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TMNT Toys in the Wild: Original Comic Book Leonardo & Michelangelo

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Walt

It was just very recently I saw something about exclusive figure-and-comic Leo & Mikey “Original Comic Book” versions. Of course, those are to be “Exclusive” to Toys R Us.

However, I found the “basic” figures at Target recently for $1 cheaper than usual (on sale this week), and opted to go with these rather than waste time and money later trying to “hunt” them down.

TMNT_original_comic_book_leonardo_front

I definitely like the look, and glad they’re “colorized” rather than being a black and white figure. The original comics may have been black-and-white, but that’s a factor of the medium, not the characters.

TMNT_original_comic_book_leonardo_profile

I’m also glad for the variant color scheme both on the front and backing of the package, making it extremely simple to look for these without having to touch every single figure on a peg.

I nearly put these back…but they were just way too cool to me to pass up. I just hope finding Raph and Don won’t be too much hassle…!

TMNT_original_comic_book_michelangelo_front

Of course, given the turtles all originally wore red masks, I may actually have to use these photos to keep the characters straight later, if they’re separated from their weapons.

TMNT_original_comic_book_michelangelo_profile

It’s also interesting to see the various different art styles on the packaging…I’m almost surprised they didn’t change up the logo to the classic, for these…but they’re still part of the “current” overall line of TMNT toys.

But of all the “variant” turtles…the Original Comic Book versions seem the most distinct, and by far the most “worthy” “variants” of all…at least to me!

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

TMNT Toys in the Wild – Newtralizer, Shredder (Variant), Cockroach Terminator, and Snakeweed

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Walt

While I did finally “pull the trigger” on buying the Casey Jones figure, I’ve continued to come across a bunch of figures that I have either not been interested in actually purchasing, or haven’t justified (to myself) the purchase YET.

Here are some more photos of several other figures “in the wild”…

NEWTRALIZER

newtralizer_front

newtralizer_profile

SHREDDER (VARIANT)

shredder2_front

shredder2_profile

COCKROACH TERMINATOR

cockroach_terminator_front

cockroach_terminator_profile

SNAKEWEED

snakeweed_front

snakeweed_profile

 

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Toys in the Wild – Slash, Spider-Bytez, Rahzar, Mutagen Man

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Walt

More TMNT toys “in the wild” that I’ve come across but not (yet) bought…Figure and profile from the card backs.

SLASH

slash_front

slash_profileI specifically did not buy this one because of the damaged package. I’m not one to worry too much about the package on an older toy, especially when/if priced well compared to a “new” toy. And I certainly don’t buy into the need to have pristine packaging when what matters is the toy INSIDE. However, for something NEW, something I”m paying full retail price for…I certainly want to be satisfied with what I am spending my money on. And I don’t like paying for damaged product, when I know I *should* be able to find the figure later withOUT a damaged package.

SPIDER-BYTEZ

spider_bytez_front

spider_bytez_profileThis is one of those characters I don’t know much about or char about, and seems like just one of those crazy characters made up for the sake of a figure, except I do know he already had appeared on the show. Still, for sheer bulk, I’ve been half tempted to buy this one….and might yet, if the whim strikes.

RAHZAR

rahzar_front

rahzar_profileAfter keeping an eye out for a lotta months, I finally came across this figure itself…almost like it had been delayed or such, after seeing all the other figures numerous times that were supposed to be out at the same time. Now I’ve come across this one several times in the span of a few days…so I’m in no rush to buy it…haven’t decided if I actually want to or not, so no sense rushing a purchase. Especially if I am actually going to (finally) keep coming across the figure.

MUTAGEN MAN

mutagen_man_front

mutagen_man_profileI remember having the original Mutagen Man figure from the ’80s toy line. It was such a random sort of character, and with the condition of that show’s universe being that the merest contact with ooze would un-mutate the turtles, it seemed like a villain that wouldn’t make much sense–they couldn’t deal with him, period. This version seems just as hokey, but at least the figure seems based on the character rather than the other way around. Still, this is another figure that perhaps for sheer bulk might be something I pick up eventually.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Toys in the Wild – LARP Turtles and Dojo Splinter

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Walt

I recently started coming across the LARP turtles, and noticed “Dojo Splinter” as a similar variant as the second Shredder without the mask.

Here are photos of the characters as well as their profile from the back of the card…

LARP LEO

leo_the_knight_front

leo_the_knight_profile

LARP RAPH

raph_the_barbarian_front

raph_the_barbarian_profile

 

LARP DONNIE

donnie_the_wizard_front

donnie_the_wizard_profile

LARP MIKEY

mikey_the_elf_front

mikey_the_elf_profile

DOJO SPLINTER

dojo_splinter_front

dojo_splinter_profile

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Toys in the Wild – Kirby Bat and Casey Jones

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Walt

While at Target this week, came across a couple more of the new TMNT toys, though I opted to pass on purchasing them for the moment.

kirby_bat_front

The Kirby Bat is much uglier than I’d thought it’d be, and the profile on the back reveals that it’s actually April’s father…a twist I didn’t see coming and really do not care for. Chance are, as such, this will be another figure I do not end up purchasing at all.

kirby_bat_back

kirby_bat_profile

Casey Jones has a bit of a different look than I’d expected from the tiny image I’d seen previously…and I very nearly bought the figure on the spot. Ultimately I left it behind, though–I have yet to see any of the 2nd season episodes, and after my hunts last year for “elusive” figures like Leatherhead and the Mousers and Turtles in Training and their abundance now…no need to rush; these’ll be around awhile yet.

casey_jones_front

I do have to reiterate that it’s great seeing such an assortment on the back of the cards…it really pulls the line together and emphasizes that it IS a line, and not just a bunch of arbitrary figures.

casey_jones_back

casey_jones_profile

Offhand, this leaves the Mutagen Man as one I want to see…and whatever that Rhazar is…figure that out, and I think I’m pretty much all set for a few months!

Filed under: 2014, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Classic Collection Leonardo – Out of His Shell

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Walt

While it seems lately I have waaaaay too many figures that have remained in their packaging (I need to work on a shelving system to display ’em), the Classic Collection Leonardo is one that I almost immediately opened up (He’s currently on display at work above my cube).

classic_leo_01

One of the first things I noticed–and the MAJOR disappointment–is the shoulder joints on mine are STUCK, and do NOT move up and down–though they look like they’re supposed to. So the arms are stuck being held outward at a rather awkward pose, rather than being able to have them down closer to the character’s sides. I felt like I was going to break the arms off trying to get either joint to move, before giving up and settling (for now).

classic_leo_04

I do like the stand the figure comes with, as well as the hands’ ability to actually grip the swords. Not the best grip ever, but satisfactory, especially in the face of the shoulder-joints’ issue.

classic_leo_05

I like the coloring and shaping of the figure overall. While not a huge fan of the mask’s rigidity on some of the figures, the shaping on this figure is much more to my liking. This image also shows that shoulder-joint: it’ll swivel, but won’t actually move up/down.

classic_leo_02

I like the detail on the scabbards, though I don’t remember the character ever having the blue strap in the cartoon. It works well enough with the general color scheme here, though, emphasizing that this is indeed Leonardo. The scabbards are one piece, but “plug in” to the shell, and the piece is easily removed, though thankfully doesn’t seem QUITE “fall-out” easy to remove.

The shoulder issue really limits the playability and posability of the figure; I very quickly lost interest in playing with posing due to that, as the character is quite limited with arms stuck straight out perpendicular! I intend to “research” the issue before I’ll buy any more of these–if it’s a common issue, I probably will hold off. If it’s just a glitch on the figure I got, I might try to work it loose and see what I can do with it from there.

all_leonardos

While–again–I’m not a fan of variants on the figure within the same “line,” here are the “main” Leonardo figures from four different lines.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Newest TMNT Toys: Ninjas in Training and Classic Leo

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Walt

Last weekend I FINALLY tracked down the Ninjas-in-Training Raphael & Michelangelo 2-pack. I’ve come across the Leonardo & Donatello one several times since first seeing it, but this was the first (and so far, only) time seeing this one.

raph_mikey_front

I also–after deciding that $60 is just WAY TOO MUCH to spend for the “classic” Party Wagon–opted instead to buy the larger-size “inspired by the 1988 cartoon” Leonardo figure.

classic_collection_leo_front

I don’t like the premium pricing on this line…much like the other “Classic Collection” “reprint” figures, these seem to ONLY be available at Toys R Us, so there’s no “competition” and such from Walmart and Target to keep the prices lower.  But over the past year of seeing these, the idea of them has grown on me, especially for there only being four figures so far that I know of…with Bebop and Rocksteady coming sometime in the near-ish future.

raph_mikey_profile

Here’s the profile from the card back for Raph & Mikey…

classic_collection_leo_back_2

Though the packaging takes a bit of the color scheme and such of the original 1988 figures, the card back for the larger Classic Collection figures definitely makes no pretense of being classic itself…just “retro.”

classic_collection_leo_back_3

And here are the four turtles. I really like the look of Michelangelo…especially for the realistic weapons–actually dangling while not in motion, as opposed to the rigidness of other toys’ iteration.

classic_collection_leo_back

And of course, the card back in its entirety…

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Classic TMNT Toys: Multiple Leos and Random Mutants

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Walt

Back in the early ’90s, I was often “suckered” by the many “variants” on the main turtles. While I don’t believe I did many “sets” of all 4, my favorite of the four turtles was Leonardo, so I wound up with a lot of those.

I recently came across some of the old figures, which provided a bit of a trip down memory lane, so to speak.

multiple_leonardos

 

The Leo with the tall neck comes plugged in to a gun/trigger thing to make the legs kick…sort of a rock ’em sock ’em TMNT. Then we had Hockey Leo and TD Tossin’ Leo. There was some sort of Talkin’ Leo that used to have some kind of strip that fed through a speaker/mechanism on the back to spout a copule phrases. Then there’s Sword Slicin’ Leo from the Wacky Action set. And in front, my favorite: Storage Shell Leo. Not so much for the ridiculousness of opening the turtle’s back and stuffing weapons, but because if you didn’t really know any better, the figure looks normal, just a different (and I think superior) sculpt from the original.

Then we have a couple random mutants-du-jour…Muckman and Pizzaface:

muckman_and_pizzaface

Muckman originally came with a trashcan that attached to the back, and a miniature “sidekick” figure Joe Eyeball. The banana peel on top of his head comes off like a lid and you can squish some “ooze” in to have it drool out the mouth and gut, I believe.

Pizzaface is just…I don’t know, absolutely ridiculous, stupid, and there’s no way in heck I’d ever choose to buy such a character now.

Finally, we have Panda Khan:

panda_khan

I recently learned that Panda Khan was an actual character in his own comic that I suppose must have been licensed for a toy. I originally took him as simply another random mutant made up to sell a toy. [ Panda Khan info ]

Fool me once, shame on you: all those many, many figures back in the day. Fool me twice, shame on me: refusing to buy variants within the same line of figures.

storage_shell_leo

…and a closeup on the Storage Shell Leonardo, just cuz I really, really dig the sculpt.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

TMNT Toys 2013: Leatherhead and Ninjas in Training (Leo & Don)

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Walt

I finally managed to find Leatherhead the other day. I think I might’ve been happier if I’d found him weeks ago, before learning of the existence of several other figures I actually do want, though.

Still, he’s a rather ugly (yet cool) figure…and makes me wish I had the original so I’d have all 3 versions.

leatherhead_front

The card back is much like other recent ones…nothing ‘new’ to this that I haven’t already shown on other posts, except of course the profile:

leatherhead_profile

I also came acrros the Ninjas in Trainin: Leonardo & Donatello, but due to budget didn’t feel comfortable picking them up at the time. I did, however, take a couple photos…if only as “proof” to myself that I’d actually found the things once, should they prove to be a massive pain in the butt to find later (much as Leatherhead did).

NinjasInTrainingLeoAndDon_front

Also, I wasn’t entirely enamored with the figures…they’re “cute,” but not nearly as much as the 2003 line’s version of the young TMNT (and that line crammed all 4 into one package!).

I don’t like the idea of splurging only to have 2 of the 4 turtles, so IDEALLY I’d like to find both 2-packs at the same time or have time/money to hunt several stores to find ’em in the same day.

NinjasInTrainingLeoAndDon_profile

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT (2013) Toys – M.O.U.S.E.R.s and Rat King

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Walt

Whenever I’m in a Target or Walmart, I almost always “have to” check out the toys section. Over recent months, I’ve dwindled to a cursory glance at the Marvel/DC figures, and these last several weeks my increase has greatly increased with the TMNT toys.

Tonight I decided to take a peek in case the Target I was in had Leatherhead…but while they did NOT, I found what–for me–is possibly one of THE most awesome of all the new TMNT toys: a pack of MOUSERS!

mousers02mousers01

While I vaguely recall the 2003 TMNT line packing a couple Mousers with the April O’Neil figure, the only way I would have to get more than 2 was to buy multiples of April–not a truly viable option for so small a figurine! I think several may have come with some sort of playset…but again, far too expensive for so small a return on what I actually wanted.

This pack comes with SEVEN of the little robots…and I will happily purchase a couple more to have a small army of the things!

I also came across a Rat King figure…and actually put it in my cart where it traveled part of the store with me. Though I’ll PROBABLY come to regret it, I opted NOT to purchase it tonight: too many other recent expenditures and upcoming; so I’ll have to hope that he proves fairly common in the coming months.

Despite that, I made a point of photographing the carded figure:

ratking_front

ratking_back

The Mousers, of course, were just way too cool to NOT buy. I don’t much care for the look of this new Rat King (another factor in putting it back)…but I’ve wanted numerous little Mousers since my earliest days collecting TMNT toys!

mousers_front

mousers_back

While I’d love to see more inclusive galleries of the figures on the back of the cards, I am quite glad they’ve kept the profiles!

The Mousers:

mousers_profile

…and the Rat King:

ratking_profile

I’m also rather encouraged (so to speak) that these galleries do NOT include the turtle variants (ooze-flinging or stealth). Those don’t really–to me–“fit” with the general line, whereas these others do. Even the Ninjas-in-Training fit as they’re not just “costumed” variants.

mousers_assortment_goodguys

And though I’m not a fan of the random mutations, it’s still cool to see the expanding line of villain characters. To me, that often seems to be the downfall of a single “line” of figures…endless versions of the main hero(es) but virtually no villains to offset. And in the Kraang and the Foot Soldiers, we have two generics that truly warrant several duplicate purchases. (I believe I have 3 Kraang and 5 Foot Soldiers at the moment).

mousers_assortment_badguys

I like the bulk of Dogpound, but am not at all a fan of Fishface…and the more I think of it, the more I think I’d prefer a new take on Bebop and Rocksteady to these two.

Still…with only recently discovering the new figures in Baxter Stockman and Snakeweed, it’s very cool to see all these others making it to the local stores’ pegs, not having TOO hard a time finding SOME new figures.

…even if that darned Leatherhead STILL eludes me!

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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