About a week ago, I came across a couple of old “cards” from my old TMNT toys from the late-1980s. These were from the “Wacky Action” turtles–motorized action figures that…well, gave them action. Nothing fancy, but quite a time capsule, and a reminder of how sorely disappointing most contemporary toy lines and card designs are to me.
Well, this card’s a bit worse for wear compared to the Mouser one I posted the other day.
While the mouser was fairly cool as a unique figure (despite being horribly out of scale) this is “just” another Leonardo variant. And from what I recall of the figure itself, unlike the Mouser’s walking action, this figure’s arm simply spun, giving the “slicing” action.
Though the front’s pretty torn up, the back’s just fine:
I can appreciate the alliteration of the accessories–Menacing Mace, Wacky Whip, Silly Sword–even if they seem ridiculous for this character–what possible reason would the character have for using any of these? All the more as rigid items…I guess that leaves plenty to the imagination, though.
Again, I appreciate the alliteration on the Portrait card, even if the phrasing all seems awkward and pointless. (Sorta gets me thinking and wondering about the GI Joe profiles on those toys back in the day).
Unlike the mouser, here we seem to have the FULL lineup of Wacky Action Turtles–with Leo, Shredder, and Splinter added to the mix. The figures are all terribly familiar, so I’m pretty sure that between what I had and what a friend had, we probably had the full subseries.
And there’s Napoleon Bonafrog. I think of the figures shown here, the only ones I never had were Wingnut & Screwloose, Genghis Frog and Usagi Yojimbo. I’d love to be able to re-acquire or simply acquire the Mutanimals characters (Mondo Gecko, Wingnut & Screwloose, Leatherhead, Ray Fillet (Man Ray) and whatever others there were (I don’t think there were ever figures for all the Mutanimals).
I don’t think I ever had Scumbug, General Traag (my friend had him, I believe), Leatherhead, or Rat King. I do have the Rat King from the 2003 line, though. It’s interesting to look at this version of Krang–I believe this was before the oversized Android Body was released, and I believe a later series shrunk the Krang-in-Android-Body to a standard size single-piece figure.
…and of course, the legalese. Looks like this one may’ve been from 1990, possibly meaning the mouser was a LATE 1989. I never knew anything about Panda Khan, but seeing the separate copyright notice (Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo I’m familiar with) led me to a quick search online; looks like a first issue of Panda Khan is available from the original creators here.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Ninja Turtles, playmates, Sword Slicin Leonardo, Sword Slicing Leonardo, TMNT, TMNT Toys, toys, Wacky Action, Wacky Action TMNT | Leave a comment »
I’m continuing to get drawn in, and the odd vocabulary elements are feeling a bit more normal. I’m liking the flashbacks that are fleshing out the present, and beginning to get a sense of the continuity that’s been built from the start of this series. You know something’s being done right when I’m interested in going back to re-read the issues so far just to appreciate the world that’s been built in such a short span of time. The story is engaging and the characters are easy enough to identify with. The art continues on a high note as well. Though I saw this issue’s end coming a couple pages early that ramped up the tension which made the cliffhanger both that much more appreciable and a bit anticlimactic, as if it ended a panel or two too soon.
Three issues in, and I’m quite enjoying this series. Having figured out the art style for the flashbacks vs. the present, I quite enjoy the shifts, as we follow Bloodshot on his quest to find out the truth about his past. While he seeks his past, Project Rising Spirit is determined to remove him from the field permanently. The story kinda sucked me in on this issue; as said, recognizing flashbacks made this a much more enjoyable read and didn’t seem disruptive at all. I like both visual styles as presented here. As I keep saying, I’m enjoying this new take on a “classic” character; even knowing this isn’t the original “version” doesn’t bother me. Sort of a cross between Marvel’s Ultimate Comics line and DC‘s New 52, with the best of both worlds. Definitely looking forward to the next issue.
The cover to this issue puts me in mind of a cover from the early issues of the Wolverine relaunch back in ’03 or so, where we see grumpy Wolverine on the ground, a line of bullet-holes across the wall–and him; and just looking at it, you know someone’s in for a world o’ hurt. Here, we get a look at the two title characters and a scene that kinda plays on the state of things, and (at least to me) comes off as rather amusing. Archer with a crossbow, pondering the Armstrong, who he’s shot umpteen times but calmly (cheerfully, even!) drinking a beer. With his parents’ reality revealed, Archer breaks from them and decides to join Armstrong, and the two begin their quest for the parts of The Boon that are scattered throughout the world. Of course, it wouldn’t be a quest if it was easy, and things sure don’t start easy for the pair. I really like this new take on the characters–it’s fresher and somehow seems a bit more realistic than the classic. I also like that the title characters don’t spend the entire first arc or two against each other–I’m far more interested in how they handle things as a “team,” with such drastically different backgrounds, personality, and abilities. The story keeps me interested, and I like the art–and the character designs. This Armstrong looks younger–and more presentable–than the classic, and somehow, that brings more of a sense of “fun” to the title, amidst the darker, more serious elements.
This issue introduces us to the Fugitoid–an alien scientist in a robot body. This issue as a whole is “the origin issue” for the Fugitoid, detailing the robot as well as Dr. Honeycutt, and the motivations that led to the Fugitoid’s situation. While the essense of the original origin is present, details have obviously been changed–and it works really well for me. The art’s pretty solid, and pulls off the “alien, yet similar to Earth” vibe. The story itself is good, though I found out after reading this that the issue spoils something from the next issue of the main TMNT title–though I didn’t feel like there was anything particularly revelatory, and actually thought this played off stuff we’ve already seen. We get a glimpse of an entire culture that works far better for me than their use in the classic cartoon–taking a campy, goofy concept and making it a valid, reasonable element for the current continuity. The issue ends with no ad for a next issue, and I’m unsure if there will be any more–the first collected volume was 4 issues, and this is the 8th–making another complete 4-issue volume. I hope these continue; as I’ve indicated before–I’d gladly keep buying this companion series to the main title, with different creative teams and spotlight characters.
While the turtles are out searching for Splinter, they are ambushed by the Foot, who want revenge for the death of Shredder. While battling the ninjas, the turtles come across a strange building marked with the letters “TCRI”–which they recognize as the same as what was on the canister of goo that mutated them. When they investigate the building further, they find plenty of oddities, including the inhabitants of the building, and an alien device they’ve built that spells major issue for the turtles’ future. The story is fairly simple, and things kinda scoot along quickly. This is still early in the existence of the TMNT, so for me it’s more the ideas that were put forth than actual grace in execution of the story. The art’s solid, and quite a contrast to contemporary takes on the characters. Still, I like it, and it’s really cool to see this colorized in a single-issue format; if I didn’t know it started out black-and-white and had no attention called to it, I’d have a hard time believing this wasn’t a color comic to begin with. Despite the various collected volumes already out, I hope this Color Classics series lasts long enough to re-present the entire Mirage vol. 1 TMNT series…though I wouldn’t entirely mind if it skips a bunch of the middle stuff and just re-presents the “core” Eastman/Laird stuff of the first 11 issues, Micro-Series, Return to New York, and City at War arcs.
Comic Reviews by Walt 