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.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Casey Jones

Casey Jones is (probably...) my favourite non-mutant character in TMNT, though I'm still not too sure about him in the new show (though I've not seen enough of him yet). When I saw this in my local Toys R Us I knew I had to have him in my collection.

Casey comes with a few accessories, including his signature hockey mask, a baseball bat and a hockey stick.

I really like the mask. It's a nice sculpt and a really cool paint job. It clips nicely over Casey's face and stays on tightly.

The baseball bat and hockey stick are nicely sculpted but are sadly lacking paint and just come in a solid white plastic - I understand this is to keep costs down and keep the figures cheap, but it's quite a shame that the weapons look a little, well, cheap.

Casey himself is a nice looking figure, though I have a couple of things I'm not too happy with.

Firstly, his face minus the mask... I just...

Those eyes... And why did they paint his face? I know in the show he has his face painted too, but a normal face would have been better seeing as we get the mask. which is never coming off!

The second thing I don't really like about the figure - though they don't hinder the figure in any way - is the fact that his roller blades are sculpted onto his feet. He stands fine, I just think it's a bit of a weird choice.

Again, no adverse effects and the figure stands fine, and they look pretty cool, I just think it's a strange choice.

Casey, thankfully, does have storage for his weapons on his back, but again the holsters are sculpted in a solid white plastic looks a bit jarring compared to the rest of the figure.

The rest of the sculpt and paint on this figure is really nice and cartoon accurate, though the colours are mostly blacks and greys with some whites and browns thrown in.

The articulation on Casey is pretty good - a bit more than the standard for the non Turtles in the Playmates line. His head swivels, his arms move up and down, elbows bend and wrists swivel. His waist swivels, his legs move at the hips and his knees bend. He holds his weapons nicely, but his baseball bat doesn't stay that well in the storage sadly.

Even though this figure has it's flaws, it's still a great addition to my collection and I'm glad to have a new incarnation of Casey Jones in the new Nickelodeon cartoon!

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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 Ninja Turtles 2014 Movie Michelangelo

Ah, movie Michelangelo. What can I say about this guy? Possibly the worst interpretation of the four brothers in the new movie, but quite a cool figure.

Michelangelo comes with two accessories: a regular nunchuck and a longer 'triple' nunchuck (apologies if this has a proper name!). Honestly, I'd rather he just came with two regular 'chucks but never mind.

Mikey suffers much the same issues as Leo. Top heavy, forward leaning stance because of his shell, and missing paint applications. The latter is the bigger problem for me. I understand that to save some money Playmates won't use as much paint but it's frustrating to see entirely missed sections, especially the top of his chest. It looks terrible.

I like that Mikey is a lighter colour and is the shortest out of the 4 brothers, which is at least accurate, and wears his unique orange bandana. I like his hoodie tied around his waist, I think that's a really nicely sculpted touch.

Articulation wise, his head can turn right round, his elbows have ball and hinge joints as does his elbows - no wrist articulation! No waist articulation either. His hips kick forward but don't move too much due to the hoodie being sculpted round his waist. Mike's knees bend, but just a little, and rotate to make up for no ankle articulation. The limited leg articulation isn't too big a deal seeing as there aren't many ways to stand Michelangelo due to him being top heavy.

This isn't a terrible figure, and certainly better looking than the movie Michelangelo! I'm glad I grabbed these guys, but I wish I'd waited to see how much the movie was going to bomb - then I could have got these guys much cheaper!!

Go Figure!

Fezbongo took these fine photos, check out his Tumblr!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Movie Leonardo

Cowabunga dudes! The new Ninja Turtles movie figures are now available in shops across the country and you'll probably be able to find them in the bargain bin now... And that's not because the figures are bad - I really like the Turtles, but that movie... oh man was that bad. Such a shame

Anyway, I'm not here to rip into a Michael Bay produced film, because let's be fair, it's easy and it's been done to death. Instead we'll be looking at some of the new figures available. Starting with the leader of the team, Leonardo.

The other available figures are Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, Shredder, April O'Neil, and a Foot Soldier.

Firstly, I think this is a good looking toy, for collectors and kids alike. And I quite like the interpretation of the turtles in figure form much more than how they looked in the new movie.

Leonardo is a solid, nicely sculpted figure though the paint lets it down.

Where there is paint, it's actually quite nice and neat, though there are areas that are completely missing any paint applications and are left green. I assume it's helped Playmates keep their costs down and it keeps cost down for customers, but it looks so poor.

Like I previously said though, it's a good sculpt and is a pretty cool looking figure. Articulation wise Leo's head turns right around however it looks a little weird because of the fact that his head is pushed forward due to his shell. His shoulders move forward, back and forward, his elbows have a joint and swivel but sadly no wrist articulation at all. Nothing in his waist, his hips move forward and back and there's a joint and swivel in his knees - no ankle movement. The articulation isn't terrible, though it is missing some key points, but as a toy to be played with or just posed, it mostly does the trick. I say mostly because that shell makes him quite top heavy so having him stand takes a little time.

Leo is the only brother that comes with storage for his weapons in the form of a double sheath for his katana swords. This is a nicely sculpted soft rubber piece that is removable.

Stay tuned for (a lot) more Turtle fun over the next while. Also, I didn't get through all of my Shocktober goodies, so I'll still be dipping into the horror themed stuff for a little bit anyway!

Go Figure!

Check out Fezbongo's tumblr, the man that took these picture!

Kidrobot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Oooze Action Leonardo

Out of the Kidrobot blind box toys, the only brother I didn't get was Leonardo, so when I spotted these Kidrobot turtle figures, I had to grab Leo.

The rest of the figures in this series are Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Splinter and Shredder

These figures are the same as the blind box ones other than a few big differences.

1) They're the Ooze Action series, so Leonardo's swords have green ooze smears painted on them
2) They glow in the dark (although my Leo doesn't seem to glow so well...)
3) And this is my biggest issue - No eyes!!

The only reason that the lack of eyes bothers me is because it means that Leo looks different to his brothers, and that's a real shame as I'd love to have got Leo in the blind box series, but it just wasn't financially viable really!

This is a great figure though, and a great little series, and I'll be tempted to pick up Shredder so that the heroes in a half shell can have their main villain. The Splinter figure is so bright though. I assume it's the glow in the dark paint, but it still looks weird. So I'm glad I got Splinter in the blind box series!

Go Figure!