DSC_8609
Welcome to the first Plague Monday.. you'd think being stuck at home meant I'd be able to churn out more of these, but hey, turns out when all childcare and other services are out of whack, well, it's hard. Luckily we here at Collectors Haven (OK, really ME here) thrive on hard, so appropriately, we talk about a rat toy today.. specifically the 6 inch Master Splinter from the NECA TMNT movie line.
Splinter is the character that provides the Turtles their training in the arts of Ninjitsu and life on the whole. I'm only familiar with the cartoon iterations, so there he's the primary source of guidance, but I suspect with so many years of content they must have gained a teacher or two since the 80s. Unlike the cartoon, Splinter is not a man turned hybrid, but rather, he is the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, rival to Oroku Saki, who mastered Ninjitsu through the powers of observing his master, and is able to transfer this knowledge once the mutagenic process is completed. Where does he get the weaponry and what not for the Turtles? I've asked this question for years and decided I probably don't want to know what one does in 1990s NYC for stuff like this.
Splinter comes with a very modest set of contents. There is the figure, a slice of pizza, a pair of nunchucks (for that scene at the end of the movie), and a canister of TCRI mutagen though I don't remember TCRI itself being introduced until Secret of the Ooze. That's it.. no extra hands or other pieces.
Much like the 6 inch Turtles, the amount of detailing this figure has is very impressive, and I'm confident if I were to ever get the 1/4 scale figure, it'd be even more visually exciting. The sculptors did a great job at replicating the overall look of Splinter, which includes fur detailing and the overall silhouette of the character. Unlike the Turtles, however, some liberties needed to be taken due to the figure not having rooted hair, but again, I didn't bother, but I've seen photos where if you take off the robes, Splinter has some great detailing across his entire body. it's all good from my side. NECA also did an excellent job replicating the tattered robes that Splinter wears.. I don't know how much work it is mass manufacturing a mangled robe, but it looks fantastic and tailoring is actually quite good and hangs on the figure appropriately.
You've also got to love the FML expression on Splinter, which, to be fair, was what he generally looked like in the film. Fortunately, I don't have the lazy eye edition that other collectors have reported.
So for all the work that went into the aesthetics of the figure, the actual play part of the figure isn't the greatest, though it can't all be attributed to the design only. Starting with articulation, he's got pretty much what you'd expect. Splinter has toe, ankle, single jointed knees, hips, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders, elbow pivot and rotation, wrists, and ball jointed head. The tail is unwieldy, but is made of a soft rubber material with holes in it to allow for better flexibility, which of course allows for actual standing, as well as helps prevent unnecessary stress on the piece. While all the points of articulation are there, the proportions and stature of the figure makes any real dynamic posing, or posing in general, of Splinter somewhat of a challenge. Of course, it's not like he did much in the movie either.
The figure is quite well painted. As stated above, he's done very well overall. Not real issues with regards to poor paint mostly due to the fact i don't have an extreme lazy eye situation. Any colour changes or weathering are well done.. no abrupt changes or splashes of colour or overspray. Masking is well done with sharp dividing lines. Oveall, I feel that the paint work on here is probably a smidgen above the normal punching weight for NECA, and is really only marred by the slightly weak eye application, and if I'm being anal retentive about things, there's also paint missing on the knuckle of the left foot..
Build quality.. well, it's NECA. Joints are a bit stiff out the box and need to be softened either by heat or general working it in. Joints generally work well with holding poses, with the exception of the neck on mine - the head comes off quite easily. The material used is.. I dunno.. that kind of rubbery yet solid plastic that all NECA figures are made from, which does allow for the generally intricate detailing on the figure. Then there are the hands... oh Lord. The hands look fine, but honestly, they are completely and utterly USELESS when it comes to holding the smaller accessories - Splinter can hold the TCRI canister quite easily as it's really just balanced in his hands. I have no idea how they did it in the promo shots.. maybe they're taped on, or maybe we got budget cuts and an extra pair of hands was not included.
So yeah.. overall Splinter looks pretty good, but as an actual figure he's kind of mediocre when it comes to posing or holding his included accessories. So yeah, I'd highly recommend him to accompany your Movie Turtle team.. but have him standing in the background.
DSC_8609
Welcome to the first Plague Monday.. you'd think being stuck at home meant I'd be able to churn out more of these, but hey, turns out when all childcare and other services are out of whack, well, it's hard. Luckily we here at Collectors Haven (OK, really ME here) thrive on hard, so appropriately, we talk about a rat toy today.. specifically the 6 inch Master Splinter from the NECA TMNT movie line.
Splinter is the character that provides the Turtles their training in the arts of Ninjitsu and life on the whole. I'm only familiar with the cartoon iterations, so there he's the primary source of guidance, but I suspect with so many years of content they must have gained a teacher or two since the 80s. Unlike the cartoon, Splinter is not a man turned hybrid, but rather, he is the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, rival to Oroku Saki, who mastered Ninjitsu through the powers of observing his master, and is able to transfer this knowledge once the mutagenic process is completed. Where does he get the weaponry and what not for the Turtles? I've asked this question for years and decided I probably don't want to know what one does in 1990s NYC for stuff like this.
Splinter comes with a very modest set of contents. There is the figure, a slice of pizza, a pair of nunchucks (for that scene at the end of the movie), and a canister of TCRI mutagen though I don't remember TCRI itself being introduced until Secret of the Ooze. That's it.. no extra hands or other pieces.
Much like the 6 inch Turtles, the amount of detailing this figure has is very impressive, and I'm confident if I were to ever get the 1/4 scale figure, it'd be even more visually exciting. The sculptors did a great job at replicating the overall look of Splinter, which includes fur detailing and the overall silhouette of the character. Unlike the Turtles, however, some liberties needed to be taken due to the figure not having rooted hair, but again, I didn't bother, but I've seen photos where if you take off the robes, Splinter has some great detailing across his entire body. it's all good from my side. NECA also did an excellent job replicating the tattered robes that Splinter wears.. I don't know how much work it is mass manufacturing a mangled robe, but it looks fantastic and tailoring is actually quite good and hangs on the figure appropriately.
You've also got to love the FML expression on Splinter, which, to be fair, was what he generally looked like in the film. Fortunately, I don't have the lazy eye edition that other collectors have reported.
So for all the work that went into the aesthetics of the figure, the actual play part of the figure isn't the greatest, though it can't all be attributed to the design only. Starting with articulation, he's got pretty much what you'd expect. Splinter has toe, ankle, single jointed knees, hips, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders, elbow pivot and rotation, wrists, and ball jointed head. The tail is unwieldy, but is made of a soft rubber material with holes in it to allow for better flexibility, which of course allows for actual standing, as well as helps prevent unnecessary stress on the piece. While all the points of articulation are there, the proportions and stature of the figure makes any real dynamic posing, or posing in general, of Splinter somewhat of a challenge. Of course, it's not like he did much in the movie either.
The figure is quite well painted. As stated above, he's done very well overall. Not real issues with regards to poor paint mostly due to the fact i don't have an extreme lazy eye situation. Any colour changes or weathering are well done.. no abrupt changes or splashes of colour or overspray. Masking is well done with sharp dividing lines. Oveall, I feel that the paint work on here is probably a smidgen above the normal punching weight for NECA, and is really only marred by the slightly weak eye application, and if I'm being anal retentive about things, there's also paint missing on the knuckle of the left foot..
Build quality.. well, it's NECA. Joints are a bit stiff out the box and need to be softened either by heat or general working it in. Joints generally work well with holding poses, with the exception of the neck on mine - the head comes off quite easily. The material used is.. I dunno.. that kind of rubbery yet solid plastic that all NECA figures are made from, which does allow for the generally intricate detailing on the figure. Then there are the hands... oh Lord. The hands look fine, but honestly, they are completely and utterly USELESS when it comes to holding the smaller accessories - Splinter can hold the TCRI canister quite easily as it's really just balanced in his hands. I have no idea how they did it in the promo shots.. maybe they're taped on, or maybe we got budget cuts and an extra pair of hands was not included.
So yeah.. overall Splinter looks pretty good, but as an actual figure he's kind of mediocre when it comes to posing or holding his included accessories. So yeah, I'd highly recommend him to accompany your Movie Turtle team.. but have him standing in the background.