NECA Ninja Turtles: The Capture of Splinter

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.

NECA Turtles box set

NECA ooze cannister

NECA Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

NECA - 7-inch figures

SDCC exclusive

 

It's that special time of year again.  Every July, collectors in the fly-over states collectively scream at their computer monitors and pull their hair out over the slim chance to snag convention exclusive figures.  Some I can live without.  The worst are character exclusives that can leave a hole in your collection.  And some are so damn awesome looking, you would do anything to get.  I was somewhere in-between on these Turtles based on the 1990 live-action movie.  These are definitely as good as it gets, especially compared to Playmates' recent offerings and the original line's "real-feel" movie star turtles.  NECA started by releasing 1/4 scale movie turtles, a scale I do not collect.  They looked great, but I held out, knowing that a smaller scale would make it out.  They say the license deal with Nickelodeon/Playmates puts a stranglehold on them, keeping things like this from mass release.  I would rather they not do them at all if every fan does not have a fair shot at them.  I wasn't getting my hopes up.

 

NECA made a small amount of this box set available as preorders before San Diego Comic-con, releasing a few batches over a three day period.  Each day they sold out in about 30 seconds.  No joke.  I missed em the first day, getting as far as having them in my "cart" and getting tripped up waiting to log in to Paypal.  30 SECONDS. You can watch some pretty sad Youtube videos that document the experience.  Raphael has something to say about that...

 

For the second day, I was prepared.  I had logged into NECA early, logged into Paypal early, and was on the product page hitting F4 to refresh the screen as the clock ticked down.  Other exclusives offered popped in one at a time with each refesh, then...Bam!  Add to cart, checkout, payment...wait...breathe and cross fingers...SUCCESS!  Again, I prepared as much as I could, but I was also very, very lucky.  I heard it was just as bad on the final day.  Now scalpers are selling sets for four times the sticker price.  So disgusting that practice comes with this type of transaction.

 

Anyway, they're here and they're spectacular!  They look like they stepped right off the screen of the 1990 film (one of the best comic book adaptations of all time) and they have as good a range of articulation as actors wearing the 70 plus pound, rubber suits with animatronics running down their backs could expect!

 

You get some additional sets of hands to help convey different expressions, a cardstock pizza box (Tile Game Pizza...copyright law is fun!), a full pizza cut into slices, and the TCRI mutagen ooze canister.

 

As against keeping toys in packaging as one could get, this box is one I will be keeping.  It is designed to look like the old VHS tape box!  Radical!

 

I'm glad to have these, but I cant help but think of what comes next.  NECA is doing a 1/4 Foot Soldier and I assume the Shredder isn't too far behind.  The battle is won, but the war is far from over.  We'll meet again, awful convention-exclusive game!