'Turtles Fighters'

Turtles from Outer Space, you say!? These knockoff ninjas certainly look the part. They are grimy to look at, but are kinda of cool. They are the Turtles Fighters!

After some random searching I discovered a small ‘blast from the past’ in the form of the Turtles Fighters bootleg line. I had first owned a couple of these in 1991 (99p each) and it’s pleasant to see they are surfacing again (despite not being quite 99p as before).

And, for Bootlegs, these mock turtles are not half bad…

The figures are quite stable and hold together quite well. Each of them are duplicated from the bodysculpt of the original Playmates Raphael, but with different heads stuck on. Every Turtle is accompanied with a random ninja weapon that looks to be copied from a non-TMNT toyline. The random weapons have ranged from a Nightstick, a sickle, a kusarigama and so forth.  

It has to be noted that the original Turtles Fighters I remember also had a range of altered head designs. These designs included shades moulded onto the face, a flattop haircut, and even a Mohawk! As well as altered heads, there was also different attire such as He-Man style armour. These newly surfaced toys so far have stuck to the basic TMNT bandana and initial belt design. The packaging remains the same as it did before, retaining the same artwork and custom logo.

The paintjobs are just terrible! Even a pre-schooler can colour in the features in better than this. The teeth and eyes for example look like they have been hand painted and likely in rapid production. The colour schemes are dark in tone, and actually make great for being ‘dark’ dimension clones of Leo and co. These ‘Turtles Fighters’ are also ideal templates for the fan who likes to do custom work at a low expense.

Despite the many flaws, these are quite good as extras, customs, or whatever the imagination decides. There is much worse tat roaming around, and the return of the Turtles Fighters after 20+ years at least poses some potential interest for the curious collector. 

Figure Review: Modern Age Batman (Batman Legacy Edition)

As far as I know, the Batman Legacy Edition figures were launced sometime last year, so this figure's actually pretty recent. From what I've seen, the figures are based on -- visually speaking -- their comic book counterparts. I haven't bought any recent Batman figures at all even though I intended to. I went to a toy show in my area last weekend and picked up the Modern Age Batman figure since he was along the lines of what I was looking for.

To me, the Modern Age Batman is reminiscent of the look that Frank Miller and Jim Lee gave the character. As the storylines got dark and gritty, so did the look of the Dark Knight. When I hear the term "the Dark Knight, " I don't think of the '60s Adam West Batman, but rather the intimidating and brooding Batman. The Modern Age Batman is the Batman I'm most familiar with and I'm glad I have the opportunity to review the figure. Anyway...

Sculpting - 9/10

Modern Age Batman is, for the most part, a comic book accurate sculpt. All the details are there and nothing looks too big or too small. I like the fact that the gloves have that kind of rough leather texture near the thumbs and palms as well as on the boots. Gives kind of a neat effect when the figure is under light. The folds on the cape look great too.

Paint - 9/10

The paint on this figure doesn't look bland. That is due to the fact that on the gray part of the costume, the muscles look like rounded forms with the dark paint around them, which complements the light areas quite nicely. The same applies to the pockets on the figure's utility belt. My only problem -- which is a minor one -- is that on the figure's shorts, some of the black paint seems to have gone over the edges a bit, but it doesn't look too bad.

Articulation - 8/10

From what I gather, the figure has about twenty six points of articulation...

• rotating neck
• ball jointed shoulders
• rotating biceps
• hinged elbows
• rotating forearms
• hinged torso
• rotating waist
• ball jointed legs
• rotating thighs
• hinged knees
• hinged and swiveling ankles

For this particular figure, it's not expected that Mattel would go crazy with the articulation. With that in mind, I don't see myself trying to pose the figure in a variety of ways. The only problem is that the utility belt limits the waist and let movement, which means Batman can only really be posed with his left leg kicking if one wanted to pose the figure in that manner. Good luck trying to get him to stay in that pose without having him fall over, though.

Accessories - 3/10

Unfortunately, this figure lacks really any significant accessories. He comes with a display stand and a comic book cover poster (not pictured), but since his left hand looks like it's holding a batarang, it would've been nice if he came with a batarang or two or at least a seperate hand holding a batarang. From what I've seen, other figures in the line do come with accessories and I feel that Modern Age Batman got the short end of the stick.

Overall - 8/10

Other than the fact that the lack of accessories drags this figure down a bit, I'd still recommend picking it up. I've seen the figure on Amazon, but if you happen to hit up your local comics shop on a toy or comic convention, you'll probably spend $15 to $20 for it. Either way, this figure makes a great display piece and a nice addition to any Batman fan's collection.

BBC Blue Peter 1990 TMNT Sewer Base

I recentley parted with an old childhood artefact, but decided to document it before letting go. This was a playset I made from a Blue Peter tutorial in 1990 and it provided hours of fun. 22 years later, the set has begun to collapse.

This had also doubled up for years as a storage box for Christmas decorations, but could no longer hold together.

Here's some photos of the final hour the base stood and a standoff between the TMNT and Foot Clan ensued in one last 'toy battle'.

SATURDAY CAPTION FUN #13

Welcome to the first Saturday Caption of 2012. In this recent edition Hacksaw has traded in his 2x4 for something a little more spectacular. Reply with a caption.

REVIEW: Toy Story 3 Slinky Dog

From: Mattel

Price: £3.50

Accessories: None

Recently found at half price in Tesco was the tempting offer of owning a Toy Story 3 Slinky Dog. I thought “Great!” and grabbed one, since I’m quite fond of the character and a fan of the late Jim Varney who was his voice actor on the first two Toy Story outings. 

The trouble is, I realised why the figure had taken a price slump after setting it free from its packaging prison!

The photos shown are not me messing around with a toy skit. This is how the figure in its unbalanced assembly normally slumps down to, and it’s suggestively like something else. Can you guess?

I will say on the plus side that this looks accurate the Slinky Dog design with floppy ears, a springy tail and a proper slinky in the middle. As seen in the photos, there are notable many other flaws to the figure. The dog lead is growing out of his head, for one! The loop where the dog lead could and should be is left static, but does provide an optional alteration via some string. However, the wheels at the bottom of Slinky Dog are small and the feet have no weight in them causing the toy to constantly collapse.

How Mattel let this figure pass quality control is beyond me. I have to say as a Slinky Dog fan I’m pretty disappointed. Overall this toy does not do the character justice and not worth purchasing, unless for use as a model that collects dust. Shame.