52Toys Mega Box Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review
|
I was about to go into my backlog pile of TMNT toys to pull something for this review when I realized that it might make more
sense to review some toys that are actually still available. Providing these reviews and photos for posterity is all well and good.
But proving some information about a Ninja Turtle toy that the average collector may not run across could actually be useful. And
as it happens, I just happen to have received just such a set of toys in the last couple of weeks, the 52Toys Mega Box Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles! Never heard of them? I'm not surprised. They aren't sold in the US apart from the odd import shop as far as I can tell.
But the line essentially consists of various figures and animals that transform... into boxes. Yeah, I didn't really get it either.
But the line seems to be quite popular elsewhere. So when they announced that the Green Teens were being added to the line, my interest
was piqued. And after some searching foreign Transformer sites, putting down a deposit and waiting a while, the second half of the set
finally landed on my doorstep in the last week. So now I can finally answer the eternal riddle of why did the Turtle form a box?
Packaging - 7/10Each of the Mega Box Turtles comes in a rectangular box with the figure displayed in the window on the left and a large image of the figure and truck mode on the right. There's a brief bio of the Turtle on the side panel along with photos of the toys various forms along the top and back. Of course, without being able to read the majority of the text on the box (the bios are actually printed in English for some reason) it's hard to judge those areas. I will say that the back of the box looks a bit text heavy, it looks like slightly more than half of the back panel is devoted to legal small print, it just wasn't printed very small compared to US packaging. But that could very well be the instructions on how to transform the toy and I'm just an idiot. So there's definitely some wiggle room in the score here.
Sculpting - 7/10It should come as no surprise that all four Turtles share the same sculpt. Nor should it surprise anyone that the sculpt is very boxy and slightly mechanical. But it is still very much a Ninja Turtle. The basic muscle structure, the shells, the belts and pads are all there, just with a mechanical styling to it. And the Mutant Turtle form is certainly the highlight of the four options. As I mentioned earlier, the gimmick of this line is that each toy transforms into a box, a cube to be more specific. And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures are no different. The plastron shell comes forward and widens. The rear shell pulls back and shortens. Then the arms, head and legs fold up and tuck in between. The result is a cube that looks strikingly similar to a cartoon character popping out of a garbage compactor. While most of the toys in this line have only the two forms, the TMNT figures have an additional trick up their lack-of-sleeves: two of them in their box forms can join together to form a garbage truck. Thematically, I guess it works. But the truck is definitely the weakest of the three forms, that that's putting it below just being a box. They transform the plastron and belt into the front of the truck and bumper. But beyond that, the garbage truck is just a rectangular mass on wheels.
Paint - 7/10The paint work on the Mega Box figures is very sparse. In Turtle form, it's pretty much just the eyes, belt and buckle, and the mask and wrist bands. But the figures are made up of so many parts that they don't really need much paint. Of course the box form doesn't require any particular paint decos. But they did add a few to sell the truck mode including the front and rear license plate, lights, windshield and wipers. Without those paint applications, the truck mode really would just be two cube shaped lumps stuck together.
Articulation - 8/10In their Turtle form, the Mega Box Turtles have roughly thirty points of articulation. I say roughly because there is more articulation there, but it is there to allow for the transformation into their box forms. Being woefully behind on all of the collectible TMNT figures which have been released in the last few years, these are certainly high on the list of the most articulated Turtle figures if not at the very top. And the quality is very good as well. There are no loose joints at all. If anything, the joints can be a bit too tight. The neck joints in particular are very tight, to the point that I was concerned about damaging or even breaking the plastic when the heads need to be rotated as part of the transformation process. Even after transforming my four figures a couple of times each, there hasn't been any breakage. But I am still exercising additional caution when transforming them. Of course it should be no surprise that in box form or garbage truck form there is no articulation other than the wheels for the truck.
Accessories - 7/10Each of the Mega Box Turtles comes with that Turtles' signature weapon as well as a storage box into which the toy can be placed when in box form. These storage boxes can be stacked and linked together side by side. But if there is a further point to them or some mthyos to the line, I'm unaware of it. But even if you decide to just toss the boxes, each figure still comes with that Turtle's signature weapon. They look pretty good, though Donatello's bo staff is a bit short. Interestingly, there is storage for the weapons in both box and garbage truck modes. And there are two tabs on the belt on the back in Turtle mode which can tab into most of the weapons. But Raphael's sais are the only weapons that can be stored and look right. (Half of Michelangelo's nunchukus hang down and Leonardo's swords look rather odd hovering by the blades.) Still, if there is one form for them not to be able to store the weapons, I guess it's best that it is the one where they actually have hands to hold the weapons.
Value - 8/10The Mega Box Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures set me back $37 each from the site where I ordered them. That is slightly more expensive than other Mega Box and Mega Beast figures I've seen. But these are fully licensed from what I can tell and they do have the additional truck mode. So I can't say the price isn't fair. But there's little room for doubt that a significant part of the price for these figures comes from the engineering to allow them to transform. And the mechanical/robotic styling of the figures means these aren't going to appeal to every TMNT fans' tastes. But if you are part of the fandom of both TMNT and Transformers, or just loved the Mutatin' figures from the vintage line, these are certainly worth picking up if you get a chance.
Happy Hunting:52Toys' Mega Box and Mega Beast lines are not sold in the United States. But I have seen the lines pop up at online stores. But being as these are licensed and I haven't seen them showing up domestically, I suspect the license may preclude them from being sold in the USA. I ended up ordering them from www.showzstore.com. And after a bit of a wait for their release, these four hit my door step across several shipments, safe and sound and quite well packaged. And that was very reassuring as I already had a list of more than half a dozen other upcoming releases on which to put down deposits.
|
|
