Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows Turtle Tactical Truck
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I think that I have finally gone through and reviewed all of the Out of the Shadows figures. So now it's time to move up to the big toys. Of course
every version of the Turtles have had some sort of vehicle for cruising the streets of New York and patroling for Foot Clan low lifes. And the latest
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movie is no different, introducing the tactical truck. While it needs a much catchier name, the tactical truck actually
did appear and play a decent role in the movie this time around. (Looking at you Assault Van.) So it should be no surprise that it also got a toy
in the action figure line as well.
Packaging - 6/10The Turtle Tactical Truck comes in a large, windowless box. The front of the box has a large photo of the toy along with all four Turtles. Otherwise, there isn't a lot here for graphics. There's the Out of the Shadows logo and a small image of the movie Turtles and not much else. I don't mind the lack of graphics. But the green and yellows of the background don't give a great contrast with the photo of the toy since it is mostly green and yellow as well. The back of the box has more static photos of the toy and several of the features. Meanwhile photos of the rest of the OOTS toy line and all the usual legal fine print have been moved to the bottom of the box. Overall, the packaging does a reasonable job of showing off the toy, but it doesn't really do much to sell it as a fun toy.
Sculpting - 6/10The Turtle Tactical Truck has had a lot of work put into it for the sculpting. But unfortunately it doesn't quite pay dividends. The exterior has plenty of detail, but most of it comes off as flat. They put a fair amount of detail into the driver's area including an actual steering wheel and a complete dashboard. But you only ever see any of that when the front end of the truck is flipped down to load figures in or out. And it doesn't really matter how much detail is included inside, when half the cab is flopped down on the floor the illusion that this is anything but a toy is pretty much gone. And there is little to no effort put into the interior of the back of the truck. There is a spot for a figure to be placed to "control" the mechanical arms. But it's just an empty spot with two grips for the figure to hold. Considering the command center in the back of the truck was where most of the activity took place in the movie, it's disappointing that there is nothing there in the toy.
Paint - 5/10There's not very much paint work on the Tactical Truck. There's some paint work on either side just behind the exhaust stacks. But for the most part the Tactical Truck relies on a couple of dozen stickers to decorate the vehicle. The stickers do dress up the sides and rear of the vehicle well. But they don't do much for the cab area and nothing in the interior. The stickers also have a major issue not sticking to my vehicle. I'm guessing that is the result of some residue on the plastic. But there's no warning or suggestion to wash the surfaces first. And even if there was a warning, that shouldn't be necessary.
Play Value - 8/10The Tactical Truck has quite a few built-in action features that allow it to replicate most of what is seen in the movie. It has mechanisms to launch discs from the grill, a net cannon on the top and mechanical, giant nunchuk swinging arms that pop out from the sides. And in addition to all of that, the hydrolic arms on the front can actually be swung down in front of the truck and used to lift figures up and in through the roof opening. There's also an access hatch in the roof that can also serve as a gunner's station for the net cannon. The only thing it can't really do from the movie is launch Raphael's motorcycle out of the back. It's a little disappointing. Had the mechanism to make the giant arms flail not taken up so much room in the back, they actually could have fit a slightly stripped down version of the Ragin' Racer in the back. That would have been worth devoting all of the space to pull off. The truck does have another important feature. It can fit the full team. There's room for two figures in the front seats and even with the mechanism for the arms, there's still room for multiple figures in the back. Playmates also included pegs on the back and on the forks of the front lift arms to hold additional figures on the outside. As for the actual action features, all of them work well. The net cannon and disc launchers both have decent range. (Though the disc launchers require more force to fire than I would like.) But the biggest focus seems to be on the mechanical arms. There are panels on both sides of the truck that flip down to reveal the arms as well as their nunchuks. The arms must be manually extended and positioned. Then the mechanism inside will cause the arms to spin when the rear wheels are turned. The design is ambitious and works reasonably well. It's even designed so that it doesn't interfer with the movement of the rear wheels when the arms are retracted. It's just a shame that the mechanism take up so much room in the back of the truck.
Value - 7/10The Turtle Tactical Truck sold for around $30. That's a pretty reasonable price for a larger vehicle, especially one with so many features built into it.
Happy Hunting:The Turtle Tactical Truck was released in the first half of 2016 in advance of the release of the Out of the Shadows movie. So it has been out on shelves for quite a while now. I do still see it on store shelves fairly often even now. But that is likely to change before long. Even if that happens, Playmates is suppose to be releasing a repaint of it as part of the regular figure line as well.
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