DSC_0488
Leonardo. Donatello, Raphael. Michelangelo. Four of the world's most renowned Renaissance painters, and four brothers destined to stop the Foot Clan. I am, of course, speaking of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).
I know there is a darker comic series, but the Turtles that captured my imagination back in the late 80s was the animated series on television. From all accounts, the Turtles had been changed from single focused killing machines to four characters with very distinct personalities, and coloured face masks so we could tell them apart. Everyone had a favourite Turtle - mine was Michaelanglo, mostly because I was obsessed with Nunchucks at the time, though in time I've learned to appreciate each of the brother for their various personality traits. Except Leo.. boring, boring Leo. Always my last choice when came to the Arcade Game, but of course his ability to out fight the rest of them was never really played out in the show that much.
In the last few years, NECA obtained the license from Nickelodeon to make TMNT product. It started with the quarter scale 90s movie turtles, then moved on to these - 6 inch sized figures based on their 80s animation looks, sold exclusively at Target in the US. Of course, people hoarded these things, and tried to scalp them to fans around the world. It worked.. for a while, until in 2019 when some sort of licensing agreement was hashed out that allowed NECA to FINALLY sell their Nickelodeon TMNT stuff outside the US directly. Being a TMNT fan, and having heard so much about these things, it was time I finally purchased some and saw for myself what all the hype was about.
The Turtles come, evilly, sold in two packs, though not with a Brother from Another Mother (BAM). No - you see, these sets were based on the SDCC exclusive 8 pack sold in ... I want to say in 2017, which featured the brothers, Krang, Shredder, and two Foot Soldiers. Leo was sold with Shredder, Donatello with Krang, and the other two with Foot Soldiers, all at a MSRP of $50 USD per set. Me, being the cheap bastard that I am, made an executive decision that I could live without Raph for that price, because, well.. Foot Soldier.
So over the past week or so, I've been diligently plucking away at these sets, snapping pictures and having all sorts of fever dreams that I put into action figure form. Without further ado, we start this trip down into the sewers with the Donatello set because I really, really wanted to open Krang up.
As stated above, the figures come in two pack, with the real unique part of each set being the villain (unless you're Mikey or Raph), so lets talk about the common parts first. Each Turtle comes with their trademark weapon, one extra pair of hands for posing or something (I say that because honestly it seems random because they don't always seem to work with what's included), and accessories that some seem, again, kind of random to me - they range from things that really make sense (Mikey has a spinning Nunchuck effect and grappling hook), to I think Leo and Donnie have closed communicators but Mikey and Donnie having open communicators), to a slice of pizza with Raph. Like I said, completely random, it feels, mostly due to the fact these were again ripped from a larger box set. The parts are interchangeable, of course, and with enough experimenting you'll eventually find a combo that works.
The Turtles are more of an olive green in complexion as opposed to the bright green of their 80s cartoon counterparts - not a bad thing, just different. Like with many of their more recent offerings, NECA has also given the Turtles (and everyone else, of course) cartoon shading in that parts in shadow are a tone or two darker than their base colours. It can look weird if the parts aren't aligned properly (mainly their arms and legs) but the effort is much appreciated. Another nice things is that all the characters have major details filled in with black, just like in a cartoon, which helps them pop whether it be in person, or in photographic form. Each Turtle varies slightly visually with the face mask, the emblem on their belt, and facial expression - also, it's should be mentioned that Donnie and Leo feature a holster on their belt for their weapon, but I didn't see one on Mikey and I don't think there's one on Raph either.
Sculpting on the Turtles is very good, with strong detailing of the muscles and the shell itself. Also, NECA seems to be one of the companies that gets how to turn in a good 3D TMNT head, because I've seen some real trainwrecks in the past, and the overall QC seems to be very strong, price point aside, though some of the black detailing can be a bit messy (see Donnie's staff), and I did need to get a replacement Mikey due to some shoddy glue work on the mask. Paint apps on the non weapon accessories are actually impressively sharp, given the size the painters had to work with. Materials used in production are pretty much what I expected, having the same feel as the plastics used in the more recent Transformers line.
The articulation on the Turtles isn't bad - I'm not sure if this is NECA standard, as this is the first time I've picked up a NECA product. We have ankles, double jointed knees, hips, waist, shoulders, bicep swivel, elbows, wrists, neck, and head. Ankles are strangely limited in that you can't really get the Turtles to stand in a wider stance, but the feet will freely move otherwise. Shoulders do not feature any chest collapse, and overall articulation is hindered by the fact that you've got a big, bulky shell to deal with. Waist is given some freedom to move due to the use of a softer rubber part for the abdominal piece itself. I found the hips to be a bit loose, which can be further aggravated by the fact that understandably, the figures are top heavy. Overall, not bad, but you're clearly not getting any crazy ninja poses with the boys.
Krang.. well where do I begin. He is awesome.
Krang comes with well.. Krang, the small pedestal he's seen using prior to the introduction of his android body (which sadly isn't in this set), and a robot walker suit featuring an opening plastic canopy that I don't remember being used per se, but it's not like he went android body less for long in the show anyway. There isn't much articulation to speak of, mainly just the tendrils and the walker feet. The tendrils are removed from the body, and plugged into the walker, with the main body put into the cockpit itself, completing the look.
Detailing on this guy is fantastic, especially Krang himself, all blobby and vein covered. All this detailing is coupled with a very solid set of paint apps, just like on the Turtles, with the use of blacks and other darker colours for the purposes of highlighting details and creating the sense of depth. Paint a bit thick, specifically the pink itself, but Krang is a pulsating blob so I'll give this a pass. Krang is sculpted with his trademark stare and sneer - seriously, just looking at pics should invoke that cackle of his, or perhaps his whining to Shredder about the lack of progress. There have been some pretty good Turtle figures over the years, but this is by far the best Krang toy I can recall, next to that Megabloks set a few years back which featured all four Turtles and Krang in android body. This is one of those figures that even had they sold him in a pack by himself, I would have bought because he's just that good.
PHEW! So that ends this quick overview of the Donnie/Krang set, though I guess its more of a TMNT/Krang overview. Naturally, there's more to come as there would be way too much to cram into one exposition, so stay tuned!
DSC_0488
Leonardo. Donatello, Raphael. Michelangelo. Four of the world's most renowned Renaissance painters, and four brothers destined to stop the Foot Clan. I am, of course, speaking of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).
I know there is a darker comic series, but the Turtles that captured my imagination back in the late 80s was the animated series on television. From all accounts, the Turtles had been changed from single focused killing machines to four characters with very distinct personalities, and coloured face masks so we could tell them apart. Everyone had a favourite Turtle - mine was Michaelanglo, mostly because I was obsessed with Nunchucks at the time, though in time I've learned to appreciate each of the brother for their various personality traits. Except Leo.. boring, boring Leo. Always my last choice when came to the Arcade Game, but of course his ability to out fight the rest of them was never really played out in the show that much.
In the last few years, NECA obtained the license from Nickelodeon to make TMNT product. It started with the quarter scale 90s movie turtles, then moved on to these - 6 inch sized figures based on their 80s animation looks, sold exclusively at Target in the US. Of course, people hoarded these things, and tried to scalp them to fans around the world. It worked.. for a while, until in 2019 when some sort of licensing agreement was hashed out that allowed NECA to FINALLY sell their Nickelodeon TMNT stuff outside the US directly. Being a TMNT fan, and having heard so much about these things, it was time I finally purchased some and saw for myself what all the hype was about.
The Turtles come, evilly, sold in two packs, though not with a Brother from Another Mother (BAM). No - you see, these sets were based on the SDCC exclusive 8 pack sold in ... I want to say in 2017, which featured the brothers, Krang, Shredder, and two Foot Soldiers. Leo was sold with Shredder, Donatello with Krang, and the other two with Foot Soldiers, all at a MSRP of $50 USD per set. Me, being the cheap bastard that I am, made an executive decision that I could live without Raph for that price, because, well.. Foot Soldier.
So over the past week or so, I've been diligently plucking away at these sets, snapping pictures and having all sorts of fever dreams that I put into action figure form. Without further ado, we start this trip down into the sewers with the Donatello set because I really, really wanted to open Krang up.
As stated above, the figures come in two pack, with the real unique part of each set being the villain (unless you're Mikey or Raph), so lets talk about the common parts first. Each Turtle comes with their trademark weapon, one extra pair of hands for posing or something (I say that because honestly it seems random because they don't always seem to work with what's included), and accessories that some seem, again, kind of random to me - they range from things that really make sense (Mikey has a spinning Nunchuck effect and grappling hook), to I think Leo and Donnie have closed communicators but Mikey and Donnie having open communicators), to a slice of pizza with Raph. Like I said, completely random, it feels, mostly due to the fact these were again ripped from a larger box set. The parts are interchangeable, of course, and with enough experimenting you'll eventually find a combo that works.
The Turtles are more of an olive green in complexion as opposed to the bright green of their 80s cartoon counterparts - not a bad thing, just different. Like with many of their more recent offerings, NECA has also given the Turtles (and everyone else, of course) cartoon shading in that parts in shadow are a tone or two darker than their base colours. It can look weird if the parts aren't aligned properly (mainly their arms and legs) but the effort is much appreciated. Another nice things is that all the characters have major details filled in with black, just like in a cartoon, which helps them pop whether it be in person, or in photographic form. Each Turtle varies slightly visually with the face mask, the emblem on their belt, and facial expression - also, it's should be mentioned that Donnie and Leo feature a holster on their belt for their weapon, but I didn't see one on Mikey and I don't think there's one on Raph either.
Sculpting on the Turtles is very good, with strong detailing of the muscles and the shell itself. Also, NECA seems to be one of the companies that gets how to turn in a good 3D TMNT head, because I've seen some real trainwrecks in the past, and the overall QC seems to be very strong, price point aside, though some of the black detailing can be a bit messy (see Donnie's staff), and I did need to get a replacement Mikey due to some shoddy glue work on the mask. Paint apps on the non weapon accessories are actually impressively sharp, given the size the painters had to work with. Materials used in production are pretty much what I expected, having the same feel as the plastics used in the more recent Transformers line.
The articulation on the Turtles isn't bad - I'm not sure if this is NECA standard, as this is the first time I've picked up a NECA product. We have ankles, double jointed knees, hips, waist, shoulders, bicep swivel, elbows, wrists, neck, and head. Ankles are strangely limited in that you can't really get the Turtles to stand in a wider stance, but the feet will freely move otherwise. Shoulders do not feature any chest collapse, and overall articulation is hindered by the fact that you've got a big, bulky shell to deal with. Waist is given some freedom to move due to the use of a softer rubber part for the abdominal piece itself. I found the hips to be a bit loose, which can be further aggravated by the fact that understandably, the figures are top heavy. Overall, not bad, but you're clearly not getting any crazy ninja poses with the boys.
Krang.. well where do I begin. He is awesome.
Krang comes with well.. Krang, the small pedestal he's seen using prior to the introduction of his android body (which sadly isn't in this set), and a robot walker suit featuring an opening plastic canopy that I don't remember being used per se, but it's not like he went android body less for long in the show anyway. There isn't much articulation to speak of, mainly just the tendrils and the walker feet. The tendrils are removed from the body, and plugged into the walker, with the main body put into the cockpit itself, completing the look.
Detailing on this guy is fantastic, especially Krang himself, all blobby and vein covered. All this detailing is coupled with a very solid set of paint apps, just like on the Turtles, with the use of blacks and other darker colours for the purposes of highlighting details and creating the sense of depth. Paint a bit thick, specifically the pink itself, but Krang is a pulsating blob so I'll give this a pass. Krang is sculpted with his trademark stare and sneer - seriously, just looking at pics should invoke that cackle of his, or perhaps his whining to Shredder about the lack of progress. There have been some pretty good Turtle figures over the years, but this is by far the best Krang toy I can recall, next to that Megabloks set a few years back which featured all four Turtles and Krang in android body. This is one of those figures that even had they sold him in a pack by himself, I would have bought because he's just that good.
PHEW! So that ends this quick overview of the Donnie/Krang set, though I guess its more of a TMNT/Krang overview. Naturally, there's more to come as there would be way too much to cram into one exposition, so stay tuned!