“T-U-R-T-L-E Power! T-U-R-T-L-E Power! T-U-R-T-L-E Power! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! POWER!
On the half shell, they’re the heroes four. In this day and age who could ask for more?”
Partners in Kryme got it right with their “timeless opus” that runs during the closing credits of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and in a bit of anti-celebration of whatever it is that Michael Bay is passing off as new TMNT, we have a First Look at the brand new figures based on the old-school Turtle movie designs. There have been countless comic book movies that have come and gone since the Turtles found their way to the big screen so many years ago, but I will argue that their movie is still one of the best, especially if you are a fan of their comic book origins.
The Entertainment Earth line at SDCC was pretty short on Friday afternoon, so I hopped in to get my hands on these new Playmates figures just a tad bit early. I know the Playmates line of “classic” TMNT has split the fandom with their previous turtles and Bebop and Rocksteady, but I have found that I like them well enough, and according to their panel at SDCC, Playmates will have Shredder and Krang on deck next. If your issues with the previous figures arise from their scale and/or articulation, these four movie versions will not offer a reprieve, but with the exception of a couple of things here and there, they actually turned out to be pretty nice action figures.
I remember when the movie figures hit the vintage line: I was in love with them from the start. They had this weird texture and spots and were made from a very soft plastic and well, just looked cool. It is strange looking back on it now, but the minute I got the movie Turtles (and Splinter) I pretty much stopped playing with my standard Turtle figures for a long time. Now, I see these new iterations as more complementary to the other Turtle figures, rather than replacing them, but I do admire these new movie Turtles for a lot of the same reasons I like their vintage counterparts.
For one, I think the Henson Company came up with some fantastic designs and costumes worn by actual actors that really brought like to our favorite ninja reptiles. I wish the new designs could do that, but that is an entire ball of wax on its own. Anyhow, the designs were great, especially for the time and I really liked the characterization of each of the Turtles. Donatello remained my favorite, but I grew to love the other three even more thanks to that movie and it took them far beyond their cartoon appearances. I was too young for the comics at the time and I did not read them until many years later, so the first movie was my introduction to a darker TMNT, and I really liked it. These new figures do a pretty nice job recapturing that magic.
To get this out of the way, these figures’ bodies are, in fact, very similar to the previous bodies used for the standard Turtles (Donatell reviewed HERE). So if you are not a fan of the scale or the articulation, well, these are not going to offer you any improvement. The figures are not exactly the same. In fact, if you start looking at the close details, I am not sure if any parts are actually reused from one series to the next. Obviously each of the movie Turtles share parts, but I don’t see anything carried over from the cartoon versions (joints might be, I cannot tell). So Playmates did not take the super-cheap way out and reuse everything. I suppose they could have, especially the pads, but it is nice to see that they did not. So, while it is easy to assume that these figures were produced for the reuse, I think it speaks more to the fact that they wanted to produce new versions of the Turtles because they sell so well. Furthermore, while the articulation points remain the same, the joints are much tighter in places like the hands, so they can hold their weapons much better than previous figures. However, the leg joints remain pretty loose.
So, overall, I am pretty happy with the end result, though some of the figures are better than others. I think Michelangelo is the best of the lot, and what really separates him from the pack is his head sculpt. I think Playmates did a great job capturing his essences, even though I would not say that any of the Turtles are spot-on in terms of likeness. Mikey is the best “homage,” though, and right now I can almost hear him say, “Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.”
The rest of the Turtles fall in line one by one in terms of effectiveness after Mikey, with Raph being the second best, then Leo, then my usual favorite, Donatello, coming in fourth place. Raphael is pretty much there, I just kind of wish his expression was slightly more brooding or fierce. Leonardo and Donny, unfortunately, suffer from “odd expression syndrome” and at the wrong angle, it can be kind of distracting. Leo has a bit of an odd pursing of the lips that doesn’t really capture and appropriate expression effectively. He might be smiling or he might be looking serious, it is hard to tell. His eye paint (at least on my figure) isn’t helping either, but more on that in a minute. Donny, on the other hand, just has kind of a dopey smile on his face. So while he was pretty cheery in the movie, this look almost feels zany or half-crazy, and I don’t think that is entirely appropriate.
I hinted at the paint on these figures before, and, to be honest, there is not really a lot there, so there is not really much to mess up. I know the prototypes had the same spots on them as the vintage figures, but these were removed in the final products. That might have just been a cost-cutting measure, but I am glad the spots were left out. I do kind of wish that these guys had a bit of wash or shading on them, especially on their shells. I know Playmates doesn’t do a ton of painting (they never have), but that would have been effective.
The paint in the eyes of these guys is definitely better than before, but their peepers are not completely without issue. My copies of Donnie, Mike, and Raph are just fine and the eyes appear to be looking in the same direction. The scheme to the eyes is a little more complicated on the movie Turtles as well. Where the classic guys just had the whites and black dots, these figures actually have pupils, and that helps add to their realism. Unfortunately my Leo has a bit of the crazy eyes, much like my classic Donnie did – it is like he is looking off in two different directions. It looks like he will be going under the brush soon.
Finally, these guys come with their standard weapons and “manhole cover” stands, the latter of which are just repaints of the classic turtle stands. The weapons are new to help look more similar to their celluloid counterparts, but I find that they are not as nice as the classic weapons. The weapons did lose some of their paint details with the most annoying being the loss of paint on Donnie’s bo staff: the tape is not even painted. So Playmates still struggles with paint applications, which is highlighted in these figures because they could have looked great with a bit more detail and dinge.
Overall, I really like these new movie Turtles and if Leo and Donnie did not have their issues, I would easily put them ahead of the classic versions any day. As it stands, I am glad to have them, I just really wish Don and Leo had better head sculpts. Now we play the waiting game for the next round, featuring ol’ Shred Head and Krang. Since this line only gets a couple of releases a year, I don’t think I would be expect them before the end of the year, but I am really excited for them. Now, roll on Splinter, April, Casey, and the Foot Soldiers!
Additional Links
