Casey Jones 2014 (Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Year: 2014

Scale: 4”

Company: Playmates

RRP: TBC (probably $AUD15)

BACKGROUND

Casey Jones has been one of the Turtles’ human allies since the days of the original Eastman & Laird comics. Originally created as a parody of characters like the Punisher who take “justice” into their own hands, he’s gone on to attract a fairly large cult following among TMNT fans. He only appeared in the original 1980s cartoon a handful of times, but he was a fairly major character (and love interest for April) in the 2003 revival. 

I first saw this figure previewed late last year and was immediately intrigued. However, we seem to be a wave or two behind America at the moment, and a lot of the stuff like the Ninjas in Training is only really just seeing a wide release over here. So rather than wait – and potentially miss out – I decided to order Mr Jones from Amazon.com

I haven’t seen any of the episodes featuring him as yet – but I do know that, like April, he’s been turned into a teenager for this series. I assume he’ll follow the usual pattern of being buds with Raph and a love interest for April – but this time around, he may well be a love rival for April with Donnie. I daresay I’ll get to watching it all eventually.

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

The sculpt is a good one. It includes some nice little details, such as the keys on his right hip, the bandanna hanging out of his back pocket. A lot of time and care has gone into the detailing, which is more disappointing when you consider the below-average paintwork (see below).

The main downside is that he’s been given rollerblades on his feet. They make it a little awkward to get him to stand properly, so while it’s probably pretty cool in the cartoon, I think it probably should have been left off the toy – or maybe interchangeable feet?

Here’s what he offers from an articulation perspective:

*cut neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*hinged elbows

*cut wrists (at the glove)

*cut waist

*swivel-hinged hips

*swivel-hinged knees.

Not a lot by, say, Marvel Legends standards, but pretty good for TMNT. The motion on the elbows is a little restricted due to the sculpt, but pretty much everything else moves quite well. It’d be nice if he had a ball-jointed head and could look up and down, but I suspect the hood would have got in the way anyway.

ACCESSORIES

Casey comes with three accessories – a baseball bat, a hockey stick and his hockey mask. The mask is the best of the three, with his trademark skull painted on the front. His sports equipment/weapons are cast in light beige plastic – the picture on the box depicts them with paint apps, but these have been removed from the final item, which is a bummer.

PAINT

As with all the other TMNT figures, paintwork on Casey is minimal, with most pieces being moulded in the appropriate colour. The box depicts a number of paint apps on the prototype which didn;t make it to the final stages e.g. the spikes on his left arm.

The notable exception is his face, which has skull facepaint – almost Immortal-esque. It’s a little sloppy, but the artwork on the back of the box also makes it look quite sloppy too. I prefer his masked look anyway, so the point becomes moot really.

More irritating, only the front half of Casey’s body is painted. As you can see in the pic at the end of the review, they’ve painted the front section of his pouches – but the back half has been left completely blank! I understand cutting back on paint apps for cost saving, but this is just lazy. I’m giving serious consideration to getting out some Citadel Paints and fixing up some of his finer details myself. With all the cool little details on this figure, it’s particularly disappointing that he’s been given such shabby paint treatment.   

OVERALL

Anyone who’s been collecting the new TMNT figures knows that they’re pretty hit and miss. There’s been some great stuff, but there’s been a lot of junk as well.  Aside from his paint, Casey is a good figure, and I’d like to hope he indicates future improvements for the line. Unfortunately, there have already been too many cool characters with lame figures, and I’d like to see that stop. I’ve said it at least once and will probably continue to say it in future – the Playmates TMNT line has been a great line as far as kid’s toys go, but not so fantastic for collectors.