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Write a Review link for that item. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Neca) (Neca)Once NECA began making figures from the TMNT Adventures comics, the four brother themselves were inevitable. But rather than doing regular versions, they went the extra mile and produced them in their iconic Stump Wrestling outfits. We saw early prototypes at SDCC last year, and this year's show presented finalized, articulated samples. Amazingly, they got released barely a month later, showing up now at Target. They're pretty easy to find and are arriving in large amounts, but I can see a mass release happening soon. Since this is a four-pack, the turtles come in a long window box, and a very attractive-looking one at that. There's plenty of illustrations all around, from both Adventures artist Ken Mitchroney and TMNT fan artist turned NECA illustrator Aaron Hazouri. The turtles are present on the sides, while the back provides screens showing off shots of the figures, in addition to host Stump and Sling. The interior has a backdrop consisting of an audience of a variety of funky alien designs, and if you have an appropriately-scaled wrestling ring to go with these figures, the backdrop combined with it will make for a great display. Each of the turtles received a unique outfit when forced to step into the ring, Leonardo specifically getting a funky mask/helmet over his head. The paint on the headwear is nice, with bold colors, but him toppling over (be warned, they'll do this occasionally) caused a green scuff to appear on the mask. I'm not sure if it's just rub-off from another part or paint being scraped off, but I assure you it was fine before his tumble. The grimacing expression is great, replicating Mitchroney's style perfectly and keeping in-line with the rest of the line. Tony Cipriano and Tomasz Rozejowski were responsible for the sculpts, and NECA picked the right people for the job. Just like the cartoon it was adapted from, the turtles all looked the same aside from outfit colors, and that allowed for shared tooling here. The turtles all share the same base body, and well as much of their arm and leg parts, but the outfits are different. Leo has elbow and knee pads still, but they're light blue with white highlights, as opposed to solid blue, along with straps over the torso. The straps are a separate piece of soft rubber, and aren't glued in place, so they don't get in the way of any movement. The skin tone is bold, with consistent colors and clean lines, including painted outlines on the body for a more comic-like feel. The brothers all stand 5 3/4" tall on average, making them a little taller than their cartoon counterparts. Next is Donatello, and he has my favorite expression out of the four, with a nervous smile that makes clear he doesn't really want to be in the ring. The top and bottom halves of the head are separate pieces glued together, leaving a semi-visible seam line on the heads, but Donnie's is hidden by the red and yellow mask over his scalp. None of his signature purple is present here, with yellow bands on the arms and legs, and a poncho over the torso, held in place with a red belt. The belt and poncho are one piece, with very little bleed between colors, and the piece is glued onto the shell, so don't expect to be able to remove it like you can Leo's straps. Raphael stands out from his bros in how he's dressed: a black jumpsuit over his whole body. No bands, no belt, no mask, just black all over. The blue highlights make use of a very bold shade, and make the latex look more prominent. The shouting expression fits him perfectly, but the eyes look a little too far apart for me, and the aforementioned seam line on the heads is most visible on him. The inside of his mouth, as well as his tongue, is a different color from the others, as to set it apart from the black suit. The paint on the mouth is good, though one of the teeth lines has a fuzzy, smudged look. Michelangelo is alongside Donnie for my favorite portrait here, as the face makes clear he's ready to put on a show, and is also the most Mitchroney-like expression here. He wears an orange mask over his head, with yellow highlights on the brow, alongside an orange belt and wraps on the forearms and shins. While he's not the only turtle here with unique tooling for the forearms, he's the only one with unique lower leg sculpts, and the design of the wraps is good. There is a bit of a black smudge on the left knee, but other than that the paint is well-made. All in all, the different outfits make for a lot of unique tooling on each brother, rather than sharing more than half of their parts between them, and I can see these molds being used for regular versions down the line. These seem to be the most articulated Turtles NECA's done, with a lot of useful joints. Each one has a barbell head and midsection, swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, and ankles, double-hinged elbows and knees, swivel biceps, thighs, and mask knot for Don, and ball-jointed hips and neck. The elbows and knees are a little tight, but that could be because for the first time ever with NECA, these figures use pinless hinges for those areas. It creates for a more seamless look with the articulation, and the thigh swivels are more concealed than usual for this company. Jay Kushwara (Studios) I believe was responsible for engineering the articulation, and he's given these guys a more aesthetically pleasing blend of sculpt and joints. Even so, all of the joints work great, and you can get plenty of poses out of these guys. For accessories, this set feels a little lighter on extras than most four-packs, but not as much as the Mirage set from last year. Plenty of hands are included aside from gripping hands, with closed and splayed hands for Raph, and grasping, flat, pointing, and thumbs up hands for the rest. The hands are a little tough to swap, but help make for a variety of wrestling poses, though I wish they included a set of green fists for the rest of the brothers. To wreak havoc in the ring, there's a fire extinguisher, a sledgehammer, and a folding chair which can be set up, but isn't big enough for the turtles to sit on. When the time comes to fuel up, there's also an ice cream cone, a soda can, and a drink cup, and rounding things out is the bell with a little pterodactyl. Very Flintstones-like. Even with all this, the set feels a little incomplete… how about some extra heads? The heads pop off pretty easily, and more expressions would be great, but I assume that's being saved for standard versions of the quartet. Feel free to tell me otherwise, but this is the best set of Turtles we've ever gotten from NECA; nay, the best Turtle figures they've done period. The sculpts and colors are fantastic, and they did a better job blending articulation in with these designs than usual. Combine that with iconic looks and you have one shell of a set. Granted, NECA could still top these (they announced 2012 series figures are coming next year), but for the time being, they'll make for a fun group on the shelf. - 8/27/24   by RMaster007 |
| Vampire Mr. Burns |  | Submission Order |  | Scarlett |
| Bellybomb | | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Neca) Series | | Leatherhead (Stump Wrestling) |
| Vampire Mr. Burns | | Written by RMaster007 | | Scarlett |
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