M on his purple shirt. His black pants appear to be his normal pants as do the sneakers. He at least has some orange trunks and retaining the turtle shell shoulder pads is a good look. He’s also bigger than Rhino-Man coming in it at 6.5″ to the top of his head.

Can’t forget the jetpacks!

Both of these figures are all new tooling when compared with their prior release. That is welcomed as those molds feature some outdated joints and it’s nice to finally have updated versions of Bebop and Rocksteady, even if they’re not in their classic duds. The new head on Bebop looks terrific. I didn’t think it was possible to improve upon the first, but I think I like this one just a little better. Rocksteady didn’t turn out quite so well. He’s a little stubby looking, which is interesting because his other figures feel like their heads are just a little too long. He’s still clearly Rocksteady, he just doesn’t look as good as Bebop. The goggles go on and off relatively easy and definitely help to complete the look. Like the first go at them, these two do share some parts. Most obviously are the hands, but also most of the arms, thighs, and probably the torso. It’s hard to tell since both figures sport an overlay. The differences really rest with the forearms, shins and feet to go with the head.

“Heh, snort, you guys look stupid.”

As per usual with this line, the paint job looks pretty nice. Most of the figures feature the toon shading the line is known for where NECA uses a darker color for the figure’s rear. Some parts are skipped, like the feet and Rhino-Man’s belt which is a little odd. Mighty Hog also doesn’t have any shading on his pants since they’re black. The linework is clean and all of the little details we would expect to see from the show have been translated into 3D plastic. One bummer is the capes are both just plain soft goods. After getting a wired cape with Dark Turtle I was hoping for the same here, but I guess we weren’t that lucky. Bebop also still has the actual chain bracelet on his left arm which I could honestly do without. The authenticity is nice, but it’s a little annoying especially when swapping hands. NECA omitted the little T-hook this time so you could just take it off if you wanted to and you won’t have a weird piece of metal sticking out of your figure, though it also means the bracelet can come off even without removing the figure’s hand. I’m surprised they haven’t switched to a plastic one, but it’s fine.

They don’t have a ton of stuff, but it’s fine.

The accessories for this set are actually a little on the light side. Both figures come with the same sets of hands: fists, gripping, a left-handed peace sign, and a right handed chop. What’s missing is trigger finger hands, and while they don’t come with any guns, they used their standard white, laser, pistols (which you probably have a handful of laying around if you’ve been collecting this line for awhile) in the episode so that’s a bit of a bummer. The gripping hands can be finagled though to work with those older accessories. They also have their jetpacks which key into the back of each figure and once secured you’re probably never going to remove them. They also come with the police scanner which looks suspiciously like an old, 80s, cell phone. Shredder uses it in the episode to send the heroes after bad guys as there’s a contest going on that Krang wants them to win, hence why they’re heroes (the episode is just called “Rhino-Man” if you’re curious). Lastly, we get an accessory from a different episode, the Anxietron Ray from “Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe.” It’s a very intricate sculpt, though the device isn’t the prettiest. It reminds me of the baby translator Herb Powell creates on The Simpsons. It’s a cumbersome weapon to wield like an actual gun, but it can also just be placed on a surface and look fine. And I suppose it’s only included because there was room in the budget for another accessory and NECA didn’t see fit to pull anything else from the episode, which I mostly agree with. Some more hands might have been cool, but this is fine.

“Umm, hey, Mr. Dark Turtle, sir, can we please team-up with you?!” “WHAT?!”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this!”

Bebop and Rocksteady have never articulated particularly well when designed by NECA (or really anyone, for that matter) and Rhino-Man and Mighty Hog are mostly the same. The head for both is on a ball peg, likely a double, and they rotate fine. Bebop has a little more up and down range by virtue of having more of a neck while Rocksteady is slightly limited for both. Each figure has a hinged jaw and it’s not the prettiest hinged jaw NECA has done. Rocksteady’s looks pretty bad when opened all the way and Bebop’s doesn’t look much better. The hinge is just set too far forward on the head when it needs to be recessed further back. It’s also done in pink and then painted and if you tilt the head up all the way you can see the pink hinge poking through on the underside. It’s something you’ll never see when they’re on a shelf, but it is odd. The shoulders are ball-hinged and they can just about hit horizontal with Rhino-Man while Mighty Hog’s range is hindered by the shoulder pads. It’s also hindered when rotating while Rhino-Man is fine. There’s a biceps swivel past that and double-jointed elbows to go with wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally, including the gripping hands. There might be a diaphragm joint in both, but it’s covered-up by the overlay. There’s a ball joint at the waist that allows for rotation and a little tilt, but very little forward and back. The hips are ball and socket joints which is the welcomed change over the original Bebop and Rocksteady figures and they kick forward almost to horizontal and kick back a bit. Both guys can pretty much hit a split and there’s a little thigh twist there as well. The knees are double-jointed and those bend past 90 degrees and at the ankles we get the hinge and rocker setup. Bebop’s shoes are much better this time around and less restricted. They still don’t get a lot of range out of the hinge, but the rocker works pretty well. Curiously, the right foot on my Mighty Hog has a curve to the sole and I’m wondering if that’s a defect or true for all. He stands okay despite it, but it is odd.

“Stop, hooligans, you’ve tagged your last wall!” “Wait, how is this even happening?!”

Many of the joints on this set were pretty tight or stuck out of the box. Out of all of the Haulathon releases, that issue was most prevalent with this set. I don’t think I had to heat any joints on the other figures. I did opt to heat some of the hands to make inserting weapons easier, but with this set I had to heat the elbows to get them working. Rhino-Man couldn’t do much below the waist so he got the full spa treatment, but once things were heated and the paint allowed to “crack” at the joints, things started moving pretty well. I still have a stuck hinge on one of Rhino-Man’s elbows, and the same hinge on Mighty Hog has some chipped paint which is an eyesore, albeit a minor one. Overall though, the range of movement is pretty basic with these two. Even though the elbows are double-jointed, it’s actually hard to get them past 90 degrees and place both figures in a heroic pose with their hands on their hips. They’re also heavy and cumbersome so getting them to appear as if they’re flying using one of NECA’s flight stands is also rather precarious. They at least look up well enough to pull it off, but I definitely didn’t feel comfortable leaving them on a shelf like that.

“Rhino-Man! Away!” “Blast! You morons, you’re hitting me with your exhaust!”

Rhino-Man and Mighty Hog are two figures I was really looking forward to and I’m mostly satisfied with the result. I do wish the head on Rocksteady was a little better and that they moved easier as well, but overall I’m happy with how they turned out. They look silly and that’s appropriate and I definitely like having them on my shelf. I’m also happy that wish list has been filled. Is this the best set from this massive Haulathon drop? I’m not sure. Subjectively, it’s probably my favorite, but objectively there was little to find wrong with the Dirk Savage and Mona Lisa set. Chakahachi and Lotus look pretty cool too even if some QC issues with Lotus dampened my enthusiasm there. Mostly, these sets have continued to basically excel without necessarily blowing me away. I don’t know if any of these figures would crack my top 10 were I to revisit it (and I probably will have to at some point since so much has been added), but none are likely to end up in the bottom 10 either.

“Bomb’s away!”

If you would like to add these phoney heroes to your collection then keep checking Target. The main Haulathon drop is over and done with now, but more product is likely to keep shipping. Given that we’re talking about Bebop and Rocksteady, it’s likely more of this set was produced than some of the others. NECA may also open up orders on their website for those who missed out so just try to stay in the loop and avoid feeding the scalpers.

Can’t get enough of Bebop and Rocksteady or TMNT characters moonlighting as superheroes? Check these out:

NECA TMNT Cartoon Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady

2021 introduced a lot of good things for collectors of NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures based on the classic cartoon. The toy maker still kept the line a Target exclusive when it came to brick and mortar, but it also started selling a lot of it online to coincide with each…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Bebop and Rocksteady Target Exclusive Series

I have been rather fortunate when it comes to toy collecting in recent years. When I was a kid, toy collecting meant going to Toys R Us or a similar store and seeing what was on the shelf. Catalogs, commercials, and card backs were my main source of information. I assume there were newsletters and…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

May 2, 2023

NECA TMNT Adventures Dreadmon

By Joe
You guys like bananas?

We’re almost done with all of these NECA Haulathon drops from March and up today is the last of the single-packed figures, the Mighty Mutanimal Dreadmon! Technically, he’s the third figure in NECA’s line of figures from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures since he’s listed as number 3 on the box. However, Dreadmon was the most recent to actually hit stores as Man Ray and the actual number 4 figure Jagwar were released on the first weekend with Dreadmon following a week later. I don’t know why they shipped out of order, but it hardly matters in the end. Like Jagwar, this is Dreadmon’s first go at plastic. I could not confirm if he started off as action figure concept art like Jagwar did, but like Jagwar, Dreadmon has basically only existed in comic form. He started off with Archie in issue #15 in an adventure where the turtles and Jagwar encounter him and he’s also made the jump to IDW, albeit with a pretty substantial redesign. As another member of The Mighty Mutanimals, Dreadmon continues to put us on the path to one day assembling the full team which is something a lot of fans have been dreaming about for 30 years now.

Dreadmon comes in the same style box as Jagwar featuring new artwork from Ken Mitchroney, who was also the illustrator for Dreadmon’s debut issue. Out of the box, Dreadmon stands around 6″ to where his head most likely would end and 6.75″ to the highest point of his mane. I’m measuring him with his legs bent slightly as he’s intended to be posed, but you could possibly get him a little taller, or shorter, depending on how you position the legs as he’s one of those characters that really stands on his toes. As for what he is, he appears to be some sort of wolf man. The newer version of the character has clearly landed on jackal, but wolf seems fine for this version. Like Jagwar, he’s not a mutant and is actually a thief who was magically turned into this beast by a talisman. He’s of South African descent and his family escaped apartheid to Jamaica where a young version of Dreadmon became a street thief before eventually turning a corner after his encounter with the good guys. Even though the Archie books always had a reputation for being like kid version of the more serious Mirage comics, it’s pretty cool how a lot of the characters born within those books have a pretty mature backstory.

These two share quite a few parts. And a love of fruit.

Dreadmon is a character with a pretty neat design. He has a wild mane of hair on top of his black face that is supposed to be dreadlocked. There’s some evidence of that where the hair is twisted and slid through tiny skulls two of which hand over his shoulders with three more on the back of the head. There’s a lot of black linework in the hair to add some character while the sculpted texture looks more like thick fur to me. There’s even a curve to the back of the mane and from the side it looks a little spiky giving me images of Sonic the Hedgehog as I look at him. The ears and face are black with the nose and inner ear painted purple. It’s a fun look and the paint is really clean. The inner portion of his mouth is also painted and looks clean. For his attire, I’m not really sure what he’s wearing. He’s got this black tank top and a three-ringed necklace. Unlike a lot of figures from NECA, the torso clothing appears to be part of the sculpt instead of an overlay. He has a belt that looks like it’s wooden slates bound together by hemp rope and there’s a purple skirt sticking out below that. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be an actual skirt or was conceived as the end of a tunic, but it’s essentially a skirt and I think he pulls it off.

Obligatory scale shot – I’d say he looks fine.

A lot of the body outside of the torso on this guy is actually shared with Jagwar. The shoulders, biceps, hands, and thighs are the same which is fine. They don’t need to be different and this sort of reuse is what companies should be doing to keep costs down. And the parts are well-sculpted with a fur texture applied and they’re painted a matte brown. There’s also some black lines applied here and there and it’s a nice touch. The forearms are unique so that Dreadmon can have tufts of fur which are done in a redder brown to match his mane. He has some black spots there as well and there’s some on his thighs too. The lower legs had to be different to accommodate his canine feet so the calf is shorter because the foot is longer with a hinge in the center of it. He stands on his toes, though if you wanted to you could flatten the feet and stand him that way, but it looks pretty silly. He does have a tail which is a unique sculpt and it’s a bushy one the color of which matches the mane and there’s some linework applied as well. He looks nice as the paint is once again really clean and has the appropriate finish. The darker palette certainly adds some contrast to the display, but he still has that “pop” factor by nature of the design and those little hits of white and purple help. About the only thing, aesthetically speaking, that bothers me a little is that it’s hard to get him to look like he’s staring straight ahead. His head seems to always be tilted down and it’s hard to pose away and that’s basically due to the hair. We’ll get into that more with articulation, but that’s pretty much it. You do have to watch out for paint rub too as the white skulls that hang over his chest can leave behind streaks on the torso. I had some and I did lightly hit his torso with a dry Magic Eraser and it mostly came off, but I also don’t want to take off too much of the black either as everything is painted on this guy.

I did not have much luck with this particular accessory. The one on the left came with Jagwar and is missing the jaw while the one on the right came with Dreadmon and has a horribly misaligned eye.

A lot of Dreadmon’s accessories feel similar to Jagwar’s in both concept and because they are quite literally the same. That includes the hands as Dreadmon comes with the same, three, sets: fists, open, and gripping. NECA painted some black linework around the claws which does make them look a little better when compared with Jagwar’s which lacked that detail. Dreadmon also has the same Malignoid worm thing. The one I got with Jagwar was missing the lower jaw, while the one I received with Dreadmon has a terrible paint job. The black lines weren’t lined up properly so it looks stupid. I guess I can’t win when it comes to this thing. Dreadmon also has a fruit bowl, but it’s different from Jagwar’s as his bowl is a bit more distressed and also features some intestines under the fruit. He is a wolf or coyote or something and they do enjoy their entrails! It looks appropriately gross, though not exactly realistic, so it doesn’t throw off the vibe of the property. If it’s too nasty though you get a pair of bananas that he can hold. One is intact while the other has been partially peeled and is ready to eat. He has a blue can of something. There’s no indication of what’s inside it so someone more familiar with the property will have to clue me in, but it looks like a soup can. There’s also an unmarked grave. It just sits on a surface and looks foreboding though I have no idea what significance it holds since it’s unmarked. The Mutanimals did meet an unfortunate end in the books so it could just stand for that. Lastly, Dreadmon comes with a second set of eyes. His default ones are wide open and have a bit of a toon vibe to them while the alternate set is narrowed and more menacing. I like the look of both so I haven’t decided what I’ll ultimately settle on for the shelf, but it’s nice to have options. Swapping them is also pretty painless, provided you keep your thumbs clear of those pointy ears.

“Uhh, got anything without entrails?”

After being pleasently surprised with the articulation on Jagwar, I’m sorry to say that Dreadmon is a bit of a step back. Much of that is unavoidable based on his character design, but it is what it is. The head is probably on the standard double-ball setup we’ve been seeing with NECA figures of late, but the hair isn’t going to let you do much with it. You get some rotation and a little tilt, but virtually no ability for the figure to look up. There is a hinge at the base of the neck which will allow the figure to look down pretty far. The jaw is articulated and it’s fine as it looks good when open or closed. The shoulders are the standard ball-hinges we’re used and they rotate just fine and allow the character to raise its arms out to the side to a horizontal position. There’s a biceps swivel plus single-hinged elbows that have some room to swivel. He can hit a 90 degree bend, though I remain surprised that NECA opted not to use a double-jointed setup here. The wrists swivel and hinge and all of the hinges are of the horizontal variety. In the torso, we get just a ball joint at the waist with no diaphragm cut. He can rotate freely on that peg and crunches forward a bit, but doesn’t go back at all which is a bit surprising. There’s some tilt as well, but it’s pretty limited. The legs are ball and socket joints and NECA put slits in the skirt to keep them pretty much unencumbered. Dreadmon can just about his a full split and he kicks forward to about horizontal and kicks back a bit too. There’s some twist on the ball joint so you have some play there followed by the usual double-jointed knees. After that comes the ankle hinge and rocker followed by the mid-foot hinge. That hinge is a little loose for my liking, but he’s standing okay so I guess it’s fine for now. There’s also a ball hinge for the tail that gives him some pretty good range there as well. Because he has a bushy tail, it’s not wired for added posing like Jagwar’s or Man Ray’s. It’s also too short to be relied upon as a third leg of sorts unless you put Dreadmon in some really low poses.

It’s just pragmatic to have a blank tombstone onhand. You never know when you’re going to need it…

Dreadmon’s unique leg situation and the more simplified approach to the torso means he’s not as poseable as Jagwar or even Man Ray. The unique nature of the legs can also make him a bit tricky to just get straight up and down. You have to make sure both hinges in the knees are bent at the same angle in each leg and then the same is true at the ankle and foot. Often times, I find myself placing Dreadmon on a surface and he’s taller on one side than the other so I have to mess around to try to get his shoulders more level, unless I’m going for a more angled look. And then there’s the previously mentioned annoyance of just trying to get him to appear to be looking forward. I wish the waist joint could bend back to help with that as the range going forward just works against what I’m trying to do. As far as tightness goes, everything felt pretty nice out of the box. The joints are all tight in a satisfying manner. The only ones that are a bit on the loose side are the waist and foot, but neither are failing to hold a pose. He is going to be a little harder to stand than the other figures in the line, but if you’re having problems he does have peg holes on his feet. I’ve done a couple of poses with him so far to just leave alone and he’s fallen over a couple of times. Other times he’s been fine, so there’s a nuance to it when it comes to finding a shelf-safe pose that will last longterm.

That’s hardly a bad looking group.

Dreadmon gets us one step closer to assembling the entire Mighty Mutanimals squad. Slash was associated with them, but most consider the core team to be Man Ray, Jagwar, Dreadmon, Wingnut, Screwloose, Leatherhead, and Mondo Gecko. NECA has yet to indicate what’s coming next, but it will be interesting to see if they continue with the Mutanimals or if they pivot to something else. They have stated that evergreen versions of the turtles aren’t really in play right now as they’re design is very similar to the cartoon, but it was suggested that some of their other looks from the comics might be in play (think wrestling attire). Could that be next? Maybe, though I wouldn’t be shocked if such a set started off as a convention exclusive or something. I hope they don’t dick around though and just continue with the Mutanimals as a lot of people have been waiting a long time. Mondo and Leatherhead from the toon line can kind of fake it as Archie versions, but Wingnut and Screwloose most certainly cannot so it’s for that reason that I’d like to see them be next in line. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long.

If you’re looking to add Dreadmon to your collection of NECA TMNT figures then you shouldn’t have too hard of a time. Haulathon has come and gone at Target, but Dreadmon is not exclusive to that event or store. He should start showing up at other brick and mortar locations and will also be solicited to specialty retail. At Target, this figure cost $35 so the specialty shops will likely tack on a few bucks, but if you missed the initial drop your patience should pay off eventually.

Want to know more about the other TMNT Adventures action figures from NECA?:

NECA TMNT Adventures Jagwar

The next figure in NECA’s line based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic series is a much anticipated one for fans of those books and its spin-off The Mighty Mutanimals. And that’s because this character is making his debut in plastic. Previously, we looked at Slash who has been pretty well-represented in some…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Man Ray

Back when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world, there was a lot of brand synergy between all of the various media being generated by this one mega popular piece of intellectual property. The comics came first followed by a toyline which necessitated the creation of an animated mini series to basically serve as a…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Series Slash

As NECA continues to find success with its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines of action figures, the company has sought to branch out beyond the usual source material in an effort to give collectors more of what they want and also likely to just keep the hype train rolling. NECA started first with doing figures…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

April 25, 2023

NECA Cartoon TMNT Dirk Savage and Mona Lisa

By Joe
These two are on an odd pair, but not a bad one.

Today’s look at yet another Haulathon release from NECA Toys features two one-off characters from the cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dirk Savage and Mona Lisa. For Savage, this is his action figure debut as he wasn’t featured in the vintage Playmates line. For Mona Lisa, she was only featured in one episode of the show, but did benefit from an action figure and that’s honestly how I remember her. I did see her episode as a kid, but the memories are rather fuzzy. She has also shown up on other iterations of TMNT and is often paired with Raph as a romantic interest because turtles and newts so often mate in the real world. For casual fans of the property, this is definitely a set that will lead to some head-scratching, but if you’re all-in on this line then you probably expected these two to show up eventually, though maybe not together since they weren’t featured in the same episode. And in keeping with this line, they’re pretty good so you might want to check them out even if you can’t remember them.

That is some chin.

We’ll start with Dirk first, the mutant hunter who looks a bit like a cross between Flash Gordon and Judge Dredd with a little Jay Leno in the face. He stands at around 6.75″ to the top of his head and touches 7″ if you factor in the hair. Dirk is a great example of how this line has a little pop to it. We get a real bright red for this shirt to pair with a deep purple for the pants. There’s browns and grays all over the place for the various straps and cuffs he’s sporting and there’s an abundance of little painted details all over the place. I love the toony quality his face possesses and the five o’clock shadow he has. The human characters have a tendency to feel drab in a line that stars a bunch of mutants, but Dirk is a fun design and a great piece for the shelf. The paint is very clean and I think everything here is unique to Dirk. If there’s reuse going on I can’t tell. He also brings back the shading which has been a bit hit and miss with this recent batch. Some figures have had it in abundance, and some have not. With Dirk, we get it on the shirt, pants, and boots, but NECA declined to include it on the belt, shoulder pads, or head. I’m not sure what the reasoning for this is, I think it would have looked nice on the hair and shoulder pads, but I’m guessing most won’t care.

For those who like weapon storage, this one’s for you.

For accessories, Dirk comes with a pretty substantial spread. We don’t get any additional portraits, but given how perfect his cocky expression is, I don’t think we need another. He comes with three sets of hands: fists, gripping, and trigger hands with all of the hands featuring the horizontal hinge instead of the vertical one. Dirk also has a pair of guns. One looks like a sci-fi version of a sawed-off shotgun and Dirk has a removable holster for the rear of the figure it can be slotted into. I had to look up promotional images of the figure to know how it’s supposed to go in as it’s a tight fit, but it can be done. The weapon itself looks fine, but the barrels end with a flat piece rather than look like a cylindrical barrel which is an odd look. I didn’t check to see if it was the same way in the show, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is as I can see some censors not liking that it looks like a shotgun and mandating some changes. He also has a much smaller sidearm that I think shot out a cable in the show. It looks nice, though the red tip makes it look like a laser pistol or something. I do wish we got an effect part for the cable to pair with it though. Dirk also has a baton weapon that resembles a cattle prod. He can hold it or it has a slot on the holster for it making it relatively easy for Dirk to carry all of his weapons. Well, except for the giant laser trap he comes in. We saw the net portion with Genghis Frog and it’s a repeat accessory here, only it also comes with its base which it just slots into. It’s a plastic box, but it’s well-painted and well-sculpted. Dirk also has his wire cuffs which should be able to fit around the wrists of most of the figures in this line. It’s joined by a soft plastic cable of sorts, though it doesn’t appear to have a bendy wire inside it. I wish he had a slot on his belt to store it, but it can be wrapped around the holster or an arm with relative ease if that’s your thing. All of the accessories look pretty great though and there’s plenty of paint to go around. The only downside is Dirk’s hands are all really stiff so getting him to hold his guns and baton is a challenge. You’re best off to just use some hot water to soften the hands first or else risk scraping the paint. Mondo Gecko also came with his control cuff so if you have that figure it’s like having yet another accessory for Dirk.

“Come quietly or be taken, mutant!” “No, my buddy! Release my buddy!”
Tokka and Rahzar can’t fit in the foot trap so Mona is going to have to help us out.

For articulation, Dirk is done surprisingly well. He has some issues with his design that are going to interfere, but overall I think he’s going to be thought of as one of the better figures in the line. His head is on a double ball peg with a ball joint at the base of the neck as well so he gets tons of range. He can look up, down, rotate, and can hit some nice nuance poses as well. The shoulders are the usual ball-hinges and he can lift his arms out to the side, but rotation is going to be hindered by the oversized shoulder pads. There’s a biceps swivel past that which works as expected and then the usual double-jointed elbows which will get past 90 degrees. My right, lower, hinge on the elbow is pretty stuck, but I also haven’t given it my all to get it loose and it’s the only stuck joint on my figure. The wrists swivel and have the less desirable horizontal hinge, as mentioned before. The diaphragm joint is likely a ball peg of some sort as Dirk can tilt back and forward a small amount as well as to the side and rotate. The waist twists and the ball-jointed hips will allow Dirk to hit some killer splits. He can rotate at the same joint and he kicks forward pretty far and kicks back a small amount. The knees are double-jointed and bend past 90 degrees and below that we get a boot cut which is hidden by the cuff of the boot. The ankles bend forward and back and also feature a rocker. About the only real limitation with this guys is that he doesn’t have a great ab crunch, but that’s typical of NECA, and then there’s the shoulder pads which get in the way. Even so, I think he has plenty of range for what he is and it’s a nice surprise.

Dirk is quietly one of the tallest figures in the line.
She’s something of a scientist.

Dirk’s box-mate is the lovely Mona Lisa, who was a chemistry student tragically mutated into a newt or something. She fights for the environment and it’s sort of interesting that she’s a bit of a brain, but she’s paired with Raph and not Donatello. Compared with Dirk, her design is far more simple. She’s essentially a nude, anthropomorphic, newt lady with a ton of brown hair on top of her head. The only clothing she wears is her pink scarf and a belt that seems to only exist to make her look less nude since it serves no function. She’s basically all green plastic, but in true NECA fashion, every inch of her is painted. She stands at a petite 5.25″ and the hair will take her close to 6″ if you want to go there. Her body features the toon shading, but her head and scarf do not. The only embellishment on her person is the stripe of light green on her torso and another stripe of dark green on her rear which runs down and over her tail. In the show, this light green on her torso was more yellow so it’s interesting that NECA went with green instead. The paint is pretty clean, especially the linework. The only blemish on my figure is a chip on the back of her ponytail, but otherwise she looks fine.

Mona’s accessories are a bit more academic than usual.

Mona Lisa, not being a ninja or a mutant hunter, comes with more benign accessories, but she still comes with a lot. We get four sets of hands with her: fists, open, gripping, and a set of open hands without webbing. I’m not sure why there’s a set of open hands without webbing, but maybe there’s one, off, scene in the episode where they forget to draw them in. She also has a set of books, a red one and a blue one, and one is labeled Chemistry and the other Physics because she’s something of a scientist. They don’t open or anything, but they look fine. She also has some chemistry accessories. There’s a trio of test tubes done with translucent plastic, but painted to make them resemble having a liquid inside. One is blue, one is green, and one is pink. They have a stand they slot into which actually works well. There’s also a flask and a stand for that. The flask is also done with translucent plastic and painted to make it look like it has a green liquid in it. Take note, Hasbro, this is how you properly do such an accessory as the ones that came with Beast look bad. This one also has a cork stopper on the top that’s actually removable – pretty neat! We also get yet another flask, this one with a pink liquid, and it has a straw or something coming out of it. Lastly, we get a second head and this one is angry. I will say, swapping heads is a little tough. It takes some good old-fashioned elbow grease to pull the default one off and the second one doesn’t want to go on easily. Some heat will help there. The hands are also surprisingly tough to swap as well. They’re on tiny pegs that are pretty long and barbed and I don’t think we needed the barb at the end. Her forearms are so thin that they probably would have stayed in fine without them. You may want to apply heat to the forearms as a result, but careful when doing so because if you heat the peg that could actually make things worse.

They look cute together.

Articulation for Mona is a bit in-line with what we expect out of this series from NECA. Her head is on a double-ball peg, but the lower ball is so far in her neck that she really can’t do much save for rotate and tilt forward a little. The shoulders are standard ball hinges that go all the way out to the side and rotate all around. Despite her slight frame, Mona Lisa gets a biceps swivel and double-jointed elbows and it all works just fine. There’s more of a delicate feel to them, but the elbows aren’t gummy which would have been a killer on this figure since the piece is so small. The hands swivel and hinge and the hinges are all horizontal. There is a waist twist behind the belt, so that belt at least does something here. It’s a ball joint so she can arch back a bit, but she doesn’t crunch forward really at all. There’s also not much tilt and the figure really fights the waist twist. It could just be that the belt is really tight or maybe it’s not spinning on the ball joint freely. The legs are of the ball and socket variety and she can kick forward all the way and kicks back a bit. She can do full splits and there’s some rotation at the thigh too. The knees are double-jointed and bend past 90 degrees while her ankles are hinged and bend forward and back plenty. I’m pretty sure she has ankle rockers as well, but mine are pretty stubborn and it feels like the peg is bending when I try to engage them. Her tail is also articulated and it’s on a ball-hinge joint. It rotates and has some in and out movement as well which makes it useful as a third leg if you feel it’s warranted. She articulates well enough, especially if the ankle rockers are unique to my figure and not a widespread thing. The only real limitation that shouldn’t exist is with the head, but maybe because her head is so heavy due to her hair that NECA prioritized stability over range of motion. The “diaper” piece at the hips is one of the least inhibitive I’ve seen in this line so she has great range of motion below the waist which is helpful when finding poses.

“Don’t worry, Raph, this will be good for you.”
“Mona! What did you do to me?!”

Dirk Savage and Mona Lisa may be an odd pair for a two-pack, but they’re two characters done pretty well. Mona Lisa is a more simple, and thus less flashy, design, but her engineering and accessories are pretty fun and for fans of the character I think they’ll be quite pleased. Dirk Savage does pack that extra “bang” by virtue of his design and accessories. He poses very well for this line and his accessories give him a lot of variety when hunting for that perfect, shelf, pose. Considering we already had one of his accessories via the frogs and Tokka and Rahzar were targets of his, adding him to the collection feels like it makes that small segment of the property complete.

Share a pizza with someone you love.

This two-pack is exclusive to Target stores and will set you back $60 like the other two-packs released during this Haulathon event. Given the accessory loadout and the fact that both figures feature all new tooling this one feels like it earns that price tag better than some of the others. The online drop for this set has come and gone, but more seem to be shipping out so keep an eye on your local stores if you’re in need. Last fall’s sets, which featured similarly obscure characters, are still being found in the wild so there’s reason for optimism if you missed the initial release that these will be easy to come by as well once the initial rush dies down. Like the other two-packs we’ve seen recently, this one might not be for the casuals, but if you like good toys or remember either character there’s probably enough here to entice you. And I think those who do take the plunge will come away feeling pretty good about their decision.

More from the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987):

NECA Cartoon TMNT Tokka and Rahzar

There is certainly a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles product flying around these days, but I would guess collectors and fans of the property are paying the most attention to two toy makers in particular: NECA and Super7. One search for “NECA” on this blog will reveal that the company has produced a ton…

by Joe

NECA TMNT Cartoon Rasputin and Genghis

During Season Two of the classic cartoon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the world was introduced to the Punk Frogs. Despite their name, there was nothing particularly punk about these mutated amphibians as they all dressed like they were going to a Jimmy Buffett concert. They make a few return appearances in the show, and given…

by Joe

NECA TMNT “Shred, Mondo, Shred!” Deluxe Mondo Gecko

When we took a look at NECA’s Muckman from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon line of action figures, I mentioned how Muckman was supposed to be released in a two-pack with Mondo Gecko. That obviously didn’t happen and it’s because the figures just got too expensive for the two-pack format. Rather than release a…

by Joe

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

April 18, 2023

NECA TMNT Adventures Jagwar

By Joe
Let’s rock!

The next figure in NECA’s line based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic series is a much anticipated one for fans of those books and its spin-off The Mighty Mutanimals. And that’s because this character is making his debut in plastic. Previously, we looked at Slash who has been pretty well-represented in some form or another in most versions of the franchise. Last week was Man Ray’s turn, and while technically a new debut, he’s basically Ray Fillet from the old toy line so the anticipation level wasn’t quite the same. For Jagwar, we’re talking something completely new to the world of TMNT action figures. Like a lot of characters that make up the expanded universe of TMNT, Jagwar began life as an action figure concept for Playmates since Mirage Studios and its artists basically were churning those out in the 80s. He was rejected, for one reason or another, but he got a second chance at life with the comic series. In that, he was actually not a mutant jaguar, but the result of some lady getting it on with a Jaguar god. I guess that makes him a demigod or something? I don’t make the rules, so call him what you will. He’s a crusader for the Brazilian rainforest and his exploits have a real world connection in that they were influenced by activist Chico Mendes, who was unfortunately assassinated for his work in saving the rainforests of Brazil. He was even made an ally of Jagwar’s in the comics and he’s basically carrying on his legacy which is pretty cool.

Who doesn’t want to be friends with a jaguar demigod?

Jagwar would befriend the turtles and then go on to become a founding member of The Mighty Mutanimals, and it’s from those books that this action figure from NECA appears to take most of its inspiration. During Jagwar’s earlier depictions, he was drawn with solid spots on his body and I think he even had a skull pattern on his forehead, but later the the spots turned to ring shapes which this figure utilizes and the skull was dropped. Jagwar, like the other figures in this line, is also based on the art of Ken Mitchroney so he’s somewhat stylized to resemble how he would draw the character. He also did the box art and the shape of the box is more in-line with what we saw with Slash as Man Ray had to go with an oversized one to accommodate his added bulk. Jagwar was first released as part of the Haulathon event with Target which is over at this point, but he may still be getting shipped out to Target stores. He is expected to eventually show up elsewhere including other big box retailers as well as specialty retail so if you missed out on this guy just keep your eyes open at other venues as he’s not likely to be too hard to come by.

I like that both he and Man Ray come with “sexy” faces.

Out of the box, Jagwar stands approximately 6.25″. He’s a mostly naked jaguar guy who just wears a necklace of leaves to go along with the same at the wrists and waist. The necklace is a separate piece that pegs into the back and chest so it doesn’t move all over the place. I assume it’s reinforced with glue, but I could be wrong. It definitely doesn’t appear to want to come out. The leaves at the wrist are more of the floating variety and could be slid off if desired while the leaves at the waist are done in a similar fashion to the necklace so they’re pretty locked in. The body is done in orange and painted over as well, which NECA often does. The only other paint needed are for the spots and some black linework here and there. The spots are done in brown, which seems consistent with the books, and my only critique here is that the opacity seems to vary between the limbs and torso giving some rings a darker look than others. There’s also no paint on the hands aside from the orange which makes them look a bit plain. I would have at least liked some linework around the claws and I’m going to assume having the claws match his fur is consistent with the source material. The head, which features a comical expression, has some nice linework and the eyes are rather cleanly applied so that is all in order. I think the expression some may take issue with as it is a bit odd, but we do have another head to talk about when we get to accessories so I think it’s fine. It has that toon vibe I associate with the Archie series so I don’t mind it.

“Am I supposed to eat this?”

And for those accessories, we have some interesting stuff and some pretty typical items. For hands, Jagwar has a set of fists, gripping hands, and open, style posed, hands. The gripping hands have a standard horizontal hinge and feature a pretty wide grip and they’re not really suited for much of what he comes with. And as for things he can hold, we get a little Malignoid slug, baby, worm, thing. It’s painted in blue and has a rather wicked head on the end of it. Mine is defective in that it’s missing its lower jaw, though it’s not something I even knew about until I saw another one. It’s pretty fat though so it doesn’t fit into his gripping hands effortlessly and you’ll probably end up leaving some orange paint behind on it when pulling it out. His other item for gripping is a stick going through a purple fish. It looks fine, but it’s almost too thin for the gripping hands. At the fattest portion, the figure still can’t really get a good grip on it, but you can position it to stay in his hand. The paint is really nice on the fish though I’m a little surprised he doesn’t have “X” eyes. Jagwar also comes with a little campfire to cook his fish over. It looks fine and the fire itself is done entirely with paint as opposed to translucent plastic. There’s also a bowl of fruit for when he’s not in the mood for fish and it looks fine too, but in the end, is just a bowl of fruit. There’s also a baby Jagwar so he can hold a baby version of himself and create a wicked time paradox. Lastly, we have a second head and in keeping with Man Ray there’s a cockyness to this expression. His eyes are narrow and I can’t decide if he’s ready to throw down or looking to attract a mate. It’s fun though and I have a feeling a lot of people will use this head in place of the more cartoonish one.

“Now that’s more like it!”

The accessories for Jagwar aren’t terrible, but do feel a bit lackluster. He did sometimes use a blow gun so I’m surprised to see that omitted, but regardless, he can make up for that with the articulation. Jagwar is pretty much all new tooling, and if anything is repeated it’s not obvious to me. As such, it will be interesting to see how he moves. The head is on a double-ball peg and it has terrific range. He can rotate, tilt, look up, look down, the whole nine yards. There’s no joint at the base of the neck, but he doesn’t seem to need it. The jaw on both heads is articulated, but it doesn’t open as far as I’d like on either. It doesn’t get ugly though, so that’s a plus. The shoulders are the customary ball hinge joints and Jagwar can raise his arms out to the side to about horizontal and rotate freely. We have a biceps swivel and single-hinged elbows. I’m a little surprised at the lack of double elbows here, but he can at least achieve a 90 degree bend. There’s a slight swivel at the joint too, but it doesn’t have much range and I don’t think the goal was to get much there either. The wrists swivel and hinge and all of the hinges are horizontal. They were also the only joints I’d consider stuck, but I was able to get them moving without having to resort to heating them. In the torso, we get a diaphragm joint that mostly allows for rotation. You get a little bend back, no crunch forward, and some tilt. The waist also has a waist twist. At the hips, we get the ball and socket joints that allow for the figure to almost hit a full split, but the leaves at the waist prevent the legs from going out to the side as far as they could. There is a little thigh twist there and the legs kick forward to almost horizontal (again, the leaves get in the way) and kick back a little. The knees are double-jointed and work fine while the ankles have the customary hinge and rocker combination which also works fine. Lastly, we have a wired tail on a little ball hinge that rotates and can be positioned pretty well. The wire is also strong enough that you could use the tail to help stabilize the figure if you so wanted to.

“I am freaking out here!”
And this isn’t even the “camping” variant of Jagwar!

Jagwar moves pretty well for this line. I’m a little disappointed that NECA didn’t separate some of the leaves at the waist to provide some pathways for the legs as I’m sure they could bend further without the obstruction. We saw a similar situation with the Chakahachi figure from the toon line where the sculpt has room to be modified with the goal to achieve better range at the hips, but NECA opted not to do so. I’m guessing they were worried about the durability of the soft plastic if they had cut into it, but I think they could have found a way. The diaphragm joint also could be better as I’m surprised it gets virtually no range bending forward. This is a character who should have a lot of articulation so while I normally go soft on the criticisms when it comes to that area, I think this is one of the few characters that should have a bit more. Even with those shortcomings, he still poses pretty well which is a good thing because his accessories don’t offer a whole lot there. You can have him holding a bowl of fruit or roasting a fish over a fire, but that’s not likely to be how most assemble the Mutanimals on their shelf.

The Mutanimals are starting to come together…

Was the wait worth it? Considering fans of Jagwar have been waiting for over 30 years for this I would have to guess that the answer is “No,” because how could it have been worth it? So many versions of TMNT have come and gone since without a Jagwar and that’s pretty surprising. If we’re just going back to when NECA got the license then I think the answer is “Yes.” Jagwar looks pretty cool and he’ll look good with his buddies, the ones already out and the ones likely to come. There’s certainly some room for improvement, but at the more normal price of $35 I think I can safely recommend Jagwar to fans of the Archie universe of characters and to those collectors that just want to mix him into their toon display. Archie fans, at long last your wait is over.

NECA TMNT Adventures Series Slash

As NECA continues to find success with its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines of action figures, the company has sought to branch out beyond the usual source material in an effort to give collectors more of what they want and also likely to just keep the hype train rolling. NECA started first with doing figures…

Keep reading
by Joe

TMNT Loot Crate Series 2 Vol. 2 – Pixelated Shark Boy

2022 is nearly in the books. As we countdown the final hours and minutes until 2023, it feels good to say that the new year will begin with no further Loot Crate obligations. That’s because after a delay of more than a year, the second crate in Loot Crate’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series of…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Man Ray

Back when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world, there was a lot of brand synergy between all of the various media being generated by this one mega popular piece of intellectual property. The comics came first followed by a toyline which necessitated the creation of an animated mini series to basically serve as a…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

April 11, 2023

NECA TMNT Adventures Man Ray

By Joe
Sexy fish man is here to dispense some justice!

Back when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled the world, there was a lot of brand synergy between all of the various media being generated by this one mega popular piece of intellectual property. The comics came first followed by a toyline which necessitated the creation of an animated mini series to basically serve as a commercial. When the toys and cartoon took off, more episodes were ordered and certainly more toys were created, but the comics remained as they were. Which is to say they were pretty much intended for an entirely different audience. Enter Adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, whatever you want to call it. It was a comic that started off as an adaptation of the animated series, but pretty quickly became its own thing. Published by Archie Comics, it was the kiddie comic though it would actually get far more mature than the cartoon series ever did. Characters created for the toy line would show up in the cartoon and sometimes in the Archie books as well. When that happened there tended to be differences and we saw that with the first figure in this subline from NECA: Slash. Now we have another one in Man Ray, who non-readers likely know as Ray Fillet. The character is credited to Stephen Murphy and Ryan Brown, and it’s my understanding that the concept of Ray Fillet came first for the toyline, but was imported into the comic as Man Ray. The two look very similar, but there are some differences. As for the cartoon version, he was named Ray and really couldn’t be much more different. If we ever get a Ray toy we’ll get into that there, for now, let’s talk about Man Ray.

Do you prefer your Man Ray angry or sultry?

Man Ray debuted in issue number 5 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures and he had a fairly standard origin for this kind of property. Marine biologist Jack Finney touches a manta ray, comes in contact with the mutagen, and is turned into a mutant superhero. He looks like a humanoid manta ray and he can command sea creatures like a more famous hero from the pages of Detective Comics. He fights for all of the usual stuff, but also has an ecological bent which I can appreciate. Of course, we’ll ignore the fact that we’re talking about a mass-produced lump of plastic in the character’s image which is doing who knows how much harm to our present environment. Man Ray would also go on to join The Mighty Mutanimals, the offshoot series for TMNT, where he’d work alongside the likes of Slash, Leatherhead, and more. As the second release in the Adventures line, Man Ray is a logical choice. He seems to have a pretty strong following in the fanbase as a lot of people my age really liked that Ray Fillet figure, myself included. I also had his origin story, though I don’t think it was the comic, but rather an adaption as a children’s book that I have long since lost track of. And since he didn’t really appear in the cartoon series it also makes sense to get to him early as collectors will want the character as either the Archie Comics character or just as a stand-in for Ray Fillet in their toon display.

Man Ray comes in a slightly oversized box relative to Slash which once again features original artwork from artist Ken Mitchroney. I personally love Ken’s art and I think it has the right aesthetic to really separate it from both the work of Mirage Studios and the cartoon. The figure itself is also based on Ken’s style and this one is presently showing up as part of NECA and Target’s Haulathon. Unfortunately, by the time you read this the online drop will have past and possibly even restocks at the store as Man Ray was part of the initial wave of product. If he’s anything like Slash then he may hang around so it shouldn’t be too hard to get your mitts on this figure. And if you miss him entirely he should eventually show up at other retail outlets. He’s just debuting at Target, he’s not exclusive.

Flight stands are going to be tricky with this guy.

Once out of the packaging, Man Ray stands at approximately 6.5″ to the top of his head and closer to 7″ if you factor in the…horns? I don’t know much about manta ray anatomy. He’s clad in his green and yellow suit which I suppose is the character’s default look. He had several looks in the comics so bigger fans would have to tell me if this is the most appropriate. His skin is a very rich shade of blue and it’s what really stands out the most. I love it, but I also love the color blue, and all over his body are little areas of sculpted-in scales. The scales ate outlined in black, as are his muscles, and he has a very superhero look to him. The paint is super clean given the abundance of it and I’m really impressed with the piping on the costume and how well NECA handled the white stripes. He has those big fins on his back which are permanently affixed and there’s a tail that has to be inserted by the user. The tail and fins are done in a light shade of blue which contrasts nicely with the main body. The sculpt for the head looks terrific as he’s pretty angry looking and ready to throw down. The only blemish with the presentation I notice is with the boots and specifically the hinge there. He has a white stripe right down the center of the boot so NECA cast the hinge in white plastic. When the hinge is visible from the front, it’s a bit of an eyesore, but going with white is better than having a yellow gap. On the rear though you get a white block of color amongst all yellow because the stripe is only on the front. There’s not really much NECA could do about that without changing up how they articulate ankles. The April figure had a similar issue, but at least it’s a blemish largely confined to the rear of the figure and it makes sense to do it this way given that.

Man Ray comes with not just one little buddy…

Man Ray comes with a bunch of stuff in his rather large box and the first thing we tend to talk about are the hands. In the box you have fisted hands, wide gripping hands, a right trigger finger hand, a left relaxed hand, and a left splayed hand. The very wide gripping hands are so he can carry his harpoon gun in a more casual manner as seen on the cover of his debut appearance. The trigger finger hand is to hold said harpoon gun in a more conventional manner, though the trigger finger just barely can touch the actual trigger. The gun looks fine though as it’s brown and gray and features a lot of line work on it. Man Ray also has a second portrait which is this cocky, almost flirty, sort of grin. This is the type of fish Troy McClure would love to have an encounter with. Man Ray also comes with a little sea turtle who I guess is a stand-in for his summoning powers. He’s cute and really well painted, but is otherwise a slug figure. He also has a little buddy, Bubbla, who looks like a lobster or crayfish type of creature and was apparently based on the little buddy figure the toy came with, Fishsticks, though they look nothing alike. Bubbla looks a bit irritated, but he’s well painted and stands nicely on a shelf and is a fun inclusion.

…but two little buddies when you count this turtle here!

Where these NECA reviews have been going off the rails a bit lately is with articulation, and perhaps to no one’s surprise, Man Ray isn’t going to impress here. For one, we’re dealing with a character that has no neck and giant fins on his back. Despite the no neck, the head is on a double ball peg which is mostly good for rotation. He can tilt forward and back a bit, but really moving the head at all breaks up the sculpt and he looks pretty silly as a result. It can kind of shimmy side-to-side which works better than rotating it, but it is what it is. The shoulders are the usual ball-hinged joint that just pegs in. The arms will go as far as they can until they strike the fins and raising them out to the side won’t quite get to horizontal. There is a biceps swivel and below that a single-hinged elbow. There’s a generous cut-out in the forearm for the hinge so it will bend a tick past 90 degrees. The wrists rotate and hinge and all of the hinges are a horizontal hinge including the trigger hand. The hinges are also cut a bit off-center which I assume is intentional. They’re all also super tight and most won’t work for me. Swapping hands is at least easy, though swapping heads required heat.

“How dare you pollute my ocean, Shredder!”

In the torso, we get a diaphragm joint that feels like a double ball peg system. Man Ray doesn’t bend back very far, nor does he crunch forward much, but you do get a generous amount of tilt on the joint plus rotation. You probably want to be gentle though so as not to scuff the abdomen. There’s no waist joint and the hips are the standard ball joints. Man Ray can basically do splits as the diaper overlay is cut way back which I like a lot. The thigh will swivel a bit on the joint and below that we have double-jointed knees. They’re very tight and manipulating them past 90 degrees is a challenge because they strike the fins. Kicking backwards also doesn’t work very well for the same reason, but he can kick forward a decent amount though his legs want to go off towards the side when doing so. There is no boot cut and the ankles have the previously mentioned hinge joint and rocker, both function well. Lastly, we have the tail which is a ball-hinged joint that gets decent range. The tail itself also has a bendy wire running through it for a little extra something. Man Ray stands pretty well, but the tail can also add stability if you feel it’s warranted or if you have him in a more unnatural pose. There is a lot of weight to this figure, but it feels like it’s pretty well-distributed and the big feet and tight joints will help to keep him upright.

We’re slowly putting together the Mutanimals!

Man Ray is a pretty typical release for NECA and it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles offerings. The sculpt and paint are all terrific while the articulation is just so-so. Man Ray does have some hurdles to deal with unique to his design, so I can forgive NECA for that. I think he’s going to move well enough and it’s hard for me to quibble too much with the articulation setup given how nice the sculpt turned out. And when it comes to the look of this guy I’m pretty much in love. I love the colors, I love the expressiveness of the face sculpts, and the detail work is fantastic. The accessories are solid and I might just display him in a superhero pose without the gun because I don’t think he needs it. The only other thing left to discuss is the price tag which comes in at $40 making Man Ray not as cheap as Slash and some other recent releases, but less than Zog. I guess he’s a little more involved than some other figures, but it’s hard not to get the feeling that NECA started at $40 and then added on stuff to get to that price like the turtle and Bubbla. Slash was somewhat bare bones, but also using an older mold. Jagwar, another character we will be looking at in due time, is $35 with all new tooling, lots of accessories, and plenty of paint. Maybe NECA figures to reuse some parts from that one later on? I’m not sure and I don’t know the economics of the situation I just know what’s on my shelf and what it cost me. At $40, Man Ray isn’t the value some other figures are. I do think he looks great though so I’m not exactly saying he isn’t worth it, but I do wish he could have been cheaper. And for fans of the Mighty Mutanimals, I suspect he’ll be worth it to them too as NECA is building up that team and it certainly seems like a priority for the company so I suspect we’ll be talking about them for awhile to come.

Like TMNT comics or TV show action figures? We’ve got you covered:

NECA TMNT Adventures Series Slash

As NECA continues to find success with its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines of action figures, the company has sought to branch out beyond the usual source material in an effort to give collectors more of what they want and also likely to just keep the hype train rolling. NECA started first with doing figures…

Keep reading
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…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT “Shred, Mondo, Shred!” Deluxe Mondo Gecko

When we took a look at NECA’s Muckman from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon line of action figures, I mentioned how Muckman was supposed to be released in a two-pack with Mondo Gecko. That obviously didn’t happen and it’s because the figures just got too expensive for the two-pack format. Rather than release a…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

March 28, 2023

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

By Joe
Original release date March 19, 1993

When I was a child, going to the movies was a pretty big deal. It didn’t happen often so when it did it felt like a special occasion. Most of the Disney films of the late 80s and 90s were seen by me at home. Batman, Ghostbusters, every Back to the Future movie- all films I saw on VHS instead of in a movie theater. Movie rentals were cheaper and more convenient so I totally see why a family of four would see few films in a theater, especially when one considers the varying tastes that exist between children and adults. One movie I most definitely did see in theaters was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990. That was an event for a child like me and my parents apparently recognized that fact and took my sister and I. They did not take us to the sequel and I had to hear about characters like Tokka, Rahzar, and Super Shredder from kids on the playground before finally seeing the film after Christmas 1992 when I received the VHS as a gift. 1992 was also the year my parents uprooted our family to move from New Hampshire to Virginia. It was a big move as we were leaving our friends and family and the only people we would know were the other families being uprooted for the same reason – work. My dad’s job relocated and that’s what you did. We gave it a shot, but by the late spring of 1993 we were already making our way back north because it just wasn’t working. Maybe because we had so little to do on weekends and because my parents constantly felt bad about moving us, we went to the movies the weekend of March 19th of 1993 and if you know your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or just looked at the subject line for this post) then you know why we were at the movie theater that weekend.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is rather infamous for the franchise. It arrived when the initial wave of Turtle-Mania was really starting to subside. The first film was released in 1990, little more than 2 years after the cartoon debuted and roughly a year after the franchise really took off. The sequel was fast-tracked for a 1991 release, and while it was catered more towards a young audience, it failed to match the box office of the first one. It still made plenty of money though and everyone who had a stake in the franchise felt they could get at least another film out of it. Seemingly planning for a lower return, the budget was slashed and the film was allowed to be a soft reboot. There was no Shredder, no Foot Clan, and barely any New York! Would it work? Would kids continue to show up for their green-skinned heroes?

For me, personally, 1993 was the year I moved away from TMNT. Christmas of 1992 was the Christmas of Super Nintendo for me and I probably received more toys based on Batman Returns than TMNT. By the spring, I was fully onboard with X-Men and that was my preferred toyline with distractions also coming from the Batman: The Animated Series line and Transformers Generation 2. That summer, I would buy my last TMNT toys from Playmates until the 2003 line was launched. The honor fell to the Turtle Trolls which I just thought were neat for some reason. I also got the ninja-action Raphael who could perform a very poor backflip. I bought that figure because it had more of a Mirage style to the toy and I mistakenly thought the turtles were growing up with me, but that was not to be. As I sat in my chair at the theater in March of ’93, I can remember being excited. I had a big bag of popcorn on my lap, a giant soda in the cupholder beside me, and I was just waiting for the lights to go down and for the trailers to start. As I sat there, a boy came stumbling up the ramp towards my aisle seat with his hand over his mouth. Vomit soon starting squirting out from in between his fingers and the dam burst soon after. It fell to the floor maybe 10 feet away from me. The ushers and other staff of the theater did as good a job as they could cleaning that mess up, but there was no covering that vaguely sweet with a hint of tang odor which would permeate throughout the entire showing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

One of my last TMNT purchases as a kid were these silly trolls.

Sitting through a vomit-scented theater to watch this film probably feels oddly appropriate to many. Truly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is not thought of well. It’s been so poorly received over time that it’s basically been retconned as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time to seemingly capitalize on the affection people have for the completely unrelated video game. As a kid, I liked it enough and I would even spend some of my birthday money that summer on a VHS copy of the movie. And I do recall watching it quite a bit, but at some point my appetite for the movie did wane. Now, just a little over 30 years removed from the original release, I feel like it’s time to go back with fresh eyes and give the movie its due. And personally, it seems like the appropriate way to celebrate my 1,000th entry on this blog. Yes, this is post number 1,000 and we’re dedicating it to the cinematic masterpiece Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was written and directed by Stuart Gillard who had previously directed Paradise (1982) and The Return of the Shaggy Dog. Returning for their third tour of the franchise as the voices of Michelangelo and Leonardo respectively were Robbie Rist and Brian Tochi. After skipping out on the sequel, Corey Feldman was back as Donatello while Raphael got his third voice in as many films from Tim Kelleher. Paige Turco was back to reprise her role as April O’Neil and also returning was Elias Koteas as Casey Jones, a character written out of the sequel because he was deemed too violent. James Murray took over as the voice of Splinter, and we’ll get to the why very soon, while we have a bunch of new villains and supporting cast brought onboard as well.

The costumes for the turtles were a clear downgrade from the first two films.

By far, the biggest change from the first two films to the third is the choice to go with All Effects Company for the costumes and puppetry over The Jim Henson Company. Likely due to the film’s lower budget, All Effects had the unenviable task of taking over for the company best known for creature effects and the change was obvious. The turtles now have a mostly uniform look with their own personal features basically cast aside. They’re still mostly the same shade of green, have the same colors applied to the bandanas and various pads, and still retain the freckles. They just look all together more fake. The masks especially look more like helmets with mouths on them. The nuance in the mouth movement seems to be reduced in favor of just flapping beaks and the costumes themselves look more like rubber suits than before. There’s no warmth to the look of the characters and they more resemble the live shows than the first two films. Not helping matters is we’ve largely abandoned the sewers for this film in favor of bright, outside, shots that do no favors for the costumes. Splinter is also a new puppet and he looks decidedly worse and it’s likely the switch in companies that accounts for Kevin Clash being out as the voice of the character.

The other major change for the third film is with the antagonist. Shredder was seemingly killed off at the end of The Secret of the Ooze, and rather than bring in a new leader for The Foot Clan, the film just chose to ignore them all together. Instead, we get a time travel story where April, after buying a weird scepter at a flea market, gets sucked into feudal Japan and replaced by a man from that era by the name of Kenshin (Henry Hayashi). Unfortunately for April, Kenshin is caught in the middle of warring factions lead by his dictator of a father Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) and a collection of rebels lead by a woman named Mitsu (Vivian Wu). Mitsu is also Kenshin’s lover so he has a vested interest in ending the conflict with as little bloodshed as possible, but his father is uncooperative and pretty angry to see his son replaced by a strange woman. He’s also being influenced by a tradesman by the name of Walker (Stuart Wilson) who is essentially profiting off of the war and has a vested interest in keeping it up. April, upon being thrust into the past, is mistaken for a witch and imprisoned. The turtles need to go back and save her as Donatello, through some sort of plot magic, is able to infer that they only have 60 hours to do so. And to make things simple, time will move in sync between the two periods as the four brothers are replaced by four honor guards when they travel back leaving Casey and Splinter to keep them (and Kenshin) occupied.

The movie might suck, but Paige Turco is not to blame.

Much of the film takes place in 1603 Japan. There, the turtles have to tangle with the bad guys, join up with the good guys, and figure out a way home. We get scenes of the locals mistaking them for kappa, turtle demons from Japanese folklore, and the turtles have to win them over by saving their lives – routine stuff. The people of the era do speak Japanese, but also English so the kids don’t have to read subtitles. Like the first sequel, the action is fairly light and mostly comedic in nature. The turtles rarely use their weapons and would rather attack with witty remarks than fists. And how witty those remarks play up will vary by age. As a kid, Donatello dropping a random Addams Family reference was funny, but as an adult it feels so forced. It’s just completely random, have a turtle reference something else that’s popular in the moment, and play it off for laughs. The only clever jokes involve the ones where characters from the past interact with technology from the future. April’s Walkman freaks out the first guards she runs into while the soldiers sent to the present are completely baffled by television and even take a liking to hockey because of its violence.

Stuart Wilson also does an admirable job of turning chicken shit into chicken salad as the villainous Walker.

The sets for the film are adequate. We get the lair for the turtles which strongly resembles that of the one from the previous film and even looks like it’s been more lived-in since we last saw it. The stuff in Japan is largely relegated to open, outdoors, areas with some interior shots here and there. There’s a fair amount of grime added to some sequences and it’s not a terrible film to look at, excepting the less than stellar turtle costumes. The actors outside of those costumes also really give it their all. Turco is allowed to exhibit far more range than she did in the prior film where she felt almost out of place, like a character that didn’t belong. Koteas is terrific in his dual role of Casey and Whit, a character in the past. I don’t know why they cast Koteas twice, but maybe he was going to cost so much as Casey and they wanted to get their money’s worth. The film doesn’t try to hide that Casey and Whit resemble each other, it just doesn’t bother to explain why. Stuart is actually pretty terrific as the villainous Walker to the point where I feel almost bad for him since it’s wasted on this film. And for what it’s worth, the voice actors for the turtles do a fine enough job. Feldman is a bit overexposed as Donatello as I guess the film decided he was the biggest star, though he does have a solid deadpan which helps a few jokes land better than most. Michelangelo gets to do more than just be a goof off as he questions why he’d want to leave a time period where people accept him to return to a sewer in the present. The neutering of Raph is continued as he isn’t really allowed to get mad anymore and Leonardo is far more jokey than we’re used to because I guess someone decided he was too boring. All of the turtles feel like they’ve been brought closer together as far as their personalities go to the point where they’re almost a hive mind at this point. Basically, the only thing separating the four now is that Donatello is still written to be the smart one while also still being a quip machine.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is not a good movie. This post is not in defense of it. I do have a perhaps “hot” take when it comes to this film though and it’s that I actually enjoy it more The Secret of the Ooze. That movie is just plain bad. The costumes are terrific, but pretty much everything else about it sucks. This movie, on the other hand, is a somewhat entertaining bad movie. The script is so terrible, mostly the stuff fed to the turtles, that it’s laughably bad. Donatello literally does the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” bit and we even get a Wayne’s World reaction to April’s bare leg out of the turtles. It’s stupid, lazy, and oh so dated so it has a certain charm for someone like me who lived through it. For today’s kid it won’t have the same appeal, but I bet they won’t like any of the TMNT movies much because they are just not movies written for today’s audience. We live in a world where there’s only one good, theatrically released, movie based on the franchise and it’s the original from 1990. None of the films that followed are really any good. The Secret of the Ooze is just a lazy sequel while the third film is the dying gasp of a fading franchise. The fourth film, which is technically a sequel to this, came out in 2007 and has no heart and looks cheap. It has one good scene and the rest is bad. The films that followed are just pure trash and now we pin our hopes on a team helmed by Seth Rogen to restore the turtles to their former glory. And I plan on seeing that film when it arrives later this year and I hope it joins the lonely ranks of “Good” TMNT movie. At the very lest, I hope it can usurp Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III for the title of second best because that is a distinction no franchise should be content with.

Check out some of these other posts on the TMNT film franchise:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Hollywood loves to go after us folks who are suckers for nostalgia.  We’re easy targets as it doesn’t take much to lure someone in with a touch of nostalgia.  Especially today.  We live in a world of 24 hour news networks and the internet puts information at our fingertips at all times.  The media’s tactics…

Keep reading
by Joe

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

Cowabunga dudes, it’s the 30th anniversary of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie! On March 30, 1990, New Line Cinema together with Golden Harvest released a film to theaters that seemingly no one wanted to make. This isn’t that surprising considering when Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first started soliciting offers for a toy-line…

Keep reading
by Joe

Ranking the Many Versions of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

With Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hitting the airwaves, it felt like a good time to sit down and take a look at the various incarnations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As you are likely aware, the TMNT got started back in 1984 when writer/artists Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman created their…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film

March 21, 2023

NECA Cartoon TMNT Chakahachi and Lotus

By Joe
Remember them? No? You’re probably not alone.

When it comes to character selection in NECA’s line of action figures based on the 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I think it’s safe to say we’re well into the weeds. This latest batch to arrive at Target as part of the company’s branded Haulathon have certainly illustrated that. Aside from heroic versions of Bebop and Rocksteady, I don’t think any of these characters would be considered household names. Even for people who consumed countless hours of the show as kids, many of these characters are probably hard for them to even recall. That is certainly true for today’s two-pack featuring Chakahachi and Lotus. For me, someone who has been immersed in TMNT since I was 4, I do recall the character of Lotus, or Lotus Blossom, but not because I can recall anything specific about her from the show. I’ve just come to think of her as a stand-in for the more popular Karai, a character who appeared in the comics and in most other versions of TMNT. As for Chakahachi? That’s a big “Nope” from me. I had to go digging to remember this guy and I honestly don’t know if I ever saw his episode. I probably did, as I’ve seen pretty much all of them save for every episode of the “Red Sky” era, but this ghost certainly didn’t leave an impression.

Who needs swords when you have cool ghost powers?

Who is Chakahachi? Well, he’s a ghost, which you may have surmised just by looking at him. He appeared in the episode “Farewell, Lotus Blossom” which was right in the heart of Season 4 airing in 1990 during peak Turtle-Mania. He should be memorable, but for whatever reason he is not. He was a leader of a clan baring his own name, but was sealed away in an urn with a magic pearl. When the urn was shattered in modern times, his ghost was set free to ravage the people of New York as he frantically searched for his beloved wife. He’s not really a villain, just a tragic ghost tale, and once his issue was resolved by the return of said pearl he went away never to be seen or heard from again. And it makes sense to pair him with Lotus since she was featured in that episode and somehow contained the spirit of the guy’s long dead wife. Like I said, I don’t remember the details. As for Lotus, she’s a ninja-for-hire who briefly usurps Shredder. She basically develops some feelings for Leonardo that could be classified as romantic, but it never goes anywhere. She did get to make more than one appearance in the show and in terms of the B-list characters she was somewhat high on the list of requests.

Okay, I guess the swords are still pretty cool regardless.

Let’s talk about the ninja ghost first. Chakahachi stands at approximately 6.75″ to the top of his hair, excluding the ponytail. He’s dressed as presented in the show wearing an old-fashioned ninja or samurai outfit that’s done in a range of blues. The armor is painted with more earthy colors and it pairs well with the pale blue of his flesh. I suppose it should be noted that in the show he was most often gargantuan in size, but I don’t think collectors were all that interested in paying $150 for a Chakahachi so this seems reasonable. He also was a normal size for parts of the episode so it’s not like this is inaccurate. Like most figures in this line, Chakahachi is painted from head to toe. It’s applied very well with virtually no blemishes on my figure. I’m especially impressed with how clean the line-work is around the yellow eyes which really help them pop. The cel-shading is fairly understated as the difference in the dark portion of the pants is barely perceptible when viewed from the side. It’s most noticeable on the more teal portions and the armor. The shoulder pauldron, I guess we’ll call it, is rather interesting as NECA put it on a hinged joint to help it get out of the way when moving the arm at the shoulder. It’s fine, but looks a little odd from certain angles. It also feels quite fragile so do be careful. Much of the torso features a soft plastic overlay and it looks quite good, but is going to present some problems when we get to the articulation in a moment.

He’s a far cry from how big he was in the show, but he has some decent size to him.

Chakahachi being a ninja ghost probably doesn’t seem like the type of character that demands much in the way of accessories, but NECA did a solid job of loading this guy up. He has three sets of hands to make use of: fists, gripping, and open. The gripping hands, sadly, feature the wrong hinge which matters here since he has a pair of swords. Or rather, a katana and a dagger. Both have a scabbard and each one slots into a pair of rings on his belt. The setup does feel a bit fragile and I would suggest you go ahead and heat those rings with some warm hotter just a bit before inserting the scabbards to play it safe. The two bladed weapons slide in and out of the scabbards just fine at least. The dagger has a pretty simple paint job, but the katana is quite nice. It features a wrapped handle which looks quite clean though the blade seems rather thin. The open hands that Chakahachi comes with are slightly clenched to make use of his ghostly powers. In a rarity for this line, we get three effect parts: a small flame, a ball of energy, and a fireball effect. All are cast in semi-translucent plastic that has a hint of pink to it which imparts an ethereal quality. The little flame and the ball of flame or energy can rest in the open palm while the fireball effect is a more pliable plastic that actually wraps around the figure’s forearm. It’s done really well and I love how he looks with these effects to the point where I can’t even see myself posing him with the swords. And since he has three effect parts, but only two hands, it frees one up for another figure which is something I can appreciate.

“Back off, ghost, I’m not your wife!”

Paint and accessories are the strengths of this figure, because articulation very much is not. Chakahachi possesses the standard range of joints, but he can’t make use of them all. The head is on a double ball peg which allows the head to do everything it needs to do. The shoulders are ball-hinged joints and they rotate just fine while raising out to the side to a horizontal position, being mindful that the left arm is a touch more limited due to that shoulder obstruction. The bicep swivels quite high on the joint, but it works just fine while the double-jointed elbows will bend past 90 degrees a healthy amount. The wrists swivel and all of the hinges are of the horizontal variety. That’s all the good stuff, the rest of the figure is not much to write home about. The torso is pretty much locked in place due to the overlay. You get nothing out of the diaphragm and the waist twist doesn’t work very well either. Whenever I try to rotate at the waist he wants to snap back in the opposite direction and I assume the overlay is to blame. The hips would be fine if not for the skirt. NECA declined to put slits in it anywhere which is a surprise because it’s segmented by design, but it’s all one piece. Because of that, he can’t do splits and can barely kick forward and back. You do get a little pivot at the thigh and the knees are double-jointed, but because the top hinge is buried in the cuffs of the pants it doesn’t really do much. I can force a 90 degree bend out of it, at least. There might be a boot swivel because my left leg doesn’t appear to be lined up properly, but I can’t get it to budge. I can get a little rotation though out of the top of the knee and the ankle. The ankle also has the customary hinge and rocker and both work fine. The rocker is pretty steep, but the range is good.

It’s a bit of a bummer that Chakahachi doesn’t articulate below the waist better than he does. I’m actually okay with the knees and ankles, it’s really the waist and hips. I suppose it wouldn’t be that hard to cut slits into the skirt for better range, but I’m not the type to customize my figures. They cost too much and I don’t trust myself. That would have solved a lot of the issues though. I’m not really sure why the waist won’t twist, but maybe it’s just that the tolerance is off on the ball joint there. The effect parts don’t require a ton of posing, at least. He can stand like a statue and look intimidating, but if you prefer the swords and for this guy to look more like an actual ninja you may be let down.

When your name is Lotus Blossom you pretty much have to live the gimmick.

That’s the rundown on Chakahachi, but how about his not-wife Lotus? She’s another ninja character and the second female figure from this recent batch of figures, which is pretty cool. The TMNT franchise is fairly light on women so it’s nice to see the few that are a part of it get figures. Lotus is far more slight than her box-mate coming in at approximately 5.75″ to the top of her hair. She’s not particularly short for this line, but she is more slender. At the same time, she has some really long legs which is somewhat atypical of the show’s look which tended to squish most of its characters. I don’t know if she had exceptionally long legs in the show, but it looks fine here. Her hair is done with a swoop in the front that partially covers her face and adds a dynamic element to her presentation. Her expression is quite stoic, befitting the character, and her all gray and black attire makes her the most “ninja” of them all as well. There’s no garrish colors on display with Lotus which feels almost out of place. Her paintjob is not particularly demanding, but she does feature the cel-shading with gray on the front and black on the back. The paint on her belt is fairly clean, though the right side isn’t painted so you see gray when looking at her from an angle. There’s also some black paint on the jaw of my figure which is unfortunate, but I was able to get most of it off with a magic eraser to the point where it may not even be noticeable in my pictures. The paint around her mouth and eyes is sharp though, but where it’s not is on her hands. She has little armored bits on the back of her hand which go over the hinge. NECA cast the hinge in flesh-tone and painted gray onto them. This will flake off almost immediately if you make use of that hinge. It’s also not cleanly applied on all of the hands. Overall, she looks okay, she’s just not as flashy as Chakahachi.

She’s deadly from up close and at a distance.

For accessories, Lotus comes with an assortment of hands: fists, gripping, and open. The fists actually have a small hole through them so they can handle her actual lotus blossom accessory. It’s a nicely painted flower and it slots into either hand just fine. The gripping hands are interesting because they’re at a slight angle. Rather than just give them the proper vertical hinge, the angled shape allows Lotus to point her sword towards an enemy. It’s different, and while I’d rather she just have the proper hinge for her gripping hands I will say it’s better than the more straight up and down hands we usually get with the wrong hinge. And she does have a sword to swing with those hands. It’s shaped like a katana, though with a very slender blade similar to Chakahachi’s. It too has a wrapped handle, but is done with more muted colors. There’s a scabbard for it that slides into a ring on the back of the figure and that was fairly painless to insert. If you would rather a ranged weapon, she also has a short bow with an accompanying arrow. It has a real string and the arrow has a little cut-out so you can “nock” it if you wish. The string is very taut, however, and there’s not much flex to the bow so I wouldn’t go nuts. Getting her to hold it in a convincing fashion is also another matter entirely. Lotus also comes with the scent analyzer, one of the silliest devices from the show. It looks like a handheld vacuum cleaner, but with a nose at the end of the hose. It’s goofy, but the type of thing I want to see in plastic form. Plus, it’s something she actually used. It doesn’t feature any articulation though which feels like a missed opportunity. It almost looks like the hose is connected via a ball joint, but it doesn’t want to do anything and I don’t want to break it.

This secondary head looks fine, but I can’t get the damn thing to work.

Lastly, Lotus comes with an alternate head featuring her hooded look. I’d tell you how nice it looks on her if I could get it on. When I tried to pop her head off, the double-ball peg in her head came out of the neck instead. Her head should come clean off, but I couldn’t get the damn thing out. To make it worse, I ended up popping the neck off from the double-ball peg it connects to thinking maybe the other head could go on that way, but it does not and getting the neck back onto her torso was a huge pain in the ass. I was heating it, applying lubrication, stretching out the hole, and I could not get it back on. I had to walk away and come back to it a few days later and I eventually got it back on, but there was no way I was going to try it again. The head looks fine, it’s well-painted and everything, but it’s not how I remember her. Plus, she has the remnants of the cowl sculpted onto her torso so it doesn’t make sense for her to have this head. We see stuff like this with superhero figures all of the time, and even NECA’s own Renet did this, where there’s a little removable loop for the cowl when a character isn’t wearing a hood or mask. I don’t know why NECA passed on that here, but it also creates the issue where her neck is flesh-colored when the cowl should cover it so with the ninja hood on she’ll look kind of silly. I’m sure that can be posed away to a degree, but it doesn’t feel like this alternate look was well thought out.

The scabbard and hair are going to obstruct some of the articulation at the head. You can remove the scabbard, but there’s not much you can do about the hair unless you want to remove her head.

In terms of articulation, Lotus is anther mixed bag. The head, as detailed above, is on a double ball peg and the neck is on another double ball peg. This gives her a ton of range at the head and neck, though her hair gets in the way and if the scabbard is on her back that can be problematic too. She can rotate and look down, but the hair prevents her from looking up and restricts the more nuanced posing we’re accustomed to. I assume the hooded head has zero restrictions and probably moves pretty well, though it looks like the ball joint is designed to sit rather deep in the head so maybe its not as free as I expect. Since I can’t get it on, I don’t care. The shoulders are ball-hinged and she can raise her arms out to the side just fine. Unfortunately, they’re pretty floppy which is an unusual problem for a NECA figure. They rotate around fine and she gets the NECA double-jointed elbows featuring a swivel and hinge above and below the elbow. This allows her to bend past 90 degrees just fine and the more baggy design of these limbs also suits this style of joint pretty well. The hands rotate and hinge and all of the hinges are of the horizontal variety. They’re also all stuck out of the box. Her hands are rather dainty, so be careful when trying to free them. There’s nothing in the diaphragm and her waist will only provide some twisting motion. Her hips are really tight, and similar to my Rex-1, they make an awful clicking noise when trying to kick forward. I can just about force them to horizontal, but the figure is fighting me all the way. Going out to the side isn’t an issue as she can handle splits and she does kick back a bit, but her diaper piece includes a fairly ample posterior that will get in the way. There’s a little swivel at the thigh and the knees are double-jointed. The bottom hinge is stuck on both legs, but she should be able to bend past 90 degrees though doing so really illustrates how most of the length in her legs is below the knee. There’s no boot swivel, which is a surprise as one could have been added rather easily, but the ankle hinge and rocker combo works well.

The scent analyzer accessory is certainly a thing.

Lotus is a bit of a frustration figure from a design perspective. Articulating her is not particularly fun as it feels like the figure is fighting me the whole way whether it’s the floppy shoulders that don’t want to stay in play, the hinges in the wrists that won’t move, or the hips which practically scream whenever they’re manipulated. Her gripping hands are also pretty firm so slotting the accessories into them is a pain. The sword works fine, but the bow and the scent analyzer are more of a challenge. She is one of those figures where you’re best off just using hot water on her hands before trying to get her to hold most of her stuff. And that second head is a bummer. While I was unlikely to display her with it, it would have been fun to snap some photos or maybe to change things up. Especially if it really freed up her head articulation like I imagine it would.

“Foolish reptile, I have been hired to kill you!” “But…but…I love you!”

This two-pack is one where the figures look pretty fine in poses that aren’t particularly ambitious. Chakahachi has the accessories and presence to pull it off, while the Lotus design is attractive on its own. I do feel like Lotus should pose better though and really she should be one of the most dynamic figures in the whole line. There’s not much to her that should prevent NECA from really going all out on the articulation, but they just didn’t do a great job there and I’m not sure what the reason for that is other than she’s just kind of a dud. As a result, I prefer Chakahachi, even though it was Lotus I was looking forward to more. The fact that both can still look cool on a shelf is why I feel like I can still recommend this set to the TMNT collector out there that wants to go deep. Obviously, these are characters that a more casual collector probably doesn’t need or even have interest in. The design and effect parts on Chakahachi make him rather appealing to me personally, but is that enough to get someone who has no idea who these characters are to drop 60 bucks on the set? That’s probably a tougher call.

Sorry, Leonardo. At least you have something to remember her by.

The Chakahachi and Lotus set is part of the TMNT toon line and is therefore exclusive to Target stores for the time being. Unfortunately, their online drop has come and gone and I don’t think it can be expected that they will return to the website. They were also part of the first week of the Haulathon event, but it looks like they’re being restocked in-store as I write this. As always, their distribution will vary by region in the US and your local stores may have already received a second batch or could still be waiting on it to arrive. It’s also possible that following the initial drop and online sale that any restock will hang out a bit longer this time around as people who want them get them. This is a set that really shouldn’t sell fast given the obscurity of the pair, but these Haulathon events are rather successful at generating buzz which helps to get product moving. It’s why we’re probably not done with this style of release, whether we like it or not.

Check out more reviews of NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures:

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…

Keep reading
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,…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Renet

Welcome to the first Turtle Tuesday of 2023! 2022 is the year that NECA returned to the Mirage Studios subline of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures it started way back in 2008. When the line was announced to return, it was essentially taking the place of the Turtles in Time figures that had been…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

March 16, 2023

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Triceraton Zog

By Joe
Whether he’s friend or foe, it’s safe to say that you don’t want to piss off 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 Mirage Studios subline of TMNT figures. Similar to the clone Shredder, Zog isn’t so much tall as he is chunky. He’s not short though as he comes in at around 8″ in height, but he’s quite stocky and pretty damn heavy for an action figure made out of plastic. I said REX-1 was one of the heavier figures from NECA I’ve handled, but I think Zog edges him out. And everything about this guy is thick and imposing, right down to the box. It’s almost cartoonishly big and looks crazy on the shelf at Target, but he’s a big boy and he deserves a big box.

I couldn’t get over how big the box was for Zog.

So just who is Zog? Well, he’s an alien dinosaur from the comics who is kind of an ally to the turtles. Not so much willingly, for you see, Earth’s air isn’t conducive to the Triceratons and when they don’t get the right concentration of whatever the air is on their planet they basically start to go insane. I think his brain is literally decaying in the comics to the point where he mistakes Raphael for a commanding officer. It was the Utrom who brought him unwillingly to Earth and he was able to escape to the sewers where he resides for about a year before coming into contact with Raph. By then, his clothing is tattered and so is his mind. The Utrom, being a common foe for the turtles and Zog, is basically a unifier, but a run-in with the Shredder clones ends Zog’s miserable existence prematurely. That makes it rather appropriate that he gets released at the same time as the clones, but if you’re familiar with TMNT, then you know Zog was just the start of the turtles’ involvement with the Triceratons. The interactions that followed tended to be less pleasant.

He has a gun and a big ass knife, but he definitely doesn’t need them to look intimidating.

Zog is our fourth Triceraton from NECA following three in the toon line. The Triceratons are always depicted as bipedal dinosaur creatures resembling a triceratops. They usually have an orange complexion and tend to like being destructive. Zog, is essentially a big, orange, dinosaur in a purple jumpsuit. This is being a NECA comic release means he goes beyond that basic description as he is loaded up with detail. It all starts with the sculpt which is credited to Gurjeet Singh and Kushwara Studios on the box. There’s tons of texture to every inch of this guy. He’s scaly, lumpy, wrinkly to the point where there is hardly a smooth surface anywhere that’s larger than an M&M. And not one of those standard sized M&Ms, I’m talking those little mini ones that come in the tube. He’s sculpted in orange plastic, but there’s a wash basically everywhere to make him grimy and dirty and basically like someone who spent a year in a sewer. There’s some orange paint as a base coat as well because it flakes off of the hinged joints and does reveal a pale orange beneath. That’s basically the only eyesore to be found with this guy as he looks imposing. I love how the jumpsuit has just a hit of gloss in places to create the illusion of a shimmery spacesuit. His sleeves are completely ripped off leaving some cuffs behind around the wrists. NECA did the interior of the “material” black which creates this rich appearance. The other torn parts and the belt all feature cleanly applied paint. About the only thing one could reasonably nitpick is that the black wash is going to appear heavier in certain places and lighter in others. On my figure, the right side of the head seems noticeably darker than the left and there’s a very faint hit of gray near his top, left, horn that I assume was meant for the horn. It’s barely noticeable, but worth pointing out. Overall though, what a tremendously fun figure to just look at.

The detail on this guy is incredible, though I do wish they gave him a holster or sheath for the weapons.

A big, beefy, dino is not going to move like a ninja, but NECA has a few surprises in store with Zog. First off, the head is likely on a double ball and he can look way up which is cool if you want to try to pose him in a ramming position. He can’t really look down, but you get rotation and some room for tilt. The shoulders rotate all around and the hinge will allow the arms to raise up to about horizontal. We get a biceps swivel and single-jointed elbows which can’t quite hit 90 degrees nor can they really allow the arms to go out completely straight. He’s just too thick. The waist features a ball peg and you get a little motion front-to-back as well as side-to-side, but it’s mostly a rotation point. The ball-socketed hips will let Zog damn near hit a split and they pivot as well on the ball joint. What he can’t really do is kick as the leg will only go forward and back a little. Single-jointed knees can’t bend 90 degrees, but you do get another swivel point there. The hinges in the ankles are really tight and don’t seem to want to allow for much movement, but the ankle rocker works fine. On the rear of the figure is where the tail plugs in and it’s just a hinged ball-peg system like NECA’s Gargoyles line. The tail itself has a real, heavy-duty wire running through it so you can bend it, just be mindful that you’re not putting pressure on the plastic peg when you do. Lastly, we get an articulated jaw. In there is what I think is a first for this line in an articulated tongue. I think it’s basically just a little ball joint because it moves in all directions. It’s pretty damn amusing to play with. Did NECA need to make the tongue articulated? No, but I’m happy they did. Otherwise, he’s pretty basic, but it’s the size and overall presence that’s going to sell a pose with this figure more than range at an elbow or knee. I’ve had no trouble finding interesting poses with this guy and I’m guessing others will say the same.

Did someone say articulated tongue? Yeah, he has an articulated tongue.
Zog doesn’t just toss one grenade at his foes, he unleashes a whole handful.

The accessory load-out with Zog is fairly substantial. He gets an assortment of hands to pummel his victims and comes with a set of fists, open hands, gripping hands, another gripping left hand, and a right trigger finger hand. The gripping hands are interesting as no two hands appear to have the same grip. His left hand seems to be the loosest fit followed by the right hand. The third gripping hand, the other left one, is a really tight grip. The hands don’t have much flex either unless you apply heat. I’m guessing the variety in gripping hands is due to the other accessories. He has two spherical grenades and one that’s a canister. The loose gripping hand can handle the canister while the tighter ones can grip the other grenades by the handle, or whatever that part of the grenade is called. All three grenades are brown with these sculpted wraps on them which are outlined in black. They look fine, but almost comically small in Zog’s giant hands. Zog also has a big combat knife which fits rather well into the loosest gripping hand. It has a handguard on it which is spiked and it looks rather menacing. Lastly, we get a Triceraton blaster which is easily identified by it’s triangular shape. Fugitoid came with a smaller version though this one doesn’t look much bigger in these oversized hands. The gun is well painted and features a strap that’s sculpted in a pliable plastic. I suppose you can loop it over a shoulder if you prefer, but it does slot nicely into the trigger finger hand. The finger just barely gets behind the trigger guard and I’m curious why NECA didn’t just make the gun a little big bigger to not make it so tight, but it’s fine. That’s it for accessories though and I think it’s okay. The only thing I wish he had was some kind of weapon storage. He has these pouches on the rear of his chest strap and I wish they had just gave him a sheath for his knife instead. It probably isn’t how the character was drawn, but I’d be fine with them taking some liberties here. A way to holster the gun would have also been welcomed.

The fall of Zog.
“So, you wanna go first?!”
“Please, I’m not tasty!”

Zog is a massive figure and he comes at a massive price. Well, massive is too strong a word, but I couldn’t resist the wordplay. He retails for $50 like REX-1 which is quite a bit. Is he worth it? That’s going to vary from person to person as there are some collectors out there still angry that Marvel Legends hit $20 years ago (they must be really pissed now). For what you get, I’m finding it hard to be too upset about the price. This is a huge figure with a lot of plastic and a lot of paint. The accessory count won’t blow anyone away, but it’s not as if he’s short-changed either. I just think he looks damn cool and he’s one of those figures I’m having a hard time putting down. I just enjoy picking him up and feeling how hefty he is. The posing is limited, but at the same time it’s still fun. Especially if you have other figures to pose him with. I know some people are hoping for more Triceratons to army build, but I’m kind of hoping NECA stays away. Don’t make me have to decide if I want to army build $50 figures because I don’t know if I can resist. If they’re done as well as this guy then watch out wallet!

Interested in seeing more from NECA and Mirage Studios?

NECA Mirage Studios TMNT Casey Jones

Where there be turtles, there be Casey Jones – the bad ass vigilante of New York City! Casey was an early addition to the comics and he’s basically been included with every iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since. And in all of them he tends to wear a hockey mask and bludgeons bad guys…

Keep reading
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…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA Mirage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

A dozen years ago, toy company NECA dipped its toe into the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the first time, and shockingly it failed to stick around. That’s incredible to hear for collectors currently chasing down Bebop and Rocksteady at Target, but it’s the truth. There are a lot of folks at NECA…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

March 14, 2023

NECA Cartoon TMNT Tall Thug and Short Gangster

By Joe
Pictured: Not Dopey and Not Dumbo.

It’s time to look at another NECA two-pack that’s been released during this year’s Haulathon event at Target. And for today, it’s the Tall Thug and Short Gangster two-pack, who are better known as Dopey and Dumbo. I say “better known” as that’s a relative term since these are some pretty deep pulls from the cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which premiered with a five episode mini series in 1987. Like the previous two-pack of Grunt and Jersey Red, these guys hail from Bebop and Rocksteady’s seldom referenced street gang which was in the very first episode. I went into all of the details in that review, and if you want a refresh it’s linked at the bottom of this entry, but to make things short these guys appeared briefly, were mutated offscreen by Shredder, showed up in a couple of quick shots, and then were never heard from again. None of them had a speaking role or were even named in the show. We only know their names thanks to production art and only the most involved TMNT fans even know that much. And it probably goes without saying, but NECA couldn’t use their “real” names on the box for legal reasons since there’s a mouse out there that’s pretty protective of its copyrights.

I’m digging this meat hook accessory which is probably the type of weapon that was okay for the initial mini series, but deemed too violent for the seasons to follow.

The Tall Thug, who is Dopey, is perhaps the oddest of the bunch from a style standpoint. If there was a narc in the gang, I’m putting my money on this guy. He’s got a big, floppy, hat that covers most of his face and this jacket that makes him look like he just came from a Janet Jackson show during the Rhythm Nation tour. His boots almost look like platform shoes and this is just an all-together odd design for a purported gangster. Dumbo, the short guy, is dressed far more practically with a simple gray tank top with black vest combo to go with some blue pants and black boots. Aside from some wristbands, he’s got nothing going on as far as jewelry or even fancy weaponry. This is a thug who is clearly saving his earnings and must have a retirement goal in mind and I respect that. He’s also very short, like shortest in the line short. We might as well make it official and do a measurement which places him at approximately 4.75″ which is shorter than Baxter Stockman but pretty close to Splinter and Screwloose. He’s got bragging rights with Kala and Kerma and that’s about it. As for the so-called tall thug, he’s around 6″, maybe a tick over as it’s hard to tell where the head ends and the hat (which isn’t removable) begins with this guy, which really only makes him tall relative to Dumbo here. Compared with the rest of the gang, he’s fairly average.

This Looney Tunes type mallet is definitely more the show’s style.

Because these guys were little more than background characters, there’s not much to their designs. Dopey’s face is barely visible on the show due to the hat which sits low and his bulbous nose that dominates his face. NECA did give him eyes with pupils, so that’s good, and there’s probably elements to this guy that had to just be guessed by the designers. The jacket is a gray overlay with the cel-shading on the rear of the figure while the arms are separately molded. There’s some linework for pockets and such and he has two stripes near each shoulder, but there’s not much too it. He has the NECA double-elbows which is a swivel and hinge at the top of the joint and bottom which can look odd on some figures, but here it’s fine. He’s wearing blue pants which might be more like work pants as opposed to denim, but this was a low detail cartoon so it’s hard to know what the model was going for. There’s some sloppy paint on his belt, but otherwise the paint seems sharp. I like all of the detail on the face as this guy has a somewhat lumpy appearance and it adds character. The rest is done well enough, it’s just not a very exciting character design.

“Hey Leonardo, I think I’d feel kind of bad beating these two up.” “I know what you mean, Michelangelo.”

For articulation, Dopey should feel fairly familiar. He’s very much in-line with someone like Vernon and Grunt. The head is on a double ball and he can rotate, look down, and gets some fairly solid tilt and nuance posing. He can’t really look up due to both his hair and the collar on his coat, but he’s the “tall” thug so he shouldn’t look up to anyone! The shoulders peg in and hinge and they can rotate, but at a slight angle since his coat is designed to look like it has shoulder pads. They hinge out almost to horizontal. At the elbow, you get rotation at the top of the joint which is essentially your biceps swivel. The bend goes past 90 degrees, but it results in a squared-off “U” shape to the joint which does look odd, but it’s more than functional. You also get rotation past it for the forearm and the wrists swivel and hinge. In the diaphragm, there is a joint, but like Vernon and so many others in this line, it’s useless due to the overlay. There’s another joint at the waist that’s mostly for rotation. You do get a little tilt in all directions, but it’s minor. The legs are ball and socket joints and you can hit some pretty solid splits. He kicks forward to just about horizontal before the diaper piece gets in the way. There’s some rotation at the thigh and he can kick back a little bit and off to the side. The knees are standard double joints that bend past 90 and you get a boot cut below that. The ankle hinges are fairly useless due to the shape of the boot, but you get a decent ankle rocker. He’s going to be able to do enough and I’m happy to say nothing was overly tight or loose. The elbow swivels are a little stubborn, but it’s more due to the shape of the cut and they’re still usable and didn’t require any heat. The gripping hands have the wrong hinge, which is an issue on just about every figure from NECA these days save for REX-1.

Dumbo is definitely not described as a tall man.

With Dumbo, we have a very basic design. I already talked about it a little, but we have bare arms, a bald head, and clothing that just hits blue, black, and gray as far as the colors go. The pants feature the cel-shading, but the black vest does not and since the shirt is barely visible on the rear of the figure it would seem NECA declined to apply it there. The linework is done well on both the shirt and the flesh parts. There’s some on the pants but it’s fairly limited in application. He does appear to be all new tooling though. Dopey likely is as well, which is a surprise for such minor characters. They could have reused the Burns/Human Rocksteady mold again, but he was noticeably shorter than Rocksteady so NECA must have decided they needed to capture the same. I wish they had instead put more money into that human Rocksteady since I think his proportions are off, but oh well. I thought he might share arms with Jersey Red, but his are ever so slightly larger. He’s just very plain, but the paint on him is mostly fine. There’s a blemish on his left arm, but nothing too extreme.

That’s right, these two mutated! Into what I’m not quite sure.

A little chunk like Dumbo probably isn’t going to articulate very well, and that’s pretty much true here. The head is set very low on the body as he’s one of those no-neck characters. He gets enough movement side-to-side and can look up, but he can’t look down and there’s very little tilt available. The shoulders can rotate fine and they hinge out past horizontal, so that’s good. The elbows are just single-hinged and a little awkward looking as you can see the sculpt of the point of the elbow past the joint, but at least here they didn’t paint any lines onto the elbow like they did with human Rocksteady so it’s not as weird looking. He can bend to about 90 degrees there and it swivels in place of a biceps swivel and on a thick-armed guy like this I like the approach. With Grunt, who had defined biceps, I was critical of the choice to forego the biceps swivel. The wrists swivel and hinge horizontally, per usual. At the waist, we get a swivel point that’s probably a ball-peg, but it doesn’t do a whole lot. The overlay for the shirt gets in the way so he can only rotate a few degrees to either side and gets virtually no tilt in any direction. The ball-socketed hips will allow the little guy to nearly hit a full split and you get a little swivel at the joint as well. He can’t really kick forward as his legs want to go off to the side, but if you accept that you can get them to go fairly far. He actually can do the same backwards just as well which is rare. The knees are just single joints and his default posing has them bent slightly. They can’t bend much farther than that either, but they do swivel. The feet can’t do much due to the cuffs of the pants. You basically just get a little tilt out of the ankle rocker and the hinge is fairly useless.

You’re probably familiar with the phrase “A face only a mother could love.” I’m not sure even a mother could love this one.

Dumbo is a guy who isn’t going to move much. You’re going to set him on a shelf and pose his arms with some accessories. As for those accessories, we get a few. Dumbo and Dopey both come with fists in the box and have a set of gripping hands. Dopey has an additional left gripping hand with a gap between the middle and ring finger. That gap is for use with the meat hook accessory which fits in the hand with the metal portion slotting between the fingers. It has a wood handle and gray hook and looks fine. It’s nice to get a unique weapon as the rest are less interesting. Dumbo was seen wielding a chain in the episode so we get another one of those. It’s an actual chain and it’s different from the one that came in the Premonition of a Premutation set. It’s a bit longer and the links are more rounded. I like the length, but I prefer the shape of the links on the first one we got. There’s also a short baseball bat they must have swiped from a Little League field or something. It’s painted brown and has some linework to give it a wood appearance so that’s cool. Lastly, there’s a mallet, like a cartoon, Itchy & Scratchy, mallet. It’s amusing to me to think of street gangs running around with mallets, but it’s from the show. It’s a very pale brown, almost a yellow-brown, with some black detail on each end of the head to give it a wood appearance. It’s fine, though almost too silly to use even for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You’re going to want to display this one from the front.

That’s not all as we also have to talk about the mutations. Just like with Grunt and Scrag before him, Dopey and Dumbo come with extra parts to mutate them. In the case of Dopey, he was mutated into a shrew or something. He basically ended up with an even bigger nose. He was always positioned to the rear of the brief shots we got so it was hard to make out much and I’m guessing NECA had to use a lot of artistic license in sculpting this. He gets the extra head though with the massive nose and he’s quite ugly. We never saw his hands, but NECA decided to give him an extra right hand that was mutated into this monstrous shape. It’s affixed to a new forearm so you separate it below the second hinge to peg it in. Both swaps are easy and they don’t really affect articulation in any way. I will say, there’s no linework on the middle finger of the monstrous hand and that does distract me a bit as it’s present on all of the other fingers, but otherwise it looks fine. It’s not the most interesting mutation, but NECA did it about as well as they could.

The mutant punks! Sadly, Shredder seems to have had them all put down.

For Dumbo, he got mutated into some sort of dog-sloth thing. He’s always been referred to as a dog mutation by the fanbase, but I’m getting a sloth vibe. Especially with the tiny hands that seem to feature long claws. Whatever he is, he had better exposure than Dopey in the show so this one was easier to do as far as the design goes, but in terms of engineering it’s more involved since Dumbo’s look is sleeveless. He gets a new head that’s wide enough that it hides the flesh around the collar of his shirt from head-on, but does lock the head down even more so than before to the point where he can’t really do much there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sit as low as I’d like though as from the side you can clearly see the flesh parts. It almost would be better if the double ball peg for the head stayed on the head when you pull it off (and it’s a little tough getting that off) so the mutated head could sit even lower. The arms are an easy swap and they look fine. They’re darker than the head, but that’s in keeping with the show. The biceps piece appears to be the same as the standard arms, but the forearms had to be resculpted to include fur. The hands are tiny and sharp and you do lose the hinge joint. They don’t really do much though. He can still hold his chain, but that’s probably it. Overall, it’s okay. His mutation is more interesting than Dopey’s, though I wish they did a better job hiding the neck. Just a floating piece to slot over that would have been nice.

This is what was taken from us.

This two-pack is another one where if you have the other gang members then you probably want this one, and if you don’t, then you probably won’t see much of a need for it. These are of two of the least interesting designs in the group. I kind of like Dopey just because he looks so stupid as a “gang” member given his attire while Dumbo is just a very bland design that wasn’t supposed to receive this much attention or scrutiny. With the mutated forms, it’s the opposite as I think Dumbo’s is a bit more interesting while Dopey looks, well, dopey. He’s definitely the one to position towards the back if you’re going with a mutated display. And that’s the dilemma present. I like Scrag and Grunt’s mutant looks while Dumbo’s isn’t great, but his un-mutated look is boring. However, they pair better with human Bebop and Rocksteady so that’s probably how I’ll display them. At least for now, maybe I’ll change it up at some point, but I’ve had Scrag in his human form since getting him as well so I don’t know when that change will happen. They’re able to better make use of their weapons in human form so there’s that too.

This set is exclusive to Target stores and retails for $60. It’s a lot, but it’s the going rate. Again, if you have the other characters then you might as well get this one. The designs may not be the most exciting, but they are executed well. If you don’t have those other sets or don’t feel like you need to add to the old gang, then I don’t think you’ll miss this one. The accessories are about as exciting as the characters themselves so there’s little incentive to buy them unless you just want to collect them all.

Need more obscure Turtle characters in your life? Look no further!

NECA Cartoon TMNT Grunt and Jersey Red

Collectors my age who watched the original mini series for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over and over likely all wondered the same thing at some point: what happened to the rest of Bebop and Rocksteady’s gang? When we first meet the dim-witted duo, they’re humans and part of a street gang harassing the people of…

Keep reading
by Joe

NECA Cartoon TMNT Premonition of a Premutation SDCC 4-Pack

It was a little over a month ago that San Diego Comic Con occurred, in person, for the first time since 2019. This was cause for a celebration, even if for those of us who take in the convention from the comfort of our homes saw little change. Even without the event taking place the…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

March 9, 2023

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Shredder Clones

By Joe
From the pages of Mirage Studios come the 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 of 5 such releases: the Mirage Studios Shredder clones. In the original comic series, Shredder was unceremoniously killed off in the very first issue. He was never supposed to be a reocurring villain and really no one likely expected to even do a second issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the comic sold well so another had to follow. Co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had no trouble coming up with other adventures for the boys, but the popularity of the Shredder character meant that he had to come back in some way. And he would, eventually, but first we got the clones.

“You ready to mess shit up, little buddy?”

Issue #20 of the original run saw the debut of the clones when they showed up and killed off the Triceraton warrior Zog (more on him in the coming weeks), though their full debut came in the following issue when the turtles actually did battle with them. The clones were essentially an attempt by the Foot to bring back the Shredder, but something must have gone wrong. They needed a few tries, and it would seem this trio of clones represented those first few failed attempts. One such clone is known as the Claw Shredder. A figure of him was released as part of the latest round of Loot Crates and it was basically a slender Shredder with big claws for arms. The other two clones are the subject of today’s post as they’ve been released together: Multi-armed Shredder and Mini Shredder or Shrimp Shredder. I don’t know if they necessarily have official names as these clones have now appeared in multiple iterations of the franchise and even in toy form. I suppose their official name isn’t important and all you need to know is we get a big, beefy, version of Shredder with four arms and a small Shredder. These two have been released as a two-pack and come in an oversized version of NECA’s Mirage packaging featuring new artwork by Kevin Eastman.

He may be little, but don’t turn your back on him.

I suppose we can start with the Shrimp Shredder, my preferred name for him. He’s more like an accessory, but since the box does say “Shredder Clones” with a plural, we can treat him like a figure. And this will be quick because there isn’t much to him. He stands at roughly 2.75″ to the top of his helmet, but his true height would probably add another half inch to him. That’s because he’s in a permanent crouch since his legs are prepositioned and lack knee articulation. His color scheme is like that of the standard Mirage Shredder so he has a red outfit with brown wraps at the forearms, waist, and boots. He looks like a tiny Shredder with the only difference being his skin tone is an earthy brown and he has red, glowing, eyes from behind his mask. He has just a single blade on each hand as opposed to two and features no spikes at the shin. The figure has the cutomary black line work this line is known for and it’s all really clean. The helmet and other “metal” parts have a luster to them. They’re painted in silver with hits of light blue to create the illusion of metal and it looks really sharp. It’s really impressive how much detail is packed into such a small figure and the lack of paint slop is to be commended.

“Destroy them, my clone! Take no prisoners!”

Where the little guy does come up short is in the articulation department. He’s not a slug figure, but he also doesn’t do a whole lot and it’s very similar to the baby turtles we saw in the recently released accessory set. The head is on a ball peg, but it’s pretty large relative to the creature’s body so turning it will result in it coming into contact with the spiked shoulder pauldrons. He can look down, but he can’t look up, and there’s really little in the way of nuance posing. The shoulders rotate and hinge, but they can only go so far because the elbows are bent. Eventually, the spikes on the hands will hit something when rotating and the pauldrons obstruct the figures abilito raise its arms out to the side. The hips are ball-jointed and they’re mostly unrestricted. They do kick out to the side more than forward, but his bent knees mean he wasn’t going to do kicks anyway. They pivot and can go forward and back and are easily the most accessible of the joints. The ankles feature hinges and an ankle rocker. He’s not really going to do much. You get a few options in how the arms can be positions and the legs being bent means you can’t really take advantage of all of the articulation down there. He can basically crouch, sit, kneel, or be on one knee. He’s not too hard to stand, easier than the baby turtles, so mostly he’s fine. If they could have given us knee and elbow articulation that would have been nice, or maybe just swappable legs and arms? He gets the job done though and he’s not the main attraction.

“See, dude? I told you this would be way more fun than fighting.”
Is that you, Goro?

That’s because the big guy is. We’re talking about the multi-armed Shredder, or Shiva Shredder in some parts, and he’s definitely the more impressive of the pair. Standing at around 6.75″, he’s the tallest in the Mirage line so far, or would be if he wasn’t being released at the same time as Zog. More so than the height, he feels big because he’s very broad in the chest and he needs to be because he has four, beefy, arms that need to attach to that trunk. Everything about his design is broad as even his head is practically square-shaped compared with the more rounded features of Shredder. His chin is squared-off behind the metal plate and the color scheme for this guy is the same as Shrimpy. Also similar to the little guy is that he only has one blade on each hand, but since he has four hands he has the same number of blades as Shredder. The paint is all the same so same flesh color, same approach for the steel, and so on. And like the little guy, it’s all applied exceptionally well and is mostly free of defects. The actual spikes on hims are quite firm and pretty sharp too so keep this one away from your little ones. I kind of have a “thing” for designs with four arms so I am especially taken with how this guy turned out. He’s going to look awesome in your display whether you have a ton of releases or just a few.

This guy might require both swords to take down, Leo.

Now when it comes to the articulation there’s a lot to work with, but this clone still feels like most releases from NECA. The head is on a ball peg and there’s also a ball peg in the base of the neck. He gets good rotation there with plenty of room for nuance posing. He can look up only a little due to the shape of the helm, but he can look down rather well. There’s nothing in the torso and I’m guessing that’s because of the arms. Each one is articulated as expected. We get a shoulder hinge with rotation at the peg insert, there’s a biceps swivel, double-jointed elbow, and wrists that swivel and hinge. Rotating the arms is a bit cumbersome because they conflict with each other or the pauldrons, but it can be done to a certain degree. The elbows, even though they’re double-jointed, really only give 90 degrees of bend because the gauntlets on each arm ride up so far and the biceps on this guy are pretty massive. You can rotate at the gauntlet as well which I like because it allows you to keep the forearm blades in-line with the hands. There is a waist twist, but it’s just that and doesn’t feel like a ball-joint. The hips are the standard ball hips and this big boy can almost do full splits as a result. He doesn’t kick forward very far, and the legs tend to go out to the side more than forward. There is rotation at the thigh and the knees are double-jointed and can bend past 90. There is no boot cut, but the ankles hinge and have a rocker which works well enough. In terms of stuck joints, I had a little trouble with the left knee, but I was able to get it going without having to resort to hot water or a hair dryer. Some of the biceps and elbows were a bit stubborn, but again, nothing that required heat. His a big, brawler, type so I think the articulation here is good enough and he stands easily so that’s a plus.

“My arm! The filthy reptile slashed off my arm!”

When it comes to the accessories, this set is somewhat lacking. Unless you consider the little clone an accessory, then I guess it’s better. He has no accessories, but the big guy gets some extra hands. He has, in total, two fists, two clenching hands, two gripping hands, and two chop hands. I guess if you wanted four fists you’ll be disappointed, but I’m good with the variety. He also comes with some battle damage accessories. In the comic, these guys were made up of some weird worms. They’re like a hive mind and whatever they eat they can replicate, or something. It’s not important, but when they get damaged the purple worms become visible which is pretty gross. What you can do is pop off each forearm just behind the gauntlet, which is why you get a swivel point there. With that removed, you have a cap that can go over the stump which makes it look like a bunch of purple worms are visible. And for the discarded limb, there’s another purple cap that can attach to the that making it look like the worms are spreading out from it. It’s pretty cool and certainly helps for those into toy photography or want to stage a fight on their shelf. The pieces work fine and look fine as well, but that’s it for accessories. Is it pretty slim? Yeah, but I don’t know what else we could really ask for. I guess more battle damaged parts if that’s your thing, but I’m more or less content with this.

Including the original Shredder with them highlights the strides NECA has made in painting the metal bits.

The Shredder Clones two-pack is another very specific release and one that unfortunately is limited in value by the presence of a Loot Crate figure. If you have the Claw Shredder then you probably want these guys and if you don’t then you might not see the point. The good news is, the Claw Shredder really hasn’t been that sought after and aftermarket prices haven’t been terrible. They might go up now that these guys are out, but he’s certainly easier to get than Scrag. I have that figure so I wanted this pair and I’m happy to have them. I’m also happy to say that they came in at $40 which doesn’t seem terrible. With online retailers charging $38 for Casey Jones and the Utrom, $40 for this pair feels like a pretty damn good price. That’s the Target price though and when this gets sent to specialty retail he may very well cost more. We’ll have to wait and see. For now, this pair is only available at Target stores for the month of March and it remains to be seen if it will be refreshed or if it was a one and done affair. If you’re into the Mirage stuff and you come across this one then I definitely recommend it. You can never have too many four-armed figures and apparently you can never have too many Shredders.

Here’s some more TMNT goodness that might interest you:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Utrom

We’ve become so accustomed to having the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in our lives that the name of the franchise has almost lost all meaning. Well, maybe not all, but I feel we mostly have lost sight of how ridiculous a concept this franchise is. And it extends to other characters in the franchise and…

Keep reading
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…

Keep reading
by Joe

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