Playmates Toys brand new Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures are available now and inspired by the Nickelodeon series. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes the franchise into a new direction that is re-branded including character designs, appearance and characters that are introduced in this series. At New York Comic-Con, we had the opportunity to attend and cover the panel, which did not have any toy reveals, but did have a preview of an upcoming episode, Q&A with the cast, and some other tidbits of information. The Turtles figures offered in wave 1 includes Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Meat Sweats, Baron Draxum, April, Splinter and a Foot Ninja. With the Shell Hog Vehicles, the Turtles can rev up for some shell-kickin’ Turtle action, and the vehicles even connect to each other and can also launch off the Turtle Tank group vehicle.
For those of you remember the old days of the brand, Pizza Points are back and included with each of the figures, vehicles and play set where you can earn and redeem points for prizes. This loyalty program has two options – a free membership and a Ninja Warrior membership, where you pay a $15 fee where you will receive exclusives and can accesses the pizza points program to redeem for prizes. More information can be found on the Playmates Toys website.
Thank you to Playmates Toys for providing their Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shell Hog with Leonardo for review.
Availability: October 2018
The Shell Hogs are packaged in a window box with animation artwork on the cover, and images of the vehicles on the sides and back. On the back it also shows one way that both Shell Hogs can connect to each other.
The Shell Hogs are new motorcycles for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and these are more geared up bigger than most bikes that have been offered in the past. The tires pay a pretty significant part to the size of these, as there are two giant tires, one in the front, and one in the back, which rotate and allows the vehicle to roll on the floor. The tires are black, with oversized blue tires for Leonardo, and oversized orange tires for Michelangelo. The tires are connected to the body, which is a bright green plastic that includes some patterns such as a turtles shell. The center includes a seat with handle bars, and a screen for the turtle to look at. The turtle can hold onto the handle bars while sitting down, but because of his arms being short, neither Leonardo or Michelangelo can sit too well and all the way back on the seat. The seats themselves are in the turtles color, and there are also some paint differences such as the platform that the handlebars and console are on, as well as the projectile.
The vehicle has some articulation, such as the wheels can be lowered or raised manually, which happens after a few clicks in either direction. It also has a hinged console. In either mode, the projectile can be fired by pressing the button.
The Shell Hogs can also connect to each other, as well as the Turtle Tank. The Shell Hogs come with connector bars that allow two to four to be connected at a time. From our efforts, a single connector bar cannot connect two different bikes, and it would appear that these can only be connecting by using two of the same bikes front and back, and two different bikes side by side. So in other words, you would need two sets in order to connect four bikes and use both connectors. There is also a connector already sculpted to the bike at the center, which doesn’t seem to keep the bikes together too well. The bikes connect to the sides of the Turtle Tank as shown.
Each bike comes with a driver, which includes Leonardo and Michelangelo with a repainted body and a new helmeted head sculpt. We’ve previously reviewed the figure sculpt, and this new driver does not come with any accessories. There are also some changes in the deco such as the shade of blue and orange being used on the belt buckle, the chest harness is now black, The feet also have black bandages wrapped around them. Leonardo’s helmet has a visor that can be lifted, which shows his eyes and blue bandana.
Overall, the design of the Shell Hogs look great and we particularly like how big and menacing these look, especially once connected to the Turtle Tank. The Turtles figures have a great figure sculpt that is show-accurate. The only thing that’s missing from this set are the Turtles iconic accessories, such as Leonardo’s sword and Mikey’s nunchucks. But since they will be sitting on the bikes, we feel we can do without them on this release.
Purchase:
