Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Karai Serpent

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this figure at the toy store as I was expecting to see Mikey Turflytle first (still waiting to find that figure!). So far this is the only Karai figure Playmates has given us in this new TMNT toy line despite her having been in the show from the beginning... Plenty has already been said about the lack of female action figures, better than how I could say it, but really Playmates?! We only get a Karai figure AFTER she's been mutated?! Not cool man.

Anyway, let's take a look at the figure out of it's packaging.

First thing you'll want to do is pop the tail on this figure to complete it. It's a very minor and simple piece of assembly.

Out of packaging Karai does not have her serpent head, she has her human head (see Playmates? You can sculpt it...)

Karai's human head is nicely done and includes her signature red eye makeup which is nice, she's got a good, but plain, hair sculpt and her eyes and lips are neatly painted. The overall sculpt is solid.

You also get her serpent head which places over her human head. The mouth is done in a sold red colour, and the eyes are pretty neatly done in a nice emerald green.

The head is on a ball joint so can be turned right around and tilted left, right, up (just a little) and down. And the serpent head covers it quite nicely.

As for the rest of the articulation? I'll make this quick: the arms move forward and back and there's a waist swivel.

Yeah.

I mean, you can move the tail, but the bottom of it is flat and hollow so looks unsightly and the figure can't really balance without it flat on the shelf.

As for the paint apps? That'll be just as quick. As I mentioned, the heads have some paint apps, the body though? Grey and purple. Nice sculpting of the scales, in her hands, and the torso, but with so little paint it's mostly lost and plain looking.

Surprisingly I don't hate this figure. I suppose it's fine for my purpse of display, and it's sturdy enough for play certainly, with so few many moving parts. But I struggled to get any real dynamic poses from here, and the paint? Man, a couple of things would have helped out greatly! A wash over the scales to bring out those nice details and a little paint to the snake hands and this thing would have at least looked a lot better.

But as we know, Playmates keep the cost of these figures down by minimising paint apps and articulation on the everyone but the 4 brothers.

Also, Playmates? A female Karai really would be great. Please.

Go Figure!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Stockman-Fly

We're finally able to pick this new figure up in the UK - I ordered mine online, but I have seen this figure in my local Smyths toy store. I really liked how much build up Stockman got before finally being mutated into a fly and the mutation scene in the show was pretty great itself!

Stockman-Fly comes with the one accessory in his chocolate bar. It's sculpted in a chocolate brown plastic that has "choc" and "log" sculpted onto it, as well as some wrapper and a bite taken from it. It's a nice little piece and goes with the character.

I'll immediately get into the biggest flaw in this figure: the articulation. As usual, the basic range of Playmates' TMNT figures that aren't turtles get a minimum amount of articulation. Stockman's head is on a ball joint, his shoulders are on a ball and hinge, as are his wings, his waist swivels, and his hips swivel his legs back and forth and outwards... and that's your lot. No elbow, wrist, knee, or ankle articulation at all. A bit poor but this is a great looking figure and one of the better looking villain figs from this line.

The paint is good on this figure, but again a little lacking in places. Stockman's skin is a brown and he's wearing his pink sweater, blue jeans and tan shoes. There's black paint on his sculpted tuft of hair that's left on his head, and his wings are really nicely sculpted in a translucent green plastic. The barbs that are sticking out of his clothes are the main annoyance on the body. These would have looked great with just a small application of brown paint.

The real highlight of the paint and sculpt on this figure though are Stockman's big bug eyes that are moulded in that great translucent green plastic that his wings are done in, but then painted in a shiny metallic green that really make them pop.

There are aspects of this figure that, if corrected, would make it into an excellent piece. But sadly Playmates - to save money - won't be able to change these practices. Conversely though, these figures are kept at a pretty reasonable price and here in the UK I'm sure Smyths are selling some of their older TMNT stock off with a 25% discount, so if you're missing some characters, it might be worth a look in!

Overall I'd say this is one of the better villain figures we've got from this line and I'd recommend him for collectors of this line or kids that are into the show!

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Metal Head

Firstly, I didn't buy this box all ripped like that. That was me in my excitement of finally getting Metalhead! I almost forgot to photograph him before tearing into the box!!

I've wanted Metalhead for a while. I remember the Metalhead from the original cartoon series and he was incredibly cool, and I love this guy just as much.

Metalhead comes with one accessory which is an energy blast moulded in a solid red plastic. This slots straight into his hand and through his arm. The "action" feature is you can flick the tail of the blast and fire it from Metalhead's hand.

I love this toy, it's so cool! Such a fun sculpt! I really like the new design of Metalhead and this toy nails that look.

He's mostly moulded in a grey plastic but has some yellow moulded details too. The sculpt is great, with his big chunky hands and feet, square head and (my personal favourite) the sewer lid shell! His sculpt also includes the Kraang insignia on the top of his head, wires, nuts & bolts, corrugated pieces of tubing and skull detailing in his knees.

The paint is minimal on Metalhead as the big colour blocks are grey and yellow. However the paint that's used is good. He has two signs on his arms that are really nicely done - these include a yellow arrow and a kind of "danger to skin" red triangle sign. His eyes are painted in as is his yellow "bandana" and he includes some paint to show the wiring in his torso which is also sculpted.

Metalhead's articulation is really what we've come to expect from Playmates non Turtle figures, that is, not too much. His head moves left and right and up down a little bit, his arms move back and forth and there's a swivel at his wrist. No waist articulation, his hips swivel and move back and forth a little, there is also an ankle swivel. For Metalhead though, I guess you don't need much in the way of articulation, and I certainly don't need any for my purposes of displaying him!

All in, I think this is a great figure and a really fun addition to my collection.

Go Figure!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Movie The Shredder

You'd be forgiven for thinking that in the latest TMNT movie that Shredder is a cyborg. But no, he's a guy in a suit. Some random Japanese man. Really I've no idea who the guy was or why he had such a beef with the Turtles.

Never mind though, this is the figure we're looking at.

The Shredder.

So The Shredder has the "look" of Shredder: the cape, the helmet, the claws. Sadly, no real colour, just silver grey with some flesh tones. Lots of detail in the armour though.

The Shredder's articulation isn't too bad. His head spins right round, his shoulders move up and down and even though his armour does move a little to accommodate this, his shoulders still don't move up all that much. His elbows bend, his waist swivels, his hips bend and swivel, knees bend, and his ankles go up and down. Actually The Shredder might actually have more articulation that the Turtles...

His cape is a soft rubbery material and is removable, but really there's very little point in taking it off.

The only reason I wanted this figure was so that my Turtles had their enemy! Not sure why he has holding hands though - he doesn't come with any weapons!

I haven't bothered picking up the April or Splinter figures as, for me, they look terrible. And the Foot Soldier is just a soldier - why isn't he a ninja?! So that's the end of my TMNT 2014 figures. From now on I'll be sticking to the new TMNT cartoon and the older stuff - that goes for toys too!

Go Figure!

Check out Fezbongo's blog here, this dude took these pictures!

Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles 2014 Movie Donatello

Donatello. The one brother that, in my opinion, the new movie actually got right. Funny, geeky, tough but introverted - easily my favourite Turtle in the new movie.

Donatello is the tallest and thinnest of the four, and that's represented nicely in this figure.

Donnie is wearing his unique purple bandana that is pretty long and hangs down his chest. He also wears... a proton pack? A vacuum cleaner? I mean, I get that Donatello is the nerd of the team. We all know that "Donatello does machines". But what is this on his back? Does he use it in the movie? To be fair, I've tried to repress a lot of that movie, so he might use it.

Apart from the missing paint apps that are sadly found across all the brothers, Donatello has brown wraps and some black padding, as well as solid black skirting.

I think that Donnie is probably my favourite Turtle figure in this line. I really do wish his staff could have been grey or brown though...

Sadly, due to the lack of wrist articulation, you can't really get Donnie holding his bo staff in both of his hands. That's a little frustrating but due to his smaller shell, he's not quite as forward leaning and his head isn't quite as protruding.

Donatello's head can't turn around due to his bandana, though it is on a ball peg. His shoulders and elbows are on ball and hinge joints, as are his hips and knees.

The straps over his chest are pretty cool though, and I quite like the goggles moulded on his head. Gladly Playmates didn't try and sculpt his glasses over his eyes.

As well as being my favourite Turtle in the new movie, Donnie's probably also my favourite figure in this range.

Go Figure!

Shout out to my boy Fezbongo, go look at his Tumblr!

Teeange Mutant Ninja Turtles Orange Mutagen Ooze

I was having a look at the very small toy selection in my local Tesco superstore today, and I found the new coloured mutagen! Well, I say I found the new coloured mutagen - I found a box of orange mutagen. None of the other colours. "Never mind", I think "I really liked the original stuff that gave me Raphael, and if this is orange then a Michelangelo would be a great addition!"

So I picked it up, bought it, and home I came. And this stuff is orange, and I have to say, I love it!

The canister is exactly the same as the original, just with the new super colourful ooze in it!

I won't bother going on about the lid again, I covered that enough in the original review, and it's exactly the same here.

So like I said, here I am expecting to find Michelangelo in all this ooze and...

Hold on a minute...

Yep, that's definitely Donatello. Not that that's an issue you understand, I just did not expect to see Donatello come out of orange ooze!

So yeah, Donatello joins his bro Raphael out of the mutagen canisters!

He's an excellent little sculpt and comes in Donatello's olive green. He also has his weapon sculpted on his back, the little bo staff is tucked under his belt. He fits nicely with Raphael and their canisters are pretty cool together!

Now I just need to find Mikey and Leo!!

Go Figure!