NECA Ninja Turtles: The Capture of Splinter
NECA - SDCC exclusive
Ugh...another round of chance with nabbing SDCC exclusives. I was lucky to grab NECA's last Turtles set on the second day of the mouse-clicking, heart-stopping, agony-inducing madness, and it was no different this year. Seconds spent in checkout...lag...and they're gone. Tweaked some technique the second day...success! Others weren't so lucky. Oh well...they'll get another shot at individual releases via Gamestop soon enough. For now, let's take a look at what the fuss was all about.
This set was all about Shredder for me. I mean, I would want a movie Splinter and Foot Soldiers if offered, but the main baddie is always top priority. My turtles had to stand around for so long to get someone to fight! Better late than never, Shredder does not disappoint.
He's got the expected, excellent NECA articulation (though remember to work those joints slowly or boil to avoid breakage), a removable mask to reveal his scarred face, and a wire-piped removable cape. The cape in the movie is such an oddity. He only has it in his reveal scene and it's design is...well...Zubaz were popular around that time. It goes with all the shiny sparkles on his costume, I guess. In any case, NECA did a great job with the costume accuracy.
He has a couple of different hands. Ones to hold specific weapons like his spiked bo staff and hidden dagger. He has a stretchy, cloth waistband which I found puzzling until I saw that this tiny knife and it's sheath was included.
The Foot Soldiers are great, as expected. They come with several sets of weapons and hands to brandish them. Also included in this set is a weapons rack to hold all of their gear. The ax from the antique store scene might be my weapon of choice. The only thing lacking here is that I wish one had a flat, open palm hand with fingers together. You know...for delivering special messages. SMACK!
Splinter is the icing on the cake. He comes with arm shackles and a box to help recreate his capture in the warehouse. He is smaller and thinner in areas than most NECA efforts (he was a sort of Muppet after all), so be careful with those arms and legs. It's too bad they didn't mold the crate out of plastic and given us a section of chain link fence to suspend him from. For the latter, I will be looking to wrestling figure playsets. There's got to be some loose "Hell in a Cell" pieces out there somewhere.
The packaging was nowhere near as fun as the VHS tape recreation with the turtles. Even if I wanted to keep this one, UPS mashed one side of the box to hell. NECA should share some of the blame, as the outer box they packed this rather expensive set did not include or allow for any padding.
Overall, I am pleased to add these to my collection. It wasn't as exciting as the Turtles release, but I couldn't see myself having those and not going in for these. I do hope this ends my days fighting NECA's horrible pre-order system...though I can see sweating over a Tokka, Rahzar, and TMNT II Shredder in the near future.
Flashback: other NECA Turtle reviews.
These are fantastic! Shredder's costume is so pretty, haha. I love the detail with the wiring in the cape. Both his cape and his costume have that shimmer they had in the movie, very cool. These pictures are amazing. I love the one with the foot soldier popping out of the manhole. The hand is, indeed, a very dangerous weapon. *SMACK!* And Splinter?! Wow! Great job, NECA.
ReplyDeleteUgh indeed at SDCC exclusive stuff. Great job on snagging them though. That sucks about your box! What the heck, guys?!