Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Giants Series 1 Review
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Playmates Toys has created quite a few generations of Ninja Turtle toys over the years. And through almost every generation, one part of those toy
lines has been larger, giant figures. So it should be no surprise that they are returning once again with the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
toy line with a series of the four Turtles. While creating toys in three different scales may seem like a bit of overkill. But let's reserve judgement
for the time being and see how the giant Turtles turned out this time around.
Packaging - 8/10The giant Ninja Turtles come packaged in boxes that are very similar to the deluxe figures with a partial box around the bottom while the majority of the figure is wide open, inviting kids to check them out. Their weapons are also nicely displayed along the back as well. The back side has a large photo of the four figures together and a quick description of show. It's a little disappointing that there isn't more individual information on the back of the packaging. But on the positive side, the sheer size of the packaging means that they had to increase the thickness of the material. That in turn means that it isn't as prone to damage as the packaging for the deluxe figures.
Sculpting - Raphael 6/10, Others 7/10The sculpting for all four Turtles is solid. As with the basic figures, Playmates Toys did an admirable job of rendering the new character designs. Scale is an issue as usual. Raphael is slightly larger than his brothers and Michelangelo is just a hair smaller than Leonardo and Donatello as they are in the show. But the difference is no where near as stark as they are in the show. Beyond that, I think that Donatello's and Leonardo's limbs could be a bit thinner. And the design for the toes and fingers still strike me as being a bit strange looking. But they seem to be accurate to the show designs.
Paint - 6/10The paint work on all four figures is clean and looks decent. Unfortunately they are still missing paint applications for most of the skin markings. I don't know if that was a cost savings measure on Playmates' part or a change to the character designs that happened later in the process. But given the scale of these figures and the cost, there's no reason why they couldn't have included those additional paint applications.
Articulation - 6/10Each of the giant Turtles have twenty one points of articulation. That includes rotating neck, rotating and hinged shoulders and elbows, rotating wrists, rotating and hinged hips and knees and rotating ankles. That is a decent amount of articulation. And there's no overly loose or otherwise problematic joints. But there is a lot of room for improvement. The first improvement would be that the ankles and wrists could easily have had rotating and hinged joints. This would have allowed for much more dramatic poses for the legs and made holding the weapons easier. The range of motion for some of the joints could stand to be increased, especially the elbows and neck. I would also liked to have seen them use ratcheting joints. None of the joints are overly loose. But a few are loose enough that given the weight of these larger figures, I'm concerned about them getting too loose over time and with extended play.
Accessories - Raphael 6/10, Others 7/10Each of the giant Turtles comes with their signature weapon, a pair of throwing stars and an additional weapon. In the case of Raphael, his additional weapon is just a second tonfa. Both of his tonfas are cast in translucent red plastic to represent their powered up form. But that means you don't get normal tonfas. Leonardo has a normal and powered up version of his odachi sword. (Unfortunately he is the only one of the four with no way to store any of his accessories.) Michelangelo has his kusari-fundo and a sansetsukon (three segmented nunchuk). It's a little disappointing that the sansetsukon has real string connecting the section but the Kusari-fundo. He also comes with a sheet of stickers just like the basic assortment figure. Donatello has his bo staff. But in place of a second version of the staff, he also comes with his S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. drone. The drone has no real features other than attaching to Donatello's backpack. It is nicely sculpted, but I wish they hadn't cast it in transluscent plastic.
Value - 6/10The giant Turtles sell for $20 each. Considering the size and everything that you get with the figures, that is certainly a fair price. Actually, I'm somewhat curious as to what Playmates could do if they were willing to increase the price, even if it was only to $25.
Happy Hunting:The giant Turtle figures were released along side the rest of the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy line at the start of October. But distribution seems to depend upon how much of the line any given store is stocking. I have had the best luck finding them at Target stores. But I have also have seen them at some Walmart stores and a few other random chains as well.
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