Dirtbag and Groundchuck joins NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection based on the 1987 cartoon series that many of us grew up watching. Dirtbag and Groundchuck were originally a bull and a mole that Rocksteady and Bebop freed from the New York Zoo, while Kerma from the planet Shell-Ri-La had freed the other animals that Shredder intended to mutant. The bull hit dispenser of mutagen with his horns and Dirtbag and Groundchuck were created.
After the mutation, they had originally worked for Shredder until they decided to take on the turtles themselves, until they and the turtles were captured by Kerma and taken to the planet Shell-Ri-La, as he needed help against the dragon Herman the Horrible. Groundchuck and Dirtbag took the opportunity to ally themselves with Herman to fight the turtles, but ultimately lost. They were taken into custody but managed to escape and allied themselves with the space pirate Captain Dredd to steal Shell-Ri-La’s gold machine, but lost to the turtles again and taken into custody.
Both appeared in the episodes “Planet of the Turtleloids, Part 1,” “Planet of the Turtleloids, Part 2,” and “Escape from the Planet of the Turtleoids.”
Thank you to NECA Toys for providing their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection Dirtbag & Groundchuck Figures for review.
Availability: November 2021 – Target Exclusive in U.S., International fans can find this and other figures at Zavvi – U.K.
Dirtbag and Groundchuck are packaged in the standard window box that we’ve seen consistently throughout the line, including images of them on the front, images of the figures on the sides, and the back includes of them, Chromdome, Wingnut and Screwloose, Monko Gecko and Kerma, and a description.
Dirtbag and Groundchuck features fantastic looking figure sculpts and accurate to how they appeared in the classic ’87 cartoon series. Every aspect about these figures, including the solid paint apps right down to the clothing.
Dirtbag includes sculpted grey fir, and comes in a construction outfit, including a green short, town black pants, a brown boot on the left side, and a bare foot on the right, orange gloves with the fingers poking through, helmet with yellow light, black goggles sculpted the top, and pink backpack in the back that is sculpted on, and can left open to place small objects inside. The backpack is made of a soft plastic, and throughout the sculpt you have the black shading, and the two shaded colors on the front and back of him.
Dirtbag is fully articulated, including a ball jointed head, hinged jaw, ball hinged shoulders, double-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball jointed torso (that’s also removable so you can place him on the rock base), ball jointed hips, double-hinged knees, hinged and rocker ankles.
Groundchuck has a much more complete sculpt, given how many paint apps, armor and attention to detail going on with this figure. He also has sculpted fir, and all of the amount of detail on the clothing is just astonishing and NECA has spared no expense as they have painted all of this sculpting, which you can check out all of this detail in the image above and in the gallery below. The head sculpt includes two different horns that you’ll remember from the cartoon series, green hair on top, and one eye covered with the white helmet, with light grey shading in the back.
His articulation includes a ball jointed head, hinged jaw, ball hinged shoulders, double-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball jointed torso (that’s also removable so you can place him on the rock base), ball jointed hips, double-hinged knees, hinged and rocker ankles.
The accessories is really where these figures shine, with Dirtbag getting the most, and Groundchuck getting 3 sets of interchangeable hands and his blaster. Dirtbag also gets 2 sets of interchangeable hands, his blaster, the rock base that you can place the upper torso on, a shovel, a drill, and a tracking device designed by Donatello.
The blasters and the tracking device looks amazingly detailed and accurate to the source material. Groundchuck’s blaster has the likeness of a bull with the horns in the front, saddle and tail in the back. I’m not sure how this fired in the cartoon, either through the tips of the horns perhaps? Also did Kraang create this weapon because it definitely doesn’t look very Kraang tech to me.
The shovel and drill are also nicely done, and fits in his open grip hands. Obviously, the most fun accessory is the rock/dirt base that the upper torso rests on, but pulling him apart could be tricky and it might be wise to use a hair dryer to loosen up the joints first.
All of these accessories are nicely done and detailed, and defiantly offer a lot of value here.
Overall, there is nothing but love and attention to detail that went into created Dirtbag and Groundchuck, and NECA’s team surely have done an excellent job on every aspect with these guys. They fit in perfectly with the collection, including an accurate scale to other figures with how they appeared on the show, and overall great likenesses and details. You surely need to add these to your collection now, especially if you’re more of a picky collector, these are definitely worth having on your toy shelves.
Purchase:
Target
Additional figures are available on Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, Hobby Link Japan, Things From Another World, Zavvi – U.S./Canada and Zavvi – U.K.
