Jay's Toy Shelf : NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (All 4)

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (All 4) - 1990 Film

If you haven't seen the 1990's TMNT live-action movies just stop reading and go watch them all. Right now. I'm serious! They were great and like most properties from before the 2000s, full of nostalgia. I rewatched them on Netflix recently and it's interesting watching those movies when you're older. You start to notice stuff that is just kinda funny...I mean....the kids the Foot clan is using are just doing petty crime! That's hilarious. They're literally stealing toasters and TVs. These days it would be like hardcore gangster violence and high stakes heists.

NECA does some licenses super well, and they've absolutely KILLED it with the NECA TMNT line. Every figure is so amazingly movie-accurate regardless of the scale. The paint and sculpt is amazing. I got my second hand so they didn't come with all their accessories, one is misplaced (that is definitely not Donatello's staff) and one of Leo's swords broke in transit. What are you gonna do!

Sculpt/Paint: 3/3 Spot on work here. The skin tones are great with all 4 and they added specific spotting to replicate the show. All the muscle and shell definition is there, and I am super impressed with the eyes. They look properly recessed and coloured just like the costumes that actors wore. Raphael's shell even has all the scratch detail specific to him. They did not just phone it in with these figures.

Articulation: 2/3 (29 points) The figures all still have pretty good articulation. The main things that take away from the range of motion of the joints is mainly the design of the turtles. The shell obviously allows for no swivels or diaphragm joints, and they never have. The heads swivel well, but I find it weird how Donny's neck is permanently angled. The shoulders, double elbows and hinge-swivel wrists also work pretty well. It's too bad there wasn't a bicep swivel, but honestly, they can all hold weapons two-handed so that's pretty great. Both the elbows and knees are doubled but because of the way the bands were designed they don't get a perfect range here. They do all have swivels within each doubled joint though so that's pretty good. The thighs have great range but non-existent thigh rotation. Ankles are good!

Accessories: 1/1 So here's the thing, mine doesn't actually come with most of their accessories, in fact, some are misgiven by the seller and one was broken. They usually each come with one extra set of hands, their weapons, and sometimes a small extra like a pizza slice which is really good. I could've enjoyed the extra hands they usually come with but honestly, the only sad parts are not having Donny's real staff and having Leo's sword break in its scabbard during packing.

Fun Factor: 2/3 They do have a lot of cool posing options and their look is amazing. The fact I own the Splinter and Shredder figures means the display will look even better. With some extra accessories and tighter ankle joints, these would've been my perfect figures.

Verdict: 8/10 Worthy There are SO many TMNT choices out there: Super 7 Ultimates, NECA Movie, NECA video game, NECA 1980s cartoon, Playmates (revamps, the 2012 show and the new show), Micheal Bay turtles, Revoltech 2012 TMNT figures....just exhaustive. And they keep making them. Now they're making these Mech-turtle model kits and I'm super tempted to get them:

The point is they are really good figures and if you are a turtle or 80s nostalgia fan like most 30-year-old collectors I know are, these are definitely worthy of your shelf! And they keep coming out with more! Recently they've released the human versions of Shredder and Splinter before transformation in a two-pack...really digging the bottom of the well!