Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles + Batman? Yeah, I am over even trying to pretend that I was not going to be all-in on these.
Okay, so – while it has been bubbling up for a couple of years now, it looks like the doors are going to be blowing off of my TMNT collection very soon. As a serious NECA devotee, I have been gleefully adding movie, cartoon, and video game figures to my Turtle collection the past several Comic Cons, and they have joined the awesome comic figures who have been stalwarts since their release. I have also added a few Playmates items here and there, the MONDO 1/6th figures, and the S.H. Figuarts Turtles as well, so suddenly, my modern TMNT collection is pretty impressive. However, with what NECA has on their slate for the next year or so, the fact that Super7 has joined the party with vintage figure updates, and now these DC Collectibles release, we seem to just be getting started. As TMNT is second only to MOTU in terms of my childhood collections, I am positively stoked about this.
It is really cool that each of these companies are able to bring their own spin on their releases that sets them apart from the other, but the fact that DC Collectibles’ spin includes friggin’ Batman and his pals puts them kind of on their own level. I will admit, I have not gotten a DCC release in a pretty long time, but my enjoyment of the Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, along with the fact that I actually do dig the Turtle designs made these sets too hard to resist. Today, we have a peek at the first two sets – Leonardo & Batman and Raphael & Robin, but the other three sets, featuring Donatello & Batgirl, Michelangelo & Alfred, and Shredder & Ra’s al Ghul will be coming in the next several weeks as well.
My overarching opinion about these figures is that I am surprised just how much I like them, despite some pretty serious quality issues in the Bats/Leo set. They are not perfect (and Bats and Leo suffer the most), but they certainly match the source material nicely, and the Turtles do not resemble anything else I have in my TMNT collection as of now (they are kind of a mash-up of some previous iterations, but very much their own thing). The Batman figures were going to essentially be bonus items for me, as my standard DC figures still lie in the DCUC line, but both of these new figures are pretty nice, with Robin certainly being a standout. Let’s have a look.
BATMAN & LEONARDO
This pairing makes a lot of sense, so much so that it should have been expected. Batman is the leader of his cadre of nocturnal crime fighters, and Leo leads the Turtles, so it all works out. The recent “Rise of TMNT” designs have some, well odd (at least to me), choices about them, and one is that Leo’s build has gotten very small spindly, and is a “trickster,” something that I have never associated with the character. This stature is much more appropriate for him, I think, but make no mistake, with these figures, the Turtles are pretty appropriately proportional to their Gotham City counterparts. Batman is, of course taller than Leo, which is good, and I was worried about this at first due to the positioning in the packaging. This sizing affects Raph much more (more on that in a minute), but going back and looking at the movie again, I think they are sized about right.
So, this set would probably be my least favorite of the two, even without the QC issues. Don’t get me wrong, both of the figures look great and represent the characters well, but there just isn’t as much going on with these as with Raph and Robin. Leo does, of course, get his standard Katanas and pizza, as well as three sets of swappable hands and the sword sheaths. I know the positioning of the sheaths is accurate, and actually closer to traditional wear, but I find they REALLY get in the way here. I would generally have these attached for posing, but I am not sure if I am going to do ultimately do that.
Batman covers all the bases, and is pretty loaded with accessories and implements, which is appropriate. He has a cache of swappable hands to help him with his weaponry which includes, a Batarang and grappling gun. The gun has two different line anchors, one closed and one extended, so that is a nice touch. Old Bruce even gets a slice of pizza, too, because the Turtles are all about sharing. I will say that Bats does get a REALLY nice soft goods cape, and I generally stay away from cloth. It hangs nicely and can be draped in dynamic ways to supplement posing, so I like it quite a bit.
Unfortunately, this set does suffer from a few big QC issues, and one is a larger thing that has been plaguing DC Collectibles ever since the DC Direct days. I will be honest and say that I have never liked the plastic used for DCC/DCD figures. It has always seemed so fragile and almost, I don’t know – grainy(?), so I have always treated these figures very carefully. Unfortunately that did not stop the handles on one of Leo’s swords from snapping, despite attempting to remove it gingerly from his hand. That’s a pretty big bummer.
Additionally, Batman’s left wrist peg broke right out of the package, too, so I am dealing with how to fix that now without it having to be completely fused and unable to move. Also, the Bat symbol on my Bats’s chest is a bit off center and I have just enough OCD for it to bug me. So… if you are getting these sets, just be on the lookout, because if mine is any indication, the quality control is a bit spotty.
ROBIN AND RAPHAEL
So for me, the Robin & Raphael set fares much better as a final product than the Leo and Bats pack. Honestly, I think it is superior is just about every facet we generally judge action figures on, and if you are only going to get one of these sets, I would suggest this one without hesitation. As I said above, I was pretty much looking right past Robin, but he might be the most complete and well executed figure of the group, with Raph not far behind.
Robin is, easily, the smallest figure of these sets and little figures often face challenges like fragility or limited points of articulation. This figure, however, does not fall victim to any of those things, and he moves just as well, if not better, than Batman himself. Plus, you know, he didn’t break! The teeny tiny wrist pegs to scare me, but they have held up without issue through several swaps up to this point.
He is also the big winner when it comes to accessories, especially if you are just tracking numbers. He has multiple sets of hands, a retracted and fully extended staff, Batarangs, grappling gun, pizza, oh and a GREAT alternate head. Robin and Raph both have this going for them while Leo and Bats are left out, but I really like the hooded head and I am having a really tough time deciding which head to ultimately display in my collection. I might just have to do a rotation.
I will nit pick one thing, thought, and that is the fact that none of Robin’s hands really hold his staff well. This would be my default weapon for him, but the grip hands are either too small or too wide to hold the staff, as they account for other accessories. This is a really too bad because with that little detail locked off, Robin would be the runaway winner of these two sets.
That said, Raph would be right behind him in terms of successful execution. While Raph has always been a brooding rumble-style fighter, he has been portrayed as larger than the rest of the Turtles in the last few incarnations with Rise taking it further than it has before. Likewise, this version is larger than his brothers and the figure most certainly reflects that. I mean, Robin seems even smaller in stature being packaged next to him, and Raph most certainly has the size advantage over this version of Leo, too.
Raph comes with his required sais, which can be stored in his belt on the back of the shell, as well as three different sets of hands (fists, grabby, and sai holders). The big plus here is an awesome helmeted head that is by far the most interesting and expressive portrait of all of these figures. The helmet is a nice touch and Raph’s expression really makes it, so good on them for going the extra mile for a rather pointed inclusion, but a good one none the less.
I have the least to nitpick about this figure out of all of them, but I will say that with some light posing, the hips have gotten a little loosey-goosey, so that is more of an annoyance than anything. The figure still stands fine at this point, but it is not unreasonable to be concerned about future wear, so I suppose I will be keeping an eye on it.
Overall, these are fun releases, and despite some of the quality issues, I am still all in for the other three sets. If these were issue free, they would both be home runs, but I still think Batman and TMNT fans alike will dig them. As I said, the Robin and Raphael set is the real winner, so I will be looking forward to seeing if any of the future releases will be able to dethrone – I am pulling for Donatello and Batgirl. Remember, these are GameStop exclusives, so if you want them, haunt your local store, or grab ’em up HERE for the bundle, or individually HERE and HERE.
