When the news broke that NECA would be doing a selection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the much-loved TMNT arcade game, people went nuts. When it was announced that they would be SDCC-only in the most literal meaning of the phrase — no online sales, you could only get them physically standing in line at SDCC — people went frickin’ insane. And, really, I can’t blame the anger and rage that poured forth when this news hit. Turtles had been released before, so why was this so much different?
Simple: bad guys.
Back in 2008, NECA released what were arguably the greatest toys that had ever been created in the history of the universe in a set of fully-articulated Mirage Studios-styled Turtles. A planned continuation of the line featuring Shredder and a Foot Soldier showed up in prototype form, but then plans were shelved. So those Turtles were destined to exist in a villain-less world, with only Mousers to fight.
Flash forward to 2016 and a pair of box sets were announced. One featured the Turtles with a pixelated paint job reminiscent of a video game screen, and a second featured a similarly pixelated Shredder accompanied by a trio of Foot Soldiers.
Swoon.
At $100 a set, these were pricey but instant gottahaves. When it was announced that these would be strictly SDCC only, the eBay prices immediately shot up to around $400 for the pair of boxes. For those not so good with the mathing, that’s twice the price. Mankind wept.
For those who were not able to procure a set, there is good news wandering out there. NECA has stated that they will be trying their damndest to get these out to the wider public in some fashion. And as anybody who has an ’89 Batman that is black and not purple, or a small little Christopher Reeve Superman, NECA usually manages to get things out there. So keep the dream alive, Turtle fans.
For my part, I have to confess that If I ever played the arcade game, my memory of it is so hazy it’s practically non-existent, so I’m assuming I never actually played it. I never had the NES, so I definitely never played the home version of the game. Therefore, I’m utterly clueless as to the specifics of the game. But that doesn’t matter because this is an absolute masterpiece of a set of toys. I’m not especially biased towards the version of Turtles I like. Cartoon, comic, movie, video game, whatever — if it’s a well-done set of Turtles, I’m more than likely going to get it. Anything but the recent movie designs is more than welcome.
There’s a lot to cover with these figures, so let’s dig in.
I’m a sucker for colorful things. Something about perky colors really tweaks my retinas, and these are not subdued figures. The Turtles each feature a tangy lime green that leaps off the figure and assaults your senses. The foot soldiers eschew their usual monotones for bright oranges and perky purples. These are figures that demand to be noticed.
With the blocky shading, they look like they were plucked right out of screencaps that I’ve seen of the arcade game. I actually love the unique quality this gives them, and I am not overly fussed about the oddness of the pixels. That doesn’t mean I won’t buy this set all over again if they were released in non-arcade colors, but while fiddling with them, the overt pixel-effect ends up fading away, leaving me with just a handful of really cool figures that beg to be posed and reposed, if that makes any sense at all.
Due to the side-scrolling nature of the arcade game, the replication of the on-screen shadows means that the fronts of the figures are painted with the lighter shades — all rendered in pixel form, of course — leaving the darker colors for the rear of the figures. This gives the figures an odd self-shadowing effect that works really well both in pictures and in person. It tricks the eye into perceiving a depth that a normally painted figure doesn’t have. NECA has had a lot of practice with their series of game-inspired paint jobs and have mastered the subtlety necessary so the figure doesn’t become a tangled mass of disparate colors.
The Turtles are sculpted in a very streamlined and cartoony manner to evoke their video game aesthetics, which allows for a decent canvas for the arcade-inspired paint job. The Foot Soldiers and Shredder are interesting in that they’re not brand new sculpts; they’re actually the sculpts from those cancelled prototypes from eight years ago. They merge seamlessly into this video game world, though, and they blend perfectly with the Turtles themselves.
The Turtles share a single basic body sculpt with character-specific heads and straps. Each Turtle gets his own distinct head. Michelangelo has a half-gritted head, Donatello has the lone closed mouth, Leonardo has double gritted teeth and Raphael has a half-gritted expression on the opposite side of Mikey’s. They have a ton of personality. Their articulation is for the most part not hampered by their shells, allowing them a wide range of motion.
The Foot and Shredder are well-sculpted as well. Their skirts are very rubbery and allow them to move their legs without hindrance, which is a huge plus. Ninjas need to move like ninjas.
For articulation, the Turtles feature near-Marvel Legends-styled articulation. They have a ball-jointed neck combined with a hinged lower neck that allows slightly more articulation. Their elbows are the swivel-hinge “elbro” style that, when combined with their bicep-swivel, allows them to get their arms into positions that their broader shelled bodies might otherwise inhibit. The only weak articulation point is at their ankle, which could have used a bit more motion all around.
The Foot and Shredder feature similar Marvel Legends-styled articulation, upping the Turtles with hinged ankles and toe joints.
Both Leonardo and Raphael’s hands feature upward/downward hinges, where Michelangelo and Donatello feature the standard side-to-side hinges, as do the Foot and Shredder. This is a nice little bonus and works very well in tandem with their particular choice in weaponry.
There are multiple extra hands. Each Foot comes with a pair of grabbing hand and a pair of fists, so they can choose the manner in which they want to attack. Shredder comes with the same option, though I can’t see myself needing anything other than fists for him. The hands all pop on and off easily and fit snugly.
The Turtles have standard weapon-holding hands and come with a few extra sets. I’m not sure what of these might or might not be game-accurate, but you’ve got a set of open hands, a set of “thumbs up” hands, a set of what I’m assuming are pointing hands, and a set of what I’m guessing are Raph-specific sai-holding hands. When mixed and matched this gives a lot of options for your various Turtles.
For accessories, The Turtles naturally have their signature weapons. The Foot get a pair of swords, a shorter blade, a naginata, a stick of dynamite (coolest accessory ever?), a gigantic mallet (okay, maybe that’s the coolest accessory ever), and a … well, it’s a big-honking rifle. It looks like it shoots a big suction cup, but that doesn’t sound right so I’m guessing it just shoots concentrated pain.
Okay, I was lying before, because the coolest accessory here is the spinning nunchuck.
If you remember the spinning Thor hammer that came with the Diamond Select Thor a while ago, it’s the same principle, giving the illusion of Mikey spinning his signature weapon. It’s a great effect and looks even better in motion:
The final accessory is a box of pizza, because these guys absorb a lot of punishment and need a power-up. At least that’s what I’m going to guess was the power-up in the game. If I’m wrong, don’t tell me; I don’t want to know.
So let’s see … paint, sculpt, articulation, accessories. What’s left? Oh yes: fun factor.
Through. The. Roof.
These are some seriously fun toys, with no major structural issues holding them back at all. There are no huge screwy articulation issues, you get a complete experience with both heroes and villains, you get a nice array of weaponry, and everything is sturdy, strong and ready to go right out of the box. It’s made me want to track down some way to play the original game, but even without that experience this hits me in all the right places. NECA has absolutely GOT to find a way to get these sets into everybody’s hands, even if the deco is altered.