Krang decided his body should be all naked and muscley too.
Two words that are much hated in the toy collecting community are “Store Exclusive.” Add a “Walmart” in front of that phrase and you get something akin to a worst nightmare. The world of “collectibles” has always relied on same degree of scarcity. The 90s saw a collector boom across various mediums which created a mindset in producers that scarcity was good. Scarcity is what the public wanted. Scarcity was fun! In reality, most collectors aren’t buying because they want to make an investment. Sure, some do, but most collect for the enjoyment of it. The idea of an exclusive is just a barrier of entry and it’s frustrating for those who just want to buy some toys.
If you want him to have normal proportions you will want to forego the Krang Kave.
With the rise of online sales and the decline of brick and mortar, stores are more desperate than ever to drive foot traffic. In the eyes of retailers, exclusives will bring in people that might not otherwise set foot in the store and the big toy producers like getting the big retailers to pay for exclusive merch. With Mattel and its Turtles of Grayskull subline of Masters of the Universe Origins, the company was able to strike a deal with both Target and Walmart. At Target, the deluxe figures that include a build-a-figure part have remained exclusive to that retailer. I have so far reviewed those two releases and I plan to review them all. I’ve been able to find them in-store with no issues, and failing that, online has worked fine. With Walmart, Mattel has released a different set of deluxe figures that seem to be a little more involved than what’s at Target, but doesn’t have a build-a-figure. And even calling them “more involved” might be a stretch so I don’t know where the extra money is going, but they’re $25 as well. Only with Walmart, tracking them down has been a problem, at least for me in the north east. Not only have I not seen a single store exclusive at various Walmart stores spread across Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, I haven’t seen a single Masters of the Universe figure at all! It’s like they don’t even carry the brand any longer.
He’s so widdle and cute!
What’s a guy to do when he can’t find something at retail? Regrettably, I turned to a third party seller. It’s great that Walmart can’t sell its own product on its website to people that want it, so they let others use their website to sell their wares at inflated prices – awesome! In this case, I purchased today’s figure from someone charging $41. Whoever this person is presumably paid $25 for this thing and then had to cover shipping and whatever fees Walmart charges those who sell through their website to sell me this thing. What did they actually make on it? Ten bucks? Eight bucks? I guess from Walmart’s perspective it’s a win-win. They sold this person a toy, then got to take a piece of the resale as well – it’s like selling it twice! If you ever wondered why Walmart essentially condones the practice of scalping on their own website, well now you know.
“Mondo bizarro!”
Unfortunately, I felt like I had to have this figure of Krang so hopefully it’s worth the extra fifteen bucks or so. Krang has always been an absurd character design. As Vernon put it, it’s a guy with his brain in his stomach. If you’re a toy designer at Mattel and you just received word that the company acquired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license to mash-up with Masters of the Universe then Krang had to be at the top of the list of characters that would be the most fun to design. And for Krang, they settled on a mash-up with Megator, a big, green, ogre of sorts. He’s packaged in a window box with new artwork all over that looks great. And this Krang certainly takes up a lot of real estate in that box.
The “deluxe” villains.
Krang, like Sla’ker, utilized the oversized Origins body to add some considerable size. To the top of his head, he’s around 6.875″ and to the top of the tuft of hair he’s 7.5″. That’s not where it ends though, because Krang needs to occupy the center of this body as God intended. Since this toyline is modular by nature, the way to accomplish this is simply to create a little Krang prison that fits in between the waist and abdomen. Once that is in place he balloons to about 7.75″ to the top of the head and 8.25″ to the top of the hair. He’s a big boy and he looks pretty good. The figure is primarily green with light red, almost pinkish, accents. The head is shaped like the classic, Playmates, android body only the antenna has been replaced by a topknot of hair and he has a helmet and protruding sharp teeth. The helmet is red with spikes on the side and a metallic plate on the front which covers the eyes and nose. The red slits of the eyes look like they’re set too high on the sculpt. The artwork on the box has them angled so it works better, but the figure didn’t carry that over.
“Use this stuff if you want to be a true master of the universe!”
For the body, Krang is wearing this breastplate with a skull on it held to the body by two, bronze, chains. These go over the shoulders and match the color of the cavity for Krang. Below that he has a black loincloth and belt, but the only part painted is some more bronze chains. Krang himself, the little brain with a face, is quite tiny. He’s almost cute. It’s a soft rubbery plastic with painted eyes and teeth and the portrait here is very close to the 1987 TV series interpretation of the character. He locks into place in the body and there’s a little grate that closes over him. The tentacles are designed to stick out and I think it’s quite entertaining to look at. If you’re particularly concerned with scale then it might annoy you that Krang is way smaller here than he’s been in the past. They could have made him bigger, but that would have required a larger compartment. One drawback to this design is that Krang’s body has very short arms since they’re designed to scale with the body without the middle insert. If it were any larger it would look really goofy.
It’s a Krang comparison. I forgot how big the NECA one is.
Real chains are pretty cool, but they need some help to pose well.
Krang does come with a pair of accessories to add some value here. Both come in the form of weapon add-ons. Krang can remove his hands and swap them with either an axe or a ball and chain. The axe can function has a handheld weapon too and it’s cast in a grayish plastic with some decent sculpt work. The ball and chain is done in the same bronze plastic as the chains on the body of the figure with a gray, spiked, ball at the end. Like Michelangelo’s nunchaku, the chains are all plastic, but are actual links. It’s pretty damn long and looks cool, though I’m always a little remiss that accessories like this don’t have a fixed chain for posing, but this line gets away with it by being an homage line to actual toys that are meant to be played with. It’s an odd space where it’s a collector line done as-if it were a line made for children. The articulation is also exactly the same as Sla’ker, right down to the poor ankle rocker. The peg hole in the foot isn’t done at enough of an angle for the ankle rocker to be useful.
“It would appear that we are evenly matched.”
Is Krang worthy of your $25? If you can find him at that price, then definitely. Is it worth north of $40? No, probably not, but that’s what a potential hole in the collection will do to a collector. That’s not the figure’s fault though, it’s on Walmart. For the line, this is one of the best figures so far. Maybe even the best. I like the design quite a bit, it’s fun to behold, and it works as a combination of two famous properties. If you’re into this line and come upon this figure in your travels then I highly recommend you pick it up.
It takes a lot of turtles to topple a Krang.
Check out more from Masters of The Universe – Turtles of Grayskull:
It’s a Tuesday, and I have a new Turtles product to talk about, so let’s make it another Turtle Tuesday! And today brings us the second in the line of deluxe Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line exclusive to Target – Sla’ker: The evil cybernetic snapping turtle! This is Slash, the…
Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can…
When it’s come to the Turtles of Grayskull line by Mattel, I have mostly stayed in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles side of the pool. I have all four turtle boys plus Sla’ker, who is more Slash than Faker if you ask me. The one exception has been Mouse-Jaw, but the classic Masters of the…
When I was a kid, I had parents with divergent musical tastes. Dad likes oldies from the 50s and 60s while mom was more into modern rock (then 80s). One area where their tastes overlapped was Bruce Springsteen. We had several of his records in my house and I distinctly remember that cover to Born in the USA with the butt of The Boss on proud display clad in denim with a handkerchief sticking out of the pocket. And as a kid, I tended to like whatever my parents liked though I definitely preferred my mother’s taste more so than my father’s and I liked that record. Years later, when I first laid eyes on the Classic Rocker Leonardo action figure from Playmates Toys with its black vest, handkerchief clad head, and denim pants that cover of Born in the USA immediately came to mind.
My vintage figure needs a good cleaning.
Classic Rocker Leonardo was part of the Rock ‘N Rollin’ Turtles subline of figures released by Playmates in 1991. Whenever these variants came about I pretty much always got the Leonardo and seldom the rest because I couldn’t afford to be a completist. Leonardo was the most appealing from the set because he was my favorite turtle, but also because he most fit my image of a rock star. Torn jeans, black vest, and a guitar. It ended up being one of my favorites and it’s one of the few figures that managed to survive all these years and that I still possess. He did lose all of his accessories except the one that matters: his guitar.
I miss the pattern on the bandana and the rhinestone messaging.
Because of my fondness for this iteration of Leonardo, Classic Rocker Leo has been on my want list from Super7 pretty much right from the get-go. When Wave 7 was solicited with Punker Donatello in it I was tickled because it meant Leonardo was on the table. At the same time, I was confused and a little irritated since we all were expecting Undercover Donatello to complete that set. Wave 8 followed with Space Cadet Raph and then Wave 9 was revealed to contain Slam Dunkin’ Don – what?! Was Classic Rocker Leonardo no longer on the table? What was Super7 doing going from the disguise series, to the music one, and then to the sports themed wave?
What’s better than one guitar?
Turns out, my fears were unfounded and I didn’t have to wait much longer to see Classic Rocker Leo revealed as part of Wave10. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the tenth wave (ignoring the fact that Wave 7 still hasn’t shipped) of Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! It’s pretty crazy and I’m guessing this line has exceeded Super7’s expectations to go this deep. It’s also arrived at a bit of a crossroads as Playmates has made it a lot harder for Super7 to simply reproduce their work. These Rock N’ Rollin’ Turtles apparently skated by because there’s promotional artwork from the 90s depicting them so these designs weren’t solely confined to the toys. Or maybe Playmates has no intention of re-releasing them so they didn’t make a fuss. I don’t know, I’m just glad it’s here as it’s the only figure in the tenth wave that is based on a vintage figure. The others – Ninja Newscaster April, Casey Jones (Mirage colors), and Karai are new to the line. April did have a similar figure in the old line, but the design of this one is almost completely different. This was also the wave that was supposed to include Rat King, but the design Super7 came up with was so different from the Playmates figure that the collectors basically revolted. It was pulled, replaced with Karai, and moved to the eleventh wave where it will have a more vintage toy-inspired design.
“Boooorn in the sewers, yeah!”
Whatever the politics are behind the scenes, I’m just happy that Leo is here. Classic Rocker Leonardo arrives in the standard Super7 box only now sans a slipcover. He stands around 5.5″ and is basically in-line with the other Leonardo figures from Super7. His design is almost an exact recreation of the Playmates figure and it’s definitely a lot easier to cite the differences than what’s the same. And those differences are limited to the red bandana on top of his head which no longer has any sort of pattern on it. I’m not sure why and I do miss it, but it isn’t something that truly bothers me. The “Turtle Rocks” on the t-shirt is in a different font and the colors have been inverted. The straps on his boots are no longer painted all silver but are black straps with silver studs and the message on the back of the vest has been altered. On the original, it read “Rock N’ Roll” and it was done in silver rhinestones. Now, it says “Rock N’ Out” in a blue font. I don’t mind the change in messaging, but I do kind of miss the tackiness of the rhinestones. His belt buckle has been changed from a peace sign to a shuriken and the harmonica in his vest pocket is now all silver rather brown and silver. It’s kind of odd that this detail seems more simply painted than the original, but it’s fine.
He still has his fretboard swords. Not sure how effective they would be as weapons, but okay.
The differences are few and largely inconsequential and are likely done just to give this figure a slightly different flair than the old, even if there’s no mistaking what’s going on here. And from a sculpt and paint perspective, it’s a pretty nice figure. There’s an ample amount of paint to bring the figure to life and it’s nice to see the rip on his left thigh finally painted when compared with the vintage release. The torso feels like it’s mostly a rubbery overlay, but it’s still painted like it’s hard plastic. The vest is part of the sculpt so you can’t take it off or even look under it at all. The green flesh has a nice matte look though I don’t think it’s painted. If you get in real close you’ll fine some uneven lines in the paint here and there, but it’s nothing that will show at a normal distance. The only paint issue I have is there is a small dot of blue at the top of the right eye. Since it’s blue on white, it stands out more than I like. Overall though I’m happy with the sculpt and paint and this is a nice update over the original.
“You mean they gave you real blades?!”
Where this figure differentiates itself from the vintage the most is with the accessories. The original figure came with a guitar, two guitar fret swords, and some plastic records. This new version has a lot of the same, but different. For hands, we get a set of fists and gripping hands. The gripping hands have vertical hinges for sword and “axe” wielding while the fists have the standard horizontal ones. He also has a right hand that’s pinching a blue guitar pick, a left hand where the fingers are positioned in such a way that it looks like he’s squeezing a fret board, and a pointing gesture left hand for when he needs to point out bootleggers in the crowd.
Feel the music, Leo.
Those guitar playing hands are here to handle Leonardo’s new, double, guitar. It still has a turtle shell pattern, but with silver pickups and white plating which makes it resemble a Fender Stratocaster. There’s a soft, rubbery, strap for it that’s done in blue with silver clasps. It slots onto it just as it would a real guitar and works pretty well. The two fret boards are actually removable and feature blue, katana-like, handles so this version of Classic Rocker Leo still has his unusual swords. The connection is fairly loose, but the frets won’t fall out or anything. I think it’s done this way so as not to disturb the paintjob, which is excellent. The detail work and paint on this accessory looks great. This is one of my all-time favorite accessories I think I’ve ever received with an action figure because it looks so convincing as just a miniature version of a real thing. Some may be disappointed in the change from a more traditional guitar to a double one, but the absurdity of the double guitar (in both real life and toy) works for this line and it’s an easy way to take the old figure and turn it up to 11.
Can’t forget about the pizza!
Also included with Leonardo is a microphone stand. It’s black and gray with a hinge for the mic and blue wrappings on the stand. It doesn’t telescope and the mic is non-removable, but I suppose a guitar player doesn’t need to hold his mic. It’s at the right height and it’s a nice touch if you want your Leo to be the lead singer of his group or prepared to sing backup. There’s also the requisite slice of pizza which appears to include clams this time and Leo gets a pair of round shades. They don’t fit all that well, but they’re slightly transparent and done well enough. They may make more sense to use with Leonardo’s alternate portrait, which is just a regular Leo head, but with his eyes closed like he’s really feeling a guitar solo. It’s a good idea for a second portrait, and if you don’t want him to have closed eyes then the sunglasses hide that detail well enough. Swapping hands with this figure is also pretty easy, but getting the default head off required some heat.
If you don’t want his eyes closed you could always hide them behind the shades.
All of that fun stuff would be no good if Leonardo couldn’t even be posed with his instrument properly, but fear not, this figure should deliver well enough on the articulation front. He’s pretty typical of the line with a double-ball joint at the head, hinged shoulder pegs, biceps swivels, single-jointed elbows, and wrist hinge and swivels. I do like that Super7 hid the biceps swivel behind the rolled up part of the t-shirt so it looks good. The head joint is the same as the other turtles, which is lacking. It’s seated way too deep in the head and since there’s no joint at the base of the neck the range is pretty limited. Nothing in the torso, and the hips are the old hinged peg setup, but this time at least they’re not loose. A thigh twist follows with single-jointed knees that also swivel, hinged ankles, and an ankle rocker. Range at the knee is less than 90 degrees which is, again, typical of a Super7 turtle. The ankles are the best part and at least the elbows can hit a 90 degree bend.
He can play and that’s probably good enough for most.
Leonardo is limited, though obviously more articulated than his vintage counterpart. The range in the arms is enough that he can mime playing his guitar. He can’t really get his pick all the way down to the bottom pickups, but you could still pose him with his right arm raised or something. He can stand on one leg to imitate Angus Young and he can do jump kicks or stomp around like the guys from Iron Maiden. He can’t really be posed on his knees unfortunately and it’s too bad they didn’t take advantage of all the clothing to sneak some articulation into the torso. With a soft enough overlay they could have snuck in an ab crunch or at least a twist. Even without that stuff, the figure should be up to the task of posing, your imagination will just be limited some by it.
Looks like we’ve got a new band leader!
Classic Rocker Leonardo is not the best figure Super7 has made, but it might be my favorite. I am obviously biased because I adored the original so I was going to like this so long as it wasn’t butchered (like Sewer Samurai Leo). The figure looks great, the accessories are a ton of fun, and the new additions to the package are worthy additions indeed. This is basically what I want Super7’s line for this brand to be and I’m glad we know that at least two of the remaining three turtles from this subline are on the way. The only one unconfirmed right now is Heavy Metal Raph, but if he’s not part of Wave 13 (Rappin’ Mike is in Wave 11 while Wave 12 is dedicated to the 2003 Turtles) I’ll personally be surprised (and irritated). The four don’t exactly combine to make a cohesive band, but it’s okay and maybe Super7 will do an original design of Casey the drummer or something. Classic Rocker Leonardo should be available now or very soon from your favorite retailer where he’ll set you back $55. It’s a steep price, it always is with Super7, but at least for me it’s definitely worth it.
Late in 2023, Super7 started shipping the ninth wave of its line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! action figures. I bought none. It was a wave with no compelling characters for me as it contained Slam Dunkin’ Donatello, Scumbug, Wingnut & Screwloose, Zak the Neutrino, and a flocked Master Splinter variant. Scumbug had been…
If you’re into collecting action figures then you’re likely familiar with the concept of a variant. Tooling action figures, the process of cutting steel into molds in which plastic is inserted to create the figure, is the most expensive part of creating an action figure. That’s why it’s in the manufacturer’s best interest to get…
Well, after looking at the Wave 6 Slash a couple of weeks ago we can now finally turn our attention to a Wave 5 release from Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! series of figures: Sewer Samurai Leonardo. The thing with TMNT is, you have the four good guys, a few core allies,…
Late in 2023, Super7 started shipping the ninth wave of its line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! action figures. I bought none. It was a wave with no compelling characters for me as it contained Slam Dunkin’ Donatello, Scumbug, Wingnut & Screwloose, Zak the Neutrino, and a flocked Master Splinter variant. Scumbug had been on my list of wants from the line, but when NECA released their version of the character in its TMNT Animated line it scratched that itch since the character model was practically a 1:1 recreation of the vintage action figure. Wingnut was tempting, but Super7 wanted $75 for the figure and that was too rich for my blood. The rest I had little to no interest in. The Slam Dunkin’ Donatello even irritated me by simply existing since it was Super7 starting yet another variant line of turtles without finishing any of the ones they had already started to begin with (the disguise turtles and the music ones). Eventually, I would happen upon these figures in my travels at local comic book stores and I was really impressed with Wingnut, in particular, just not enough to meet the asking price of Super7 (or the comic book store markup on top of that) so I played the waiting game. I was okay if I never got the figure, and if it ever did get marked down then I’d be happy to pounce. That day finally came via Amazon, and while their discounted price only amounted to around 12 dollars, it was enough for me.
I no longer have the vintage version of this duo so this comparison with NECA will have to do.
The ninth wave of TMNT Ultimates! is the last to make use of the traditional slipcover style packaging, if that matters to you. Wingnut gets the green slipcover with his own, custom, manhole decal on the front and the figure is presented in a window box behind it. Thankfully, I’m an opener because my Screwloose was not secured in the plastic bubble and flopping around inside. If you only remember Wingnut from the cartoon, then you’re probably surprised to see he gets the green “Good Guy” slipcover instead of the villainous purple one. According to the lore of the original Playmates figure, Wingnut is indeed a good guy alien who has a vendetta against Krang. The character is best known as a member of Archie’s Mighty Mutanimals comic book series where Wingnut is a hero. He actually first debuted in Ralston-Purina cereal comics where he was indeed a villain and not aligned with Screwloose. His creation is credited to Ryan Brown and in basically every iteration of the character he’s a Batman parody of some kind and the design that would become the Playmates toy very much drives that point home.
Wingnut is pretty big, but in more a chunky sense like the previously released Muckman.
I don’t think anyone outside of Super7 or Viacom knows what the true constraints of this line are, but it’s nice to see that Wingnut is, more or less, a recreation of the vintage toy. Super7 has acknowledged that Playmates has expressed frustrations with the company essentially copying their figures for their Ultimates! line and Viacom has acquiesced to those concerns. As best as we know, Super7 can no longer recreate those old toys if that’s the only way they’ve existed. That’s basically a mandate from Viacom, legally it would appear Playmates doesn’t have a ton of standing, as we saw when the fans roundly rejected the Super7 Rat King concept solicited for Wave 10. Super7 was able to leverage those complaints with Viacom to get permission to more closely design their version of the character to match the vintage toy. And with the music turtles, it would seem those designs were used for some stickers and other ephemera back in the day and that’s enough to give Super7 access to those. With Wingnut, I’m not sure where this design comes from. He looked quite different in both Archie and the Ralston-Purina comic, but given he was a somewhat popular action figure it wouldn’t shock me if he showed up elsewhere. Maybe the cartoon featuring a near spot-on likeness to the figure is enough even if the toon is NECA’s domain.
When the wings don’t work you make them work.
Whatever the reason, I’m happy to see this approach to Wingnut taken by Super7. I think fans want to see a lot of those Playmates features incorporated into the same characters released in this line, just bigger, more detailed, and more painted. Like most of the old toys, I no longer have my original Wingnut. I suppose I could have purchased the somewhat recent reissue, but those can’t be trusted as Playmates often omits accessories and skimps on paint. From what I remember, this figure embodies a lot of the same features. He has his tongue sticking out, the belly of the shirt is ripped open, his tiny wings are incorporated into the mechanical features, and he has a gaudy, bat-head, belt buckle. The costume is clearly inspired by the classic Batman costume with a gray body suit and blue cowl, gloves, and boots. He’s only different in that he has some armored bits on his shoulders, biceps, and thighs. His fingers and toes are also exposed and then, of course, there’s the wings.
“You better have a good lawyer.”
The base figure isn’t changed much from the Playmates release save for the addition of the cape. That was basically the one missing ingredient from the Batman parody, but perhaps no one felt the cape was necessary back then because he had actual wings. Super7 included a blue cape with “W” logo buckles that connects to the shoulder pads. It’s tattered and torn to match with the aesthetic of the figure as a whole and it is a really nice addition. It provides for display options as you can include it with or without the wings and really lean hard into the Batman parody. There’s also a secondary portrait that’s also more Batman inspired as it features a closed mouth and whited-out eyes rimmed with black paint. It’s a good look for the character and it’s reminiscent of the actual turtle releases in this line which featured vintage-inspired heads as well as new interpretations that work just as well. Options are certainly nice to have, especially at this price point.
Wingnut will look pretty big mixed in with the turtles.
Super7 charges a premium for this figure likely because of its size and paint. In terms of height, Wingnut is around 7″ to the top of his head and around 7.75″ to the tips of his ears. He’s one of those characters that’s always hunched over though so he’s taller than the figure stands. He’s also long-limbed and the wings add considerable depth and width to the display giving him a rather imposing presence on the shelf even beside other larger figures. He’s most similar to Muckman as they both have poor posture, but also feature a ton of paint. There’s a nice Kevlar-like texture to a lot of the armored portions of the costume and all of the straps and panels are well painted. The facial details are also clean and there’s a nice gloss applied to the exposed gums and tongue of the default portrait. The tiny, atrophied, wings are painted brown with a black wash over them to distinguish them from the metallic, armored, portions. The “W” logo in the chest is a painted feature too where as the vintage figure came with stickers. The only disappointing aspect of the paint concerns the belt. Super7 has a bad habit of only partially painting certain features of its toys. Some of the gear that’s part of the belt’s sculpt (dynamite, walkie-talkie, flashlight) have been painted and painted very well and look great. Other items, basically most of the stuff on the rear of the belt, were left bare plastic. They come so close to giving us what we want, but then step back from the edge.
Those details at least aren’t enough to ruin what is otherwise a terrific displaying action figure. And it’s certainly true that Super7 leans more into that display than it does articulation. Wingnut is pretty basic for a modern action figure in that regard and his somewhat unusual shape won’t lend itself well to posing. We do get a ball-jointed neck with a double-ball peg for the heads. This lets him swing his head left and right pretty well with some up and down and then the head joint provides for even more range. I don’t think it works as well as it does with Muckman, the ball joint is situated a little too deep in the neck and is prone to popping off, but it’s solid. The shoulder hinges provide surprisingly good range given the shoulder pads and the single-jointed elbows will provide swivel and a 90 degree bend. There is a ball joint at the waist which allows for a little tilt in all directions and plenty of swivel, but it’s in the legs where sacrifices are made. The Super7 standard hinged-peg hips go out to the side plenty far, but are very limited going forward and back. Because his neutral pose features bended knees, there’s little play there as well. Basically, he can crouch or go into a deeper crouch. The ankles hinge forward, but going back they’ll bump up against the dewclaws. The ankle rocker works fine as do the thigh and knee swivels but this is a figure that’s designed to basically have its legs in only one pose only allowing for minor adjustments. He also has a tail which is on a ball peg that mostly rotates. The wings are on hinged pegs so they move up and down as well as in and out some. The cape is also wired and can be posed fairly well.
Does a winged guy really need a grappling hook?
I don’t think anyone will be surprised by the articulation of Wingnut. He’s not exactly a joy to pose, but it’s also not hard to find a pose that looks good. The various spikes and such can make it a painful exercise though and there is a fiddly nature to the figure. The wings pop off rather easily and can become cumbersome when trying to find a good pose. The inner wing on my figure’s right wing is also prone to popping off the peg it’s on which is really annoying. You can essentially remove the armored parts of the wings if you want to as it’s just that peg and a plastic clasp that holds them on. I’ll never do that though so I’m tempted to glue the inner wing to the armor instead. The cape also pops off way too easily as it just pegs through some clasps on the armor. It’s not a tight fit at all and the cape basically just rests in those ports. The head also comes off too easily when trying to pose it. At the same time, at least nothing is getting stressed and looks like it will break. Most of the joints are tight without being overly so. The only exception are those damn Super7 hips. I wouldn’t call Wingnut loose there, but he’s looser than I’d like. He stands fine though and I credit that to his massive feet.
He’s got a few toys and can store most of them on his person too.
Where this figure improves upon Muckman (and is perhaps where it tries to justify its value) is with its accessories. I already mentioned the two portraits, the optional wings and cape, but he also has weapons and some additional hands. For said hands we get a set of fists, open hands, a trigger finger right hand, and a pointing/gripping left hand. The two gripping hands feature vertical wrist hinges which is certainly appreciated. The trigger right hand works well with Wingnut’s gas gun. If you’re going to be a Batman knock-off, then you need a means of firing a grappling hook (even if you’re a character with wings). The gun itself looks like a stylized revolver with a W logo on one side and a bat head over the muzzle. Wingnut holds it well, or it can be pegged onto one of his wings. There’s an included grappling hook which slots into the muzzle, but no included rope or blast effect to capture it in a mid-firing pose. It’s done up all in a nice, metallic, silver. Wingnut also has his own “Batarang” which looks like an actual bat. As a kid, I never knew if this was supposed to be a metallic weapon or just a dead bat he throws at people. Super7 chromed it up so it’s clearly a weapon as opposed to something morbid. The pointing or trigger hand work okay to hold this one or you can wedge it between the fingers of the open hands. Sadly, there’s no way to peg it to the wings or utility belt. I guess you could stuff it in-between the belt and figure, but it’s pretty big and looks a bit silly.
Also included are more vintage-inspired accessories. There are four grenades that are all silver like the other weapons. Wingnut can palm them or store them on either his belt or wings. The canisters feature peg holes and there’s one peg on each wing. He also has two open loops on his belt for storage. I’m left wishing he just had four loops, but it’s all right. Lastly, he has his trusty radar dish. Does his own inner radar not work very well? It’s silver and looks almost like a repurposed colander. There is a bit of red paint on the tip. It has a long post, or handle, which Wingnut can’t hold very well. Both wings feature shallow holes though and they can accommodate this dish to a point. It will stay, but the slightest breeze will knock it out. I wish they gave us one wing hole that just went all the way through for a more secure attachment as it certainly feels like this is an item meant to go on his wings.
And who could forget dear mosquito boy?
Of course, we can’t end this review without talking about the other figure in the box – Wingnut’s trusty sidekick Screwloose! I think Wingnut was the first figure in the original line that I got that came with a little buddy character. Lots of figures would follow with the little guys always being a slug figure that was one color. Now, through the magic of Super7, we get to see Screwloose all painted up. Which is to say he looks a lot like his cartoon version, only with one obvious distinction. First of all, Screwloose stands a shade under 4″ and like his vintage counterpart he’s molded in yellow. His tank top has been painted orange and his pants green while his shoes are black. It’s, more or less, a Robin color scheme which is driven home by the inclusion of a black domino mask. I wish I had my old figure as I can’t remember if that had a sculpted mask or not on it. I want to say it did and it was something I noticed after I had owned the figure a long time making it a sort of “Eureka!” moment where it finally clicked that he was a Robin parody. The painted details are done well, including the eyes, teeth, and tongue. I think the exposed limbs could have used a wash or something to liven them up, but he looks fine.
Where Screwloose isn’t much of an improvement over the old one is with the articulation. He has some, so by default it’s better, but I think Super7 could have done a little better considering this guy is presumably part of the reason why this figure costs 20 dollars more than most. The head is likely on a big, ball, socket, but it can only rotate a little. Each of the four arms are on hinged pegs which move okay while the tail just swivels. The wings, done with transparent plastic, attach to ball sockets and really only swivel. Try to move them out from the body any and they’re likely to just pop off. There’s no articulation in the body of the figure itself, including the legs. His legs are preposed like the vintage figure and he can at least stand fine, but that’s it. He can’t do any flying poses and since the wrists aren’t articulated you can’t swap hands. This is annoying because his lower, right, arm is in a pointing gesture and I’d love to move that hand to the upper arm. I suppose I could try to pull the arms out at the shoulder socket, but I also don’t want to break it. As an accessory, Screwloose is fine. As a figure, he’s rather poor. If he could at least get into a flying pose I’d have been more than content.
This franchise loves Batman parodies.
In terms of visual quality, Wingnut and Screwloose are among Super7’s best. The paint is exceptional and they nailed the look of both characters. There’s a lot of the vintage toy here and a lot of it has been improved upon through both the sculpt and paint. There’s also a little new and what’s been added is just as good and gives the figure multiple display options. Really, the only true downside with this figure is the price. Asking $75 is just too much, especially with the hit or miss approach Super7 has had of late across its lines. Super7’s business model is heavily dependent on preorders, but they haven’t earned that level of trust to commit to pay sight unseen. If money isn’t a deterrent, then I think you’ll like this figure. There’s very little not to like. If the price is a turn-off, then maybe do what I did and wait for a sale. This wave is already seeing some discounting (especially Scumbug who was down in the 30’s off an inflated MSRP of $65) so keep your eyes peeled. I think if you can get this down closer to the standard price of the line then it’s definitely worth it. I feel fine paying around $62 for it and I’m happy to have it as I liked the vintage toy. Hopefully Super7 is able to continue making vintage-inspired figures because it would be a shame if this guy represents an end of an era for the line.
If you want to check out more Ultimates! or TMNT stuff there’s certainly plenty of that around here:
Gross. That’s the word I hear all of the time associated with the vintage Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures. Back then, articulation was kept pretty simple and this allowed studios like Varner to go nuts with sculpting. They could include all kinds of details in their figures. Sure, much of it…
For most fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1980s, you reside in two camps when it comes to how certain characters are remembered: either from the cartoon/comics, or from the Playmates toy line. For Wingnut and Screwloose, I suspect most associate them with the action figure, but there are those who think…
It’s been over 9 months since I last reviewed a figure from Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. That figure was Muckman, and I actually waited on that one a little while because I ordered through Big Bad Toy Store and wanted my pile of loot to fill up a bit. Had…
Coming this fall to FOX, it’s Keno and the Fat Man!
I’ve been spending parts of the past month or so ducking in and out of any Walmart I come across in search of the Masters of the Universe Origins Turtles of Grayskull Krang. You see, it’s a store exclusive and if you know anything about toy collecting it’s that toy collectors hate store exclusives. Especially Walmart exclusives. I don’t particularly care for Walmart in general and will go out of my way to not shop there, but sometimes they use their capital advantage to make that a challenge. When you keep going into and out of stores leaving empty-handed each time it gets old which can sometimes lead to bad purchasing decisions. Or perhaps “bad” is the wrong word in this case, let’s instead say that it can lead to making unplanned purchases. And that is how I ended up with the NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II – The Secret of the Ooze Keno (Foot Training) and Foot Soldier set.
Ever since NECA received permission from Viacom to sell its TMNT products at brick and mortar it has separated the cartoon and movie toy lines giving one to Target and one to Walmart. I have been fortunate in that most of the movie figures I have wanted have been made available by other means, usually via NECA direct in the form of a comic con exclusive or just a direct sale. I haven’t had to stake out Walmarts in search of product really since the Casey Jones and Raphael in Disguise two-pack from 2020. I did purchase the Shadow Warriors two-pack from Walmart, but that was a fairly low demand set. I could have bought the Casey Jones and April Farm two-pack on numerous occasions, but I didn’t see that one as being particularly essential.
I don’t know if that height is correct. Keno is 6.3″ which is fine, while the turtles are 6.5″ which maybe is a touch short?
Last summer, right around this time, NECA put up for pre-sale not one, but two TMNT movie sets as San Diego Comic Con exclusives. One of those sets, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III four-pack, I purchased. The other, Keno (Pizza Delivery) and moped I did not. NECA wanted $100 for Keno and his scooter and that just felt like too much for me. I liked the second Turtles movie well enough as a kid, but as an adult I can see it for what it is -a cash grab with bland, slapstick, humor that barely qualifies as entertainment. Still, I do have a soft spot for Keno, played by Ernie Reyes Jr. in the movie, and wouldn’t mind having him in my collection. And his pizza boy attire is how I picture him so it was my preference, but again, not at a hundred bucks.
They just like him because he always brings pizza.
When NECA unveiled the Keno and Foot two-pack a month later at Comic Con, it wasn’t really on my radar. Like I said, I picture Keno in his pizza boy attire first and foremost and not as he is depicted in this set. And even though the Foot Soldier he was bundled with was different from the ones I had, it didn’t feel like a necessity. That is, until it had been staring me in the face one too many times. Missing out on that $25 Krang motivated me to spend $60 on this set and it’s honestly a solid set of figures. Is this the Keno I wanted? No, but maybe it’s the Keno that will make me happy.
In this house, we worship Teezus.
This set depicts Keno from the scene where he and Raph decide to infiltrate the Foot Clan by getting him admitted. He basically puts on his kickboxing gear and beats a bunch of other trainees up before having to submit to a final test which Raph helps him pass. It’s probably one of the better plotted elements of the movie and I suppose it’s better than Keno’s all-denim look from a bit later in the movie. For this release, Keno is sporting a tank top, black sweats, kickboxing gloves and shoes. Everything is well-sculpted and detailed. The shirt has a nice design to it and the likeness is on point. Keno is sporting an aggressive expression like he just spin-kicked some jerk in the face and it’s done well. He comes with another portrait and it features a toothy grin. I may have preferred a more neutral expression as a secondary option, but both look pretty good so I’m not exactly upset about it. He also has a set of non-gloved gripping hands, but I don’t see the point in them. This is kickboxing Keno, baby! Plus, I watched a review of this set and the reviewer had the wrist peg break when swapping hands and I don’t want to chance it. For what it’s worth, the stability of my figure seems fine. The heads are very snug and I had to use hot water to get the other portrait on, but nothing felt fragile or too stiff with this guy.
This bag rocks.
The one thing that does stand out with Keno vs a lot of other NECA figures is the lack of paint. NECA opted to leave his flesh basically bare plastic when normally NECA paints basically everything. There is a slight sheen to the skin as a result, but it almost imparts an illusion of sweat which works for the look. Is that by design? I don’t know, but it looks fine. There is a little paint slop around the ears of both portraits. For some reason, the right ear was apparently problematic and maybe it was whatever the factory used to hold the piece in place while it was painted as there’s a line of “flesh” connecting the ear to the hair which sucks. The hands and feet are nicely painted and you can even see the bottoms of his feet when turning him over which is pretty neat. If you like this look for Keno then you should be pleased with what NECA has done.
“Ahh hah!”
As for the Foot Soldier, he’s a mix of old and new. For the sequel, Golden Harvest and New Line Cinema wanted to get it out fast and cheap as basically everyone viewed TMNT as a fad destined to blow up unexpectedly and without warning. They also wanted to tone down the violence which meant they no longer needed a bunch of stunt guys and martial artists to play-fight the good guys. They mostly just wanted them to do pratfalls and get hit with sausages. As a result, the background extras were just random people which lead to some, how should we say, unathletic looking Foot ninja. This guy is reflective of that as he’s basically the plus-sized version of a Foot ninja. He has a new, bigger, head and a new, wider, torso. Both look fine, but the figure is reusing the old arms, hips, and legs from the standard Foot which makes him look pretty goofy. He really needs some meatier thighs, at least, because as-is he looks like a kit-bash of mismatched parts. He does have a gritty, dirty, brown, wash applied to him as the Foot were kind of dirty in that movie. Maybe it was because they were residing in a dusty junkyard? Or maybe it was just old, well-worn, costumes no one wanted to replace or wash.
What does he expect to do with those dinky little things?
The Foot doesn’t come with much, just extra hands and a set of weapons. The hands are fists, gripping, and these style posed hands. The fists and gripping hands are the same as what has been included with other Foot releases. The style posed hands are new to me. My Foot ninja came from the SDCC set from way back so I’m not sure if these were added for the two-pack releases, but I think they’re new. For “weapons,” he has two, black, sticks. The movie was looking to tone-down the violence so swords and axes were out. Instead, guys would have sticks be they long ones or these little, stubby, ones. Even Leonardo uses something similar at one point. It’s bizarre, but a fun inclusion. Like past Foot Soldiers, he has a soft goods, elastic, belt over the sculpted one which serves as weapon storage. There’s also another canister of ooze, maybe because it was a chubby Foot ninja who caught it during the showdown at the TGRI building? It’s the same canister most are likely used to at this point.
Looks like he passed.
As for Keno, in addition to the extra head and hands he has some pretty neat accessories. Well, one is neat. The one that isn’t is the handful of various bells that Raph helped him remove from a training dummy during his final test. It’s just a lump of painted, sculpted, plastic and it’s possible to get him to cradle them as he did in the movie even though his gloved hands are fisted. I kind of wish he had his “Is this enough?” expression to pair with it, but I doubt I’d use it anyway. The other, more impressive, accessory is the punching bag. It’s a big hunk of red plastic with a fake brand name stamped on it. It’s connected to real chain which can hang on the included stand, which is a metal hook with a plastic base. It works well, and the sculpt of the bag is very convincing both up close and from a distance to the point where it feels surreal to touch it and find it’s not a miniature punching bag.
They can handle the basics, but don’t go too crazy with the posing.
The articulation is usually secondary for NECA, and that’s mostly true here. We’ll do Keno first. He has a double-ball peg for a head which works pretty well. His mullet will get in the way a bit, but not as much as you may have thought. The shoulders are simple hinged pegs while the elbows are the same. There’s no biceps swivel, and instead the elbow pivots. Wrists rotate and hinge horizontally for all hands in the set. There is a diaphragm joint of some kind, but the overlay for the shirt makes it hard to utilize. You can force some posing out of it, and I suppose a really determined person could heat the shirt if they don’t care about warping it, but I wouldn’t advise doing so. The waist has a ball joint as well and the hips are ball and socket joints that can facilitate splits and kick forward a full 90 degrees. There is a thigh twist and the knees are double-jointed. The ankles hinge forward and back and possess a solid ankle rocker. He’ll be able to do some decent kicks and he can stand on one foot if you’re patient. I just wish the diaphragm joint worked better to get some really nice looking kicking poses. This is where I personally would prefer to see the torso sculpted with a joint in the middle rather than an overlay, but I get why NECA does what it does.
Shredder may need to start paying his guys better if he wants to attract better ninja.
The Foot ninja is basically the same as the other Foot. Even the hips still use the old peg and hinge engineering. There’s no added articulation, nor is any lost, with the new head and torso. I will say, while Keno’s joints are all nice and tight, the Foot ninja has some pretty loose ankles. Not terribly, at least not yet, but some simple stances were more troublesome than they should be as he’d just fall forward. Hopefully he doesn’t worsen over time.
The Secret of the Ooze section of my Detolf is pretty jam-packed. Thank goodness I passed on the third Super Shredder.
On an individual basis, this Keno figure and his included stuff is pretty damn nice. Yeah, I’d like a little more articulation out of him and it’s not my preferred look for the character, but the execution is plenty good and the punching bag is awesome. As a two-pack, it’s a little less spectacular because the Foot ninja is nothing special. NECA didn’t go all-in on making this guy look great by reusing too many old parts. It’s a bit of a bummer because people may have wanted a couple of stocky looking Foot Soldiers in their display if the figure were better. These parts have been used and reused so much that NECA surely has made plenty of money off of the tools that it’s a shame it didn’t spend to update them. They probably could have kept the arms, it’s the hips and thighs mainly. And since the figure essentially costs $30, it’s a tough sell. Basically, if you’re like me and skipped the SDCC Keno, then this is your only option to add the character to your TMNT II display. It’s not the Keno I wanted, but at least he’s damn good for what he is so I don’t regret my purchase and it’s still better than paying $100 for the character. Now, if say a $70 or $80 version of the Keno and bike two-pack shows up I may feel differently.
If it’s TMNT movies you like then we got you covered:
Over the years, various toy companies have given their take on the venerable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And no company has done that more often than Playmates, holders of the master toy license from back in the late 1980s when the property made the leap from print to world-wide phenomenon. I have no idea…
It’s that time of year when a lot of folks are reflecting on the past year and all of the things that happened. This usually coincides with list-making for favorites and worst of the year in basically every category you can dream of. And for action figure enthusiasts, there’s definitely a lot of list making.…
For the first time in a long time we went a week without a blog entry here. That’s because I took a much needed vacation and didn’t schedule anything. I’ll probably be backing off a little bit as we dig deeper into 2022 since there’s a certain holiday I need to get crackin’ on if…
When it’s come to the Turtles of Grayskull line by Mattel, I have mostly stayed in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles side of the pool. I have all four turtle boys plus Sla’ker, who is more Slash than Faker if you ask me. The one exception has been Mouse-Jaw, but the classic Masters of the Universe villain has been mashed-up with a Mouser so there’s a gray area there. Plus, if I want to build this line’s version of Metalhead I needed to get him. Today, there is really no way to color it, I just bought a MOTU character and his name is Skeletor.
I couldn’t expect these two to operate without a proven leader.
As someone who has been buying and enjoying action figures since the 1980s, it’s kind of shocking to me that I have never owned a Skeletor action figure. As the chief villain of one of the most famous action figure lines to exist, it seems like the sort of thing I would have picked up somewhere along my travels. I have owned a He-Man, but just never got a Skeletor even though I’ve always enjoyed his design. I’m pretty sure I considered getting the 2000 Skeletor, but probably correctly realized that I had my fingers in too many figure lines and passed. With this Turtles of Grayskull line, I actually have yet to come across Shredder. The online images didn’t sell me on the figure, but it would be nice to have a big baddie for the display and if that can’t be Shredder, why not Skeletor?
“I’m the real bad guy here, Shredder!”
Skeletor isn’t a whole lot different from his classic portrayal. He’s still a purple-gray body with a greenish skull face, only now he has a stylish samurai helmet. I don’t know why he’s grabbed this helmet, but it looks pretty cool on him. What really caught my eye with this figure though is the presence of the neon green. It adorns his helm, weapon, and the trim of the armor. It’s garish, but it’s the kind of thing I love because a lot of toy lines were doing this back in the day. I’m surprised Mattel didn’t take it one step further and just make the plastic glow-in-the-dark because it almost looks like it should, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. He has some snap-on armor for his forearms and a tattered black cape that’s well textured. Basically, this is a Skeletor that took one look at Shredder and said “That looks pretty cool.” He just stopped short at copying the blades and such.
The biggest influence TMNT apparently had on Skeletor was turning his staff into a proper ninja weapon.
The paint work is fairly sparse, but not out of line with the other figures we’ve taken a look at. It would have been nice to get a wash applied to the face to bring out the teeth, but this line doesn’t do that sort of thing. What’s present is fairly clean. The straps on the armor look solid and the silver ram skull that’s a logo of sorts for the character was applied very cleanly to the center of the helm. The shin armor is molded, silver, plastic which is an interesting choice. There is a little metallic silver in places, but the majority of the armor add-ons are black and green so it’s a little odd the shin guards didn’t go with a similar scheme. Black with green trim would have looked pretty nice.
The quality of the links on the plastic chain may vary from figure to figure.
For accessories, (not including the cape) Skeletor has two, which is one more than a lot of figures. His havoc staff has been turned into havoc nunchaku. The weapon is cast in neon green and basically the head of the staff adorns both ends. They’re connected via molded, plastic, chain links just like the nunchaku we saw with Michelangelo. The chain did not come out of the molds as cleanly with Skeletor as they did Mikey and some don’t really move at all. Some careful trimming with a blade might fix that, but it’s too bad that they couldn’t do better. The figure also doesn’t really have any weapon storage for this item. I suppose you could fake it by shoving it through the straps of his harness, but it would look rather stupid. The other accessory is a vile of mutagen, or ooze, if you prefer. It looks like a classic mutagen canister with silver ends, only much slimmer to fit into the standard MOTU Origins gripping hands. The center is transparent plastic with a blueish fill and it looks nice.
What would happen if Skeletor drank the mutagen?
Even though Skeletor is not a turtle, his articulation is essentially the same. All of the same joints are present with the same range. The only aspect of the articulation I feel merits pointing out is the head and neck. Skeletor still uses the same double ball peg setup, but it’s fairly loose. With the cape on, which just slots over the neck, it’s not noticeable. If removed, the head becomes borderline floppy. This may be purposeful engineering to increase the range with the rather thick, plastic, cape on, but if you dislike that look then this aspect of the figure may let you down.
“And you thought you had it bad before, turtle!”
In the world of action figures, Skeletor is a legendary character and was obviously going to be included in this toy line. The TMNT influence on the character is fairly light though, and if the mutagen canister was taken away there really wouldn’t be anything obvious about this figure linking it to the TMNT franchise. That might bother some, or it might not. I think this is a fun, cool, look for Skeletor which is why I decided to grab it. None of the other MOTU specific characters in the standard line have tempted me at all, but this works for me. It’s odd it ended up being my very first Skeletor, but better late than never. I don’t think this is going to open the floodgates or anything. As far as other characters in this line are concerned, my wants list is pretty small and concerns only TMNT characters. That could change, and it’s possible I’ll feel compelled to add He-Man eventually just because, but that’s fine too. For MOTU fans collecting this line, Skeletor should make for a solid addition. And if you’re more of a TMNT fan like me, you may still enjoy seeing him in your collection.
By the power of pizza…here’s more Turtles of Grayskull coverage:
Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins subline, Turtles of Grayskull, has given us three of the iconic four reptilian brothers with a MOTU theme. Now, we have the fourth. The heroic captain of cowabunga Michelangelo is in the house and he’s got a new look, and a new ‘do, to show off. Like his brothers…
It’s a Tuesday, and I have a new Turtles product to talk about, so let’s make it another Turtle Tuesday! And today brings us the second in the line of deluxe Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line exclusive to Target – Sla’ker: The evil cybernetic snapping turtle! This is Slash, the…
Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can…
Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins subline, Turtles of Grayskull, has given us three of the iconic four reptilian brothers with a MOTU theme. Now, we have the fourth. The heroic captain of cowabunga Michelangelo is in the house and he’s got a new look, and a new ‘do, to show off.
Like his brothers before him, Michelangelo is a very familiar release. He’s going to recycle a lot of the same assets created for those turtles, but in his own shade of green. Somewhat to my surprise, Michelangelo uses the very yellow-green we have seen Playmates use before in their 2012 toyline for the character. The other brothers in this line were closer to their 1988 counterparts and if Michelangelo were to follow that pattern he would have been a very dark green. I’m curious how much freedom Mattel had when it came to the shades of green in play, but I don’t hate the choice. This is a rather bright line of figures and the lighter green has a place here. I think the figure would have looked just fine with a darker tone too, but it’s not something that’s going to bother me.
This version of Mikey isn’t following his old color guide, but is close to the 2012 version (left).
Outside of the green, the main thing that jumps out about this Michelangelo is that he has something he rarely features – hair. Mikey has apparently taken a liking to He-Man to the point where he decides to basically just dress up like him. He’s sporting He-Man’s battle armor, only he’s replaced the big “H” with an “M,” and tossed on a wig to help sell the look. The wig just sits on the figure’s head so if you hate it then it’s nothing to take it off, but I think it adds a dash of silliness to the look that’s fitting for Michelangelo. From the waist down, he’s basically the same as Leo and Raph only the straps on the fur parts of his shins have been left unpainted. He has his own, removable, turtle-shell shoulder pads and there’s an orange harness around his torso. The actual torso piece is new sculpting as the battle armor is non-removable. I say “new” as-in it’s new to me, but it could very well be reused from a past MOTU figure.
He’s a happy guy.
Mikey’s sporting a rather happy expression. He has an open mouth with visible teeth and he’s smiling. The carve-out for the open mouth isn’t very deep and has been left unpainted. I think some black in there would have helped the look. The white eyes and smile combo always looks a bit weird to me whenever it show up on figures, but it obviously would have been weirder to give just Michelangelo pupils. While I appreciate Mattel capturing Michelangelo’s silly side, I do think an angry expression would have looked better. The paint is limited in application, but where it is applied it looks fine. There’s one defect I don’t like where there’s a little blob of white paint at the bottom of the left eye. I’m tempted to try and scrape it off, but I’m worried that could make it look worse. There is a seem line on the front of Michelangelo’s snout that’s a bit off-putting which I assume is present on all figures.
Keep it above the belt, Mikey.
Accessories with this line are slim and with Michelangelo that’s true. We already covered the wig, but he also has the same removable shell the other turtles come with. The only other accessories are the weapons and Mikey has his trusty nunchaku. To create them, Mattel went with an all plastic approach and utilized orange, which makes thematic sense. The chain links are done like real chain, just in plastic. I can’t recall a Michelangelo figure coming with plastic, chained, ‘chuks before, but it works fine. NECA did do a green chain with the Bugman release. There are a couple of links that are stuck together which I was able to work out, though there’s one that’s still pretty stuck. I think it’s because they had to mold these chains all in one go as there’s no cut in the links. You also get another installment of the comic. This time it has word bubbles (I never confirmed if the one that came with my Raph was unique to me or not) so if you’re interested in where the story is going it will actually make more sense now.
I don’t think we need to run-down the articulation for a fourth time here. Michelangelo is the same as his brothers, which are also basically the same as every MOTU Origins figure I’ve encountered. Mikey is going to pose reasonably well for what this line is going for. The joints are tight, but nothing is stuck. He should be fairly painless to pose.
A TMNT toy line never feels quite right until all four brothers are together.
And that’s Michelangelo. He’s more of the same which is the whole point of the Origins line of figures. The success or failure of the figure on a personal level almost entirely comes down to the design of the character. I think this is an amusing take on Michelangelo and it works in the context of the line. I do think the head could have used some tweaking, but the rest works for me. I like that Mattel went with chain links for the weapons and the all plastic approach suits the line well. For 20 bucks, I think a little more isn’t a hard ask. It would have been nice if all of the turtles came with a second head or a secondary weapon or accessory, but it is what it is. These things seem to be flying off the shelves around me so clearly Mattel has it all figured out. If you have the other three turtle boys, then this figure belongs on your shelf.
Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull line rolls on with wave two. This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Masters of the Universe collaboration is a continuation of the Masters of the Universe Origins toyline. That’s a line of roughly 5.5″ figures designed to capture the aesthetic of the original MOTU toyline, but with some modern articulation engineered…
It’s a Tuesday, and I have a new Turtles product to talk about, so let’s make it another Turtle Tuesday! And today brings us the second in the line of deluxe Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line exclusive to Target – Sla’ker: The evil cybernetic snapping turtle! This is Slash, the…
These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly…
Last week we took a Turtle Tuesday off which feels like a rarity for this blog. And that’s because there seems to be new stuff featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles branding coming out all of the time. And it’s only going to become more plentiful as the franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. I’ve made quite a few TMNT purchases already this year, but this is the first featuring a 40th anniversary logo and it’s appropriate that it comes from Playmates Toys.
Expect to see that 40th logo on many more TMNT products going forward.
Most likely know by now that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were co-created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman as basically a gag amongst the two. They gave birth to this franchise, but perhaps the entity most responsible for a little comic book becoming a global phenomenon is Playmates. Those toys released in 1988 set the world on fire in their target demographic. Playmates was basically a doll maker before it decided to take a chance on TMNT after more noteworthy action figure producers had said “No thanks.” And even though it seems like everyone is making TMNT toys these days, it’s still Playmates that is the primary master license holder when it comes to TMNT.
The original sketches are featured rather prominently on the packaging.
The legend goes, that one night while drawing together in Dover, New Hampshire, Kevin Eastman came up with the idea of a ninja turtle. He passed the doodle onto his partner in art, Peter Laird, who was amused enough by the concept to do his own interpretation. Sometime later, the idea of a group of four anthropomorphic, ninja, turtles was fleshed out in greater detail and committed to paper. This version of the turtles is now referred to as the “Original Sketch” turtles. Truthfully, I had never heard of this image referred to in that way until recently. The actual image has been less celebrated than the original drawings and the Mirage Studios version that followed for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. Playmates has chosen to celebrate this sketch in action figure form. It makes sense since the original drawings were of a singular turtle which most resembled Michelangelo. Playmates has already made Mirage versions of the characters and even recently re-released them. This set of sketch turtles is basically untapped, but I doubt it will be the last we see of them.
Weapon storage, baby!
Shipping now to Target stores, the original sketch turtles come in window boxes adorned with recreations of original Eastman and Laird TMNT art. It has a black and white deco for the most part with a green “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” logo in a font similar to the original sketch. On the top flap and rear of the box are Laird and Eastman’s original take on a ninja turtle as well as a print of the original sketch itself. There’s a brief blurb about the origin of these fighting teens and the sides of the box are reserved for images of the toys themselves.
Each turtle comes with an ooze canister which doubles as a standee for the original sketch recreation.
Each turtle is released separately and in the box you will find a turtle, a broken canister of ooze, weapons, holsters (if necessary) and a piece of a diorama to recreate the original sketch posing when all are purchased. Each character retails for $15, though I was able to take advantage of a sale going on at Target and got them for around $10.50 a piece. There was only one of each character and they were stocked in the toy aisle with the other Playmates products. Some Targets appear to be stocking them towards the back of the store with the collectibles so you may have to hunt them down. It does seem like stores are only getting one set initially, but since it’s a Target exclusive item there are likely to be restocks. So far there has been no online drop, but one could still come.
You also get a street diorama piece with each figure. Mikey also comes with the detachable box and board.
Even though the original sketch was in black and white, these turtles are depicted in their Playmates colors. That means a different shade of green (or brown, in the case of Donatello) for each turtle plus colored bandanas and pads. These are basically prototype turtles so they look just as funky as the original art. They’re more like tortoises, and if Cecil from Looney Tunes got together with three of his buddies to cosplay as ninjas they might look something like these guys. As expected, there’s a lot of shared parts between the four brothers, but also more differences than folks are accustomed to. A lot of that is due to the four not having a uniform look to start. Leonardo, for example, is the only turtle with kneepads while Michelangelo doesn’t even have a belt. They’re little guys too standing at about 4.5″ in height. The bodies are practically spherical while the legs widen as they go ending in rather large feet. Leo and Donnie feature expressions that are mirror images of each other while Raph and Mikey use the same portrait.
The hollow feet are definitely not great.
The round body on these guys might be fairly hollow, but there’s a nice weight to each figure. The paint is sparse, but where it’s applied it’s fairly clean. It looks nice around the bandanas and it’s pretty good on the elbow pads. Michelangelo and Leonardo both have a blemish on their right eye, while Mikey’s paint at the elbow pads is noticeably sloppy compared with his brothers. If this were a $35 turtle I’d be more critical, but at this price range it’s acceptable. The black linework in the teeth is a surprising touch and there are a few painted hashmarks on the plastrons of each figure. Someone willing to fully paint these to tone down that plastic sheen could probably make these look really impressive. The only other thing about them I don’t care for are the hollow feet. Sure, you can’t see such a detail when they’re on a shelf so long as both feet are on the surface, but it looks pretty cheap and does remove the option for kick displays.
These turtles are quite diminutive, but not really out of place with other Playmates turtles.
As expected, each turtle comes with their signature weapons. Even in this early stage, Eastman and Laird knew how they wanted to arm their creations, with only one slight change. Donatello is the skimpiest since he has just his bo staff. It’s fine. The wraps are painted and there’s a little blackwash so it’s about as nice as a bo can look at this price range. Leonardo has two katana and they feature wavy, distorted, handles and blades. This is in-line with the original sketch and not a defect of the product. He has two detachable sheaths which plug into the rear of his belt. The sketch has them going sideways, but they’re on pegs so you can orientate them however you wish. Mikey has his two nunchaku and they’re done with real chains. In a departure from most versions of the character, his weapons storage is on his forearms. The handles of the ‘chuks slot into them and it’s something I think Mikey should do more often. Raph has his sai and I like the shape of them compared with most versions of the character. He also has a sword because the original depiction of the character had one. He comes with the same sheath as Leo and it plugs into the rear of his belt. The weapons are all either painted or make use of colored plastic so they look rather nice and the figures have no trouble holding them.
Of course, they look downright tiny beside a Super7 turtle.
You can probably take one look at these guys and figure that articulation isn’t going to be anything special, and you would be right. It’s pretty much standard Playmates for their modern TMNT toy lines. Hinged pegs are used for the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and hips and they get solid range, but I personally hate the approach for hips. The shoulders actually have really good range because of where they’re placed. There’s no ankle articulation and the wrists just swivel. Some of the joints are a little tight, but nothing is loose. They can basically do the poses they’re supposed to so you can recreate the original sketch or do your own thing. My only real gripe is I wish the wrist cut could have been better blended into the sculpt and the same is true for the knee. Leo has the benefit of knee pads to hide the knee cut, but none of the others do.
It’s getting a little nuts how many versions of these characters we’ve seen over the years.
Each turtle also comes with a diorama piece and the previously mentioned ooze canister. The canister is broken and there’s a sculpted puddle to go with it. It’s not something that was present in the original picture, but it’s obviously a big part of the origin story of the turtles. It looks okay with the canister bits painted. It serves another purpose though as there’s a slot in it to hold the included image of the original sketch. It’s printed on a thick piece of cardstock and it works as intended. A fun inclusion and it comes with each figure. The diorama pieces are part of a city street. Leonardo’s piece includes a manhole cover that is non-removable while Mikey also comes with a box and board so he can be positioned above his brothers to recreate the sketch. The board and box are surprisingly nice with a little dry-brushing on them. Raph and Donatello come with the same piece and all four can clip together to form a display. It’s fun, and better yet, it works as these guys can basically nail the pose from the drawing. The only shortcoming is Mikey was depicted spinning one of his ‘chuks, but Playmates didn’t include a spinning accessory. It’s the one detail I feel like they missed.
There are numerous ways to display these boys, but obviously this is the money shot. It’s not a perfect 1:1 recreation, but it’s pretty damn neat.
For 10-15 bucks, depending on your luck with Target sales, these are pretty solid and fun figures to own. No one has done turtles based on this sketch before and it’s cool to see Playmates tackle it. I’m sure others will follow and we already know that NECA is at least planning on doing the original two turtle sketches in figure form, though neither has been formally announced as of this writing. This is likely just the first of many 40th anniversary celebrations for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it’s something I think most fans will want to add to their collection. It’s presently only available at Target, but Playmates stuff seems to rarely stay exclusive. I would not be surprised to see it offered later at online shops, or maybe even as a black and white variant (you know that’s coming) so don’t fret if you’re having a hard time tracking it down. Patience will be rewarded in the end.
Want to keep celebrating TMNT’s big milestone? Look no further:
With a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie on the way this week that can only mean one thing: new action figures from Playmates Toys! With the license to produce toys based on TMNT becoming easier to obtain in recent years, Playmates has become a bit of a punching bag in the toy community. Some…
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…
Playmates Toys has been the master toy license holder for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for as long as I’ve been aware of TMNT. In the 80s, the toy line produced by Playmates was excellent: fun sculpts, imaginative characters, crazy set pieces, and tons of vehicles. It was a great companion to the animated series airing…
It’s a Tuesday, and I have a new Turtles product to talk about, so let’s make it another Turtle Tuesday! And today brings us the second in the line of deluxe Masters of the Universe Origins – Turtles of Grayskull line exclusive to Target – Sla’ker: The evil cybernetic snapping turtle! This is Slash, the evil turtle from Dimension X (as billed by Playmates) and Faker, the cybernetic copy of He-Man. It’s from the Target exclusive build-a-figure line of deluxe figures which, once all released, will allow collectors to build a figure of Metal-Roboto. The first such figure in this line was Mouse-Jaw, who despite carrying the “deluxe” label, was a pretty basic figure for the line. He just came with a Mouser and the build-a-figure parts, but cost more money. Sla’ker takes a different approach. There’s no little buddy character this time, but instead this guy is just a whole lot bigger than the norm.
Sla’ker is going to tower over the rest of the figures in this line.
Sla’ker comes in a blister box style of packaging and he dominates the window on said box. That’s because this figure stands just a tick under 7″, though more noticeable than the figure’s height is just how big of a melon this guy has. The head is huge, maybe too big, but there’s certainly a more impressive look to the figure as a result. Otherwise, the body is just a pretty standard MOTU Origins body. It’s my understanding this one was created for the MOTU x WWE line and they needed something bigger for Andre the Giant. And I’m pretty sure this body is being utilized for the Walmart exclusive Krang which I’d love to tell you more about, but Walmart exclusives are an incredible pain in the ass to track down.
Having Sla’ker go bare-chested provides for a better look at whatever this stuff is.
The look of Sla’ker is pretty much as advertised. The body is a pale blue, like Faker, but the head is very much Slash (the Playmates interpretation). Despite the deluxe naming, there’s no extra paint which is unfortunate as there’s a broken piece sculpted into the left eye, but since it’s unpainted it doesn’t stand out at all. The gold chest armor has a slash taken out of the chest and underneath that is a decal of robot stuff. Since this is TMNT, the gears on the decal are pizzas. The armor can be removed easily enough by taking off the head and separating the body at the waist, but the decal looks much cooler through the slash, if you want my opinion. The shell is done the same as it is for the other turtles and it can be removed and used a shield. Since this is Slash, the shell is spiky and purple and looks cool, though it’s still hollow and a little cheap to the touch. The rest of the armor, including spiked shoulder pauldrons, belt, and bracers go for hot pink which feels like a call-back to the Playmates figure. The fingers and toes are clawed, as they should be, and the open mouth is fully sculpted out which is a nice detail. There is a bit of an unsightly seem to it, but it’s only really visible from the side.
He should be able to do some damage with these.
For weapons, Sla’ker has a pair of swords that are more like over-sized knives. They’re very much in line with the same weapon the original Playmates Slash came with, only now his hand blades have been incorporated into the handguard. It’s weird to have a Slash-inspired figure without the blades on the hands themselves, but this is an okay substitute. Like the other turtles, there is a slot on the back of the shell to store weapons, but it can only accommodate one sword at a time. The only other accessories in the box are the Metal-Roboto parts which include the head and the crotch which has includes the legs down to where the boot cut would be. Unfortunately, the head is going to use some other method of connecting to the body when it eventually comes out and can’t be swapped to another figure. I also personally hate it when build-a-figures like this released in a series don’t come with parts that can connect to the parts we just got. Mouse-Jaw came with an arm. It would be more tidy if this figure came with the torso, but oh well.
The removable shell is still a thing with Sla’ker.
Sla’ker may be bigger than the norm, but the construction is exactly the same which means the articulation is essentially the same. With one detail. For whatever reason, the ankle rockers on this figure just plain don’t work. They’re more like swivel joints. Is that by design? I can’t tell. It could just be the engineering is subpar and they’re not working as intended. If it’s an intentional choice then it truly is a bizarre one and also not a good one. You never know how much you’ll miss ankle rockers until they’re gone. As a result, Sla’ker is tough to pose dynamically. The figure is better off with a pretty neutral base. The size of the figure relative to the rest at least imparts some shelf presence even when posed in a pretty vanilla manner, but it’s a shame it doesn’t move as well as the other figures. Every other joint is fine and the tolerance is good.
We’re gonna need more turtles!
Sla’ker is a figure I wasn’t going to get. Then I got Mouse-Jaw and felt the compulsion to complete the build-a-figure, but like Mouse-Jaw I was going to hold off for a clearance event. Obviously, that didn’t happen and I paid the full $25 for Sla’ker. What got me to change my mind? He just looked cool on the pegs. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t end up getting discounted at some point, though maybe with this figure being more of a TMNT character than a MOTU one it will sell better? That all depends on who is buying this line: MOTU fans or TMNT fans. A lot of people may have also grabbed Mouse-Jaw for cheap and thus could rationalize paying full price for this one with the money saved on Mouse-Jaw, because once you get one piece of a build-a-figure it can lead to wanting the rest, so what should you do? If taking one look at this figure doesn’t do a whole lot for you, or the poor ankles will drive you nuts, then go ahead and play the waiting game. It’s a Target exclusive and I’m guessing they ordered just as many of this figure as they did Mouse-Jaw. If you have to have it now though, then you’ll probably be content enough. Just don’t expect to be able to put this figure into any crazy poses.
“I wish I had a body.”
For more thoughts of mine on this MOTU x TMNT line, look no further:
Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull line rolls on with wave two. This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Masters of the Universe collaboration is a continuation of the Masters of the Universe Origins toyline. That’s a line of roughly 5.5″ figures designed to capture the aesthetic of the original MOTU toyline, but with some modern articulation engineered…
Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can…
These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly…
Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull line rolls on with wave two. This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Masters of the Universe collaboration is a continuation of the Masters of the Universe Origins toyline. That’s a line of roughly 5.5″ figures designed to capture the aesthetic of the original MOTU toyline, but with some modern articulation engineered into the form. For the first wave, I took a look at both Leonardo and Donatello. As someone who is a TMNT fan, but not a MOTU fan, the turtle boys are the only ones that appeal to me. Despite that, I did end up getting the Mouse-Jaw figure despite that being a MOTU character, but he came with a Mouser so that works, right?
The gang is not quite all here.
Raphael is the turtle of the line’s second wave which also includes Ram Man, Beast Man, and Shredder. I’m not likely to get either MOTU character in this wave, but I’m also not sold on Shredder. I guess I need to see him in person. Raph I knew I wanted so I went ahead and just preordered that one. This should be a pretty easy review since this figure is essentially the same as the prior turtles. That’s the whole idea behind the line which is one base body creates many toys. The new stuff is the armor and accessories and the new head.
I’ll take a picture of the shell shield, but if you display your Turtles of Grayskull like this you’re a monster.
Raphael could basically be described as Raphael x Ram Man. I don’t know anything about Ram Man, my MOTU knowledge is only surface level, but from what I gather he’s a stout fella with a hard head and helmet to go with it. I assume he rams people, and while Raph may be hot-headed, he’s not known for bashing folks with his brain so he’s also equipped with some weapons. Unlike the Donatello-At-Arms figure, the helmet is removable so this figure can strip down to a fairly basic Raph with barbarian underwear.
“I could get used to this.”
Right off the bat, I have to say the green on this Raph pops. It’s hilarious to me that Mattel has done a better job at recreating Raph’s classic shade of green than Playmates has with its reissues. The head gives me 2003 vibes like it did with the previous turtles while this figure has way more of Raph’s red worked into the figure. The bracers and greaves are red, he has red on the helmet, a red belt, red on the chest, and a piece of red armor on his shoulder. The shell is the same piece and is a matte brown and the paint applications overall are a little cleaner with this figure than they were with my wave one offerings. I may not care about Ram Man and I think his design is kind of boring, but this is working for me. I think Raph is my new favorite in the line and it’s mostly because the colors work and he looks great with or without the helmet.
Raph could do some damage with these.
As for weapons, Raph apparently can’t have normal sai he needs something bigger. The first sai is more like a tri-bladed sword. It has a long handle and the weapon is larger than Raph’s leg. It’s done all in silver and he can grip it just fine. It also slots into the holster on the back of the shell pretty well. The other sai is a bit more involved. It’s basically a glove that fits over his right fist which is kind of a Fisto thing, only Raph is taking it a step further (or three) by having giant blades coming off the top of his fist. If the outer blades were as long as the center one he’d look like he’s cosplaying Wolverine. It’s a cool weapon, though it looks more like a Shredder weapon to me and that’s primarily to do with how he armed himself in the 2012 series. Like the other turtles, the shell does come off and can double as a handheld shield. The chest armor, like the helmet and glove sai, are just pressure fitted so no straps to deal with. The shoulder armor can slide off as well so if you want to get this guy pretty close to naked it’s not too difficult. There’s also another mini comic included, but it’s not the advertised continuation of the story from the first wave. It’s just panel art, no dialogue bubbles, and seems to be pretty scattershot. I guess we have to wait until Wave 3 for the rest of the story?
“You don’t scare me, ugly!”
The articulation for Raph is exactly the same as it was with Leo and Donnie. It’s solid as the shoulders, head, elbows, and knees have good range despite the simple approach. The waist twist is just a waist twist, but the ankles feature hinges and rockers. My lingering complaint is still that the hands only have horizontal hinges when vertical would be preferable for melee weapons. It’s fine.
“You better not be cuttin’ in on my territory, bub!”
The bottom line here is if you dig the look of this mash-up and enjoyed Wave One then you’ll be plenty happy with this interpretation of Raphael. The line needed a Raph and it got a pretty good one. Wave Two should be arriving in stores around you as I type this. It’s also available at various online retailers and I got mine from Amazon. MSRP is 20 bucks, which is a little higher than the standard MOTU Origins price, but that’s likely due to Mattel having to pay Viacom for the license. Wave 3 should be coming soon and I’ve seen some people who already have it, plus there’s the deluxe figures and I’ll be checking some of them out. This line has legs, so we’re definitely not close to being done.
The Turtles like playing with other IP, MOTU is just the latest:
These days, there isn’t much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven’t crossed-over with. Back in the day we had Star Trek, trolls, and the Universal Monsters. More modern times have seen cross-overs with the likes of WWE, Ghostbusters, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Throughout all of that, as well as the action figure license seemingly…
Nothing can be simple in this day and age of retail toy sales which is why the new mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline features ostensibly 3 SKUs: standard, deluxe, and deluxe with build-a-figure parts. The standard releases are, as you may have expected, released abroad and you can…
We’ve looked at the two-packs from Hasbro’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures based on the comic book crossover, but have we saved the best for last? Coming in on his own is the arch nemesis for the turtles: The Shredder! And since this is a line specializing…
I think most people understand that when it comes to a toy line the most popular figures are of the most popular characters. The problem is, what do you do when everyone has the most popular characters? You make them again, but different! That’s sort of the genesis of the variant action figure of a popular character. When Playmates Toys struck success with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it didn’t take them long to get the main turtles back onto pegs, but in a different form. There were the gimmicky Wacky Action Turtles which had wind-up features and there was the disguise series of standard action figures of the turtles, but with fun disguises. And we’ve talked about them before because Super7 has already remade three of the four (it would seem they have no desire to make Undercover Don) and I’ve reviewed them all. Now it’s NECA’s turn to try to extend the life of their line of figures based on the classic cartoon series by dipping into the Playmates well with this two-pack of Samurai Adventure Michelangelo and Space Adventure Donatello.
Normally, samurais are the domain of Leonardo.
Recently, Super7 has run into issues with Playmates where the company really doesn’t like them remaking their toys. Is it because they want to re-release them to stores as they have with many old figures? Maybe, or it could just simply be a company protecting its interests and the right to make that call at some point in the future. With NECA, it would seem their way around that same issue is to switch up the characters. Playmates did Sewer Samurai Leonardo so NECA does it with Mikey instead. Raphael the Space Cadet becomes Space Adventure Donatello. Same concept, different character and different design. These aren’t 1:1 recreations and they’re coming from a toy line that is doing very well. That certainly gives NECA a lot of pull with Viacom when proposing these sorts of things and if they want to humor Playmates or not.
And space is typically reserved for Raphael.
These two figures are creations by the fine folks at NECA with the obvious tip of the hat to Playmates. Michelangelo and Donatello never sported these looks in the cartoon, but you could probably fool someone with a poor memory of the show as it’s not far-fetched for that program. They also both follow the Punk Turtles and Pizza Club releases in introducing more facial expressions for collectors to mix into their collection. Though like the Punk set, these heads are better suited for the newer figures and not the older Turtles in Disguise due to the shade of green utilized. In some way, these figures exist on their own. I don’t have the Pizza Club editions since I already have two sets of the Turtles in Disguise release and the original NECA turtles, but I do have the Punk Turtles and the heads are a little different. Where those are dark green and matte, these new ones are the same shade of green, but glossy. The shade of Michelangelo’s bandana is also darker than what came with the Punk Turtles. Does it match the Pizza Club Mikey? I don’t know, but the lack of consistency is irksome.
And rabbits. They’re allowed to go into space too.
That said, these expressions should work okay with at least the Punk and Pizza Club editions and not so well with the older figures. The two expressions that come with Michelangelo, an open mouth and a teeth-gritting one, are brand new while the mouth included with Donatello is an old, closed, expression we’ve seen before. That’s disappointing considering I think even the Pizza Club Donatello comes with this one. The only new head part with Donnie is the top which features a covering and purple goggles similar to the old Raph the Space Cadet figure. You can at least swap out the expression if you wish, but only having angry eyes is a bummer.
Sort of reminds you of the old title card, no?
We’ll talk Mikey first. He very much looks the part of a samurai, but with a lot of color. The helmet is almost exactly like the old Leonardo figure, but done in bright yellow with lots of black linework. The main suit is a pale blue with black and yellow trim. The almost salmon-shaded armor looks good and also gives the figure a toy impression rather than something going for realism. Paint is mostly clean, but there are some parts where the black bleeds into the yellow on the forearms and shins. There is a waviness to the belt which I don’t think is supposed to be present, but otherwise the figure looks good. The helmet plugs into the peg hole where the bandana knot usually goes (no such piece is included so if you want him to go helmet-less you will have to salvage that from another figure) and it’s easy to slot in, but sits rather loose. The helmet will stay on, but don’t be surprised if it falls off a lot while posing the figure.
Old expression, but at least he’s got cool shades now.
Donatello’s space suit is a bit more understated when compared with Mikey’s samurai armor or Raph’s old suit. It’s an off-white color with black linework and some gray and light blue accents. It doesn’t pop like some other looks in this line, but it’s appropriate for an astronaut turtle. The helmet is done with transparent plastic and the back is painted. It’s nice and clear with no odd blemishes anywhere. Paint is very clean on this figure and even the more complex parts of the head are painted well. Donatello’s goggles are done in transparent plastic with purple rims and they look great. They even flip-up if you prefer and removing the helmet is simple enough.
“Whoa dude, mellow out!”
Double-jointed elbows on a turtle? No way!
The articulation for both figures is actually better than most turtles. That’s because the costumes allow for some degree of freedom where shells are concerned. Both figures have the standard setup in the head, neck, shoulders, and hips while also having an easy to access waist twist. Both figures feature double-jointed knees and ankles that pivot and hinge forward and back. Donatello has single-jointed elbows that bend about 90 degrees while Michelangelo gets a NECA first for a turtle in this line: double-jointed elbows. Despite the presence of elbow pads and bulky sleeves, Mikey can bend his elbow past 90 degrees which is pretty cool. All of the hands feature horizontal hinges though, which is a real bummer. A samurai with a bunch of melee weapons and dual-wielding astronaut should have vertically hinged gripping and trigger hands.
This is one well-armed turtle.
What’s the coolest weapon in the set? It’s almost always the one with the chain.
This set comes loaded with accessories. We already covered the heads for Michelangelo which include standard and angry eyes, but he also comes with an assortment of hands: gripping, fists, and style posed. Donatello has fists, gripping, trigger finger, and style posed hands. When it comes to weapons, these turtle boys are stacked! Michelangelo has a set of katana, a spear, a studded club, a circular-handheld blade, and a little sickle with a chain affixed to the handle that’s attached to a weight. They’re all fully painted and done well at that. The chain on the sickle is real chain and it will be hard settling on a display for this guy. Donatello comes with a pair of wacky looking pistols. They’re yellow and green and the muzzle makes me think of corn on the cob. Nonetheless, they’re based on an old roleplay toy for TMNT (thanks Johnny Nostalgia for that info) and are a fun deep cut as a result. Donatello also has this handheld device that looks like it could be something that is designed to propel him through space. It’s actually based on the old Wacky Action Donatello which came with an all gray version and even showed up in the cartoon as an aid for swimming. Donnie can hold it or it can peg into his back. He also has a little backpack device that can plug into the same spot as well.
To boldly go where no turtle has gone before. Well, except Raph. And those Star Trek turtles. And…
That’s a ton of stuff, but aside from the one peg hole on Donatello’s back the big thing missing here is weapon storage. Michelangelo especially has all of this gear, but no where to put it. No sheath, no hooks, no nothing. It’s a bizarre oversight. Donatello could have easily had holsters for his guns especially considering these designs are uniquely NECA and not based on anything. I can forgive the figure not having a spot for that giant thruster thing, but the sidearms? Bad design.
The only item storage on these figures.
The cool thing is if you want these figures to look more like the vintage ones it’s easy to just swap heads to make the samurai Leo and the space turtle Raph. Since the bodies aren’t really color-coded to Mikey or Donatello, there’s no clash of colors or anything. The necks are barely visible so any prior turtle release should work relatively okay for a full head swap, and with Donnie’s upper head being fully painted, he can use any mouth expression from before as well. It even seems like NECA tried to arm Michelangelo with weapons similar to the other turtles. He just needed a second one of those handheld bladed weapons to have two sai stand-ins. It does lead me to wonder what might follow. Surely NECA has plans for a Leo and Raph set in some sort of non-cartoon look, or maybe they will pull from the show? Leonardo as a musketeer would work as a toy and I’m sure there’s some look for Raph in there that doesn’t immediately come to mind. They can’t do an Undercover Don type of figure since they’ve essentially already done that, but they could do a beach one or something.
How will Raph and Leo respond to these bodacious outfits?
The real question is do I want more turtles in the style of the cartoon, but in looks that didn’t actually appear in the cartoon? I’m thinking it’s going to be a case-by-case thing. I was initially planning on passing on this set as something I didn’t need, but I liked the idea of getting some new expressions and there was the fear that when a Leo and Raph set comes along that I’d be remiss if I skipped this one. I believe that is what the kids refer to as “FOMO” and it sure is an effective marketing strategy. This line has been a big hit for NECA so I’m not shocked to see them try to stretch it beyond the show, just so long as we don’t miss out on the few characters we’re still missing from said show (I’m mainly talking Tempestra), but I have no real worries there. This set is exclusive to Target and will set you back 60 bucks if you’re so inclined. It’s a solid value given all of the stuff in the box and the quality of the figures and I’m having some fun here. If you come across it in your travels and the designs get your attention then I think you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.
We have plenty more TMNT where this came from including more NECA and what served as inspiration for this set:
Another year, another Haulathon. Haulathon, and the very similar Fall Geek Out, have become basically the only instances each year where NECA releases Target exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise as well as non-exclusive merchandise. It’s honestly not a lot of fun as it just creates a frenzy of panic where collectors aren’t sure what…
Well, after looking at the Wave 6 Slash a couple of weeks ago we can now finally turn our attention to a Wave 5 release from Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! series of figures: Sewer Samurai Leonardo. The thing with TMNT is, you have the four good guys, a few core allies,…
It feels like it’s been awhile since we had a proper Turtle Tuesday around here, but today that streak ends. It also feels like a long time since we had a new wave TMNT Ultimates! from Super7 to talk about – and that’s because it has! Not including the glow-in-the-dark variant of Leonardo I looked…
