CASEY JONES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

My first taste of Super 7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line, back in early 2022 (which was somehow *four* years ago), was Casey Jones, the Turtles second human ally, who was added to the line in its fourth assortment.  Today, in what I feel almost certain is going to be my *last* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates review, I’m taking a look at another Casey Jones.  As with Donatello last June, however, this Casey is based not on the original vintage run, but rather the later ’00s run, which is also vintage.  Yes, it’s Casey Jones from the 2003 series!  Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Casey Jones is part of Series 13 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line.  It’s the second of the 2003 cartoon-based sets, this time focussing on the supporting players, after Series 12 tackled the updated versions of the Turtles.  This is the third Casey in the line, following his original toy-based figure and the Mirage-inspired repaint.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Like the Donatello I looked at last year, Casey shows off the revamped articulation set-up for the line, most notably sporting double joints on the elbows and knees.  He’s also got generally better range of motion than earlier figures.  Honestly, the only joints that don’t really work well for me are the ankles, which have plenty of backwards movement, but really need to be able to move forwards a bit more.  Also like Donatello, Casey is based not on his 2003 Playmates figure, but directly on his animated counterpart.  The sculpt does a solid job of translating the look into three dimensions, certainly a bit stronger of a take than Playmates.  The articulation is mostly worked in pretty well, but I will say the elbows are a bit unsightly, especially given that he’s got bare arms.  Given the design of the joint, it’s admittedly hard to change it up much, but it looks a bit messy when viewed from the front.  His standard head has the mask attached.  It’s a separate piece (though non-removable), so you can make out his face underneath it, which looks quite cool.  His hair is also a separate piece, molded in a soft rubber, which actually doesn’t block his neck movement much at all.  His second head is an unmasked one.  It’s largely consistent with the masked one, but not quite as impressive.  I don’t feel it quite lands Casey’s look from the show, making him look far older and more serious than I tend to think of him.  I’ll definitely be sticking with the masked one.  Casey’s color work is a lot of molded plastic, as we’ve come to expect from Super 7.  It works perfectly fine here for the most part.  There’s obviously still a bit of paint, which is of mixed results.  The application’s a little messy around the edges, especially on the stripes on his pants, and the painted skin tone doesn’t really match up with the molded color.  Casey is packed with the previously mentioned alternate head, as well as three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and open), his sports bag, a hockey stick, a golf club, and two baseball bats.  While the accessories are certainly all nice enough, there’s definitely a feeling of sort of bare minimum here, especially relative to the price.  It seems odd to not at least have a separate mask piece, or possibly an unmasked head with a different expression, made especially notable because the one shot on the box that actually comes from the show has a smiling Casey with the mask pulled up to the top of his head, something that this figure emphatically can’t do.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was on the fence with this line back when Donatello hit, but opted to grab him, and ultimately enjoyed the figure, so I decided it was worth my time to jump on a preorder for this figure too, because I didn’t want to miss out if he ended up being a shorter run.  Honestly, at a certain point, I was kind of expecting him not to actually make it out, given the general direction of things.  So, I was a little surprised to get the in-stock email, but certainly not unhappy.  In hand, I’m still certainly not unhappy.  He’s actually quite a nice figure….removed from his price point.  But that’s become the elephant in the room here, I think.  He’s more expensive than the first Super 7 Casey was, and he comes with a lot less stuff.  And sure, there’s more engineering going into him, but at the end of the day, he feels comparable to a Marvel Legend, and he’s almost twice as much.  I don’t regret getting him, and I ultimately have made my piece with what I spent.  My initial desire was to have an April to go with him, but given her recent announcement also came with an announcement that the price is jumping another $10, I just don’t know that I can justify it.  At least I’ll have this pretty cool Casey figure.