Tag Archives: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

#0596: Karai

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

KARAI

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Karai1

Not too long ago, I finally got around to getting the last main figure from the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. I took my sweet time getting that set finished up. Not really sure why, but I just kept putting it off. What finally encouraged me to finish up the set was actually the fact that Series 2 had made its way to release. I haven’t taken the full plunge on the second set just yet, but I did manage to pick up one figure, Karai, daughter of the main baddie Shredder!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Karai2Karai was released blind-bagged, as part of the specialty assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates Series 2. I’m not 100% sure, but I think she might be one of the two figures in this series that is specialty-exclusive. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. She is, obviously, based on Karai’s design from the latest TMNT cartoon. I haven’t really kept up with the cartoon, so I’ve not actually seen any of this incarnation’s appearances, but she seems to have kept at least a few key elements from prior incarnations of the character. She’s built on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for her hair, gauntlets, and belt/sheath. The gauntlets first saw use on Marvel Minimates Series 36’s Silver Centurion Iron Man, and they seem like a decent enough match for what she has on the show. They could Karai3maybe stand to be a little more elegant, but they work in a pinch. The hair and belt pieces both look to be new to the figure, and both seem like pretty good matches to the show’s design. The hair in particular is a pretty spot on translation of her ‘do from the show. Karai’s paintwork is decent enough, though, like most of the TMNT Minimates, she’s not perfect. The detail lines are nice and sharp, and actually on the plentiful side, which you don’t always see with animated characters. The armor on her upper arms and thighs in particular are quite nicely handled, and the thigh armor even wraps around the sides. I also love the fully detailed sash, which even features detailing on the clips keeping it in place. However, some of the base paintwork is a little on the sloppy side, most noticeably on the gauntlets and the back of the hair. Karai comes packed with a short sword, an alternate masked head, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Karai as part of a large order from Luke’s Toy Store (the same one that got me my Aliens Minimates and my Age of Ultron singles). I actually wanted a Casey Jones, but Luke’s was out of those, so I ordered one Series 2 blind-bag at random. Big shocker: it ended up being Karai. Not quite what I wanted, but truth be told, I kind of wanted her too, so I wasn’t too bummed. Karai isn’t the most exciting Minimate ever, but she is a bit more exciting than April, and she certainly goes nicely with the other TMNT Minimates we’ve gotten so far.

#0582: April O’Neil

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

APRIL O’NEIL

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

 

AprilOneilMM1A while back, I reviewed the majority of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. I picked up that set from K-Mart, so it didn’t include a few of the figures that showed up in other assortments. Of the three figures not represented there, two were “Mutagen” variants of the Turtles, so I didn’t feel an undying need to track them down. However, I was missing out on April O’Neil, who’s a rather important piece of the Turtles mythos. I finally got around to tracking her down, so let’s have a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AprilOneilMM2April is part of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. As I noted above, she wasn’t part of the K-Mart assortment, however, she was in both the Toys R Us and specialty assortments. At TRU, she was packed with Raphael, while she was packed alone in a blind bag for the specialty assortment. For posterity, it should be noted that my figure is from the specialty release, so she doesn’t have the TRU’s keychain piece. The figure stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features the usual 14 points of articulation. Just like the rest of the line, April is based on her appearance in the current Nickolodeon cartoon. She’s probably got one of the more unique looks from the show (what with having to keep her appearance “modern” and all), but it retains a lot of the character’s signature traits. April is built on the standard Minimate body, with an add-on piece for her hair. The hair is new to this figure, and it does a very nice job of translating April’s show appearance to the ‘mate form. It’s simple, but effective. The rest of the design is handled via paint, which is….mixed at best. The detail lines are generally pretty good. They’re sharp and relatively clean and do a good job of conveying what April’s supposed to look like. The real trouble, like with so many of the other figures in this series, lies with the base paint. The colors themselves are all fine, but the application is pretty bad. Most of the edges are seriously wavy and uneven, and many spots, such as the eyes and lips, don’t stay within the detail lines. The worst paint is definitely on the hair piece, where the head band is merely hovering in the general area of the sculpted piece, with incredibly uneven edges. It’s pretty bad. April includes a fan and a clear display stand. A sword or something would have been nice, but these are both acceptable pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up buying April loose from Luke’s Toy Store, while ordering a bunch of other figures. I’ve been meaning to get her for several months now, but kept putting it off. In my defense, she’s hardly the most exciting figure in the line. I’m glad I finally got her, as she’s a key piece of the collection, but I can’t say my less than excited opinion of the figure has really changed. She’s an okay figure, but she’s more heavily hit by the bad paint than others in the line due to her design already being a slightly boring one. At the very least, I think it’s worth noting that April’s design does work a little better in ‘mate form than it does in any other figure form, so the figure has that going for it.

#0463: Foot Soldier

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

FOOT SOLDIER

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

You know what I haven’t reviewed enough of lately? Minimates! There have been a few Minimate reviews on the site recently, but they haven’t been from me, so I’ve kinda felt left out of the fun. But, never fear, I’m never too far from a Minimate to review!

A few months ago, I reviewed most of the figures in the K-Mart assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. The only figure I was unable to find was the basic Foot Soldier. Well, I found him, so here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Foot Soldier was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This particular figure is from the K-Mart assortment, but the Foot Soldier was available in all of the offered assortments. The Foot Soldier is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Like the rest of the TMNT Minimates, the Foot Soldier is based on the design from the current Nickelodeon cartoon. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with non-standard upper arms and upper legs, both of which are shared with the Footbot, as well as a set of straps with a sheath for the sword attached (also shared with the Footbot) and a belt piece that holds a knife. Aside from the belt, these pieces are exactly the same as those on the Footbot. They were pretty great there, and they’re pretty great here. The belt is a rather basic piece, but it works, and it helps to differentiate the two figures. Like the sculpt, the paintwork on this figure is more or less identical to the Footbot. The Footbot exhibited some of the best work of the TMNT Minimates, so that’s hardly a bad thing. Everything is clean and the details are nice and bold. I still really love the way they handled the eyes; the detail is just fantastic. The biggest difference between this figure and the Footbot is the accessory selection. This figure includes a katana, a smaller blade, a switch blade, a clear display stand, and the Kmart/TRU exclusive keychain attachment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on him in my initial purchase of the TMNT Minimates, I was able to track down the Foot Soldier at Super Awesome Girlfriend’s local Kmart. While it may not seem like the most exciting figure at first, especially since I already have the Footbot, I was pretty thrilled to get this figure. (Jess can attest to this; I may or may not have been sitting in the front seat of the car yelling “Foot Ninja” when I got this.)

#0439: Donatello

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DONATELLO

FUNKO POP!

We continue on with the post-Christmas gift reviews today, with #2. While the vast majority of the gifts I received were either Doctor Who or Alien related, there were a few outliers. Today’s review comes from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that cultural phenomenon that I keep missing but still have an oddly placed affection for.

This review is also the first time that I’ll be delving into the Funko Pop! line. Pop! is a line of stylized vinyl figures based on a wide gamut of properties (Funko has the rights to virtually every property in existence). There are well over a hundred figures in the line and there are a few different sub-headings (31 to be exact). Today’s figure, Donatello, hails from the Pop! Television line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello is figure #60 in the Funko Pop! Television line. Numerically, he’s the first of the four turtle brothers. The figure is roughly 3 inches tall and features a whole one point of articulation. The articulation is limited, but it’s par for the line, and vinyl figures in general. Donatello is based on the character’s appearance in the 1987 cartoon, with the usual Pop! style applied. This means he has the solid circle eyes, the squared-off head, and the exaggerated, smaller lower body all native to the Pop! line. The figure features a completely unique sculpt. It’s pretty good for what we’ve come to expect from the line. The proportions are decent, from an internal stand-point, and it has cleanly sculpted details. It isn’t completely without issue, though. The biggest issue is very definitely the Bo Staff, which has been sculpted as part of the body. It seems the hands weren’t quite sculpted in the right positioning for the staff to fit them, and rather than fix them, the sculptor just sorta bent the staff a bit. It’s really obvious and it makes the figure look rather sloppy. Funko may be really good at getting every license under the sun, but they have yet to figure out the secret to a consistent paint job. Donatello’s isn’t horribly off the mark, to be fair. The colors are nice and vibrant, and they really reflect the color palette of the cartoon version of the character well. That said, they seem to be placed only in the general vicinity of where they should be, leading to a lot of bleed over. There is also a lot of fuzzy line work around the edges. Donatello includes no accessories, which is fairly standard for a Pop! figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Donatello here was a Christmas gift from my brother Christian. I’ve mentioned before that my fandom of TMNT is shared with Christian, so this gift has much more meaning coming from him than it would anyone else. Plus, it’s my favorite turtle to boot! Funko Pop! isn’t a line I follow religiously, but the style works pretty well for certain characters. The Turtles definitely fit the style well. Donatello is a fun little figure, even with his small assortment of issues.

#0411: Mutagen Michelangelo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MICHELANGELO – MUTAGEN

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Okay, here we are. Last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates review! Coincidentally, I’m wrapping things up with Michelangelo again. But, didn’t I already review Michelangelo? Yes, but something that is quite common with toylines, especially those based on the TMNT, is the tendency to release the main characters in wacky variant form. So, without further ado, he’s Mutagen Michelangelo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mutagen Mikey is the other of the two figures exclusively available in the K-Mart assortment of Series 1 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. Originally, this figure was slated to be the exclusive in the specialty assortment, but a mix up led to him and Mutagen Raph swapping places. Mikey is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. He’s sort of based on the current cartoon look, but I don’t think that Mikey’s ever been transparent green on the show, so I’d say some liberties were taken. Sculpturally, he’s exactly the same as the regular Mikey. For a breakdown of that, head over to that review. It’s interesting to see what different coloring and a lack of paint can do for a sculpt. Looking at this figure, especially the shell, it seems that any issues with “soft” details on the regular Turtles have to do with thick paint, not actual sculpt problems. Paint on this figure is much more simplified compared to the others. He’s molded in clear green, with paint on his mask, as well as detail lines for the eyes mouth, and freckles. The detail lines are quite clean, which is pretty much business as usual for Minimates. While the figure has less paint overall, it results in an overall cleaner look, which really helps the figure. Mikey includes a pair of nunchucks in clear green, a keychain attachment, and a manhole cover display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mutagen Mikey is the last of the 11 blind bagged figures I got from K-Mart. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for clear green plastic, so this guy just really appeals to me. It’s also really great to see the turtle sculpt without the iffy paint apps. All in all, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates are a fun addition to the Minimates brand. There’s definitely some room for improvement, and I wouldn’t mind a move to something other than blind bags (there’s already some good news there; seems TRU will be getting two-packs), but these Minimates have been a lot of fun.

#0410: Donatello

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DONATELLO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Today marks the penultimate review in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates reviews.  I’ve taken a look at three of the four Turtles, and now I’ll be looking at the last one, Donatello.  Donatello ended up being the short packed Turtle this time around, with just one of him for every two of the others.  Hopefully, Diamond will find a way to even things out.  In the meantime, let’s see how the actual figure turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates.  This particular figure came from the K-Mart assortment, so it was blind bagged and it included a keychain attachment, but other than that it’s the same as other releases.  Donatello is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and he has 12 points of articulation.  He’s been given the design from the current cartoon, just like the rest of the line.  The figure uses the standard Minimate body as a starting point, with a non-standard head, lower arms, hands, and legs, as well as an add-on for his shell.  He shares the arm and leg pieces with the rest of the Turtles, but that’s not a bad thing.  They’re well sculpted and they make the group stand out a bit more.  His head is the three-piece design, with the upper and lower most pieces being shared with the rest of the turtles and the mask being new to Donnie.  It looks pretty good, and the multi-piece nature means that the mask doesn’t slide out of place.  The shell is pretty much in line with the rest of the Turtles.  It’s been given the proper strap and a slot on the back for storage of Donnie’s Bo staff.  The details still seem a little soft, but at this point, it’s more important that he match the others.  Amazingly enough, Donatello’s paint isn’t terrible.  Sure, there’s still a few issues with bleed over or slop, but certainly not at the level of the others.  And look at that belt!  It’s almost entirely straight!  Also, the line work is really sharp, which is great.  Donatello includes his Bo staff, a keychain attachment, and a display stand painted like a manhole cover, which continues to be fantastic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Donatello is one of the 11 figures I got blind bagged from K-Mart.  As he’s my favorite Turtle, I was definitely happy to get this one.  The fact that he ended up being the best of the Turtles is just icing on the cake.  All in all, Donatello’s improved quality actually helps bring up the others a bit when they’re set up as a team, which is definitely a good thing.

#0409: Kraang

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

KRAANG

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

The one known as Kraang would like to initiate a review of the Minimate of the one known as Kraang. The one known as Kraang is empirically the best figure in the line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates featuring the figure of the one known as Kraang. The…. Okay, yeah can’t keep that up, sorry.

So, in case you hadn’t gathered, today’s review is of the Minimate version of the TMNT foe the Kraang, from the new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. Like the Foot Ninja and the Footbot, Kraang is an army builder.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kraang is one of two figures exclusively available in the K-Mart assortment of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. However, Diamond has already stated that Kraang will be showing up elsewhere later, so have no fear Kraang fans! Kraang is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. The Kraang is based on their depiction on the current cartoon, which is a pretty solid design. The figure is a vanilla ‘mate, so it’s just the standard Minimate body; no add-ons. This means the Kraang is entirely reliant on paint apps, which is a scary prospect, given what we’ve seen so far with this line. Fortunately, the Kraang takes after the Footbot, meaning the paint is exceptional. Everything is very clean, and all of the detail work is incredibly sharp. The Kraang has a fairly unique body design, which is particularly skinny, much skinnier than the standard Minimate body. To simulate this, the body has been molded in clear plastic, with the body being done through painted on details. The end result is rather striking, and makes for a fun looking figure. The Kraang includes a sci-fi gun, a non-robo-suited Kraang, a keychain attachment, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kraang was one of my finds among the 11 blind bagged figures I bought from K-Mart. I was delighted to get him, especially given his (current) exclusive status. The Footbot’s my favorite from the series, but Kraang’s a definite second. I really dig the figure’s retro-ish robot look, and the extra head certainly adds some value.

#0408: Michelangelo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MICHELANGELO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

My reviews of the first assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates are in full swing. This marks the halfway point, so that’s kinda cool. Today, I’ll be looking at the Turtles’ resident plucky-comic-relief-guy who became even more plucky-comic-relief in the recent show, Michelangelo.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Michelangelo is a part of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates, and this particular figure hails from the K-Mart release, which comes blind bagged and includes an extra keychain piece. Aside from that, the actual figure is the same as the one released elsewhere. Mikey is about 2 ½ inches tall and he sports 12 points of articulation. His design is that of his current cartoon counterpart. The figure uses the standard Minimate body as a starting point, with non-standard head, lower arms, hands, and lower legs, as well as an add-on piece for his turtle shell. The arms and legs are shared with all of the Turtles, but they are new to this particular line. They are quite well sculpted and really help make the Turtles look different from other Minimates. The head is a three-part piece like Raph and Leo; the mask is new to Mikey and the upper and lower most pieces are shared with the previous two. Mikey’s mask is a bit more pointed and symmetrical than the others, which at the very least separates him from the others a bit. His shell is pretty well sculpted; it’s certainly in line with the other turtles, so at least he’s consistent. It seems a little soft, but it’s not horrible. It has slots in the back for storage of his nunchucks, which can be a bit difficult to use, but is otherwise a pretty cool touch. And now, the section I’ve been dreading: paint. To this figure’s credit, the paint is better here than it is on most of the others (barring the Footbot, who is something of a fluke it seems). It’s not without issue, however. The belt on the torso, in particular, has some serious bleed over. That said, the detail line work on the head is still very good. Mikey’s expression is perfect for the character, and it’s nice that they even went so far as to include his freckles. Mikey includes his nunchucks, which are thankfully done with real chains, the keychain attachment, and a display stand painted up like a manhole cover, which has yet to stop being cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mikey here was part of the assortment of 11 blind bags I got from K-Mart. He’s the last one I ended up with a double of. He’s my favorite of the three turtles I’ve reviewed, mostly due to the slight improvement in paint apps, but also because the figure really seems to get the character.

#0407: Shredder

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SHREDDER

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

ShredderMini1

Every popular fictitious character has to have their arch-enemy. Batman’s got Joker; Superman’s got Lex Luthor; Indiana Jones has Nazis (he hates these guys). And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have Shredder! Shredder is an important part of the TMNT mythos, and with how much of a cash-cow the franchise has been, it should be no surprise that he’s had his fair share of action figures over the years. Now he has a Minimate. And there was much rejoicing! (Yay…)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ShredderMini2Shredder is part of the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. He’s one of the figures what will be in all of the Series 1 assortments, but this particular figure comes from the K-Mart assortment, meaning he’s blind bagged and he includes an extra piece. Other than that, he’s the same for every release. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. He’s based on the character’s appearance in the new TV show, which may very well be the most imposing Shredder yet. Shredder uses the basic Minimate body as a starting point, with non-standard pieces for the hands and lower legs, as well as add-ons for the helmet and cape. All of the pieces are unique to Shredder, and they all do a pretty great job of translating the design into Minimate form. The cape seems a little flat at first, but it actually works, given the source material. Like so many of the other figures in this series, the paint is a mix of very good and very bad. The detail work, especially on face under the mask, is really fantastic. The scarring is superbly done. They’ve even added little touches, such as the small symbol on his belt, which really help make the figure pop. Unfortunately, a lot of the base color work, especially on the top of his “opera gloves,” is incredibly sloppy. Levels of slop I haven’t seen before. Shredder includes a clear display stand and a keychain attachment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Shredder was part of the assortment of blind bag figures I grabbed from K-Mart. Shredder is the first one I opened, so there’s that. I really like the figure, but I do wish the paint was cleaner. The poor paint is really holding this line back!

ShredderMini3

#0406: Leonardo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

LEONARDO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Ah, yes, Leonardo. Here you are again. I keep reviewing you, but I still don’t really care for you. Yes, part three of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates reviews will take a look at none other than the Turtles leader, Leonardo. So, umm, here goes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leonardo was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. This particular version is the K-Mart release, which means he comes blind bagged and with an extra accessory. Leo is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. He’s based on the character’s design from the current cartoon. The figure makes use of the standard Minimate body, with the turtles head, lower arms, hands, and lower legs in place of the standard pieces, as well as an add-on piece for his shell. The arms and legs are the same pieces used on all of the turtles in this line; they’re pretty well sculpted, and they manage to translate the show look pretty well. The head is the same three-part deal as Raph, but with his own mask piece. The shell is unique to Leo; it has a strap for his swords’ scabbards, which makes is noticeably different from the others. The shell is pretty well done, though the details seem a little bit soft. Sadly, the paint is once again where this figure falls short. The mouth and eyes are good, but everything else is just a mess. There’s noticeable slop, and the colors, especially on the front of the shell, aren’t evenly applied. It’s very sloppy in general, which is a disappointment coming from DST. Leo includes his twin Katana (the same as the one included with the Footbot), which can be sheathed on his back, plus the K-Mart (sort of)exclusive keychain piece, and a display stand painted like a manhole cover, which still remains incredibly cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Leo was amongst the 11 blind bagged figures I got from K-Mart recently. He’s one that I ended up with a duplicate of, which is actually for the best, because I’ll need to mix and match some parts to get the best possible paintwork. The undeniable coolness of having these characters as Minimates does a lot to make up for the short comings, but Leo does present a bit of disappointment. Fortunately, he’s one of the characters guaranteed to get another release, so he may get a chance for a better figure. Until then, this one isn’t bad, just disappointing.