DSC_1824
Lets take it from the top, one more time.
The year is 1990, and a little movie about the mutating pet of a Ninjitsu master and four pet turtles that would become his Renaissance artist named disciples was made, and its name was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Taking elements from the animated series, but having a darker story line more in line with its comic source material, the movie itself was a great success, spawning two sequels, one of which we don't really talk about. The movie enters into the annals of pop culture history and is reflected upon fondly by my generation, with nothing else to report about other than news about the Blu-Ray release. Then, in 2016, a little company named NECA announces not only do they have the license to make movie TMNT figures, but that they are releasing quarter scale figures of the four brothers. These figures do not disappoint, and other than the joints, pretty much look like shrunken down life size rubber suits, down to the replication of the actual texture of the rubber itself. A bit of a pain to get a hold of, but yours truly was able to snag a Donatello, and he could have gotten a Michaelangelo too when he was off on a work trip to Vancouver, but opted not to because he was a bit big and bulky to carry on the plane.
Some time in 2017, it is announced, to the joy of countless people, that NECA would go ahead and release these same figures in the very popular 6 inch scale... unfortunately, due to a licensing snafu with Nickelodeon, much like with the quarter scale figures, obtaining these outside the United States would be very difficult. To make matters worse, these figures end up being Gamestop exclusives that basically never made it to the store shelves because they sold out. For a while, scalpers were able to take advantage of this imbalance in the Force, and sell for many times MSRP to hungry fans across the globe.
Then, a miracle happened. A breakthrough in licensing was reached with Nickelodeon which allowed for the sale of a second batch of these TMNT figures (along with their animated counterparts) to be sold outside the US. The world rejoiced, and scalpers everywhere drank themselves into oblivion, questioning their life choices... and that brings us to NOW.
I recently picked up my preorder set from EB Games. Because the brothers were all sold individually, I was able to justify spending the money for the full set, so yes, my movie Turtles are not Raph-less.
As mentioned above, these figures are generally scaled down versions of their "full size" quarter scale counterparts. Overall, NECA did a pretty good job at their job, though much like most early Arcade to Home conversions, there are some things that had to be done in order to make the game work on reduced hardware. The smaller figures are not as detailed as the larger ones from a sculpt and paint perspective: no surprises here, having a smaller area to work with means some of the finer details wouldn't even show up on a 6 inch figure. Some of the materials have changed, most notably being the bandanas which are now all rubber rather than having cloth at the back of the heads, though NECA does make up for this by having a separate attachment so you're able to have the cloth flow in the opposite direction. One of the less obvious things is that to my eyes, it appears that the proportions of the figure are slightly different, and overall more slim. Perhaps this change was made due to existing tooling, or perhaps it was a cost reduction thing.
I'm going to do a comparison with the quarter scale Donatello I own at some point in time, but not today - been working on photo taking pretty much all day and figured it was time to write.
So each figure comes in a box that has the classic 1990 movie poster on the front, and on the back is a small blurb about the Turtle in the box, some product shots of the quarter scale release, and a small group photo of the quarter scale figures replicating the pose on the back of the old VHS box. Each Turtle comes with the figure, the aforementioned bandana rear pieces of different flowing of the cloth, their trademark weapon, a slice of pizza, and for lack of better terms, a pair of posing hands. As with the animated Turtles, the parts are all interchangeable between the Turtles themselves. Having no second pack in figure to concern myself with, I was free to open the figures in the order of my choice, and as expected, I chose Mikey as my go guy.
Mikey looks a human shaped turtle, which is no surprise given the fact actors wore these suits.. no fancy CGI here, kids. One of the nice things about the movie Turtles is that not only do they have their trademark colours, but their faces are actually different to, which further helps to differentiate between them. While we're on the subject of differences, each Turtle also has a slightly different belt/weapon harness they wear, and even the waist belts all have different buckles, undoubtedly modeled after the real suits themselves, and different markings on the bodies as well. Mikey's nunchucks are actually fitted with a length of wire rather than loos chains, and can be used to hold the weapons in various airborne poses, though I worry about the eventual snapping due to wear and tear.
Mikey (and each of the other Turtles) is significantly taller than its animated counterpart.
Articulation wise, you're looking at the following. pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, hips, mid torso ball joint (limited due to the shell and the chest armour), rotating and pivoting shoulders, double jointed elbows, rotating and pivoting wrists, and ball jointed head. Much like the mid torso joint, the elbows and knees are limited in range of motion due to outfit pieces, specifically the knee and elbow pads themselves. Furthermore, the shell does make each Turtle a bit top heavy, so be aware of this while posing. Overall, what you're normally able to hit with a NECA figure, you can do so here as well. As with other NECAs, the more subtle poses are going to require a figure outside of this price point.
From a paint perspective, the figures aren't as crisp looking as their quarter scale counterparts, but to be honest, those figures are on another level, even more so when you consider their very acceptable MSRP. The green to yellow shading that was present on the quarter scale figures has made it intact to these ones, and varies form Turtle to Turtle. and overall adds some depth to the the figures, specifically the faces. Each turtle has a set of freckles and markings that again, seemed to have made the transition between quarter scale to this 6 inch scale.The eyes don't pop as much on these small figures, not just due to size of eyes, but it seems the while they used isn't as vibrant either. But don't let these nagging words deter you - each of the Turtles is beautifully done, and its because I have a quarter inch figure that I am able to even talk about what's changed. Otherwise, paint apps are pretty smooth, with the exception of super fine details like the belt buckles. On the whole, though, better than most of the other NECA figures you'll run into.
Sculpting wise, as mentioned earlier, these figures seem slimmer to me. Otherwise, the texture of the rubber parts has transferred over nicely, as has the vast majority of the magic that made the quarter scale figures appear to be perfect replicas of the life size rubber suits. Minor flashing issues do exist, but nothing extreme when taking into account the price point of these figures. If anything, they're actually a bit cleaner. Joints are nice and stiff and are able to hold vast majority of the poses you'll want to put it in.
In conclusion, these are the best 6 inch figures NECA has made IMHO, even with articulation restrictions. They would be the best NECA has made period if it wasn't for the quarter scale entries. If you're a TMNT fan, do not hesitate - just do it.
COWABUNGA!
DSC_1824
Lets take it from the top, one more time.
The year is 1990, and a little movie about the mutating pet of a Ninjitsu master and four pet turtles that would become his Renaissance artist named disciples was made, and its name was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Taking elements from the animated series, but having a darker story line more in line with its comic source material, the movie itself was a great success, spawning two sequels, one of which we don't really talk about. The movie enters into the annals of pop culture history and is reflected upon fondly by my generation, with nothing else to report about other than news about the Blu-Ray release. Then, in 2016, a little company named NECA announces not only do they have the license to make movie TMNT figures, but that they are releasing quarter scale figures of the four brothers. These figures do not disappoint, and other than the joints, pretty much look like shrunken down life size rubber suits, down to the replication of the actual texture of the rubber itself. A bit of a pain to get a hold of, but yours truly was able to snag a Donatello, and he could have gotten a Michaelangelo too when he was off on a work trip to Vancouver, but opted not to because he was a bit big and bulky to carry on the plane.
Some time in 2017, it is announced, to the joy of countless people, that NECA would go ahead and release these same figures in the very popular 6 inch scale... unfortunately, due to a licensing snafu with Nickelodeon, much like with the quarter scale figures, obtaining these outside the United States would be very difficult. To make matters worse, these figures end up being Gamestop exclusives that basically never made it to the store shelves because they sold out. For a while, scalpers were able to take advantage of this imbalance in the Force, and sell for many times MSRP to hungry fans across the globe.
Then, a miracle happened. A breakthrough in licensing was reached with Nickelodeon which allowed for the sale of a second batch of these TMNT figures (along with their animated counterparts) to be sold outside the US. The world rejoiced, and scalpers everywhere drank themselves into oblivion, questioning their life choices... and that brings us to NOW.
I recently picked up my preorder set from EB Games. Because the brothers were all sold individually, I was able to justify spending the money for the full set, so yes, my movie Turtles are not Raph-less.
As mentioned above, these figures are generally scaled down versions of their "full size" quarter scale counterparts. Overall, NECA did a pretty good job at their job, though much like most early Arcade to Home conversions, there are some things that had to be done in order to make the game work on reduced hardware. The smaller figures are not as detailed as the larger ones from a sculpt and paint perspective: no surprises here, having a smaller area to work with means some of the finer details wouldn't even show up on a 6 inch figure. Some of the materials have changed, most notably being the bandanas which are now all rubber rather than having cloth at the back of the heads, though NECA does make up for this by having a separate attachment so you're able to have the cloth flow in the opposite direction. One of the less obvious things is that to my eyes, it appears that the proportions of the figure are slightly different, and overall more slim. Perhaps this change was made due to existing tooling, or perhaps it was a cost reduction thing.
I'm going to do a comparison with the quarter scale Donatello I own at some point in time, but not today - been working on photo taking pretty much all day and figured it was time to write.
So each figure comes in a box that has the classic 1990 movie poster on the front, and on the back is a small blurb about the Turtle in the box, some product shots of the quarter scale release, and a small group photo of the quarter scale figures replicating the pose on the back of the old VHS box. Each Turtle comes with the figure, the aforementioned bandana rear pieces of different flowing of the cloth, their trademark weapon, a slice of pizza, and for lack of better terms, a pair of posing hands. As with the animated Turtles, the parts are all interchangeable between the Turtles themselves. Having no second pack in figure to concern myself with, I was free to open the figures in the order of my choice, and as expected, I chose Mikey as my go guy.
Mikey looks a human shaped turtle, which is no surprise given the fact actors wore these suits.. no fancy CGI here, kids. One of the nice things about the movie Turtles is that not only do they have their trademark colours, but their faces are actually different to, which further helps to differentiate between them. While we're on the subject of differences, each Turtle also has a slightly different belt/weapon harness they wear, and even the waist belts all have different buckles, undoubtedly modeled after the real suits themselves, and different markings on the bodies as well. Mikey's nunchucks are actually fitted with a length of wire rather than loos chains, and can be used to hold the weapons in various airborne poses, though I worry about the eventual snapping due to wear and tear.
Mikey (and each of the other Turtles) is significantly taller than its animated counterpart.
Articulation wise, you're looking at the following. pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, hips, mid torso ball joint (limited due to the shell and the chest armour), rotating and pivoting shoulders, double jointed elbows, rotating and pivoting wrists, and ball jointed head. Much like the mid torso joint, the elbows and knees are limited in range of motion due to outfit pieces, specifically the knee and elbow pads themselves. Furthermore, the shell does make each Turtle a bit top heavy, so be aware of this while posing. Overall, what you're normally able to hit with a NECA figure, you can do so here as well. As with other NECAs, the more subtle poses are going to require a figure outside of this price point.
From a paint perspective, the figures aren't as crisp looking as their quarter scale counterparts, but to be honest, those figures are on another level, even more so when you consider their very acceptable MSRP. The green to yellow shading that was present on the quarter scale figures has made it intact to these ones, and varies form Turtle to Turtle. and overall adds some depth to the the figures, specifically the faces. Each turtle has a set of freckles and markings that again, seemed to have made the transition between quarter scale to this 6 inch scale.The eyes don't pop as much on these small figures, not just due to size of eyes, but it seems the while they used isn't as vibrant either. But don't let these nagging words deter you - each of the Turtles is beautifully done, and its because I have a quarter inch figure that I am able to even talk about what's changed. Otherwise, paint apps are pretty smooth, with the exception of super fine details like the belt buckles. On the whole, though, better than most of the other NECA figures you'll run into.
Sculpting wise, as mentioned earlier, these figures seem slimmer to me. Otherwise, the texture of the rubber parts has transferred over nicely, as has the vast majority of the magic that made the quarter scale figures appear to be perfect replicas of the life size rubber suits. Minor flashing issues do exist, but nothing extreme when taking into account the price point of these figures. If anything, they're actually a bit cleaner. Joints are nice and stiff and are able to hold vast majority of the poses you'll want to put it in.
In conclusion, these are the best 6 inch figures NECA has made IMHO, even with articulation restrictions. They would be the best NECA has made period if it wasn't for the quarter scale entries. If you're a TMNT fan, do not hesitate - just do it.
COWABUNGA!