Retro Review:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…Heroes in a half shell, Turtle Power! I
LOVE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No property had ever consumed my
childhood more than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Superman has always
been a staple and He-Man was the first childhood toy obsession, but that
still didn’t come close to that time period between the end of
2nd grade all the way through 3rd grade where every and I mean
everything was Turtles. I had the toys, clothing, trading cards, cereal,
fruit snacks, turtles pies (which I miss so much)…it didn’t end.
And it
all started with a Scholastic magazine. You know those ‘book fairs’
where they get your parents to shill money on books but the kids just
end up buying junk like scratch and sniff stickers or animal shaped
erasers. Well that’s the unlikely place where I was introduced to TMNT.
On the cover of a magazine that was for sale was a split cover of some
random pink dressed Barbie and to the right a green mutant turtle
wearing a red mask, gritted teeth, and ‘knife weapons’ (of course I’ll
come to learn they were called sais). I wasn’t that impressionable at
that age but my mind was blown. So much so that despite the
embarrassment and ridicule I would receive by walking around with a
magazine with Barbie on the cover, I bought the magazine (sorry dinosaur
book, you will have to wait).
After reading about what a ‘Ninja Turtle’
was, I had to have one and not just anyone. I needed the star of the
magazine cover. That alone made him my favorite turtle. After my begging
went into overdrive for weeks, I got that turtle! I got Raphael! My
world was complete. Until I begged for the Turtle Cycle and a Donatello
figure to ride the side car for my graduation present! Here’s the figure
that kicked off the obsession: Raphael
Sculpt: I'm reviewing this figure for what it was at the time (the 80's). For the time, heck, even now, the sculpt of the figure is great. There’s
something so bizarre yet cool about the thing. The texturing of the
muscles and skin, along with the stretch marks around the fingers and
toes are impressive. The marks on the shell give him an almost real
world feeling. The thing has individual sculpted teeth and veins on the
arms too. The mask and pads have creases in them adding to the look. The
belt is a separate piece that’s removable and it’s molded to hold the
weapons. I always liked that aspect of the Turtles where their belts
were different and allowed the weapons to be sheathed. His Sai are a
little big but that’s just a nitpick of mine. It makes sense to be that
size though, being a kid’s toy. You know, smaller the object the easier
to lose (or swallow and choke)
(5 out of 5)
Paint: I always loved the paint on the TMNT figures. They were always clean
with no slop and pretty vibrant. Raphael is no exception. The fact that
the four turtles having different shades of green was always a plus in
my book when it came to the toys and I always loved Raphael’s shade the
best. It works great with the red mask. He’s mostly molded in that green
color but the two tone shell and the mask and pads help bring the
diversity. The belt’s ‘R’ insignia is well painted too. All around
quality work.
(5 out of 5)
Articulation: In a time where figures only moved at the ‘big 5’ (head, both arms, and
both legs), the fact that the turtles had 7 points of articulation was
kind of shocking. Not amazing when you compare him to today’s figure
where anything under 20 points is laughable, but for the time it was
better than good. He moves at the head (peg), shoulders (pegs), wrist
cuts, and the legs are actually on ball joints. The legs actually have a
decent amount of range of motion. It’s hard to score this one as it’s
not fair to hold him up to today’s standards. So his score will reflect a
comparison to the time of release.
(4.5 out of 5)
Accessories: Many of the earlier figures came with accessories that were attached to
what was essentially a weapons rack. They weren’t painted as they were
the same brown molded color and you would have to permanently detach them from the rack for play purposes. But
once they were off, they were off the rack, there was The rack came with two ninja stars, two sais, and
three other weapons that I cannot really name (sorry,my ninja skills only go so far). One is a triangular blade with a handle, the other
is a pizza looking blade, and another is a ‘candy cane’ sword thing
(please drop me a line if you do know the real names). That’s quite a
lot for the time. I guess you can also include the card back bio since
they wanted you to keep the thing (‘get a parent’s permission to cut
this cardboard bio while you poke your eye out with a ‘candy cane’ sword
thingy!’). There’s plenty here and even though we all only used the
main weapons that went with the corresponding turtle, the extra goods
are much appreciated.
(5 out of 5)
Overall: It’s not nostalgia that’s scoring this figure so high (but I’m sure it
helps). It’s the fact that this figure was, during its heyday, an
awesome toy. Even to this day I can’t help but play around with the
figure. The fact that I still own the thing is a true testament of the
awesomeness of the figure and the TMNT brand in general. It’s a fun toy,
with great accessories, from an amazing property. No other way around
it. It’s the figure that started my love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles that continue to this very day. Man I wish I had a Turtle pie
right now.
(5 out of 5)
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