NECA TMNT Shredder - 1990 Film

 

In Japan, Oroku Saki was a fierce rival of Hamato Yoshi, competing in just about everything including the love for Tang-Shen. Tang-Shen managed to convince Yoshi to escape to America with her. Seeking revenge for losing to Yoshi again, he follows them to New York and murders Tang Shen in cold blood. He kills Yoshi when he returns home, but his rat manages to attack and leave him scarred before escaping. 

Oroku later adorns himself in bladed metal armour and takes over the Foot clan, a gang of thieves and societal rejects that work together to build Shredder's criminal organization. In the movie the clan is mostly seen shoplifting and doing petty crime so...that's interesting! Not what you'd think a ruthless gang trained in martial arts weaponry would be doing. Eventually, April O'Neil starts discovering evidence of the gang, and only with the intervention of the turtles is the assassination attempt quashed.  

Out of the NECA TMNT I own, this is actually my favourite. Yes, you heard me right, the angry one-dimensional villain figure is my favourite. First of all HIS CAPE. Wow....just so shiny and metallic with a lot of good bendy wire. Secondly, his clothing is also sparkly. Third, all the blades are just perfect. There's a lot more that's great about this figure but easily a favourite of mine.

NECA TMNT Splinter - 1990s Film

Splinter comes into most of the TMNT franchise as the pet rat of the ninja Hamato Yoshi. The rat, Splinter, mimics his master's movements during practice. Later, when Hamato Yoshi fights with Oroku Saki (Later, Shredder). He is murdered, but Splinter escapes from his cage and claws at Saki's face, giving him his scars. Saki slices off Splinter's ear during the fight. Splinter escapes to the sewers of New York. Later a canister falls into the sewers along with four turtles and it mutates all five of them. Splinter names them and trains them in the ninjutsu of his master Hamato Yoshi. 

NECA as usual has done an amazing job of replicating Splinter to top-notch movie accuracy. They did a great job of shading and sculpting each line of fur, claws and bandages. The scale compared to the turtles is great. I'm not a big fan of cloth goods but in this case, it works well. Very tattered and loose-fitting. It's quite easy to remove as well. The ribbon that sinches it together is pretty strange. I would've almost preferred a soft rubber peg-in attachment belt. Overall though, fantastic figure to go along with the turtles! 

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! 

NECA Kratos and Atreus 2 Pack - God of War

In 2005, Playstation released the first of the God of War games which would become a mainstay on their platform for years ahead. You play this action-adventure in the role of Kratos, a Spartan warrior who has been used and manipulated by the Greek gods, and quite frankly, is pretty mad about it!
In the other games, he slaughters many of the gods and obtains items along the way. Kratos is usually portrayed as a very angry man, who is shouting and brutally murdering his enemies. Classic Greek stuff. There have been a few games released since then, mostly on the PlayStation 2 or 3.

I was not interested in playing any of the games until a friend really sold me on God of War (2018); how interesting the characters are, as well as the world discovery that you get to do. This God of War game is that Kratos is seeking some redemption, and has a son that has an important role in the game. This smooths out the character I find and makes him more interesting rather than a single-minded, brutal character with no other facets. Anyway, the gameplay, graphics, dive into Norse mythology and the ending make it a really amazing game. Even the flavour dialogue between Atreus and Kratos gives you a deeper look into their characters.

This 2 Pack of figures is an example of when NECA does it all so right. The proportions, sculpt and paint are AMAZING. Seriously I doubt you can do much better even on a bigger scale.  The accessories are plentiful and reflect nearly every part of the combat gameplay. The joints are a bit stuff and you have to be careful, especially with Atreus who has some of the smallest double joints I've seen since the Damien and Superboy 2 pack.  I'll review these two as one, as they have nearly identical qualities in many respects, minus a point of These are top 10 figures for sure!

NECA Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

The Uncharted games were great. A part-time action/puzzler/platformer that had great charming dialogue, characters and while playing made you feel like you were really on an epic adventure of Indiana Jones' style proportions. The title character is Nathan Drake, supposed relation to the great explorer Sir Francis Drake. Using ancient manuscripts and relics, he travels the world with his trusty pilot and co-conspirator Sully, and other characters like Elena, Chloe pop in and out of the game.

This is a superbly well sculpted and painted representation of his appearance in the game. He stands at  7 inches tall, so he kinda fits more with my Arkham collection, but he's a stand-alone for me anyway. I'm not a huge fan of his yelling face for likeness, but the accessories he comes with are awesome.

Now, this is the first time I get a NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) figure. I have always heard warnings and rumours of being careful when removing from the package or handling since they are very susceptible to breaking. So far I've been lucky, no breaks from the grapple, hands or anything else. It is a collectible, and I've had enough experience with stuff breaking from DC Collectibles that this is not a new thing.

Tip 1: Never yard on the smaller parts when bringing them out of the package. Try to cut around the pack to remove it as seamlessly as possible.
Tip 2: Wash your figure when you first get it. It helps loosen up joints and it doesn't hurt the plastic or paint to have some mild soap and water before letting it dry.