Pack your bags and grab the sunscreen because today we’re heading to Florida! It’s vacation time folks, and even the bad guys deserve a little fun in the sun sometimes. Coming from NECA Toys we have another fun variant of the duo Bebop and Rocksteady. Always more comic relief than true threat, the boys come dressed for the theme park as they accompanied the boss man down to Florida in an episode of the classic cartoon series which resulted in the further mutation of the punk frog Napoleon. As this line has gone on, I’ve become more and more drawn to the silly offshoots and Bebop and Rocksteady have provided ample opportunities for such. We’ve had them as rabbits, robots, and superheroes and now we have them as tourists. The only question is does anyone need a couple of dimwitted mutants in floral patterns?
Bebop and Rocksteady come courtesy of the duo Tony Cipriano and Tomasz Rozejowski with contributions from Kushwara Studios. Paint is handled by the frequent pairing of Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. If there are any reused parts from past versions of these two, it’s not apparent. Even the hands look like they’re new. They do share parts between each other, but for the most part this is an all new set. Not that they don’t feel familiar as the construction of these two is pretty consistent. They’re more visual than poseable, but the very loud outfits will help to boost their shelf presence even if they aren’t the most dynamic figures in your collection.
Rocksteady stands at around 6″ while Bebop is closer to 6.5″ which adheres to their presentation in the show. The two have similar, but different, outfits. Rocksteady is rocking the Hawaiin shirt in shades of purple and orange while Bebop went with a more bold choice with a yellow polo and red suspenders. Bebop brings in the floral print with the light blue shorts with orange flowers while Rocksteady seems to be wearing jeans with the cuffs rolled up. Bebop retains his usual style of kicks, opting for a matching yellow while Rocksteady has traded in his boots for flip flops. Bebop has more traditional sunglasses than his usual ones and Rocksteady has old man sunglasses with the strap going around his head. Neither are removable, nor is Bebops very fashionable “Not Donald Duck” hat with propeller. The propeller does not spin, unfortunately. Rocksteady actually has two hats: a blue visor or a yellow cabby hat which he switched to in the show.
These two look great for what they are. I feel like the Bebop and Rocksteady portraits keep getting better (well, except for Rhino-Man who was a little weird) and more aligned with how they looked in the show. There’s tons of paint and it’s pretty cleanly applied, but there will be some variation from figure to figure. My Bebop has an ugly spot near his suspenders on the back of his shirt, but it’s otherwise the only real paint defect. These figures are not pin-less, which is apparently something being rolled out by NECA slowly. It’s not that big of an issue on its own, but does create an eyesore with Bebop’s high socks. The factory went with a flesh colored pin even though the hole is cut through the socks. Gray would have been the more appropriate choice, or they could have painted them. There is also no cel-shading on these figures which continues to be something that NECA utilizes inconsistently. I’m not really bothered by it, but I would prefer NECA to just pick a lane with this stuff and stick to it.
These two come with an assortment of hands and vacation accessories. For both, we get a set of fists, gripping, and open hands. Rocksteady comes with a lei around his neck while Bebop has a satchel. Both also have a camera with a strap on it. Rocksteady’s features a large flash while Bebop’s is more compact. Unfortunately, neither can really be held as they’re too chunky for the gripping hands. You could heat them to wedge it in, but then you risk rubbing the paint. Plus, it’s unlikely they’d be able to hold the cameras in front of their face like they’re using it. There’s a large, blue, canister that looks like a water jug, but it might be some mutagen thing from the episode. I didn’t rewatch it. Unlike the cameras, the pair have no issues holding this thing by the handle. Lastly, we get a little rhino-fly. In the episode, a dragonfly has contact with Rocksteady and then contact with the mutagen to become this gross, little, abomination. It’s a fun little inclusion, though I wish he had a little acrylic stand or something because he really can’t do anything by himself. He basically needs to be held.
Articulation for these guys is pretty basic stuff for a NECA figure. All of the cuts and joints you would expect are there, but they’re kind of limited. You have the ball joint at the head, but they mostly just rotate because there’s a lot of stuff in the way. The jaws are articulated, but the range is poor. The shoulders are ball-hinged and we get a bicep swivel as well. Double-jointed elbows are really limited by the fact that the neutral position for the arm is slightly bent. They’re also really tight and I can’t get better than a 90 degree bend out of them. Wrists rotate with a horizontal hinge. The shirts are basically overlays with not much inside them but a ball joint. They’ll rotate, but they won’t bend forward or back much. Ball-socket hips kick forward an okay amount but not back. They’ll go out to the side a solid amount though. There is a thigh swivel and double-jointed knees. Like the arms, the neutral pose is somewhat of a squat so the legs can’t go perfectly straight. Knee joints are tight, but even if you get both hinges working in tandem it won’t get you more than 90 degrees. The feet hinge forward and back a bit with an okay ankle rocker. Bebop’s is better than Rocksteady’s, but for the most part the pair move the same which is to say not very well.
If you’re a collector of this line though from NECA Toys then that’s probably not a surprise. This line always favors aesthetics over articulation and Bebop and Rocksteady are no different. They are a little too far in one direction for my personal taste, but given that they’re goofy variants I’m more fine with it than normally. If these were the more evergreen interpretations of the characters I’d want more out of the torso and head, especially. And, come on, the propeller doesn’t whirl? Missed opportunity, NECA. A second one that’s sculpted like it’s spinning would have been fun too. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the box art features Rocksteady holding a little, red, flag from the episode which is not included. That’s just odd since that’s probably a pretty inexpensive accessory, but it’s also not some great loss.
When it comes to variants of figures, I think more falls on how one perceives that look for the character. With Vacation Bebop and Rocksteady, that is very much the case. I can critique and praise aspects of these figures all I want, but at the end of the day the only people buying this set are those who are amused by these looks. I think they’re fun. I love the bright colors and I especially love how Bebop looks practically giddy to be heading out to an amusement park. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a silly, stupid, show and I want the toy line I’m collecting to reflet that so I didn’t hesitate to grab these. For $60, I can also understand how someone might look at these and conclude “I don’t need them.” If you’re not one of those folks though, then you can find this set at Target. It was part of the Cowabunga Collection released back in August, but it was stocked in generous quantities and is still pretty easy to track down well into November. It probably won’t last forever though and I wouldn’t guarantee on another production run so if it’s something you like you probably don’t want to wait too long.
If you like figures of Bebop and Rocksteady then you have no shortage of options these days:
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