Revoltech Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Part One: Michelangelo & Donatello
|
It's been more than six years since NECA released their first, and sadly their only series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
figures. And they still set the bar for the greatest TMNT figures amongst collectors. But now there is a new contender
seeking to surpass that high mark, Kaiyodo and their Revoltech version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Leonardo and Raphael were released in September. And while they were not without their imperfections,
they are the most advanced TMNT figures to be released since NECA's. And they have been making considerable waves with
Turtles fans since their release. And now Leonardo and Raphael are being joined by their two missing brothers: Michelangelo
and Donatello. Since I just wrote the review for the first two a few weeks ago, I will try not to spend too much time
repeating what I already wrote.
Packaging - 7/10The packaging is the same. It is quite functional, but lacks any sort of wow factor. For MIB collectors, it is a rather bland way to show off otherwise impressive figures. But I can't get too upset about that given that these figures practically beg to be removed from the packaging and really can't be fully appreciated without doing so.
Sculpting - Michelangelo 7/10, Donatello 8/10The detail work for Michelangelo and Donatello is just as sharp as it was on Leonardo and Raphael. And the differences in the figures' heights are far more pronounced with Michelangelo being slightly shorter and Donatello easily being the tallest of the four, just as they are in the Nickelodeon cartoon. The gaps for the articulation are no better unfortunately. They are still the biggest short comings on what are otherwise steller looking figures. Michelangelo has a unique and unexpected problem. His default head has a large, open mouth grin. That works well for Michelangelo most of the time. But without an option for a most serious expression, when you white out his eyes for ninja mode, that grin quickly goes from happy to extremely creepy. And his alterate head isn't much better. It is also worth noting that both Donatello and Michelangelo have bandanna tails that are sculpted in such a way that they can work in a wider range of positions than Leonardo's or Raphael's. Donatello's can even drape over his shoulder as it often does in the show.
Paint - Michelangelo 6/10, Donatello 8/10The paint work for both Donatello and Michelangelo is well done and quite extensive. The details of the costumes such as the belts and wrappings are all fully painted. They even painted Mikey's freckles. But what they didn't get quite right are the skin tones for either Turtle. Donatello isn't off by much. But Michelangelo's skin is noticeably darker than it should be.
Articulation - 10/10This is the biggest selling point of the Revoltech figures and the Revoltech Ninja Turtles in particular. It has been a real pleasure over the last few weeks seeing all of the impressive poses that fans were able to create with Leonardo and Raphael. And these two share that same impressive amount of articulation and terrific range of motion. Getting the joints to line up just the way you want is not as easy as it could be, but with a little adjustment, there isn't much that these figures can't do.
Accessories - 6/10Donatello and Michelangelo both come with their signature weapons, a bo staff and nunchuks repectively. Each has a base with a revoltech joint that can be used to supend the figures off of the ground by attaching it to the hole at the bottom of their shells. Bothe have an alternate head and another bonus accessory to round things out. For Michelangelo, the bonus accessory is a spare nunchuck handle and disk to replicate the look of a spinning nunchuk. That is a very cool idea. But the disk tends to fall off quite easily. Donatello actually comes with two bo staffs. One is a normal staff and the other has a blade on one end as seen in the cartoon. The blade is on a hinge so that it can fold back. But unlike the show, the blade can't actually be hidden in the staff which make the folding feature pretty useless. Both staffs can be attached to his shell for storage, though not at the same time. And they have to attach directly to his shell instead of having a loop there to hold the bo staff. His special accessory is a heart which can be looped around his neck when his head is removed. It's cute. But none of these accessories is close to being as impressive as the pizza that came with Leonardo.
Ninja Mode Eye FeatureAs with the previous two Turtles, by sliding the knot of the bandanna to one side or the other of the slot in the back of the figures' head, their eyes will rotate until the pupils disappear to the side to create their whited-out, fighting look from the cartoon. It is a neat and creative feature that works well. It is just a bit of a shame that Michelangelo's expression doesn't work well with the whited-out eyes.
Value - 6/10Retail price for the Revoltech Turtles is around 4,800 yen or around $45. If you ordered in advance as I did, you could save a few bucks off of that price. But at present, the reception for these seems to be much better than Revoltech had anticipated. So demand is outstriping supplies. And that is running up the price. Hopefully, Kaiyodo will continue to produce more of these figures to meet the extra demand as they have with other popular figures. Because Leonardo is already selling out from some stores. It would be a shame if these become as rare and expensive as the NECA Turtles have since they stopped production.
Happy Hunting:The Revoltech Ninja Turtles are all out and available now. They are only available for retail distrabution in Japan though. So you will need to either look for online retailers in Japan that sell overseas or look for a local importer. I ordered all of my figures through Hobby Link Japan. (www.hlj.com) But there are plenty of other options out there, so you may want to check with your favorite importer.
|
Raphael got a weapons upgrade thanks to Loot Crate. |
