Muckman and Joe EyeBall make their long awaited appearance in NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 classic cartoon line, and these figures are surely going to be popular amongst fans. Muckman and Joe Eyeball are based on the Season 3 episode “The Noxious Avenger,” where two humans are mutated into these mutants when exposed to mutagen.
Thank you to NECA Toys for providing their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Cartoon Series Ultimate Muckman with Joe Eyeball figures for review.
Availability: July 2021
Muckman and Joe Eyeball are packaged in a window box with an opening flap, with artwork inspired from the classic cartoon series and also inspired from the VHS cassette tape packaging that we all remember. On the cover is an image of Muckman and Joe Eyeball, along with the Turtles above them,
Muckman is part of the Ultimate line, like Metalhead or Krang’s Android Body, and stands at around the same size as Metalhead. The figure is quite impressive, with the sculpted green garbage, with lumps, various pieces of trash, each individually sculpted and painted to perfection, just as you remember from the series. His clothing consists of an orange vest that is torn to pieces, with what appears to be a pocket, and pants that are ripped at the knees. The trash sculpted to his body consists of cans, flowers, a mirror, and even a sewer lid sculpted to the bottom of his foot, just as the cartoon and vintage toy had.
His head sculpt is equally as impressive, with a banana peel sculpted on top, a clip on his nose so that he can’t smell the garbage on his body, great facial details including eyes and a mouth. The mouth can also be swapped out with an extra piece, so he has two different mouth expressions.
Joe Eyeball is a small looking mutant that resembles an alien, with the eyes on top of his head, and other features such as two arms, two tentacles, a tail and two legs. This figure is equally as impressive in his own way, and also pays a great tribute to how he looked in the cartoon. He has two different shades of green on his body, with a brown chest with black lines. He also has limited articulation, and includes a ball jointed head, and swivel-hinged upper arms.
Included with Muckman and Joe EyeBall are several accessories that will be familiar to you. First, that can of mutagen comes sealed in a plastic wrapper with a label, which I did not open as I didn’t want to ooze all over the place. This works great for either figure, which can drop from their hands, or even put inside the trash can with Joe Eyeball in it, as shown on the back of the box. Also included is a blaster, two sets of interchangeable hand sculpts (open and gripping hands), two mouth pieces, and the trash can that connects to Muckman’s back.
Ideally, most fans will likely want to display Joe EyeBall on Muckman’s back as shown, which is something that you would definitely remember from the classic cartoon series as that is their signature look. The trash can stays on pretty well, and you may have to have Joe Eyeball leaning to the side so you can see him on Muckman’s back, as the head does block the view looking straight at him.
Overall, Muckman and Joe EyeBall are great additions to the line, and these figures look like they did in the cartoon. NECA continues to offer such great characters to this line, and I for one say bring on more characters! Make sure to pick this up, as well as Mondo Gecko that is also available now.
Purchase:
Target Stores in the U.S., and can also be found at Zavvi – U.K.
Additional figures are available on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, Hobby Link Japan, Things From Another World, Zavvi – U.S./Canada and Zavvi – U.K.
