Musical Mutagen Tour
NECA - SDCC Exclusive
San Diego Comicon was killed by Coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to the symptoms of action figure exclusive madness. Three years running now, NECA has been making fans pull hair out and weep in a matter of seconds and a fury of refresh button clicks. I have been one of the lucky ones, scoring both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie packs and now...the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour! Er...Musical Mutagen Tour? What? Aren’t copyrights/licensing rights just full of surprises?
This set of four turtles is definitely a unique time capsule of strange embarrassment. Not the franchise’s proudest moment...the beginning of the end, really. Moms hated all that ninja-ing and nunchucks nonsense, so how about we have them play instruments and sing? How are they playing those guitars with only three jumbo pickle-sized fingers?!
Who am I kidding...I was there, and I ate it up! I got the promo cassette tape and poster from Pizza Hutt and was ready to soft rock! My loving parents suffered through the stage show and bought me and my sister some souvenir bandanas, too. If you didn’t get to live it, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube, if you dare. Some things are best left in the past...
Anyway, for better or worse, these figures look great. Oh those creepy, Showbiz Pizza quality eyes and mouths! NECA has faithfully brought them to life, complete with hinged jaws.
The bodies are appropriately shared by the earlier movie figures, but you get all new sneaker feet, multiple hands, cloth leg warmers, cloth jean vests, attached microphone headsets, and “Kiss” inspired star and swoosh eye things for Mike and Leo.
You also get a “pizza” for them to hand toss...in a game of frisbee. I think it is supposed to be one of those things they throw to the crowd, anyway. If it is an actual pizza, it looks as crappily appetizing as Papa John’s.
Let’s check out those instruments: two guitars, a keytar, a saxophone, and an electronic drum kit. Raph played sax in show, but I never felt that appropriate. Contrary to popular belief, the saxophone has never been cool when it comes to rock and roll. It works best as an accessory to comedy and goofball antics...which pairs better with Michelangelo’s character. Raph has that attitude...and needs to shred, man! (No pun intended.)
I was forced to buy the set through Target (barf) with a convention exclusive bundle of a T-shirt, backstage pass, event ticket, tote bag, and guitar picks. $25 mark up for all this, but I do like the t-shirt.
The box folds out into a big display stage...one rare time where I will not be trashing the packaging.
Fake track listings. Wouldn’t be a problem if Disney would just hurry and absorb the Turtles like everything else. Mickey has a way of getting around legal holdups, y’know.
Posing the characters with some 80s hair band tunes playing in the background was a lot of fun. Ever wanted the Ninja Turtles to perform Ratt’s Round and Round? Dreams do come true! Well, if you were lucky enough to be able to shell out (no pun intended) $150 for these. Like past exclusives, once they’re gone, they’re gone...to that overpriced EBay listing in the sky.
