Mirage Comic Book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures by Playmates

Do not adjust your monitors. Your color settings are just fine. Contrary to what you may think, you are not seeing a quartet of Raphaels holding his brothers' weapons. What you are seeing are the newest variants of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, based on their original Mirage comic book illustrations!

These Comic Book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are hitting stores now as part of the standard Playmates TMNT toyline. If you are seeking them, look for the white 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' header. Other figures in the line have the words printed in yellow, making these ones pretty easy to spot on the pegs even when they are hiding behind the other figures. So much for Ninja stealth!

Each of the four turtle brothers is available in this 'comic book' style, the only difference between them being their head sculpts/bandanas and the inclusion of their signature weapons. Some moms, kids and even collectors may opt to only get only one, feeling that the similarities are too monotonous to warrant buying more than one. But in my opinion having all four of these guys together makes for a pretty slick display, and seeing as how they are comparably cheap ($8.99 standard, and often you can find sales on multiple purchases), collecting them all is a hard proposition to resist.

As a small bonus, each figure comes with a card depicting some old-school comic book art. Unfortunately the card backs do not provide any details or any added info. But they look cool on the front!

Word on the streets is that Donatello is the 'short-packed' figure - appearing one per case as opposed to his brothers' two per case ratio. This seems to be pretty standard lately, with Donatello getting the short end of the proverbial Bo Staff. I guess the bean counters don't think he's as popular as his brethren, and maybe they are right. Regardless, if you see Donatello and are on a budget or on the fence about having them all you might want to grab him first, as he could turn out to be harder to find than the others.

That said, Playmates TMNT figures are rarely hard to find , are well distributed and very common at most retailers. So 'harder to find' may be relative, and Donny will probably still be pretty easy to get a hold of if you want him. You just might have to be a little patient - a trait toy collectors tend not to posess.

Speaking of collectors, a common complaint about these guys is that none of the Turtles have sheaths or any way to stow their weapons. This is a design aesthetic accurate to the original art, and perhaps a cost-cutting measure too (since all four turtles share the same body and belt), and really it isn't a big deal for Raph, Don and Mikey. But it is pretty noticeable with Leo, who was given sheaths as the comic art progressed. It would be nice for Leo to be able to sheath his Katana, but the lack of sheaths is not a deal breaker for me.

On the flip-side, Leonardo does have two different sized Katana. They could have easily just packed the same Katana in twice, so there's a point for Playmates.

Mikey's Nunchuku correct an earlier issue for many of his action figure releases by making the 'chain' very thick and not easily bent/stressed/broken. They don't move or bend, but they won't easily break either, or get that hideous stress-induced lightening of the plastic, so that's a plus in my book.

Michaelangelo (or is it Michelangelo?) has the best face sculpt, with his grimacing teeth showing on each side of his grizzled, edgy hard-core schnoz.

But of course Raphael is my favorite, because he's always my favorite. He comes with two good and solid Sai and a bad attitude.

The turtles are well articulated, with swivel shoulders, swivel elbows, swivel hips, swivel knees and a ball-jointed head. Some folks lament the lack of wrist articulation, but whatyagonnado? Lack of wrist articulation isn't a deal breaker for me either.

The original pre-production pics appeared to show dark paint in the sculpted scribble-marks. This paint application is not included on the figures produced, and while it looked good I am actually ok with how they look without it. I enjoy how light and shadow play on the hash-marks; it adds depth and presents a more subued effect. Anyways, it's an easy 'fix' if you are so inclined.

I know collectors are finding a lot of reasons to gripe about these guys, and invariably the comparison to the Collecotr's Grade NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is a bit unfair to be honest. Are these guys perfect? Not quite. Are they NECA quality? No, not any moreso than JLU figures are DCDirect quality. Apples and Oranges.

For what these are, the Playmates Mirage Comic Book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are not only a mouthful to say, but they are totally radical, dude! They are eight-ish bucks, available darn near everywhere, well made, solid and durable for kid's play (which is the target market, as much as collectors want to argue otherwise), completely unexpected and finally...

...they are in scale with original Playmates TMNT figures! And let's face it, Casey Jones here is the 'Mirage Comic Book' version too, because there was no other source material to draw from when he was designed. He looks absolutely GREAT next to these new comic book ninja turtles.

Being able to pair Raph and Casey together on my shelf is worth the price of admission alone!

I highly recommend you grab at least one of these guys for your collection. And if you are even a fair-to-middlin TMNT fan, you should probably grab them all. They are really fun to have around, inexpensive, durable, and you can team them up with any iteration of the Turtles and their cohorts for all sorts of parallel universe hopping good times!

COWABUNGA!

Whatta' Dirtbag!

"Who you callin' a dirtbag...oh wait...that's my name. DON'T WEAR IT OUT!'"

Dirtbag is an original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure from 1991. I don't know anything else about him, except that he originally came with a backpack and a pick-axe and a gun and maybe another accessory or two. I might have the pick-axe but don't have the rest, I don't think.

Dirtbag himself is a fun looking character. He has all the usual little sculpt details the old TMNT line had in spades, like a 'Mom' tattoo, a band-aid on his finger and even teeth marks on his arm (and they're not from some stupid kid who chewed on their toys, either!)

King Lionheart

Another original TMNT figure in my collection, this one from 1992, is King Lionheart.

I don't know anything about old Kingy here, but I assume by his appearance that he is one of the TMNT characters that came from a different dimension (like Usagi and Panda Khan for example) and not simply a mutated animal from 'our' reality.

I also imagine he sounds a lot like Sean Connery when he speaks.

He originally came with a sword, a sceptre and a shield, but my second-hand version has none of these. I do like his Kingly armor and cape, though. Very regal!

Raphael Issue #1

Comic books are everywhere at the flea market. Most of them are heaped in boxes and boxes of 1990s Image titles with tits and pouches hogging the cover art, or torn and weathered 80s Archie comics that dealers think are worth a ton because 'they are old!', or sometimes...rarely, but sometimes...there's a gem or two buried deep that, if you have the patience to dig around a bit, reward your efforts and cumulative knowledge of modern comic book history.

Case in point: Raphael Volume 1 Number 1:

I found this guy hiding in with a bunch of nineties junk, sealed safely in it's plastic sleeve. Really old TMNT comics (pre 'Turtle Mania' era stuff) rarely pop up at the flea market, and even more rarely are they cheap. I knew right away that this was an oldie, and having dealt with the dealer before I knew his pricing was based on a totally arbitrary understanding of comic book value, so I bundled it up with another comic I wanted and asked 'how much?'

'Oh, that's a number 1 issue, so that one is $2.'

$2?!?! Fifty cents more than 1987 cover price? Ok, I'm not even going to open it or haggle. It's worth $2 even if it turns out to be a re-print or has a torn page or two. I'll take it!

Well, it turns out my investment was well worth it for a number of reasons. The comic is in excellent condition, and while it is a second printing, it contains two stories, one 'new' and one re-printed, involving Raphael and Casey Jones! Two of my favorites!

The re-printed material is the story of Raphael and Casey Jones' first meeting, and I was surprised to discover how closely the original TMNT movie echoed this comic book story.

I was also reminded of how good Eastman and Laird's art could be. Had they not succeeded with the Turtles, I imagine they would still have gone on to be famous in the world of comics as creators for the big two. I almost daresay it is a shame they didn't, and that we don't have some hardcover volume of a gritty Batman story written and drawn by Eastman and Laird next to our Bat-books by Frank Miller and Alan Moore. But I digress.

Finally, and maybe the most fun component of this terrifically fun comic, is the 'Turtle Tracks' note from the author(s) Eastman and/or Laird themselves - wherein we are first informed of the news that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline and cartoon are well on their way! (Transcribed in full below the pic, because this is just too good not to share!)

"Did you ever have a secret, a really neat one, that you were just dying to tell everyone right away...but you couldn't, because if you let it out too soon it could spoil things? Well, we've been in that quandry since last year - but now we can finally let the turtle out of the bag (so to speak!).

It all started back in August of 1986 when, out of the blue, we got a call from a gent named Mark Freedman, who was calling us because he had been talking to Kevin Siembieda from the Palladium Books role-playing game company; and, as he put it, "fell off his chair laughing" when he heard the name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...and now he wanted to be our agent for licensing! After a couple of meetings, we were sold...and signed up.

Within an amazingly short period of time, Mark had lined up a potential deal for a major toy line: action figures, vehicles, the works. So we were flown out to sunny La Mirada, California, to meetwith the fine folks at Playmates Toys. Things went well, everybody seemed to think that the TMNT's could be a really nifty toy line, and we returned home with visions of blister-packed TMNT action figures dancing in our heads.

Of course, what's a line of action figures without an animated series backing them up? After a couple of false starts, Murakami/Wolf/Swenson was chosen to be the company that would produce the animation - initially, a five-part miniseries in half-hour episodes. We went west once more to meet with these folks, and were happy to find out that not everyone in Tinseltown is a wingnut - these guys were nice and talented!

So, for the last year these things have been in progress, and if things go as planned, you should see the toys start to appear in stores in February of 1988, and the cartoon series the last week of December (we'll keep you updated as more definite dates come in). As you might well imagine, we were near bustin' at the seams with the urge to tell you all - but in deference to the wishes of our agent and the toy company, we agreed to keep it under our hats 'til now.

What's to come? - well, in the toy line there will be ten action figures to start with: all four turtles, Splinter, April, the Shredder, a Foot Ninja, and two new evil characters - Rocksteady, a mutant commando rhinoceros, and Bebop, a punk mutant wart-hog. (We had a lot of input on the design of these two characters, and they are wild!). Each figure is poseable and comes with a weapons pack. Following these figures will come a redesigned turtle van, a turtle blimp (yeah, it sounds nutty, but wait 'til you see it - it's great!), and the turtles' headquarters playset. Then there's the two-foot high stuffed turtle plush doll, with interactive voice box.

As for the animation, Murakami/Wolf/Swenson has adapted our stories from the first few issues, with some of their own ideas thrown in. You'll see Baxter Stockman and his mousers, the Shredder and the Foot, and an evil aline called Krang who bears more than a little resemblance to the TCRI aliens. The five half-hour episodes stand by themselves as stories, but all come together to make a neat five-part series. We've read all the scriptsseen all the storyboards and concept sketches, heard all the voice tracks, and seen the first two episodes...and they're great!

While all this has been happening, Mark Freedman was not twiddling his thumbs. Two more deals he's lined up are with Random House, which will publish TMNT coloring books (and puzzles and board gamesthrough their subsidiary, The Warren Company); and with Responsive Marketing, for a TMNT fan club. Also on the boards is a full-color, mewsstand distribution TMNT comic book based on the TV series; currently, it looks like Archie Comics will be publishing that, and Michael Dooney will be drawing it.

Lest it seem like we are counting our chickens before they're hatched, let us say that we have our fingers crossed, hoping that everything that is planned (and in production now) will actually happen. But it looks good, and promising, and we're dealing with good people. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if our faithful readers started going around to their local toy stores and started asking them if they're going to carry all the TMNT toys...!"

Wow, just...wow. It isn't every day you get to peek in on the very beginnings of a marketing empire!

I absolutely love that I happened onto this piece of TMNT history! What an incredible glimpse at pre-turtle-mania; the toyline and cartoon are still in the planning stages - it is even necessary to have characters like Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop explained to us because we've never seen them before! Oh, and that turtle blimp? Yeah, you're going to love it!

Even though I love Raphael and Casey Jones and the comic story and art contained in this issue, I think this 'Turtle Tracks' makes the whole issue for me and was well worth $2 alone. I'm loving TMNT toys both old and new more than ever lately, and to be able to glimpse backward in time to a moment when all of it hung in the balance is just too much fun.

Kre-o, Kreeee-o, Kre-o come and Mirage go home...

...with me!

I found the new Transformers Lego...err..I mean 'Kre-O' construction sets at Toys-R-Us yesterday. They had most of them (no Starscream though) with their Transformer movie display up front. The sets come in a few different sizes/price points, starting at about $8.99. I looked them all over for a while and decided to bite - settling on Mirage for $12.99.

I settled on Mirage for a couple reasons. One - the price. less than fifteen bucks for this set is a pretty good price and tough to complain about. I haven't seen these at Target or anywhere else, so I don't know how that price compares to other retail outlets, but I can't complain about paying $12.99 for a 119 piece construction set.

Second, his vehicle mode is pretty accurate to his cartoon counterpart. The other sets at this price point, namely Jazz and Bumblebee, have vehicle modes that don't accurately represent their cartoon modes; they are actually pretty blocky looking based on the box art/photos. Maybe they look better in person. I don't know, that's for some other toy blogger to find out.

But Mirage here sure is a cool looking F-1 racecar!

Of course a huge selling point for these sets are their G-1 cartoon counterpart mini-figures. There were a couple sets at a lower price point that did not include mini-figures (and some at higher price points which include a handful of them) but this price point quite fairly includes a Mirage mini-figure (with gun!)...

...and a racecar driver mini-figure too.

The figures are similar to Lego mini-figures but with different engineering to avoid copyright infringement. In my opinion, they are a little over engineered - ball jointed arms and hips aren't really necessary, and the helmet on the driver doesn't fit snug and his goggles don't line up perfectly, but oh well. They are still pretty darn neat!

I wasn't sure how the robot mode would work out but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Mirage looks like Mirage, he is solid and stable and even has jointed elbows, shoulders, hips and ankles. Nice!

In addition, his head sculpt is pretty cool and will probably be used by customizers looking to make a Mirage out of some existing Transformer toy, or may even be used in the future by Hasbro for some repaint or other. Who knows?

I really like this set. The Kre-O pieces are Lego compatible and feel pretty solid and well made. You can sit Mirage inside Mirage for a neat display. Rubber wheels and a racecar driver figure add to the value. And the fact that one set turns into two things (robot and vehicle) makes up for one of my biggest issues with pre-fab Lego sets, the fact that you can only make one thing with each set!

The mini-figures are fun and a big selling point too. And they are the same size as Lego mini-figures, so they are compatible with those fellows too.