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!

Kidrobot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Blind Boxes

At this point it sounds like I'm endorsed by the place, but I'm not - I was in Forbidden Planet yesterday and spotted the new Kidrobot TMNT blind boxed figures. I had to have them. So I grabbed two.

Pretty happy with my first two finds

Donatello and Michelangelo!

LOVE these little guys! Super cute and really nice looking!! They come with their weapons which (especially Michelangelo's nunchucks) are really nicely sculpted and painted. The paint detailing on the figures themselves are really nice and they're such neat little sculpts. I'm a big fan.

I'm such a big fan in fact, that I went back today and bought three more, hoping that I wouldn't end up with any doubles.

So other than Mikey and Donnie, I could end up with Splinter, Raphael, Leonardo, Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, Foot Soldier, or Kraang in his android suit. Of course, at this point, the want was for Leo and Raph.

Well, I shouldn't have said the dreaded double word.

Splinter and two members of the Foot Clan!! They're very cool but I'm pretty disappointed in a double this early on. In saying that though, two Foot Soldiers are about the best doubles you could ask for. They work almost as army builders, and they look really cool. I'm not totally sold on the look of Splinter, though he doesn't look terrible.

The articulation on these guys are minimal, the heads swivel (not on the Foot Soldiers though, due to their sculpt), and the arms move up and down. That's your lot, but really, they don't need it, the look of these little guys is what it's all about.

I'll definitely be looking at getting more of these guys, and until then, I need to think if I want to sell that extra Foot Soldier or keep him as extra muscle! Go Figure!