Mikey TurtFLYtle -- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Company: Playmates

Year: 2015

Mikey TurFLYtle begins his buzz around the city to lure in Kirby Bat. Buzz! Buzz! With a homemade fly costume created from pizza boxes, etra tube arms, and glove hands, he flies around the city skyline. Buzz! Buzz! Attached to Raph's Glider, Mikey really puts himself out there to help the team, but he could be a sitting duck... or in this case, flying bat bait? Buzz! Buzz!

I love all four of the turtles, and Raphael has been my favourite since I was a little kid. So sometimes I forget how cool Mikey can be – it’s easy to write him off as the comic relief in a show that’s already fairly heavily based around humour, but he gets up to some genuinely strange stuff. Back in the ’03 series he spent some time as the Turtle Titan, which was one of my favourite episodes of that incarnation. And now he’s appeared as the TurFLYtle, an inspired piece of weirdness is apparently based on an episode of the current series, and is pretty darn cool as a toy on its own.  

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Mikey looks more like his Battle Shell incarnation than his original fig, which gives him a closer resemblance to the cartoon.He’s sculpted with a big goofy smile on his face, which is very Mikey. The base body looks to be the same as the Battle Shell toys, but I haven’t invested in them myself so I can’t confirm it. 

However, to befit his new status as TurFLYtle, the back of his belt has been cut off, and replaced with a yellow piece which attaches his four extra fly hands. His wings are detached in the box, and aren’t held in particularly tightly; but careful popping them off though, as you don’t want to damage the wings or the tabs that hold them in.  

Articulation is as follows:

*ball-jointed neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*swivel-hinged elbows

*cut wrists

*swivel-hinged hips

*swivel-hinged knees

It's standard for a regular turtles, really, though it’s a little more restricted given the giant wings and extra arms.  

While my figure didn’t have any issues, a friend of mine also bought his and the legs were super wonky, similar to the LARP Turtles that came out late last year. He also suspected that Mikey had been misassembled, with two left legs. You can’t check this in the store unfortunately, as both of his legs are concealed behind cardboard in the box.  

ACCESSORIES

Mikey comes with a headpiece (cool design, but a little small and prone to popping off), his four extra arms (all moulded in soft, Monsters in My Pocket-style plastic and unarticulated) and pizza-box wings. He also comes with two sets of his regular nunchaku, which is a nice bonus.  

PAINT

Playmates performs better in this category than usual, though it’s more so by absence than by brilliance. Playmates have made the wise decision to have the bandanna moulded as a separate piece, just like they did on the ’03 series. This means they don’t have to paint it, which cuts down on a lot of slop potential. As another plus, the wing decos are stickers, so they’re nice and crisp—you don’t even have to apply them yourself! Hooray!  

On the minus side, the prototype pic on the back of the box indicates that a couple of apps were cut from the final production piece, which is a shame – the hand bandages are the most obvious ones. However, it doesn’t affect the overall enjoyment of the figure; the design is fun enough to do the heavy lifting.

OVERALL

I got the four turtles for my birthday back in 2013 and loved them, but while most of the accompanying figures have been perfectly adequate as kid’s toys, they really haven’t served too well as collector’s pieces. Good sculpts with crap articulation and crap paint have really frustrated me, and Rustin Parr from over at OAFE.net had a few words to say on the subject back in February. I definitely share his frustrations with the line, though often about different figures.   

Fortunately, Mikey TurFLYtle is easily one of the most fun figures I’ve bought since those original four – it’s a huge pleasure to add him to the collection. He’s not perfect, but I would definitely suggest buying him. He seems to be packed one per case, so snap him up whenever you come across one.     

Ninjas in Training – Leonardo and Donatello (Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Ninjas in Training - Leonardo and Donatello

Series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Company: Playmates

 

RRP: $15

STOP THE PRESS!

Right before I was going to publish this review, I picked up Raphael and Michelangelo as well. They won’t get a review on their own, as everything I have said (good and bad) about Donnie and Leo below applies more or less equally across all four turtles. Just substitute the words “Raph” or “Mikey” at the appropriate juncture. The main difference for myself was that Raph and Mikey are my favourite turtles, and their weapons (sais and nunchaku) are smaller, so they're less likely to warp. If you’ve got any specific questions about them, please feel free to comment below.

The Background

I had many, many toys as a kid, but the first toyline I really “collected” was the 2003 Playmates TMNT series, when I was finishing up high school. I didn’t buy every figure, but there were only a handful from the first few waves that I didn’t get – one of which was the “Toddler Turtles” 4-pack. I think it was just too difficult to find, or by the time I did come across it, I either didn’t have the money or had simply moved on in my interests.

Flash forward to earlier this year, and I discovered that there was a new TMNT series (released late 2012), as well an accompanying toyline. What I’ve since watched of the new TV series is excellent, with my main criticism being that it’s a little too “monster-of-the-week” heavy.

The new TMNT toyline, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. The turtles themselves are excellent, but the supporting cast have been all over the place, with questionable scale being a particular issue. It’s been some time since I’ve gone back and looked at the ’03 figures closely, but these ones feel a little “cheaper” overall, in quality of plastic and paint.

I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but availability is also a problem over here in Australia, which adds to the difficulty of collecting. The turtles and Shredder (original) are easy to find, but there are some – like Cockroach Terminator – that I’ve never seen in the wild and a number of others that I’ve encountered only once or twice. But the line does have a lot of potential, and I hope that its various issues do get resolved eventually. 

But I recently came across word that “Ninjas in training” 2-packs were beginning to hit the stores in America. Never having been able to get the Toddler Turtles 4-pack, I was definitely keen to add these new versions to my small collection of TMNT figures. The next day, a search of my local Kmart uncovered a solitary Donnie and Leo, but no sign of Raph and Mikey.

The Packaging

Keeping in style with previous releases, the backing card is purple and green. I’ve got mixed feelings about this colour scheme, but it’s certainly eye-catching. As always with blister packs, the box is not collector friendly and will need to be chucked if you open it. MOC collectors shouldn’t have any complaints – the figures are nicely displayed, and you can see all of their accessories.

The Figures Themselves

 

 

It would have been pretty easy for Playmates to use the exact same mould for all four turtles, simply painting their bandannas a different colour. Fortunately, they haven’t taken this approach – each turtle is unique, even if their poses are quite similar. Looking closely, you’ll notice that all their chest shell pieces are unique too, just as they are on their older counterparts. It’s a subtle touch, but a nice one. 

Articulation is very minimal – the shoulders are swivel hinges, and the neck is cut. The legs on both figures are in locked poses. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the Marvel Superhero Squad figurines that were doing the rounds a few years ago, though these are cast in a harder plastic. There’s a cut across their bellies, but this seems to be the result of the figure being produced in a few different pieces and then stuck together. It’s not an ideal spot for the cut to be placed, but at least it’s in line with their shell plating.

Paint apps are very minimal – the turtle’s bandannas are actually moulded from separate plastic, not just painted on, as far as I can tell. Only their shells and eyes seem to really be painted, and these counts they’re both fine. A couple of highlights on the skin might have been nice, but I think Playmates is probably keeping the costs pretty low on this one.   

Accessories

Donatello comes with a miniature version of his bo staff, and Leonardo comes with two toy swords, all of which are cast in beige plastic to look like wood. Some paint on the bandaged areas would have been nice, but it may have looked out of place -- I don't think any other characters in the range have paint apps on their weapons.

Issues

The weapons aren’t cast in super-soft plastic, but don’t be surprised if one or both of Leo’s swords are a little warped. I don’t think Donnie’s staff should give you any problems – it’s rounded and a little thicker, so it shouldn’t “wilt” in the same way.

I can see a lot of broken arms happening on these toys, as they’re quite thin and fragile. Be careful about who you give these to. And maybe have a replacement handy.

My last issue is a small one – a very small one, in fact. Donnie’s mouth is partially open, and you can see his distinctive gap tooth. However, they’ve decided not to put paint on it, which is slightly disappointing. Of course, if they had painted it I’d probably be complaining about paint slop… perhaps a closed mouth would have been preferable.   

Overall

These figures are okay. They’ve got a cute design, and they do look spiffy on your desk. They also look cool when paired up with their teenage counterparts. I was able to pick Leo and Donnie up for $10 (Edit: and as mentioned above, Raph and Mikey too) rather than the usual $15, and I was satisfied with them for that price – but $15 seems a little overpriced for these figures, even if there are two of them in the box. Put all four together (as Playmates previously did) and I think we would have had a more acceptable package, if not a total winner.