"Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles....Heroes On The Half Shell!"
Over 20 years ago my son was
absolutely enamored and fascinated with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. He had ALL of the figures (good guys
and bad) the Turtle Van, the fortress, vehicles, playsets---you name it, he had
it.
What's remarkable to me is that the
TMNT have successfully transformed and updated themselves over the years so
kids still love them. Playmate Toys has been with
them all the way and made TMNT one of the most successful toy lines ever.
From comics books, books, toys, movies
and everything else in between TMNT is a marketing and merchandise phenomenon.
Playmates Toys has just released two
new variations of the TMNT with its toy lines.
How do they do it!?
First up is Mutations. The Leonardo figure, just like the other Turtles,
stands approximately six inches
tall. At first glance the figure looks
like any other Leonardo figure: blue knee pads, blue elbow pads, blue
scarf/mask over his eyes, brown wrist and waist bands and a large turtle shell
on his back.
The figure is completely articulated
for action poses, paint application and coloring are crisp and clean and the
modeling spot-on, matching the Nickelodeon version of the figure.
Here's where the difference comes
in-the figure transforms! Leonardo transforms
into a lovable Pet Turtle. You read
right!. A few flips, turns, twists,
tucks and folds and Leonardo is transformed into an actual four feet on the
ground turtle! Amazing!
A few quick moves and presto! He's a ninja again!
Included with the figure are his twin
sai. Packaging consists of a clear
plastic front on a hanger card with a three-stage transformation photo sequence
on the front.
The Mix & Match figures (mine are
Shredder and Raphael) come with removable arms, legs and heads along with an additional
limb taken from another figure. Weapons
and accessories for the figures are included and like the Mutations figures the
sculpting, molding and color application are crisp, clean and fit together
nicely with no flashing or binding of parts.
The Mix & Match figures allow kids
to take parts from different figures and make their own Mutations. Talk about a mix up! Kids will love 'em!