Raphael 2012

The fourth and final of Turtles, Raphael.

I was able to snag Raph for $7.77 at my local Wal-Mart about a month ago(Wal-Mart now has them priced at$8.88) Just like the rest of the Turtles, Raph was included with a “Ninja Arsenal.  He has the same 9 points of articulation as only the Turtles have, and a pretty decent range of motion.  His skin tone is also the darkest of the four, just as he is in the show.

You can see that his trademark crack wasn’t forgotten, which shows that the sculptors were paying attention.  This line so far, for me, has been aces.  And it looks like it’s sure to get even better.

There was enough attention to detail, that we are treated to having a Raphael figure that can hold one of his sais in his trademark manner(you know what I’m talking about).  I have to give Playmates an A+ for the amount of playability that the line has thus far.

The future looks promising for this line, and I’m excited to see how it’ll turn out.  The show is great, and the stores I have been to lately, have had most of their stock depleted.

Here’s the mean, lean, green incredible team.

Michelangelo 2012

Just like how Krang is now “Kraang”, Michaelangelo, is now “Michelangelo”.  The little differences in these 2 names, is the only thing that I don’t like about the new TMNT line/show.  It’s no secret that I love the new figures.

Just as he always has been, Mikey is still the fun-loving jokester of the crew.  When Ninja Turtles first hit the cartoon scene back in 1988, Mikey was my favorite.  This didn’t last long, as Donnie became my favorite a short time later.  So I guess you could say that he would be my second favorite.  I think part of the reason I originally like Mikey, was because he was the one wielding nunchucks.  And a lot(and I mean a lot), of kids loved nunchucks, me included.

As is the case with the other Turtles, Mikey’s skin shade differs from that of his brothers.  He is also the shortest of the four, or the “runt of the litter”, as the card back refers to him.  He has the same articulation as the other Turtles(the other non-Turtle figures in this line have much more limited articulation, which is a minus for me).  I think that this is probably the best articulation that a Turtle figure has had(with the exception of the NECA figures).

I’ve always hated that the nunchucks never had real chain links.  I’m not saying that they have to be metal, but even if the plastic was individually linked(like the ‘chucks old-school Panthro came with)it would look that much better.  But, they work, and it’s not like I didn’t know they were plastic in the first place.

He’s a great figure, and I can only hope that the Turtles catch on with the kids of today(as I’m sure they will), and we get some more awesome figures.

I already picked up Raph, so the team shall be complete soon!

Leonardo 2012

I picked up Leo here when I got Donatello.  I originally was going to just get Donnie, but at $8.99 a piece, it made it easy to buy two(Wal-Mart has the for $7.77, but that’s a story for another time).

Leo’s shorter, and his green skin is a different shade than Donnie’s.  This is a nice touch.  Each of the Turtles have a little bit more uniquenesss because of this, and that’s a good thing.  I love the old-school figures, but I’m liking the differences that they have made.

As is the case with all of the Turtles, Leo came with his standard weapons(in his case, katanas), as well as a rack of other ninjas weapons(each figure has a different set).  They’ll just end up in a ziplock bag, stored away.  I think that it’s a nice that they’re included, but I don’t have any use for them at the present time.

I plan on getting all 4 Turtles, but I’m not so sure about the other figures that came out in this wave.  The other figures have less articulation, but they do look cool.  Once the show airs, I may be swayed into picking them up.  And the next wave is shaping up to be awesome, with the addition of Metalhead!  I’m really interested in how he’s going to look.  Could be good, but could also be very bad.  Time will tell.

I am pleased so far, and I hope this line and show does great.  It’ll be really cool to see the new generation of kids get into the Turtles just like we did.  I can’t recommend the figures enough.  Once you have one, you’ll want all four.

Donatello 2012

I haven’t anticipated a toy line like this in a very long time.  As you should be able to tell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of my all-time favorite toy lines.  I got into the toys and the cartoon series early, and moved to the older Mirage comics in my early teens.  And though there has been quite a few carnations of the Turtles in the past, this incarnation looks interesting.  It’s almost like a mix of the original Turtles from the comics, mixed with the ones we knew as kids.

I stopped at Toy R Us this past weekend, and they had every other scale in stock, except the ones I was looking for!  They even had the Classics.  I was about to purchase the Classics Donatello(he is my favorite), when I figured I would check out the nearby Target.  My plan was, if Target didn’t have any Turtles, I would go back to TRU and buy the Classics Donatello.

And as they have in the past, Target came through!  They had at least one of every figure in this scale, except for Krang(I know, I know, he’s now Kraang).  I already knew I would get Donatello.  But at $8.99 each, I bought two(you’ll see him in a few days).  I love the new look of the Turtles, and think that the figures(so far), are prety nice to look at.  I always get nervous when new incarnations of shows and characters I grew up with go into production.  But just like Thundercats, this line will get my money(and of course I’ll be watching the series).

The other 3 Turtles all have their teeth showing, but not Donnie.  From the back of the card, we can see that Donnie has gap-teeth.  While this seems a bit weird, I’m curious to see how it fits in to his personality.  The articulation is better than the old-school figures, and it works.  Besides his trademark Bo, he also came with a weapon rack(similar to the ones we got with the originals).

I will have all four of them.  In my opinion, you need to have all four Turtles.

I’m not going to have any time to write this weekend, so, we’ll see the next one in a few days(I may have a few more by that time though 🙂 ).