Playmates Toys Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Monsters + Mutants line is a throwback to the vintage line that was originally released in 1993 that introduced the Turtles as iconic monsters. In the original toyline, Donatello was Dracula, Michelangelo as Frankenstein, Leonardo as The Wolfman, and Raphael as a Mummy. This new line-up for 2017 brings back these classic elements and mixes it up a little, and introduces the Turtles as different monsters this time around that their brother was originally offered as. The line also includes two Monster Hunters, or Val Helsing’s depending on how you look at it, which includes Monster Hunter Leo and Monster Hunter Raph.
This new line-up features Leonardo as The Mummy, Raphael as Dracula, Donatello as Frankenstein, and Michelangelo as The Wolfman. Each of the figures includes accessories designed to work with the monster, and pays tribute to the Turtle character themselves. While these variations of the Turtles won’t appear on the show, as the vintage toys did not, the monster elements are easily recognizable characters to children and you tell tell who the Turtle is meant to be. The vintage line also offered some additional figures such as April O’Neil as Bride Of Frankenstein, which unfortunately won’t be brought over into this new era. This is likely due to the fact that this is one of the very last waves of the current show, as Playmates Toys is looking ahead into 2018 and getting product ready that will be based on next years all new series. A bit more information on that can be found from our interview with Playmates Toys at San Diego Comic-Con 2017. We’ll have more to share with you closer to the new year, and especially during New York ToyFair 2018.
Thank you to Playmates Toys for providing their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Monsters figures for review.
Availability: September 2017
Iconic monsters are no strangers to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as this has been introduced to the brand back in 1993, and brought back into this new era for this generation. What is great here is that the tooling and ability to make toys have improved so much in the past several decades, and while the vintage line of these are still great, this new group of Monsters are much more detail oriented. A perfect example of this is Frankedon, or Donatello as Frankenstein.
Mutant Mummy Leo is wrapped in mummy bandages, which have sculpted texture on there wrapped around his entire body, with parts of the green skin, shell, chest, and head left unwrapped. Leo kept his blue bandana on his head, and the fingernails and toe nails have also grown making it look like claws on his hands and feet. This is a nice touch, and a detail that was almost overlooked. The bandages around his wrists leave some hanging downward, and even the facial expression of the mouth looks like a mummified Turtle. To top this off, a snake has been added to wrap around his chest, and the head of the snake looks over his right shoulder. The snake also includes some texture to the body that makes it look more realistic, and the sword has a short blade, and has a head of a snake at the end of the handle. Both of the accessories are painted in gold.
Vampire Raph has a plastic black jacket with a white undershirt panted on, just as Dracula himself appears. The painted lines look great and there is no bleeding. and if you look under the chain around his neck, you see a red bow tie painted on. What sets this figure apart besides the unique sculpting and crossover, is the fabric cape on his back, that is connected to the top of it that is made of plastic. The cape also stays in place be it being wrapped around the arms, so when you lift the arms upward, the cape falls into place and gives the figure the impression of a vampire. The head sculpt includes fangs, and the short flat black hair looks great. It’s easy to tell that is Raphael due to the fact that he keeps the red bandana on his head, and the knee pads on his legs. He also keeps the white bandages on his wrists, and feet. Included is a black bat that can clip onto his arm, and a wooden sais and stake.
Teen Wolf Mikey, or Werewolf Mikey brings back a vibe to that classic 80’s film or even the current show on MTV with the team jacket. The figure has a good likeness between the two characters, bringing together the elements of Michelangelo and a teenage werewolf. The head sculpt includes hair, which is something that Mikey does not have on the show, and the mouth includes fangs and there is even pointy ears. He keeps his orange bandana, which besides the bone nunchuck, it’s the only way to tell that this is Mikey. The sports jacket is painted in orange, with the letter M painted on the upper left side, and the words Wolfpack on the back that is left unpainted. The jacket also includes white deco around the collar, lower part, pockets, and on the buttons. Underneath the jacket is chest hair that is sticking up. The arms include elbow pads, and the legs are covered in blue jeans that are ripped at the knees to show brown hair showing through. The figures sculpt is covered in texture to resemble hair, which is mostly in green. The toe and fingernails are painted in black, and are tiny claws. Included is a bone nunchuck, and a slice of pizza.
Frankendon has the best crossover sculpts in the wave, and the figure includes the stitches detailed throughout the sculpt. The head sculpt is amazingly detailed, with the bolt screwed into the top of his head, the facial expression, and even the look in this eyes is well done. The figure includes a cracked shell on his chest, and there is metal attached to his left shoulder, and lower right chest. The back of the shell includes three electric bolts painted in blue screwed in and the back of the black strap includes a hole so that the staff can be plugged into it and stored. The arms include black devices sculpted just under the elbows, and the wrists are wrapped in bandages. The black knee pads are sculpted just over the large boots, which have toes sticking through it on the left foot. Donatello keeps his purple bandana sculpted around his head. Included is a staff, that looks like like an electric current device of some kind.
Overall, these are excellent. For the most part, we’ve been very happy with the Turtle line since it’s relaunch in 2012, and sending off the line with these iconic monsters figures is a great way to end and already great line. The detail on these is remarkable, and these each have strong sculpts that bring out the best of both of these iconic characters into this one mold.
Purchase:
eBay.com – Original toyline
