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 Mini Ninja Figures

I'd never seen or heard of these guys before, but when I was walking through Asda I spotted them and knew I had to pick a few up!

These are compatible with Lego or Megabloks as they have holes in their feet that fit those pegs. These are just small figures, about an inch big, but they're quite fun!

I picked up 3 bags, each of which comes with a character card, and this is who I got

Dogpound, Metalhead and Shredder! Bit of a shame I didn't get any of the brothers, but these little guys are really quite fun!

No articulation on these little figures, but some nice detail and paint for their size. The lease pleasing is probably Shredder.

No purple paint sadly, but the silver that is used is pretty cool and very shiny.

Dogpound is pretty good looking, and they've given him some nice bulk seeing as he's only small

Sadly, he's bulky but short - just a little taller than Metalhead but much shorter than Shredder.

The detailing and paint is great on Dogpound though! Nice detailing in his face and paint apps on his legs.

Metalhead is my favourite though. I love his yellow paint apps on the detailing, and his shell is great!!

I'd like to try and get the turtles in this style, but that's the joy/curse of blind bag toys!

Glad I got to find these though, especially as I had no idea these were coming!

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!