I have been waiting for the release of the Bandai S.H. Figuarts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a long time. However, since I snagged Leonardo and Donatello at SDCC last summer, the time between then and now has been EXCRUCIATING, because there is nothing like an incomplete team to drive you bonkers. Well, that has all been rectified now, and with Raphael and Michelangelo in tow, we certainly have TURTLE POWER.
It is has been a hell of a year to be a TMNT action figure collector (and it is not over yet). Sure, Playmates continues to release their mass market offerings with all kinds of new iterations, but other companies are getting in on the action as well, and we are all winners for it. NECA has had an amazing rash of SDCC and NYCC exclusives, and their quarter-scale 1990 movie figures are still to come; MONDO’s Leonardo should be shipping any day now after a long delay, and that does not even account for all of the other companies adding their pieces, too. Like I said, it has been a good time for Turtle fans.
However, since the 1980s/90s cartoon and action figure line was my first foray into TMNT (I was too young for the original comics), I have a soft spot for that era, and Bandai is really killing it with these figures. Robo already took a look at Leonardo, and I got to feature my favorite Turtle (Donatello) last summer, so I have been ready for Raph and Mikey since then. Even though it seems like no one wants to go too far past the gang of four Turtles in terms of releases, that does not dull my excitement to get all of the brothers in this line, and Bandai has delivered. While the individual figures are fantastic, I am firm believer that the sum is definitely more than the part in this case.
If you have been paying attention, you know that, for the most part, Raph and Mike are pretty much the same as Leo and Don in terms of build. That makes sense given their design, and while I got into the construction and whatnot in my previous review, I actually find these two new figures more successful overall than the other two. Don’t get my wrong, they are all fantastic, but these two don’t have any drags as far as I am concerned, where as the other two brothers each at a nit for me. So, I am going to go through some things quickly because, for the most part, they are same here as they were on the previous releases.
That means the base body, including the articulation and die-cast pieces are the same for Mike and Raph. The sculpts represent the era perfectly, and they are crisp and clean. Furthermore, all of the joints are well engineered, so they are strong and functional, and the die cast in the legs make these babies balance really well, so posing is fun and worthy of their ninja status. Additionally, all of the included swappable hands, the fists, closed grips, open grips, and splayed fingers, are all reused as well, so there are no surprises there. Finally, the bandana piece and “standard” head (that is the more placid, closed mouth head) are reused on both Mikey and Raph too. What that means is that if you want, you can always opt not to use the more expressive head, or even match them all for perfect symmetry.
Where these two break just a bit better than before is in the different accessories, as well as the more expressive, character-specific heads. Looking to the latter first, I find Raph’s more angry head and Mikey’s happy smile to be perfect for each of them. So much so that I am opting to use both of those unique heads for my display, something they hold in common with Leonardo. That puts Bandai three out of four in terms of success for those heads because, sadly, I am not at all a fan of the individual Donatello head. I find the cheeky expression more in line for Mike, but that is okay. Don can use that common head and be just fine. This just makes me wish that the headbands were swappable amongst all the heads so we could have even more variety. However, like I said, the unique Mike and Raph heads are great, but your opinion may vary.
These two also win in the accessories department, and I am dividing that into two groups: their “standard” weapons and their additional items. Remember, Leo and Don got their swords and bo staff respectively, but I found the manhole cover and pizza slice a little lacking. Sure, the pizza is pretty essential, but it is not really right for Donatello (why it did not come with Mikey is beyond me), and the undersize sewer cap is pretty useless. However, Michelangelo comes with the signature turtle shell grappling hook, used many times in the show, so it is a good one. The sculpt is great (it would have been cool if the hooks themselves could pop out of the shell, like in the show), and I like that an actual string is used for rope. It is functional as well, so you can have your Toitles scaling the wall in no time.
Raphael’s accessories are not so character-specific either, and not as well-known as the grappling hook, but they are more of a throwback to old weapons sprue from the ’80s figures. Raph gets a throwing star, as well as a throwing knife (kunai), and, as I said, they remind me of the extra weapons from yesteryear. The sculpts and deco are cool on both, and the open grip hands can hold them both quite well, so all of the Turtles can use them. Hey, ninjas need weapons, so these are useful for me, though I really wish all of them (or at least ONE of them) came with a Turtle comm. Seems odd for such prolific implements, especially since if we get an April O’Neil, and she has one, hers was always different from the version the Turtles carried.
Now, for their signature weapons, Mike makes it out better, but they are both well done. Raph, of course, gets his sai, and they are cool. I mean, the sculpts are nice, the paint is nice, so they are pretty much exactly what you would expect, but not particularly exciting. Serviceable is a good work for them, just like Leo’s Katana, and Don’s bo staff. They might feel a *bit* small in terms of the blades, but that might be my stronger familiarity with toy version from before, and not from the show.
Mikey, on the other hand, gets a bit of extra-loving care with the interpretation of his nunchucks. These can be tricky in terms of interpretation for action figure accessories, because you usually have to have a bit of trade off between looks and functionality. Well, Bandai has eliminated that here because Mike comes with two sets: a pair with real metal chains and a pair of “posers” that are sculpted for action scenarios. Sure, they are specific, but they are different from each other, and one will fit perfectly for the “under the arm” pose that is so iconic. The chains will, of course, hang more naturally, and they are what you can put in the actual belt holders. Like Leo and Don, Mike and Raph come with swappable belt pieces, but unlike with Leo, where the Katanas hang way too low (a weakness for that figure), the sai and nunchucks fit perfectly. Remember, Raph stored his sai on the back of his shell in the show at times, a departure from most other iterations, so this is accurate.
Woo-boy, I am so thrilled to have this new group of TMNT on my shelf, and Bandai has done a fantastic job. As far as being great interpretations of the era they represent, I have very few nitpicks, and the ones that I do have are pretty small. I am great fan of just about every era of TMNT, but like I said, the original toy line and cartoon hold a special place in my heart, so these are pretty special to me. That being said, the Turtles are done and dusted, and we have seen previews of Shredder from SDCC, so I hope we get solicitation information about him soon. The real test of Bandai’s mettle will be what we could see AFTER Shredder because the success of this line will eventually be judged on getting us something more substantial as far as figures go, so since these are a hit, I am going to need that Shredder, as well as Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Food Soldier, Spinter, April, and Casey Jones at MINIMUM for this to be something better overall than what we have seen before. Only time will tell, but I am optimistic.
While we wait on them though, do NOT miss Mike and Raph, they are fantastic and look great with Leo and Don to form the whole team.
