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!

Go Figure!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michelangelo vs Rocksteady

We're looking at the second set of the "versus" series from Playmates that gave us Bebop and now, Rocksteady. There is a third set that I've not picked up yet featuring a variant Shredder and Raphael.

Let's take a look at Mikey first. He, of course, comes with his nunchucks. And these are in a nice kind of wood brown colour. I'd still like the chains to be silver, or grey, but these do look better than the bright orange chucks we've got in the past.

Michelangelo himself is in some kind of biker jacket and gloves and unlike Leonardo, Mikey gets a little colour variation. But only a little.

He gets orange elbow and knee pads, orange bandana of course, black gloves and foot wraps, and a little silver detailing on the zip of the jacket.

I like this look on Mikey though, it's quite fun so pretty fitting for the character. He holds his chucks well and there's storage on his shell for them too.

Articulation on Michelangelo is ok. His head is on a ball joint so it swivels and tilts a little, shoulders are on a hinge and swivel as are the elbows. Hips swivel and move forward and back and his knees have a single bend.

Rocksteady is, I assume, a Russian(?) as his weapons are a very cool gold hammer and sickle.

Articulation is limited on Rocksteady, but for me, he makes up for it with how cool he looks.

Rocksteady's head turns side to side his shoulders rotate, he has wrist swivel, waist swivel and his legs move forward and back.

The paint apps are pretty nice on Rocksteady. He's mostly grey, but he has a white horn, white teeth (but one pimp gold tooth!), gold shoulder pads, gold vest, a separate brown rubbery belt/bandolier that's removable, and very cool camouflage trousers. The shoulder pads and camo pants are kind of throwbacks to the original figure which is cool.

I love the sculpt on this new Rocksteady, though the feet are a bit of a pain to get him stand on, and his massive hands make it a bit difficult to hold his weapons. You can get them in there though, and there's even a little indicator of what weapon goes where.

I don't know why Leo and Mikey need to get in their leathers to fight Bebop and Rocksteady, but I'm super happy to see these guys return to the show.

Go Figure!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo vs Bebop

I recently made a discovery! That Asda (the UK arm of Walmart) were selling these new "versus" packs. I think, unbelievably, that these sets are only available in the UK and are Asda exclusives. I can't say for sure, but I've not seen them anywhere else. And also, this part is very exciting, this is the first time seeing Bebop in the new line from Playmates!

Firstly let's take a look at Leo.

He comes with 2 new weapons, blades as expected, but this time they're more like Bowie knifes rather than his usual katana blades.

Leo himself comes in tactical gear which is nicely sculpted, but is entirely black which is a bit of a shame.

It's a pretty cool look though, he looks like some kind of stealth mission Leo.

There's storage on his shell for his blades also which is good.

Articulation is what we expect from the new TMNT turtles, head is on a ball joint so it swivels and tilts a little, shoulders are on a hinge but due to the shoulder pads they don't lift up all the way and the elbows are on a hinge and swivel. There's no wrist or waist articulation, legs move forward and back and rotate but don't move out, and the knees have a single bend, no ankle articulation.

Onto Bebop!

The only weapons Bebop comes with are 2 small grenades.

He holds these ok, but I'd rather he came with some better weaponry and accessories.

Bebop looks pretty great though, again, a very small amount of paint detail on this guy.

Articulation on Bebop is minimal too. His head rotates, arms move round and swivel out, no elbow or wrist articulation. Waist swivel though! Hips move out and swivel and there's a knee bend. That's it sadly. Unless you count the wheels on his back, which gives him a kind of slide play feature.

I really do like the look of this figure though, the sculpt is really cool and he's much more streamlined compared to the original Bebop. And there are nice touches back to the original in this figure, such as the Mohawk and super cool stream lined shades.

I'll still probably pick up the regular Bebop when it's released here, as I really want a purple mohawked Bebop!!

Go Figure!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Kraang

I genuinely never thought I'd find a Kraang in the wild so I was delighted when I found this guy Toy R Us. I've wanted to add a Kraang to my collection for a long time so I couldn't pass this up.

The Kraang comes with two accessories in the form of two different guns. These are both nicely sculpted and moulded in a solid dark grey plastic.

The Kraang itself is a really cool looking toy. It's mostly a solid metallic grey piece but has some great sculpting and coloured highlights. The main issue with this guy is the articulation.

The Kraang has a ball joint at the neck and shoulders and his hips swivel. That's it. I guess for playing and displaying it's not a big deal, and like I said this guy looks great. The Kraang itself is a soft rubbery pink blob which really suits the character. And he looks hilariously angry!

Now I just need to find a foot soldier!

Go Figure!