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!