Mutant Monster Ninja Turtles

Mutant Monster Ninja Turtles

Playmates

 

It's Halloween and the Ninja Turtles are ready to go trick or treating!  Or they're ready for another bizarre mutation in their Nickelodeon adventures?  I dunno, I don't watch it... but that show has at least kicked out some great new Turtle toys!  Towards the end of the original toyline, Playmates tackled the Turtles as the classic Universal Monsters.  Cool, for sure, but this was the kind of variant saturation that kills a line (Star Trekking' Turtles, Farmer Turtles).  Let's hope this isn't the case here!

 

Raphael as Dracula comes with some killer wooden sais... wait... shouldn't he want to keep far away from those?  Maybe his turtle shell gives him an advantage over other vampires in that department.  He's got a pretty nice felt cape to help keep his range of motion.  The only downside about this figure is that the detail on his jacket is painted on rather than sculpted.  Oh well, they did a nice job with the fangs and hair at least.  Hair?!  On a turtle?  Still looks weird.  He also comes with a little bat form of himself that can clip onto other figures.

 

Leonardo as the Mummy comes with a big, flexible cobra that wraps around his body and one Egyptian looking sword.  But Leo always has two swords!  Sad trombone sound!  The sculpted bandages are nice and the gold scarab on his leg almost makes up for it.  Some extra paint detailing on his claws would have been nice.

 

Michelangelo as the Wolfman probably has the most going on in the "new sculpt" department.  The detail on the hairy arms and legs, the letterman's jacket, and the ripped jeans look great, but would be that much better with more paint.  As if the hair wasn't weird enough (chest hair, too?!), some of it is wolf brown and some of it is turtle green. He comes with some very appropriate bone nunchucks and a slice of pizza.  I guess you might be safe from a pizza-loving werewolf?

 

Donatello as Frankenstein's Monster might be my favorite of the four. He might be close to as many new parts as Mikey, but has a few extra details that put him over the top.  I love the flat top and bolt sticking out of the top of his head.  The extra metal panels holding his shell together are a nice touch, as are the platform boots.  But my favorite part is the blue transistors sticking out of the back of his shell.  I couldn't see this detail, picking him up in-package, so it was a nice surprise.  And what's more, Donny's bo staff has been transformed into a teched-out lightning rod.

 

For as much as I complain about the lack of paint detail, these figures are pretty solid in the articulation department and a lot of fun for $8 a figure.  I do hope to see a series 2 next Halloween... bring on Metaluna Mutant Mikey!